ABSTRACT
In this paper, we report and reflect on Knowledge Management (KM) projects conducted in two China-based, smaller–sized professional service firms. The authors acted as Action Researchers, assisting each firm extensively as it prepared for its implementation of an IT-based KMS. However, neither KMS implementation significantly improved knowledge transfer or work productivity. We analyze the project failures, noting the significance of specific strategic management deficiencies as well as inadequate employee involvement and incentives. The implications for the strategic management of knowledge and organizational change in China are considered.
6. Conclusion
Knowledge management takes on particular forms in particular contexts (cf. Davison & Martinsons, 2017). The formalization of knowledge has been attempted in a large number and wide range of organizations. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of these attempts have been unsuccessful. Moreover, as Zhu (2004, p. 75) suggests, “a universal concept of knowledge management is unrealistic, counterproductive and undesirable”. Nevertheless, the existing literature tends to privilege accounts of KM success stories in large Western enterprises to the exclusion of non-Western contexts. As Davison and Martinsons (2017) observe, “cultural and institutional differences matter!”. It is unlikely that the causes of KM successes and failures are universal. Our CAR projects in China are among the first to examine in depth how and why KMS projects fail. They reveal a distinct preference for informal and unsystematic knowledge sharing. We found that knowledge workers in two small PSFs supplement face-to-face meetings with informal IT-supported communications. Although the management style in the two companies was very different, each ultimately failed to adopt a formal KMS.
