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 Table of Contents  
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2018  |  Volume : 4  |  Issue : 2  |  Page : 84-88

Examining the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management components among University staffs in 2011


1 Health Management and Economic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 Hasht Behesht University, Isfahan, Iran

Date of Web Publication24-Jul-2018

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Azadeh Alavi
Management and Health Economy Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan
Iran
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2395-2296.237294

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  Abstract 


INTRODUCTION: Knowledge management (KM) helps organizations to find, select, organize, and publish important information. On the other hand, organizational culture is considered as a major player in KM scene. Organizational culture is a common and relatively stable pattern of values, beliefs, and fundamental belief in an organization. The current hospital structure is a structure that provides a proper balance between hospital management and medical staff.
METHODOLOGY: The current research is a descriptive correlational. Based on Cochran formula, the sample size was 200 people. Data analysis was performed using SPSS (version 16). The instruments used in this study were a standard organizational culture questionnaire with 56 questions with reliability was 0.8 and a standard KM questionnaire including 33 main questions based on Likert scale with reliability of 0.89.
RESULTS: In the analysis, the relationship between organizational culture and KM relationship was compared. For comparison and determining the relations, Pearson's correlation coefficient (ρ) was used. In accordance with the tables regardless of the size of each of the variables, the relationship between variables was direct and strong and statistically it was highly significant (P > 0.5).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Average scores of KM have been close to mean. The application, use, and reservation of the knowledge had higher mean values than others did. So perhaps, we can say employees better managed to use, store, and maintain knowledge. In contrast, they were weak at distribution and sharing of knowledge.

Keywords: Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, knowledge management, organizational culture


How to cite this article:
Safdarian A, Alavi A, Kasiri K, Moayyedfar H. Examining the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management components among University staffs in 2011. Int J Educ Psychol Res 2018;4:84-8

How to cite this URL:
Safdarian A, Alavi A, Kasiri K, Moayyedfar H. Examining the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management components among University staffs in 2011. Int J Educ Psychol Res [serial online] 2018 [cited 2024 Mar 29];4:84-8. Available from: https://www.ijeprjournal.org/text.asp?2018/4/2/84/237294




  Introduction Top


Organizational culture is a common and relatively stable pattern of values, beliefs, and fundamental belief in an organization. Therefore, it can be said that any fundamental change in the organization is possible only through understanding the culture of that organization. Today's organizations paid more attention to understand, adapt, and manage the environment changes and in the acquisition and application of knowledge and updated information to improve operations and provide better services and products excelled their clients. Such organizations need to apply the new style of management called knowledge management (KM). Culture and organizational structure should support KM system in the organization. Organizational culture where creativity and innovation is a value, it will be a driving dimensions of KM. Organizational culture is a common and relatively stable pattern of values, beliefs, and fundamental belief in an organization. Therefore, it can be said that any fundamental change in the organization is possible only through understanding the culture of that organization.[1] The weak organizational culture prevents people strive for the preservation of personal power base and his efficiency, sharing knowledge, and disseminating it.[2] Therefore, only by studying, changing, and creation of an appropriate and flexible organizational culture pattern of interaction between people in the organization can gradually changes and management of knowledge can be used as a competitive advantage.[3] According to the research, a major obstacle to implementing KM in organizations is organizational culture.[4] Examining the relationship between organizational culture and its impact on the implementation of KM is necessary. Since most research done on the relationship between organizational culture and KM was in industrial environments, it is necessary to test this connection in a public sector like medical universities that are in charge of the public health. The main obstacle to effective implementation of KM is a lack of culture of sharing knowledge and lack of understanding of the many advantages of KM among employees. Therefore, officials can take advantage of the KM tool to change organizations to learning organizations and take an effective step in the acquisition of capabilities of this kind of organization. Organizational culture plays an undeniable role in the success of business changes and the KM activities. Finally, the institutionalization of a culture of KM at universities paves the grounds for the establishment of a KM components and leads to improvement of performance and processes. Given the importance of what was said, in this study, the relationship between organizational culture and KM components between staff in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences has been discussed.


  Methodology Top


The current research method was a descriptive correlational study that in terms of purpose is categories, applied, and based on the nature and type of study is descriptive. The population in this study consists of all employees working in the headquarters of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 1392 (2013), which were 792 people in total. In this study, simple random sampling was used. In addition, to determine the sample size, in the first step, 30 questionnaires were distributed randomly between the population and based on Cochran formula, the sample size was calculated (200). In this study, to collect information about the literature of study, library methods such as using books and scientific journals were used. To collect data to approve the hypotheses, KM and organizational culture questionnaire were used. The instruments used in this study were a standard organizational culture questionnaire with 56 questions with reliability was 0.8 and a standard KM questionnaire including 33 main questions based on the Likert scale with the reliability of 0.89. Face and content validity of the questionnaire was validated by experts and professionals. To analyze the data by the scale of KM and organizational culture, SPSS software (16th version, IBM) was used. In this study, descriptive statistics – frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics – Pearson's correlation coefficient for the relationship between variables – t-test for statistical significance, ANOVA test to calculate the difference between the means, and least significant difference were used for pair comparison of the means.


  Results Top


Findings

In the analysis, the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management relationship was compared. For comparison and determining the relations, Pearson correlation coefficient (ρ) was used. In accordance with the tables regardless of the size of each of the variables, the relationship between variables was direct and strong and statistically it was highly significant (P > 0.5).


  Discussion and Conclusion Top


The results showed that 78 employees (51.3%) were males, and 74 (48.7%) were females. The highest frequency aged 41–50 years and the lowest frequency was in 50 years category. The majority of employees have a bachelor's degree with a frequency of 60 (39.5%), and lowest frequencies of education were associate degree with a frequency of 16 (10.5%) which 10–20 years of service and management experience of 1–5 years had the most frequency. Average scores of KM scale were close to the mean. Using one sample t-test between the mean difference scores of the three was significant. This significance considering the average values provided was a little <3. In addition, storage and utilization of knowledge was higher than the mean of other scales. Therefore, it can be concluded that staff had higher management in storage, maintenance, and use of knowledge. Moreover, in contrast, the distribution and sharing of knowledge was weak. In this regard, the results of Jafari et al. (2011) showed the averageness of KM in public health centers and Tehran University of Medical Sciences that was due to the formality and focus on the organizational structure understudy. In addition, the results of Haghighatmonfared and Hoshyar showed that knowledge creation had the highest and best rate among the components of KM. Moreover, unlike our study, knowledge storage variable has been the lowest.[5] The results of Sadeghi et al. (2010) showed that in Hasheminejad Hospital in Tehran, KM and its components had relatively appropriate status. Among these components, only knowledge acquisition and development of knowledge gained less score than the other indicators.[6] The highest score and the lowest score were related to goals of knowledge sharing, respectively, that is in contrast to the current study. Gender was significant on identification and development of knowledge and communication components (P < 0.05); age factor was not effective on the components of commitment and sense of responsibility, motivation, integration, and application of knowledge and it was effective on KM, common objectives, and teamwork (P < 0.05). Education has been effective on all scales except the identification of knowledge (P < 0.05). Years of service have been effective on all scales of KM except development of knowledge (P < 0.05). Staff management experience was effective on all scales of KM and organizational culture except compliance with laws and regulations and control method (P < 0.05). Changes in the variables for studied factors are listed in detail in Chapter 4. Finally, there is a direct relationship between KM and organizational culture, in other words, by increasing KM, organizational culture has increased. The highest relation was between storage and maintenance of knowledge and common goals. The lowest relation was between knowledge acquisition and consequentialism. Overall, the relationship of organizational culture with KM was direct (0.566) and statistically quite significant (P < 0.05). According to the results of this study, the results of Jafari et al. (2011) also showed there is a significant relationship between the structural aspects and dimensions and organizational culture and KM so that it is negative with focus and formality and positive with communication and knowledge sharing and continuous learning. By examining the relationship between organizational culture and KM components in IUMS staff and ensuring the direct impact of organizational culture on KM, we can conclude that organizational culture is a key factor in the success of KM. Only by assessing, changing, and creation of an appropriate and flexible organizational culture, we can gradually change the pattern of interaction between the employees and use management of knowledge as a competitive advantage [Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5], [Table 6], [Table 7], [Table 8].
Table 1: Descriptive statistics on subscales of knowledge management variable among staff present in the sample

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Table 2: Descriptive statistics on component of organizational culture among employees present in the sample

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Table 3: The mean dimensions of knowledge management by gender and age

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Table 4: The mean dimensions of knowledge management by component of organizational culture

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Table 5: Results of F-test to assess knowledge management

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Table 6: Results of F-test to assess organizational culture

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Table 7: Results of Pearson's correlation coefficient between organizational culture and knowledge management

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Table 8: Results of Pearson's correlation coefficient between organizational culture and knowledge management

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Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.



 
  References Top

1.
Asgarian M. Concept of organizational culture. Bimonthly of police human resources; Vol. 24. August and September, 2009.  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Kalseth K. Knowledge management strategy. Perspect J 2002;37:37-41.  Back to cited text no. 2
    
3.
Balthazard P. Organizational culture and knowledge management success: Assessing the behavior-performance continuum. J Knowl Manag 2004;38:8-21.  Back to cited text no. 3
    
4.
Nonaka I, Takeuchi H. The Knowledge-Creating Company. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1995.  Back to cited text no. 4
    
5.
Haghighatmonfared J, Hoshyar A. Examining the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management (Case study: National Iranian Oil Company). J Manag Hum Resour Pet Ind 2010;12:3.  Back to cited text no. 5
    
6.
Sadeghi A, Jafari H, Khodaiari R, Pakdaman M, Mohamadi R, Ahadi Nejad B. The relation between organizational culture and knowledge management in Shahid Hashemi Nejad Hospital. J Hosp 2010;2:50-7.  Back to cited text no. 6
    



 
 
    Tables

  [Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5], [Table 6], [Table 7], [Table 8]



 

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