Knowledge Management Practices Of Selected Non-profit Organizations In The Health Sector - Nairobi County

Abstract

Knowledge is increasingly being recognized as a vital asset for organizations. The management of knowledge, therefore, is considered important in the formation and transfer of organizations intellectual assets. Non-profits operate in a unique environment and for non-profit organizations in the health sector the management of knowledge is indeed a complex due to the amount of knowledge generated in health service delivery. These organizations ought to engage in knowledge formation and its transfer to achieve long-term organizational effectiveness and success. When organizations are able to incorporate knowledge in the development of value-creating strategies, this increases their ability to respond to the demands of stakeholders, development of their workforce and support to critical service delivery. The purpose of this cross-sectional research was to establish the status of knowledge management practices at selected non-profit health sector organisations in Nairobi through means of a survey questionnaire. This questionnaire was directed to management teams as these were thought to be the knowledge practitioners within their various organizations. The overall finding is that knowledge management related practices are well-established within these select organizations. It was, however, found that the role of leadership in knowledge management practices was rather limited and there was need for the formalisation of those responsible for steering forward the knowledge management agenda within these organizations. The creation of knowledge-sharing culture was found to be enabled by information technological applications and a favourable organizational culture. The research findings also recognize the value in knowledge management and observe that knowledge management has improved the use of organizational memory and intellectual capital and made efforts to improve operational performance. This study recommends that the alignment of knowledge management policy to organizational strategy in health sector non-profit organizations in Nairobi County will act as a guideline on knowledge dissemination within these organizations. The role of organizational leaders as the vanguards of knowledge management practices will encourage knowledge-sharing throughout the organization