Organizational Memory in Institutions of Higher Education: A Case Study

Abstract

As institutions of higher education, universities appear to be a logical place for the implementation of key knowledge management (KM) practices such as organizational learning and knowledge transfer (Kidwell et al., 2000). It is therefore surprising that universities are in fact lagging in knowledge transfer and retention strategies (Rowley, 2000). Loh et al. (2003) studied KM processes for university research at the Singapore Management University. This study looked at one unit within a University to better understand how knowledge related not only to research but also teaching and service activities were transferred and preserved. A representative section of faculty, librarians archival personnel were interviewed in order to better understand how knowledge pertaining to research, teaching and service objectives, the fundamental nature of academic duties, were being carried out. Twelve participants were asked to describe how they transferred knowledge, preserved knowledge and collaborated with their peers. Some of the key findings indicated that there was a definite lack of clarity over roles and responsibilities. While there was a consensus on the importance of preserving valuable teaching, research and service knowledge, there was no notion of how this was supposed to be done. Each participant had developed their own personal KM systems (PKM) to better collaborate with peers and preserve the knowledge they would access to in the future. This study contributes to the ultimate goal of constructing a KM model for institutions of higher education. Kidwell, J., Linde, K. & Johnson, S. (2000) Applying Corporate Knowledge Management Practices in Higher Education, Educause Quarterly, 4:28-33. Loh, B., A-C. Tang., T. Menkhoff., Y.W. Chay, and H.D. Evers, (2003). Applying knowledge management in university research. Singapore Management University, available at http://home.tonline.de/home/hdevers/Papers/Loh-Tang-Menkhoff-Chay-Evers2003-new.pdf (accessed 20 March 2012). Rowley, J. (2000) Is Higher Education Ready for Knowledge Management? The International Journal of Educational Management, 14(7):325-333.