1. The Impact of Organizational
Culture on the Use of ICT for
Knowledge Management
Lopez-Nicolas C. & Meroño-Cerdán A.
Electron Markets (2009) 19:211-219
UNIVERSIDAD DE MURCIA
Comunicación y Documentación
MÁSTER GIO
Nuevos paradigmas para la
economía a partir del
desarrollo de las TICs
SAMANTHA BERNARDIS
a.a.2012/2013

2. CONTENT
AIM
HOW
To analyse the impact of diverse organizational cultures
(hierarchical culture, clan culture, adhocracy culture,
market culture) on the use of ICT for strategic Knowledge
Management
literature review of some concepts:
KM, ICT for KM, Organizational Culture
proposing a theoretical model , testing it in a sample of
more than 300 Spanish firms (exactly 310)
CLAN + ICT FOR KM Personalization
THEORETICAL
MODEL
HIERARCHY + ICT FOR KM codification
ADHOCRACY + ICT FOR KM personalization codification
MARKET vs ICT FOR KM personalization codification

3. LITERATURE
REVIEW

4. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge—and its
associated processes of creation, organization, diffusion, use and exploitation
(Skyrme 2001)
Knowledge, namely Tacit Knowledge
→
source of advantage
… however knowledge has to be managed
KM STRATEGIES
Personalization
Codification
→
ICT USE
strategic advantage
Tacit Knowledge
Explicit knowledge
(Hansen at al, 1999)

5. ICT FOR KM
Nowadays, in order to capture, store and share the large amount of
Information/knowledge technology support is NECESSARY
ICT support on KM differs from codification to personalization,
Also depending on the types of Knowledge (TACIT OR EXPLICIT)
(Hansen at al, 1999)
FIRST KM PROJECTS FAILED → Over-focus on technologies, no on people
and process. No manage differently tacit and explicit knowledge
ICT FOR KM LIMITATIONS
→
→
They reduce the richness of codified knowledge
Management and sharing of tacit knowledge is problematic

6. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
flexibility, discretion and dynamism
Assumptions
OC
Values
Artefacts
stability, order and control
CVF
internal orientation, integration, and unity
External orientation, differentiation and rivalry
CLAN
HIERARCHY
ADHOCRACY
MARKET
(Cameron & Quinn, 1999)

7. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, KM & ICT
OC & KM
OC is believed to be the most significant input to effective KM
OC must be considered as an antecedent of KM and not as a result
→
Organizations have to build their KM strategy aligning that to
their culture
OC & ICT
The implementation of technologies is considered a critical social
process of change
→
Some studies focusing on ICT use or ICT implementation or failure

8. INVESTIGATION
PROBLEM
METHOD &
MEASURES
USED

9. INVESTIGATION PROBLEM
The impact of different OC on the use of ICT for KM
- using the CVF model
- focusing on understanding how corporate values interact with ICT features
(orientations to knowledge CODIFICATION or PERSONALIZATION)
CLAN + ICT FOR KM Personalization
HIERARCHY + ICT FOR KM codification
ADHOCRACY + ICT FOR KM personalization codification
MARKET vs ICT FOR KM personalization codification

10. METHOD
TARGET
310 firms of different sectors in the region of
Murcia, with minimum 10 employees.
DATA COLLECTION
METHOD
Close-ended questions
Face-to-face surveys given to CEOs

11. MEASURES
Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)
FOR OC
→
FOR ICT FOR KM
Lee and Choi Scale (2003)
Dominant Characteristics, Organizational Leadership,
Management of Employees, Organizational Glue, Strategic
Emphases and Criteria of Success
→
six items allows the researcher to distinguish the strategic
approach (CODIFICATION/PERSONALIZATION) a company
follows for KM

12. MEASURES 2
SURVEY

13. RESULTS

14. HYPOTHESIS RESULTS
CLAN + ICT FOR KM personalization
HIERARCHY + ICT FOR KM codification
SI
NO
ADHOCRACY + ICT FOR KM personalization codification
SI
MARKET vs ICT FOR KM personalization codification
NO

15. CONCLUSIONS
LIMITATIONS
FUTURE
PROJECTS

16. CONCLUSIONS
Positive effects on KM, specifically in the case of cultural values associated with
clan and adhocracy
none of the values of the OC (hierarchy, clan, adhocracy and market) have a
significant negative impact on the use of ICT for KM
OCs featured by flexibility, innovation and dynamism (CLAN - ADHOCRACY) are
found to have a greater influence on KM through ICT
ERGO
managers may feel more confident in managing
OC and values for KM

17. LIMITATIONS - FUTURE PROJECTS
Reduced Target (only Murcia firms)
→
a sampling frame that combines firms from different countries could be used
in order to provide a more international perspective to the subject
An investigation conducted in a specific period of time.
→
a longitudinal study could be carried out, because OC is malleable over-time
This investigation has focused on the OC, leaving outside others flattering
elements which have an impact on KM.
→
A detailed analysis of Organizational Learning is required to be carried out in
a future research, as well as the analysis of the impact of human resources and
organizational design on KM strategy.

18. PERSONAL
CONTRIBUTION

19. PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION
Supporting the article's results because :
→
In the general vision of KM, PEOPLE is one of three dimensions comprised ,
PEOPLE is central in codification and personalization too (people to document,
people to people).
PEOPLE is an important central element in the organizational culture as well.
→
An example of a company that fits the clan culture is the Finnish conGlomerate Nokia and also it fits:
(Greenberg, 2012)
→
Nokia develops KM strategy personalization (Tacit knowledge is the most
important one)
IT is part of its Knowledge Management strategy.
ICT for KM (Culture of collaboration and information sharing )
(Gottschalk 2005)

20. REFERENCE
GOTTSCHALK, Petter. Strategic Knowledge Management Technology, 2005.
306pp.
GREENBERG, Jerald. Managing Behavior in Organizations, Sixth Edition, 2012.

21. THANK YOU
FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
ANY QUESTIONS
OR DOUBTS?