World Bank Knowledge Sharing Initiatives: A Case Study Analysis

This case study examines the World Bank's knowledge management program, initiated in the 1990s to combat global poverty through enhanced knowledge sharing. The program aimed to disseminate best practices, country data, and developmental research. Challenges included geographical isolation and inadequate infrastructure among client countries. The World Bank partnered with IBM to improve IT infrastructure and emphasized thematic groups over technology, fostering informal knowledge sharing. The HR department played a crucial role in managing organizational changes and resistance, adopting a matrix structure and decentralization to improve knowledge flow. The success of the program relied heavily on top management support, differentiating itself from commercial organizations by prioritizing poverty eradication and developmental research over profit. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AT WORLD BANK
Knowledge management at World Bank
Name of the student
Name of the university

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Question 1
In global organizations, the rapid growth in the sector of information technology,
globalization in economy and an increase in the need for knowledge oriented work have led to a
demand for knowledge management and sharing. Knowledge sharing in a global organization
like World Bank may be defined as the process of creating, synthesizing, learning, sharing and
acquiring knowledge which can help an organization attain its long term and short term goals
(Hau et al.). In short, knowledge sharing within an organization which operates on a global scale
would facilitate the growth of learning organizations and improve the decision making
capabilities within the organization as well. For instance, if a certain decision is taken by an
organization to solve a particular issue, and it turns out to be successful, this knowledge can be
used as a reference for similar issues in the future (Witherspoon et al.).
For an organization that is operating across numerous geographical regions, knowledge
sharing would also help in improving communication between the employees, both
interdepartmental and intradepartmental (Paulin and Suneson). For instance, the knowledge
sharing initiative that was implemented by the World Bank was not simply to share information
about people and processes or for commercial benefits. Instead, the main aim of the program
was to share country wide data, knowledge about best practices in global spheres and details of
ongoing developmental research which could benefit their clients. Moreover, as was seen in the
case of World Bank, the increasing competition resulted in increased demand for growth and
innovation. By sharing and managing knowledge in an effective manner, it became possible for
companies to access valuable information and also deliver better results.
Question 2

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In the 1990s, the World Bank announced that its main aim was to eradicate global
poverty. It stated that all of its activities would henceforth be directed towards reduction of
global poverty and an improvement of the general standard of living around the word. It was
during this time that the knowledge management systems were implemented within the
organization. Soon, the concept of knowledge sharing became deeply embedded into the culture
of the organization as a whole. The main purpose of implementing a knowledge sharing
program was to facilitate the flow of knowledge related to best global business practices, country
data and information about developmental research. The bank had huge amounts of data, which
was not streamlined or organized. The organization was thus spending huge sums of money
without getting any return on it.
However, the implementation of the knowledge sharing initiatives within the
organization encountered a number of challenges. One of the major factors that got in the way
of smooth implementation was the geographic isolation of the bank. The bank had its
headquarters in Washington DC and every time a decision had to be taken, it would have to be
communicated to the Washington office and then processed. This elaborate procedure was time
consuming and inconvenient. Couriering the mission and report for developmental assistance and
final approval took nearly a month, during which time, people continued to suffer. Another
major challenge was the fact that most of the clients of World Bank lacked the infrastructure
necessary to support such a movement.
Question 3
In order to successfully implement the knowledge management program, the World Bank
took the assistance of IBM, who evaluated the state of information technology within the

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organization and made recommendations for the same. This global network system enabled the
bank to get information about its network, irrespective of the geographical location. In 2002, the
bank turned to the Internet Protocol for knowledge management. In the initial phases of
implementation, the emphasis for knowledge management was on information technology which
was considered to be the essential component of knowledge sharing in the organization.
Gradually, the concepts of storytelling and thematic groups were introduced into the
World Bank for knowledge sharing. Thematic groups were informal groups of people who were
categorized on the basis of related work (Davison, Ou and Martinsons). At least 90 per cent of
the total budge allocated for knowledge sharing was assigned to thematic groups. This was quite
different from other organizations that had implemented knowledge management for they were
more focused on technology. On the other hand, the World Bank realized that it would be
beneficial for the organization to keep people who worked in related fields connected. This
would help such people share knowledge and facilitate a flow of information that could help
various related sections of the organization. People were more likely to share information in a
free and more relaxed manner with people who worked in related fields or had experienced
similar situations. Moreover, people working at the World Bank were not entirely comfortable
accessing information through just databases, and were more inclined to share knowledge and
information they had acquired with people.
Question 4
Implementation of a knowledge sharing program at World Bank was an organizational
change on a massive change. While the benefits of the program were multi faceted, the initiative
was met with a lot of apprehension and uncertainty. As a result, the organization made a number

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of changes to the overall structure of the organization, along with the human resource
department. It can be said that the successful implementation of the knowledge management
program would have been impossible without the support of the human resource department
(Titi Amayah). For one, the HR department would in charge of shaping the overall organization
culture and environment. It would also be responsible for setting an example for the rest of the
employees and leading them towards the desired results (Wang, Noe and Wang). Moreover, a
massive transformation such as this was met with some degree of resistance, without a doubt. It
is thus the responsibility of the HR department to reduce and manage resistance effectively by
convincing and persuading the employees of the organization to partake in the change. During
the implementation phase of the World Bank, the HR department’s role was not restricted to
merely the administrative tasks. They were also expected to take critical decisions which would
include alterations in the company structure that was best suited to the business model of the
organization.
The World Bank had adopted a matrix organizational structure during the implementation
of knowledge sharing so as to promote and enhance sharing and exchange of knowledge. In such
a structure, the operations were divided on the basis of both sector and region where heads of
regions and sectors worked together on knowledge sharing policies. A few loopholes were
recognized in the program and geographical isolation was one of them. Moreover, Most of the
clients of the bank were located in developing regions, where the facilities and resources
available were scarce. As such, it was nearly impossible to set up a proper system of
communications technology, which is the foundation of a knowledge management system. To
address these, the company also introduced a decentralization program which ensured that the
country heads in their client countries were not restricted to Washington. Since geographic

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isolation was one of the major factors that hindered the facilitation of knowledge within the
client countries, the organization implemented a decentralization program in the late 1990s. This
was done so that the operational heads could be present at the actual areas of operation which in
turn would speed up the process of providing developmental assistance.
Question 5
The success of World Bank’s knowledge management program would not have been
successful without the support of the top management. When it comes to organizational
changes like implementation of knowledge management, the top management of an organization
is supposed to ensure that the program is implemented in a smooth and flawless manner
(Carmeli, Gelbard and Reiter-Palmon). For instance, the top management is supposed to clarify
the vision and mission of the organization and specify the long term and short term goals. The
organization management is also responsible for winning the favor of the entire organization and
acquiring their support for the same.
There are two main differences between the knowledge sharing at World Bank and
that in commercial organizations. Unlike commercial organizations, at the World Bank, the
focus of the knowledge sharing program was the people, not the technology. This is because it
was assumed that involving people working in related fields would be more beneficial in
facilitating a flow of knowledge than technology. Similarly, in most organizations, the main
purpose of knowledge sharing is commercial benefits and profit. On the other hand, at the World
Bank, eradication of world poverty, developmental research and making this information
available to the rest of the developing countries was the primary focus of their knowledge
sharing.

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References
Carmeli, Abraham, Roy Gelbard, and Roni Reiter‐Palmon. "Leadership, creative problem‐
solving capacity, and creative performance: The importance of knowledge sharing." Human
Resource Management 52.1 (2013): 95-121.
Davison, Robert M., Carol XJ Ou, and Maris G. Martinsons. "Information technology to support
informal knowledge sharing." Information Systems Journal 23.1 (2013): 89-109.
Hau, Yong Sauk, et al. "The effects of individual motivations and social capital on employees’
tacit and explicit knowledge sharing intentions." International Journal of Information
Management 33.2 (2013): 356-366.
Paulin, Dan, and Kaj Suneson. "Knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing and knowledge
barriers–three blurry terms in KM." Leading Issues in Knowledge Management, Volume Two 2
(2015): 73-94.
Titi Amayah, Angela. "Determinants of knowledge sharing in a public sector
organization." Journal of knowledge management 17.3 (2013): 454-471.
Wang, Sheng, Raymond A. Noe, and Zhong-Ming Wang. "Motivating knowledge sharing in
knowledge management systems: A quasi–field experiment." Journal of Management40.4
(2014): 978-1009.