Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management Systems for Promoting Organizational Health and Safety

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the role of organizational culture in the implementation of knowledge management systems in health and safety promotion. The first section introduces the notion of health in organizations and its relationship with occupational health psychology. Subsequent sections discuss the role of organizational culture as a potential enabler or barrier in the implementation of knowledge management systems. Finally, we put forward a proposal in regard to the role of cultural barriers and enablers in the development of a specific knowledge management system within the framework of a research project conducted by the authors. Intervention-focused research on the promotion of organizational health and safety is significant both socially and scientifically. Intervention research within occupational health psychology has highlighted the need for a multilevel approach that combines individual, social, and organizational perspectives. This procedure calls for a comprehensive and holistic modus operandi that is capable of facilitating high-level information processing which, in itself, is a prerequisite for the maintenance of a healthy organization. To this end, knowledge management systems can provide a useful working philosophy. The incorporation of such systems into organizations frequently involves a process of organizational change in which culture plays a critical role as a barrier or enabler. Even when a process of change is not required, the organizational culture must be consistent with the underlying objectives of the system that is to be implemented. Likewise, the organization’s practices and values must be oriented to organizational learning and to health and safety promotion, in order that both the knowledge management system and health and safety promotion activities form part of its day-to-day operations. These notions underpin the development of the following sections of this chapter.