CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY The purpose of existence of any organizations is to serve its customers.

Both internal and external. Internal customers are employees, include those who work every day to make your operation a success . In addition to the three factors of production; land, labor, and capital, , a fourth important factor : knowledge is increasingly becoming prominent and gaining much emphasis Knowledge is at the heart of todays global economy and effective management of knowledge would serve as a important competitive advantage for any organization .This lead to the emergence of the field of Knowledge Management. Davenport and Prusak (2003) defined knowledge management as the processes which support knowledge collection, sharing and dissemination. Knowledge Sharing is an important element of the Knowledge management process. Knowledge sharing becomes a necessary means for achieving the collective outcome as a part of the work requirements since is not possible for the any of the actors to produce it individually In an organizational context to achieve the collective outcome and in an individual perspective to achieve the assigned target , for example delivering physical or intellectual products and/or services knowledge sharing among employees ought to occur in many ways and through different sources. Effective knowledge sharing will ease the process of attaining the desired objective for the individual at a micro level and for the organization at a macro level . We can only learn, when we open up, share what we know and alienate ourselves from that to consider what others know (Dixon, 1994). From an employees perspective knowledge sharing is a critical process that would have an impact on his work as well as work relations. Consequently, it thus becomes critical that the day to day work environment within an organization should favor learning processes that support the accessibility and utilization of knowledge in order to maximize returns (Kessels, 2001). Knowledge Sharing has its impact on both employee and employers as it is a two way communication and transfer of knowledge. Effective implementation of a Knowledge sharing platform and integration of it into the business model could benefit both the parties.

KNOWLEDGE AND THE FIRM: AN OVERVIEW AND BASIC CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE IN ORGANISATIONS From the knowledge based perspective of the organization , the organization can be seen as a knowledge system engaged in knowledge creation, storage, transfer, and application. It is the organizations ability to acquire, store, transform, and utilize knowledge.

What is Knowledge? Several definitions and taxonomies of knowledge have been put forward through research studies and books (Polanyi, 1962, 1966; Zander and Kogut 1995; Dixon, 2000; Gunnlaugsdottir, 2003).Evident from these, Newell et al. (2002), rightly notes that, knowledge is an intrinsically ambiguous and equivocal term . There are many definitions of knowledge. A dictionary definition is the facts, feelings or experiences known by a person or group of people (Collins English Dictionary). Knowledge is derived from information but it is richer and more meaningful than information. It includes familiarity, awareness and understanding gained through experience or study, and results from making comparisons, identifying consequences, and making connections. Some experts include wisdom and insight in their definitions of knowledge. In organizational terms, knowledge is generally thought of as being know how, applied information, information with judgment or the capacity for effective action. Knowledge is not static: it grows and evolves as those who create and use it. Information becomes knowledge when it is shaped, organized and embedded in some context that has a purpose, that leads one to understand something about the world (Postman, 1999). Types and Forms of Knowledge Types: Tacit and Explicit (Polyani, 1966). Forms: Individual (Tacit and Explicit) and Collective/Group (Cook & Brown,1999). As Newell et al. (2002: 3) explain, tacit knowledge often referred to as know-how, resides in our heads, practical skills and actions. It is known but extremely difficult or in some cases impossible to articulate or communicate adequately. Explicit knowledge, on the other hand, can be codified and communicated to others and may exist in form such

as rules, procedures and theories .Both the forms and types of knowledge exist in an organization and there is constant transfer and sharing among these . Knowledge Sharing Knowledge sharing is set of behaviors including information and knowledge exchange and helping others in this regard. It is similar to organizational citizenship behaviors that are conducted voluntarily and intentionally in organizations. McDermott (1999) defined knowledge sharing as below: when it is said that a person shares his/her knowledge, it means that he/she directs another person through his/her knowledge, insight and thoughts to help observe his/her status better. In addition, a person who shares his/her knowledge must know the purpose of the shared knowledge, its application as well as needs and information gaps of the knowledge receiver. Knowledge sharing has often been regarded as a process (Alvay & Lidner, 2001). It is a process among people which is not observable easily (Rio et al). Knowledge sharing refers to the provision of task information and know-how to help others and to collaborate with others to solve problems, develop new ideas, or implement policies or procedures (Cummings, 2004; Pulakos, Dorsey, & Borman, 2003).Knowledge sharing can occur via written correspondence or face-to-face communications through networking with other experts, or documenting, organizing and capturing knowledge for others (Cummings, 2004; Pulakos et al., 2003). Knowledge sharing differs from knowledge transfer and knowledge exchange. Knowledge transfer involves both the sharing of knowledge by the knowledge source and the acquisition and application of knowledge by the recipient.
KNOWLEDGE CREATION APPLY KNOWLEDGE SHARE KNOWLEDGE STORE KNOWLEDGE

DIAGRAM 1: KNOWELGE SHARING PROCESS

Platforms of Knowledge sharing (KS)

Knowledge sharing (KS) has become an essential part of knowledge management (KM). The ultimate goal of KS is to distribute the right content to the right people at right time. To accomplish this goal each and every organization are using many distributing channels. Some most popular platforms of KS, which are being widely used by many organizations.

Team Meetings

Meetings are the one of the best ways and means of KS, where the people come together formally in order to discuss about the problems, projects, experiences, opinions and take decisions. In such meetings people express their opinions, expertise and their knowledge about particular subject or topic, which enhances the knowledge of other participants and leads to KS

Video Screening Sessions This is one of the most effective means of KS. Its an act of sharing a film / movie / television program. The program usually contains case studies, past experiences, best practices and methods etc to achieve the objectives, goals and meet the deadlines.

Training Programs

Training sessions / training programs are the process of learning the skills, procedures, activities for a particular job or task. Training programs allow the trainees to interact with each other, interact with trainers/experts. In such programs trainer shares his knowledge with the trainees and trains them to do a particular job

Workshops / Seminars / Conferences

Seminars/conferences allows the people to discuss their views. Usually the people at seminars have common work or interest. With the advancement of technology video conferencing a system that enables people in different parts of the world/region can meet by watching and listening to each other by using video screens.

Knowledge Sharing Tools

Once knowledge shared properly by using effective platforms now its time to store this knowledge for future use, reuse and refinement. The tools mentioned here are widely used by many organizations .

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

The Enterprise Resource Planning facilitates the configurable information systems packages that integrate information and information based processes within and across functional areas in an organization. The ERP is one such program, which allows the effective deployment and mobilization of knowledge resources available across the organization

Content Management There are many tools that are designed for knowledge sharing and leveraging. Content Management is one such tool, which helps in creating, reviewing, approving and otherwise managing the complex, hyperlinked relationships of huge websites.

Document Management Tools These are used to create discrete document. These tools revolve around the ability for an author to build a single document or set of documents from a variety of source material. Policy documents are a classic case because they often have to be customized for different reasons.

Portals

Todays corporate portals have greatly been helping the companies to search, browse and personalization of information. Intranets in general and portals in particular started with the objective of giving employees access to any and all information they needed a selfhelp approach. It helps to publish all types of documents ranging from human resources policies to product manuals.

Data Warehousing

According to Bill Inmon, known as the father of data warehousing, a data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-variant, nonvolatile collection of data in support of management decisions

Web logs Web logs have exploded in popularity over the last year. At their most simple form, a web log (also commonly known as (blog), is an online dairy created by one or more writers. They typify the new class of personal publishing tools that some see as a disruptive threat to existing publishing tools. A web log provides a simple interface for writing a new entry, typically via an online form.

K-logs

Web logs become particularly interesting when they are used within an organization. Where they are known as knowledge logs or k-logs. This has been an approach evangelized primarily by John Robb. The proponents of this approach see k-logs as a way of breaking down the barriers within the organization and facilitating a more efficient flow of information

and knowledge for Ex:- Key individuals with a knowledge and respect can use web logs to record progress on strategic projects or issues. By building on the reputation of the writer, web logs harness recognized benefits of story telling techniques. Web logs can also be used by project teams to both communicate to the wider organization and to keep track of who is doing what within the team. In this way, the web log acts as wise for the projects and an archive of the past decisions.

Wikis Wikis are a surprising new approach to publishing on line information. They are essential an ultra light weight content management system., developed primarily in the open source world. A wikis impose no controls over who can create or edit pages. Making it very simple to update content supports the ongoing growth of content and not imposing any restrictions encourages multiple people to add content to a single page. It is this easy of editing and natural support for collaborative work which makes wikis an ideal tool for communities of practice or team level knowledge sharing.

Rationales for sharing knowledge The basic rationale behind knowledge sharing among employees within an organization is that the shared knowledge would be beneficial to them in achieving their individual objective and in building their knowledge base. In the cases where knowledge sharing becomes a necessity for the attainment of the objective(individual and organizational)perspective With respect to peoples motivations for sharing knowledge, literature is mainly preoccupied with a rational economic perspective. Many authors believe that knowledge will be shared according to the logic of markets (Davenport and Prusak, 1998). They argue that people do not share knowledge, as there is no economic reward and no possible economic harm in doing so and vice versa. These authors focus primarily on what people may gain or lose economically by sharing knowledge. However, although the economic rationality is one important consideration, it is not sufficient for understanding why people (do not) share knowledge.

Business practice suggests that in some situations one would not expect to find people sharing knowledge as no economic incentives exist, while it continues to take place. For example, people contributing to discussion groups on the internet or developing open source software cannot be explained solely from a rational economic perspective People share knowledge even though they are not receiving any direct financial value in return (Raymond, 2001). Thus, motivations other than solely economic rationality exist that may either promote or inhibit the process of knowledge sharing. Besides situations where knowledge is being shared while it would not be expected to take place according to an economic rationality, the opposite can also occur. For example, from an organization perspective it seems very rational to develop knowledge repositories and to build intranets in order to share their best practices so that their employees do not have to reinvent the wheel over and over again .From the employee perspective there are often no links between economic incentives and contributions to the knowledge repository through sharing knowledge. There may even be economic disincentives such as loosing control over valuable information.

Knowledge Transfer between the Employees and the Organization In the organization there are two forms in the knowledge transfer and sharing, one is between the employee and the organization, the other is between the employees. If all the employees are willing to transfer and share their own knowledge, not only the employees will raise their knowledge and skills, but also its useful for the organization. The decisive factors to the quality and effectiveness of knowledge transfer and sharing are the subjective desire of the knowledge owner. Knowledge Sharing between the Employees . Since employees of an organization do not work in isolation and need to collaborate and cooperate to achieve the collective outcome ,knowledge sharing happens between them in various forms and through different means The process of knowledge sharing among

employees involves different dynamics . According to the situation of knowledge transfer and sharing in the organization the knowledge can be divided into two categories: the transferable knowledge and the non-transferable knowledge .Assuming the employee A and B process the game of knowledge sharing in the organization, they are all rational players and the knowledge they transferred and shared is useful to the organization. Each of them has two choices, to share knowledge or not to share knowledge. The dilemma of knowledge sharing reflects the contradictions of individual rationality and collective rationality, and the appeared optimal strategy to individuals will make the entire organization in a disadvantageous position. Information Technology industry is a knowledge intensive industry wherein people work across the globe. People from different parts of the world work on the same project at different time zones .The process of Knoweldge sharing is inevitable for successful completion of the projects. Understanding the process of knowledge sharing and the dynamics involved from a employees perspective .

Employees Perspective on Knowledge sharing : Sources, Reasons ,relevance and Impact of Knowledge Sharing .

Perceptions are the way people organize and interpret their sensory input, or what they see and hear, and call it reality Perceptions are important because peoples behaviors are based on their perception of what reality is. Therefore, employees perceptions of their organizations become the basis on which they behave while at work. Now researchers have found that the way employees perceive their work can have big influence on the efficiency and profitability of a company. employee perceptions can predict the performance of the organization as a whole. If employees have a favorable attitude toward their jobs, their companies tend to have greater worker retention, more loyalty among customers, and better financial performance. Moreover, they found that employee perceptions affected results more than results affected perceptions of their jobs. The same is applicable to the field of knowledge sharing and its perceived impact on the employee in term of this work , team relation and more importantly the desire to stay in the organization.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: In an organizational setup especially Information Technology industry knowledge sharing is an inevitable process Understanding the dynamics involved in Knowledge sharing from an employees perspective in terms of various sources, ways and impact on work , team relations and the intention to stay in the organization would be useful and in turn help both the employees and the employers .Employees can work on the barriers of knowledge seeking and address them and employers can focus on setting up a suitable Knowledge Sharing Mechanism and promoting a culture of Knowledge Sharing in the organization. This could in turn serve as a Retention Tool. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: Information Technology industry is a knowledge intensive industry wherein people work across the globe in a team based setup . People from different parts of the world work on the same project at different time zones .The process of Knowledge sharing are inevitable for successful completion of the projects and an understanding of the general climate of knowledge sharing is needed.. Getting to know the impact of knowledge sharing on employees would be helpful for the organization in designing an developing a culture of knowledge sharing SCOPE OF THE STUDY: The scope of the study is basically to understand the general knowledge sharing environment sources and the impact purely from a employees perspective. LIMITATIONS The impact of Knowledge sharing in terms of better team relations and performance is seen from the perspective of the employee and the actual performance of the employees or team

relations is not measured or observed. Since knowledge sharing is a continuous process its difficult to measure all the parameters associated with it.