Summary first week: Constraints in KM

Updated - Thursday 28 October 2004

We highlight below key points that emerged from our discussion on constraints in Knowledge Management in the water and sanitation sector, based on 53 messages posted in the first week. At the end of the first week there were 138 registered participants.

Where possible these are looked at three levels (personal, community and organisational) for each of Weggeman’s KM components. We first start with some general points. At the end a number of lessons will be highlighted.

General

Diversity of actors involved. KM involves lots of actors from various socio-demographic and expertise backgrounds.
The debate made clear that knowledge management means a lot of different things to different people.
Lack of understanding what KM is and does is a major barrier for KM adoption, so awareness raising for KM in the water sector is a key issue.
Simple communication/open dialogue and particularly building TRUST between KM stakeholders (in an organization or network) was highlighted by many participants in one way or another.
Language barriers hinder exchange of information and experiences.
Literacy level: information available or provided is too often beyond the comprehension of the info clients/searchers at local and village level.
Resistance to change was mentioned as a more general barrier, but we need to realise that this is not exclusively for KM.
On Structure, or how people and tasks / work are organised there was hardly any discussion.

Organisation

Weak and unprofessional management is an overarching key issue underlying all other KM-related constraints, two senior KM specialist stressed. This will need to be addressed further later in the e-conference.
Leadership is key in KM. For demonstrating desirable behaviour, for applying the right incentives, for setting / defining the right strategy, what to do with KM.
Lack of management commitment. Management buy-in and push, supportive managerial environment are important for the success of KM;

Culture

Constraints around culture and attitudes (personal and organisational) triggered most of the reactions and hottest debate.
Knowledge (and sometimes even information) is used as power in many settings. This is a major constraint;
At the personal and organizational level, there is the culture of not sharing professional experiences.
At the organisation level there is the status and control of the boss:
African and Middle East communication culture is much more oral than written. Africans are ‘silent’ people!. In many African and Asian cultures subordinates do not speak in the presence of their boss;

Management

Weak and unprofessional management is a key issue underlying all other KM-related constraints.
Lack of incentives. Incentives are necessary to change the organisational and personal culture around KM;
Too few KM monitoring methods. Good monitoring indicators / tools to evaluate the added value of KM would be helpful, though this could be addressed by identifying “knowledge to do what” upfront.
Lack of management commitment. Management buy-in and push, supportive managerial environment are important for the success of KM;

Personnel

Lack of capacity and time is mentioned a lot, but it is introduced by some as a consequence, not a cause/constraint;
Lack of ICT skilled personnel hinders the use of modern methods of KM.
Training support at community and organizational level has also not received enough attention.

Structure

No points mentioned.

System

Insufficient technology structures and skills. Technology was quoted as a problem.
There is too much push and action for Technology and not enough for Information, Communication and Education.
Resources: there is the lack of funds.
Lack of up-to-date ICT infrastructure in the offices, of the telecom connections, and at the providers.
Although increasing, connectivity to internet in Africa is still low.
Nepal lacks the basic facility such as electricity to adapt ICT tools at personal and community level.
Inappropriate distribution, improper use and misuse of ICT facilities contributes to unsuccessful KM use at large.
The inability to read the local language by these machines is the greatest barrier in communicating.