Knowledge sharing amongst librarians in Cypriot libraries

Hadjipavlis, Andreas Knowledge sharing amongst librarians in Cypriot libraries., 2012 [Preprint]

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English abstract

Purpose –The objectives of this paper are fivefold: 1. To ascertain whether Cypriot librarians are familiar with knowledge management; 2. To identify the willingness of those professionals to share and re-use knowledge; 3. To investigate the role of information systems in facilitating knowledge sharing; and 4. To identify organizational barriers that hinder knowledge production, 5. To be used for future studies on the subject. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research design was used. A questionnaire was distributed to Cypriot library staff, across seven libraries and their departments in Nicosia and Limassol. The questionnaires were given to all levels of employees in the organizational hierarchy. Findings – The research supported the literature and showed that knowledge sharing is a major asset in organizational success and a valuable tool to contribute to organizational processes. The paper concludes that trust, knowledge management systems and incentives are a positive influencing factor in promoting knowledge sharing by boosting the motivation and performance of employees. Research limitations/implications – This paper is the first attempt to study knowledge sharing and knowledge management in Cypriot libraries. The questionnaires returned constituted 45.83% of those distributed. The relatively small number of library staff working in Cypriot libraries allows us to undertake further studies which will aim to map knowledge sharing attitudes among Cypriot librarians. It would be interesting to extend the study to other developed European countries in order to understand similarities and differences in knowledge sharing and reveal how knowledge management is treated by other effective organizations. Originality/value – This is the first research study of Cypriot librarians concerning knowledge management (KM) and fills the gap in the literature on the subject. The findings may be used as a basis that will assist local knowledge management professionals to develop a framework to explore knowledge sharing and knowledge management in similar organizations such as libraries, museums and archives.

Greek abstract

Η διαχείριση της γνώσης δεν είναι τόσο απλή όσο ακούγεται. Πρόκειται για ένα σύνθετο κοινωνικο- τεχνικό σύστημα που συνδυάζει διάφορες μορφές παραγωγής γνώσης, αποθήκευσης, αναπαραγωγής και διάχυσης (Ardichvili et al., 2006). Ολοένα και περισσότεροι οργανισμοί σήμερα θέλουν να ξεπεράσουν αυτά τα "εσωτερικά" εμπόδια και να κάνουν την πληροφορία διαθέσιμη σε όλα τα επίπεδα της οργάνωσης. Τα συστήματα διαχείρισης της γνώσης (Knowledge Management Systems) έχουν αναπτυχθεί για να βοηθήσουν αυτή τη διαδικασία μεταφοράς γνώσης ώστε να είναι πιο ακριβής και αποτελεσματική, δίνοντας έτσι στην οργάνωση «κάτι περισσότερο» . Η επιτυχία ή αποτυχία των συστημάτων αυτών εξαρτάται από το προσωπικό ενός οργανισμού και την προθυμία τους να μοιραστούν και να χρησιμοποιούν τη γνώση. Ως εκ τούτου, το προσωπικό θα πρέπει να ενθαρρύνεται να χρησιμοποιεί αυτά τα συστήματα . Όπως οι Brown και Duguid (2000, σ. 119) αναφέρουν : «η γνώση απαιτεί ένα γνώστη" ("knowledge entails a knower"), και άρα δεν μπορεί να μεταφερθεί από μόνη της. Επομένως ο προσδιορισμός των ατόμων που θα μοιράζονται τις γνώσεις τους θα πρέπει να είναι ένα από τα κύρια ζητήματα σε έναν οργανισμό . Οι εργάτες της γνώσης (Knowledge workers) ( Drucker, 1999), βοηθούν ο ένας τον άλλο να προσθέσει νέες πληροφορίες στη "βάση γνώσης" του και να την εμπλουτίσει προκειμένου μετέπειτα να τη χρησιμοποιήσει ενστικτωδώς για την ολοκλήρωση μιας εργασίας ή για μια καινοτόμο ιδέα (Davidson και Voss, 2002). Επιπλέον, η σκέψη της ανταλλαγής εμπειριών συμβάλλει στην ενίσχυση των σχέσεων μεταξύ των μελών του οργανισμού. Ωστόσο, στη μελέτη ο συγγραφέας ενδιαφέρεται να κατανοήσει τι συμβαίνει όταν οι μη κερδοσκοπικοί φορείς , όπως βιβλιοθήκες , θέλουν να ενσωματώσουν καλύτερες ιδέες για τη διαχείριση της γνώσης . Μια σειρά από μελέτες έχουν διεξαχθεί για την οργανωτική μάθηση, τη δημιουργία γνώσης και την ανταλλαγή της γνώσης εντός των οργανισμών καθώς και τη σχέση τους με την παρακίνηση των εργαζομένων (π.χ. Gupta και Govindarajan, 2000; Tsai, 2002 ) . Ωστόσο, η επισκόπηση της βιβλιογραφίας φαίνεται να δείχνει μια σημαντική έλλειψη εμπειρικής έρευνας σχετικά με το πώς οι βιβλιοθηκονόμοι μοιράζονται και διαχειρίζονται τη δική τους γνώση. Σκοπός της παρούσας μελέτης ήταν να διερευνήσει και να καθορίσει τον τρόπο με τον οποίο η εσωτερική γνώση διαχέεται και διαχειρίζεται στο πλαίσιο των βιβλιοθηκών και να εντοπίσει τυχών οργανωτικά και λειτουργικά εμπόδια που θα μπορούσαν να παρεμποδίσουν την επιτυχή διάδοσή της. Μέσα λοιπόν από την ανάλυση των αποτελεσμάτων της ποσοτικής έρευνας που χρησιμοποιήθηκε διαφάνηκε ότι η ανταλλαγή γνώσεων αποτελεί ένα σημαντικό πλεονέκτημα για την οργανωτική επιτυχία και ένα πολύτιμο εργαλείο που συμβάλει στις οργανωτικές διαδικασίες . Επίσης γίνεται αντιληπτό ότι τα συστήματα διαχείρισης γνώσης, η εμπιστοσύνη ανάμεσα στα άτομα και τα κίνητρα που δίνονται αποτελούν θετικό παράγοντα επιρροής στην προώθηση της ανταλλαγής γνώσεων ενισχύοντας παράλληλα το κίνητρο (motivation) και την απόδοση των εργαζομένων.

Item type: Preprint
Keywords: Knowledge management, Libraries, Knowledge sharing, Cyprus
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BC. Information in society.
B. Information use and sociology of information > BG. Information dissemination and diffusion.
Depositing user: Andreas K. Andreou
Date deposited: 13 Jun 2014 08:13
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:31
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/23257

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