Knowledge management in a public organisation: a study of the performance of knowledge transfer in the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development of Malaysia

The awareness on the importance of managing knowledge as the mostimportant assets that need to be fully utilised has become the key competitiveissue lately. In Malaysia, the concern was not only from companies but alsofrom the Government of Malaysia itself. At the end of the year 2002, theGovernment of Malaysia has launched the Knowledge-based EconomyMaster Plan which aims to propel Malaysia from a production-based economyto a knowledge-based economy. With an increasing concern to create aknowledgeable society, it is critically important to understand the nature ofsuch knowledge that is already embedded in the organisation's businessprocesses, and how that knowledge is used as an important source ofcompetitive advantage.The overall aim of this thesis is to analyse the current situation on howknowledge is managed in the public organisation in Malaysia and to providegovernment agencies in Malaysia with data on how knowledge is transferred.The primary focus of the study is to identify the organisational elements thatare important for the transfer of knowledge in the public organisations inMalaysia. The study also examines different lengths of working experiencesand number of years in an organisation has an impact on the understandingof knowledge management in the public organisation.After a literature review, and the development of conceptual frameworks, anumber of hypotheses are put forward. To achieve an in-depth study, theMinistry of Entrepreneur Development of Malaysia was chosen as a casestudy. A questionnaire was used as the main instrument in gathering data andinterview(s) for the key informants were also conducted. A total of 154respondents were involved in the survey and five key informants wereinterviewed. The questionnaire is principally concerned with theunderstanding of knowledge management in the Ministry and the questions on the variables that are used for the hypothesis testing. The study alsoinvestigates the relationship between organisational elements and theperformance of knowledge transfer. Five main independent variables wereidentified - organisational culture, organisational structure, technology,people/human resources and political directives - and these were testedagainst knowledge transfer performance.The results reveal that there are two independent variables that havesignificant relationships to the performance of knowledge transfer. Thevariables are sharing culture and ICT know-how. Therefore, it is necessaryfor organisations to consider some of the elements that shows a relationshipbetween the tested variables in implementing a knowledge managementstrategy in an organisation. However, certain variables that did not show anyrelationship should not be ignored totally, as they are still very important forsome organisations.The study shows that knowledge management as a practice would be themost influential strategy in managing knowledge in public organisations inMalaysia in the near future. On the basis of the research findings theresearcher is able to put forward a series of recommendations, particularly informulating a knowledge management strategy that is suitable for the publicorganisation in Malaysia which complements the Knowledge-based EconomicMaster Plan that was launched by the Government.