Tianjin University Knowledge Management Practices: A Case Study

This case study provides an in-depth analysis of knowledge management (KM) practices at Tianjin University of Finance and Economics Pearl River College. It explores the university's approach to knowledge acquisition, initialisation, retention, and sharing, drawing upon relevant KM theories. The study identifies the university's strengths and weaknesses in terms of KM, highlighting areas for improvement. Recommendations are offered to enhance KM practices, such as fostering a knowledge-sharing culture, implementing training and development programs, and rewarding knowledge sharing. The analysis considers internal and external knowledge sources, recruitment strategies, and the importance of learning from experience. The case study concludes by emphasizing the role of effective KM in achieving organizational goals and improving the university's learning environment for students, with the aim to provide better course services to teachers in a systematic order, and to promote team work for productive work.

UNDERTAKE A
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT CASE
STUDY OF AN
ORGANISATION OF YOUR
CHOICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Knowledge management theory in regards with the Tianjin university of Finance and
Economics Pearl River Collegecompany....................................................................................3
Strength and weakness of organisation in term of KM theory:...................................................8
Feasible recommendations for company to improve the KM practices......................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Knowledge management is the broad concept which drives the values in work place
environment to complete any kind of work with maximum efficiency. It is the efficient process
of arranging, creating and utilising the knowledge within the organisation. Successful KM
policies mainly involves the maintenance of the information at work place so that it can be easily
accessible to all the members of organisation (Shahzad and et.al (2021)). Knowledge involves
the technical and other people skills resources which helps in increasing the productivity of the
task. The Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College is the earliest
offering to applied in economics and in other business administration in China.This report will
cover the knowledge management concept in terms of organisation, it also covers the future
strategies which the company can undertake to improve the knowledge management in the
organisation. It will also discuss the strength and weaknesses of company in terms of the
knowledge management theory.
MAIN BODY
Organisational overview:
The Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College. It is found that
the organisation have the almost 11,000 undergraduate and 13,00 graduate students who are
present at the campus. Organisation provides the level of graduate program in bachelor degress
as in economics, management, engineering and in science subjects. TUFE also offers the master
degree programs within the 33 areas and it doctorates in the statistics, finances and in accounting
subjects. It is the one of the popular university which is mainly permitted by the education
ministry to provide the MBA programs (Centobelli, Cerchione & Esposito, (2019)). Main
campus of the organisation is situated in Zhujiang road, hexi district, as most of the departments
are present at this locality. As the organisation covers the range of 800000 meter square areas
with the floor space of about 455,600 meter square.
Faculty and staff
TUFE has a good range of professors who are qualified and skilful and highly committed
towards their work. As most of the teachers are from the recognised universities in and outside of
the China with the master’s degree in doctorial. It is found that for the opto electronics
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engineering there are 223 teachers which involves the 58 professors and other 63 associate
professor. Thus university have the qualified teaching faculties to provide better learning
experience to the student.
Knowledge management theory in regards with the Tianjin university of Finance and
Economics Pearl River Collegecompany
Knowledge acquisition:
Knowledge acquisition refer as collecting the knowledge and information from the
different sources. It is the efficient process of involving the new knowledge to the make the
improvement for the better productivity (Abdi and et.al (2018). Acquisition can be used to
expand the abilities of the whole system and to improvise the performance to lay out any task
efficiently. Thus for the Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College it is
important to provide the better work place environment which ensures the productivity of the
business. As it is their responsibility to provide the sources such as training and development,
self and directed learning which makes them able to create the positive work place environment.
Thus better sharing of the knowledge will enable the organisation to accomplish their desired
goals and objectives (Butt and et.al (2019)). Company can easily acquire the knowledge from the
internal as well as from the external sources which are as follows:
From recruitment:
It is the best way to acquire the knowledge, as to hire the candidate which helps in
creating the environment where the knowledge can be shared easily. Tianjin university of
Finance and Economics Pearl River College organisation can easily proceed to hire the
candidates from the campus, as it will help them in adding the value at the work place
environment which makes them able to achieve their goals as to provide the better learning
services to the student in university.
From experience:
This approach for acquiring the knowledge is also beneficial as it depends on the idea to
develop or acquire the knowledge from the personal experience that can be verified or
disapproved by the experimentation (Mehrez and et.al (2020)). It is analysed that the past
experience has the significant influence, thus it is important for the Tianjin university of Finance

and Economics Pearl River College to allow their staff to learn from their mistake and to use
their previous job experience prior to job role. Thus it will help them in laying out the task
without any mistake.
Authority:
It is depend on the approach to acquire the knowledge from the authorised person who
have good knowledge regarding particular work. It is also found that such type of knowledge
might not correct but it still gives the good start which can be use as base. Therefore, for the
Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College, it is essential for them to hire
the candidate who have good enough knowledge for managing their business, it will help them to
guide the other staff to carry out the specific task in an efficient manner (Sun, Liu & Ding
(2020)).
Therefore, organisation can also proceed to make recruitment from diversified culture, it
will help them in implementing the inclusive culture plus knowledge shared by the different
background employee will enable the firm to proceed to develop opportunities for the
innovation. It is also found that employee at work place usually acquire the knowledge from the
teams, as they work with the team members which helps in clearing their concept. This approach
generally helps the firm to become productive and complete their task with accuracy and
efficiency.
Knowledge initialisation:
Initialisation is the process of starting or configuration, as to define the vales that can be
used further. Thus knowledge initialisation is the process of converting the explicit knowledge
into different knowledge. Thus Tianjin university of finance and economics can proceed to use
this in order to retain the knowledge within the work place for driving values in services, so that
it would be better for the learning schedule of the students.
Thus it is required for the Tianjin university to provide the better and inclusive work
place system to the employees so that they will proceed to provide better learning facilities to
the students. It will help them to include different other course as they are already providing the
masters and bachelor degrees in Engineering, doctorial and in economics or finance.
Knowledge retention
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Knowledge retention basically define as the process where the new added knowledge can
be converted into the long term knowledge from the short term memory. It is up to the
organisation to found the resources which helps them in retaining the knowledge within the work
place environment (Migdadi, (2020)). There are some factors from which the Tianjin university
of Finance and Economics Pearl River College can easily retain the knowledge within their work
culture.
Develop and entertain the sharing of the knowledge in company’s culture:
Knowledgeable work culture always leads the team in a positive direction, thus it is
important to know what kind of knowledge thus the employee wants to keep with them. Tianjin
university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College begin to conduct the survey as to know
what knowledge is important for their employees which they have acquired from their
experience. Managers of the university can also proceed to use the KPI for measuring the
employee performance, as by using the gained knowledge KPI managers can easily know what
knowledge is essential for laying out the task effectively.
Training and development:
It is the main process which every organisation needed to consider for the betterment of
their business. Thus for the knowledge retention it is the best approach as the Tianjin university
of Finance and Economics Pearl River College can easily retain the knowledge. For that they
need to timely analyse the work place needs as to provide the better training session so that
employees can easily sharpen their knowledge it will be beneficial for the business productivity
(Chierici and et.al (2019)). As the Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River
College aims to provide the better courses services to the teachers as well, thus it will be
beneficial to provide them services in a systematic order, that guides the teachers to increase
their focus on teaching practices for learner’s benefit.
Another things is to try to indulge the employees in a process which is the continue
source of the knowledge. It will help them in maintain the knowledgeable environment which is
essential for accomplishing the desired goals and objectives. For this Tianjin university of
Finance and Economics Pearl River College can proceed to motivate the employees to share the
knowledge with each other, to interact with their colleagues. Knowledge among the team sharing
is the main source of retaining the knowledge, for that it is essential for the leader of the Tianjin
university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College to implement the environment where

all the members easily communicate with each other. It is also good for maintaining the healthy
work place where no conflicts are found. Thus it is found that the Tianjin university of Finance
and Economics Pearl River College has poor knowledge management at its organisation which is
causing barriers in their goals achievement. For that reason they can also proceed to conduct the
mentoring programs where all staff can make their presence, it will help them in enhancing their
knowledge as well as they can easily develop the skills which is required for the efficient work.
Knowledge sharing
Knowledge sharing refer as the process for transforming the tacit which is undocumented
and the explicit which is documented to one person to the another person. In an organisation
sharing of the knowledge is not only increases the productivity but it also encourages the
employees towards their self goal achievement in their career. It drives positive energy at the
work place environment which promotes the growth in the market (Agostini and et.al (2020)). As
for the Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College it is the essential till
which allow them to connect and perform better in every aspect of their business. With the
sharing of the knowledge they can easily save their money which they can easily invest on the
skills and development program for the staff members. Some knowledge sharing sources are as
follows:
Develop a knowledge sharing work environment:
It is not common that every person feels confident when they speak or some also have the
reserve nature to remain with them and their stuff only. Therefore, in such it is the responsibility
of the organisation to provide the environment where the knowledge can easily be shared and try
to develop such values which promotes the team to carry out their work efficiently.
Organise different activities:
It is another process to promote the knowledge sharing, as conducting day to day
activities which promotes the interaction and team building exercise which is beneficial for
productive work. Thus with the help of this member group can easily shares the idea and
information which plays an significant role in task completion. As Tianjin university of Finance
and Economics Pearl River College there is a lack of knowledge sharing at their work place for
that they can easily proceed to encourage the staffs to share the resources with the team
members. Organisation can also begin to allow every employee to talk on the particular topic so
that other colleagues guide them in order to clear their concept regarding specific topic.
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Identify and rewards the knowledge sharing:
Positive and efficient reinforcement always works, as it is the required element in the
business as to reward the employee to praise them for their better work so that it leads the
organisation to successfully runs the business. Thus for the Tianjin university of Finance and
Economics Pearl River College it is important for them to conduct the rewarding activities in
every six months so that employees will feel that they are valued to the organisation, it boosts the
morale of them to carry out the work with greater efficiency. As it is fact that the sharing of the
information and ideas are vital for organisational growth, thus it do not matter to the workers
until the firm required to make them priority and provide them bonus or incentives (Hock-
Doepgen and et.al (2021)). Therefore, for the Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl
River College they can begin to recognise the effort of the employee which they have putted into
their potential work. It will encourage the sharing of the ideas and knowledge within work place
for better achievement.
Maintain the communication obstacles among the employees:
Employees at the work place often conflict because of the poor work place culture, where
the staff come and work on their will, such organisation is not able to achieve their goals and
objectives. At the workplace it is most important to have effective communication among the
team members in order to complete work with efficiency and in timely manner. Tianjin
university of Finance and Economics Pearl River Collegeis requiring to promote the
communication among the team member for that they also need to give the responsibility to the
person who have better leadership skills, it will help them to lead the team in a positive forward
direction for completing the goals and objectives. It is found that when the communication can
be managed easily at the workplace then the knowledge sharing is also promoted at that place.
To use the knowledge sharing tools:
It is rapid and efficient method for sharing the knowledge as it is found that during covid
time all work is done remotely, in such employees are forced to work from home which found
that they lack in motivation which is affecting the business productivity. Thus for the remote
working slack and other MS team are the better software which allow team members to
communicate with each other and to promote the knowledge sharing. Thus Tianjin university of
Finance and Economics Pearl River College can also move forward to use the tools as slack and
MS tool for the sharing of the knowledge, from these tools they can easily motivate their

employees remotely and allow them to share the resources which guides them towards the
efficient work (Obeso and et.al (2020)).
Strength and weakness of organisation in term of KM theory:
Organisational KM theory mainly concentrate on the organisational structure as how the
company is organised whether hierarchically or culturally for managing the knowledge at work
place. For the Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College it is found that
their strength is their employees which helps them in providing the better facilities to their
service users. Thus they have the better work place structure which enables the knowledge
sharing among the team members so that they will provide the better library facilities to the
children, student and teachers. As per the organisational KM theory the weakness within the
Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College is found as lack of motivation
found among the team members. Thus for that it is important for them to timely review the
business performance and make some improvement for managing the work place structure.
Feasible recommendations for company to improve the KM practices
KM is the most prominent tool for every business to grow in their field, thus for the Tianjin
university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College suitable recommendations are as
follows:
Embraces the desire to socialise:
People have the tendency to socialise, thus for the employees it is also important to have
the good relationship at work place so that they can complete the work without feeling pressure.
Socialising increases the awareness from which the workers can easily understand the strength
and weakness of each other. Therefore, for the Tianjin university of Finance and Economics
Pearl River College they can easily move to allow their employees to indulge into the activities
and try to give them mini breaks so that they can interact with each other (Gast and et.al (2019)).
As by knowing each other’s strength and weakness employees can easily solve the problem
which they are facing and promotes the knowledge sharing at work place.
Encourages the dialogues:
Today the workers want that their voices should also be heard in the organisation. Thus
for the better and healthy work place environment it is important to make the employee feel
valued and worthy which motivates them towards their work, it will reflect in their better
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efficient work. Thus Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College also
proceeds to allow their employees to make their presence in the decision making meetings, as to
allow them to share their views and opinions so that it will smoothens the decision making
process as well. It also enables them to share the knowledge at work place for the better
accomplishment of the goals.
Solicited the feedbacks and queries:
One of the important process to enable the knowledge sharing is to seek for the feedbacks
from the employees. As Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College can
begin to ask their employees about the suggestions and their advice also to allow others to make
their small presence which promotes the spread of knowledge (Wu & Hu, (2018). It is suggested
to be transparent so that employee can easily understand what their work is demanding from
them which helps in promoting the growth for the business. Allow the employees to share the
feedback so that company can make improvement it will ease any process which aims to achieve
the goals.
Centralise the information:
Open communication a centralised archive where the knowledge is existing plays an
important role so that workers can easily access it when they required it to solve any particular
problem. Thus Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College begins to take
the benefit of the platform which mainly facilitates the documents the worker interactions.
Therefore, with this employee can easily locate the conversation with their colleagues who can
guide them to provide the insight of the problem in order to make decision for the project or to
complete it with the maximum productivity.
Tap to the intrinsic motivation:
It is analysed that the employees feel motivated and empowered when they found that
their work is interesting and enjoyable. The more they feel motivated then they more share the
knowledge at work place. Thus Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River
College required to focus on inspiring the employee from motivating the autonomy, as autonomy
is the main part of encouragement and the job satisfaction. As the employee who have some
autonomy are more likely seen as enthusiastic towards their work, thus it will play a significant
role for the company.
Encourage the change mind-set:

Person with the growth mind-set are often consider the challenge as the opportunity, they
efficiently embraces the challenges learn from the mistakes which helps in making the better
decisions next time. Thus Tianjin university of Finance and Economics Pearl River College can
also begin to cultivate such mind-set in their employees for the knowledge sharing. In such
leaders can plays an important role to align the organisational goals to cooperate with the
company’s vision, as to design the performance goals for every employee and encourage the
team to accomplish the goals (Kaba & Ramaiah, (2020)). Therefore, it will help the organisation
to promote the KM for their better business achievement.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that knowledge management plays an significant role
for promoting the growth in business. This report have illustrated the company’s overview and
the knowledge management concept for the better work place environment. Report includes the
description of the knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge retention along with
the factors which plays an important job to promote the KM at organisation. Moving on further it
explains the strength and weakness of the company as per the KM theory which covers the
organisational KM theory. Report lastly concluded with the range of the recommendation which
covers the several approaches that can be utilised to promote the sharing of the knowledge at
work place.
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REFERENCES
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productivity, and innovation performance in knowledge-based organizations: the
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Centobelli, P., Cerchione, R., & Esposito, E. (2019). Efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge
management systems in SMEs. Production Planning & Control. 30(9). 779-791.
Chierici, R. and et.al (2019). Transforming big data into knowledge: the role of knowledge
management practice. Management Decision.
Gast, J. and et.al (2019). Knowledge management and coopetition: how do cooperating
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Hock-Doepgen, M. and et.al (2021). Knowledge management capabilities and organizational
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Kaba, A., & Ramaiah, C. K. (2020). Predicting knowledge creation through the use of
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Mehrez, A. A. A. and et.al (2020, October). Internal factors affect knowledge management and
firm performance: a systematic review. In International Conference on Advanced
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Migdadi, M. M. (2020). Knowledge management, customer relationship management and
innovation capabilities. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
Obeso, M. and et.al (2020). Knowledge management processes and organizational performance:
the mediating role of organizational learning. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Shahzad, M. and et.al (2021). Does the interaction between the knowledge management process
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Online
Knowledge acquisition, 2020. [online]. Accessed through
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311975.2020.1786314>
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