Enabling Knowledge Sharing to Promote Innovative Organizations in Africa

1. Enabling Knowledge Sharing to Promote Innovative Organizations in Africa By Temtim Assefa PhD Student, IT PhD Program Addis Ababa University temtim@yahoo.com

2. Presentation Agenda Background Statement of the problem Research objective Review of related literature Knowledge sharing Innovation Knowledge sharing and innovation Model of innovative organizations Conclusion

3. Background Knowledge is the key strategic resource Knowledge is information integrated with experience and judgment which serve as a framework to guide our future actions Used to improve services, products and processes It is difficult to achieve development objectives without harnessing knowledge Africa is the poorest region in the world SSA countries shared 11.5% of the world population but had only 1.4 % of the GDP in 2005 (World bank, 2010) Countries have set MDGs at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 to be achieved by year 2015 Also African countries have set their priority MDGs

4. Cont’d African MDGs are: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger achieving universal primary education promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases ensuring environmental sustainability Develop a global partnership for development

5. Progress to Achieve MDGs Some African countries showed good performance For example, Ghana achieved the target in reducing the proportion of undernourished people Africa’s progress to achieve MDGs by the target year is not promising compared to other regions of the world

6. Statement of the problem Organizations are important instruments or agents of the government to translate different development objectives into reality Different studies show that African institutions are relatively weak to the challenges of meeting the MDGs African governments have also recognize this problem Different interventions are undertaken to improve institutional capacity such as structural adjustment, BPR in Ethiopia This paper tries to address this problem by showing how knowledge is used as a key resource to increase institutional capacity to achieve the MDGs

7. Research Questions How can knowledge be used to increase organizational innovative capability so as to increase Africa’s performance to achieve the MDGs? What are the practices that promote knowledge sharing among employees in the organizations?

8. Research objective To propose a theoretical framework how knowledge sharing leads to creation of innovative organizations To identify enabling factors for knowledge sharing among employees in the organization

9. Knowledge Sharing (KS) Knowledge is information integrated with experience and judgment which serve as a framework to guide our future actions KS is an organization’s routine It refers to individuals sharing of organizational relevant information, ideas, suggestions, and expertise with one another Knowledge cannot be copied like information In KS, the receiver acquires ± of the original knowledge KS results in acquisition of new knowledge It is related to individual as well as organizational learning

10. Dimensions of knowledge Nonaka (1994) classifies knowledge as tacit and explicit knowledge Tacit knowledge is shared by creating personal relationship Explicit knowledge is shared through codification such as database, documents, etc Most knowledge is in tacit form It is also embedded where it is created Provides long lasting competitive advantage 10

11. Cont’d Also classifies as individual, group and organizational knowledge When individual knowledge is shared, it becomes a group knowledge Group knowledge can easily diffuse in the organization and becomes organizational knowledge

12. Knowledge sharing Model 12 Huysman (2003) apply organizational learning as a theoretical lens to better understand knowledge sharing process in the organization.

13. Organizational Innovation Lam (2004) describes organizational innovation as creation or adoption of an idea or practice that is new to the organization. It may also refers to restructuring existing processes or resources It is also closely related to the accumulation and utilization of knowledge asset. Innovation be initiated by internal agents (or innovators) or acquired from external sources Results in new products, services or processes

14. Cont’d Innovation is a multidimensional phenomenon which includes all aspects of the organization, namely technical innovation, administrative innovation, external relational innovation, product or service innovation and process innovation

15. Characteristics of innovative organizations cross functional team building while discouraging silo building, Promotes independent, creative thinking to see things outside of job function box Promotes risk taking by employees Willingness to change existing status quo.

16. Knowledge sharing and innovation New knowledge is a cause for innovation Knowledge sharing promotes creation of new knowledge Through personal interaction, individual knowledge is amplified and leads for the development of new knowledge Also helps to convert individual level knowledge into collective knowledge Collective knowledge guides problem solving activities and patterns of interaction in the organization

17. Hypertext Organization Nonaka (1994) proposes ‘Hypertext Organization’ to promote knowledge creation

18. Practices Promote Knowledge sharing Good Social relation among employees Creates rapport among employees Help to understand one another's expertise Creates channels for knowledge sharing Results in formation of social capital among employees Reward and incentive mechanism Knowledge sharing involves effort or cost Knowledge owners need reciprocal benefit

19. Cont’d Community of practice People with similar background and interest Formal or informal Creates a platform to promote knowledge sharing Facilitates creation of new knowledge Members trusted with each other and work for the common goal Technological support Increase convenience to store, process and disseminate information Different tools available to promote knowledge sharing such as Face book, Web 2.0, Document management, Knowledge portals, etc

20. Model of innovative organizations

21. Conclusion and Policy implications Institutions are important instruments or agents to translate development objectives (e.g. MDGs) into reality Strong Institutional capacity is a requirement to achieve national development objectives Africa's institutional capacity is relatively weak to achieve its MDGs Sharing and application of institutional knowledge increases institutional capacity through learning Institutions creates an environment that promote use of knowledge to achieve business objectives. This environment is represented by openness to learn and change existing status quo, having clear policy and strategy to use knowledge as strategic resource