Benchmarking knowledge management in a public organisation in Malaysia

Abstract

There is relatively very little information on knowledge management in the public sector, and even less in developing countries. This paper investigates and examines the availability of a knowledge management strategy in a public organisation in Malaysia. This paper also examines perceptions on the benefits, problems, responsibilities and technological aspects that are entailed in managing knowledge in an organisation. Issues that encourage and restrict knowledge generation and knowledge sharing are also discussed. To achieve an in‐depth study, the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development of Malaysia was chosen for a case study. A questionnaire was used as the main instrument in gathering data, and a total of 154 respondents were involved in the survey. Although the Ministry does not have any specific knowledge management strategy, the study reveals that knowledge in the Ministry was available in the Ministry's procedures and policies, job manual procedure, ISO 9002, desk file, work flow and databases.