What Is Knowledge Transfer And Why Is It Important?
More than just a communications problem, knowledge transfer involves a very practical problem of getting knowledge from one part of an organization to all parts of an organization. Now you'd think this would be a simple process of just going ahead and doing the knowledge transfer through whatever means at your disposal. Like using emails or writing a memo.
Well, in this case the assumption of simplicity would be incorrect.
Why would it be any more difficult that writing an email? It is more complex because it involves humans and their personalities. Knowledge transfer that relies on humans also involves tools they use, tasks they perform and any sub networks they belong to. Add to this mix the fact that much of the knowledge that is inherent in an organization is not voiced or expressed or is hard to put into words.
There are other drawbacks to the process of knowledge transfer as well and they can run the gamut from those mentioned above to the lack of trust. Let's take a closer look at some of the other difficulties in effecting knowledge transfer. One such problem is the lack of a shared social identity. In other words, the pieces of the puzzle that are the collective organization see themselves as individuals, not as a collective. This brings up areas of expertise and how they could vastly differ from person to person. Of course knowledge transfer would be very difficult in those cirumstances. Another impediment to knowledge transfer is internal conflicts. Which is the polite way of saying professional territoriality. If employee A doesn't want employee B messing into their department, the resulting conflict hampers knowledge transfer. Another difficulty would be generational differences - the older, wiser management trying to communicate with the younger, not yet as wise employee(s). This could cause misconceptions to arise and lead to faulty information. In this instance, knowledge transfer would come to a screeching halt. There are several other challenges to effective knowledge transfer, such as the organization being averse to sharing knowledge. Organizations like this have an attitude best summed up as the "Knowledge is power" point of view, but only to those who hold the knowledge. Call this hitting the brick wall in trying to effect knowledge transfer. Other issues could be union/management issues, incentives (or lack thereof), issues surrounding motivation (again, a people issue), and even language difficulties. Of course at the root of these challenges is human diversity, and the need of the organization to find ways to effectively motivate the organization to carry out knowledge transfer to improve the company. A challenge indeed!
Knowledge Management
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