Challenges Facing Knowledge Management Among Local Health Sector Ngo’s in Nairobi

Abstract

ABSTRACT Knowledge is of limited organizational value if it is not shared. The ability to collect, integrate and apply specialized knowledge of an organization’s members is fundamental to a firm’s ability to create and sustain competitive advantage. Knowledge is a fundamental factor, whose successful application helps organizations deliver creative products and services. Most organizations already have a vast reservoir of knowledge in a wide variety of organizational processes, best-practices, know-how, customer trust, culture and norms. However, this knowledge is diffused, and mostly unrecognized. Due to the complex nature of health care, health NGO’s face many unique obstacles that other types of NGO’s do not have to struggle with. These include economic complications, challenges of providing continuous health care, unpredicted cultural obstacles, and difficulties navigating within the already existing health care system. The objective of the study was to determine the challenges facing knowledge management among local health sector NGO’s in Nairobi. The research design adopted by the study was a survey of health NGO’s operating in Nairobi. The study used primary data which were collected through self-administered structured questionnaires. The data was analyzed and presented using mean, standard deviation and percentages. The knowledge management challenges found out were failure to create a forum to share ideas, diverse cultures, hesitation to admit need for help in implementing and sustaining, lack of common language, lack of commitment from all parties and confusing information with knowledge, failure to allocate time to implement, lack of trust among users and management, flawed incentives to participate, difficulties in knowledge sharing, managers resistant to change, difficulties among employees in adapting to knowledge based culture, acceptance of the employees to implement knowledge management strategies, distributing the right knowledge to the right person at the right timeand lack of information technology savvy among employees. Ways to overcome the challenges were found to be provision of relevant training, explaining the benefits and importance of knowledge management to the employees, monitoring employees who access and contribute to knowledge management system and rewarding them, creation of an environment of trust as people tend to share knowledge when they know each other, clearly stated and explained organizational policy on the implementation of knowledge management, top management support, practice an appropriate style of leadership to implement knowledge management and staff and managers being aware of the changes and advantages that knowledge management can bring to them and organization.