Personal Knowledge Management the Foundation of Organisational Knowledge Management

8/13/2019 Personal Knowledge Management the Foundation of Organisational Knowledge Management

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Personal knowledge management: the foundation oforganisational knowledge managementPritijain'

Department of Library and Information Studies, University of Botswanaja'[email protected]

eceived 17 December 2010 ;Accepted: 1 0 April 2011The purpose of this small-scale study was to explore how people perceived Personal Knowledge Managem ent (PKM),whether people were aware of the PKM concept, and how PKM can have an impact on organisational knowledgemanageme nt a nd productivity. A questionnaire survey with quantitative and qualitative questions was used. The studyrevealed that a majority (63 ) of respon entswere not awore of the PKM concept: 33 were aware, while 2 % had avague idea about it. Eighty three (83 ) felt that it was important to manage personal knowledge and that PK M couldincrease Individual productivity and organisational performance. The major recommendations included creating awarenessabout PKM. It should be at the heart of each employee-development programme, alignment of personal andorganisational g oals and adequate facilities and training in PKM .Keywords Organisational know ledge managem ent; personal know ledge management; individual productivity;organisational

productivityI IntroductionIncreasingly, organisations depend on the contributions of knowledge workers. Knowledge workers are people with highlevels of expertise, education and experience, whose primary role involves the creation, distribution or application ofknowledge (Wright 2007). In this knowledge era all types of organisations are struggling to manage the collectiveknowledge they produce and use it to improve productivity and performance within the organisation. There is a closecorrela tion between personal knowledge management and organisational knowledge management. If individuals becomeproductive by managing personal knowledge, the organisation becomes productive. Personal knowledge management(PKM) is an approach that com plements organisational KM by focusing on ways to support productivity o f a n individualknowledge wo rk er (Efimova 2006). PKM is a too l which can equip knowledge wo rke rs w ith the necessary skills tomanage their individual knowledge. In the world of the modern knowledge worker, it has become necessary forindividuals to maintain, develop, and market their skills to give them any chance of a competitive advantage in the jobmarket in both the short and long term (Pauleen 2009:222). Pauleen raised the question of how individual andorganisational knowledge goals can be harmonised. This question was a further mo tivation fo r the author to explorethePKM issues; hence this study was carried out amongst knowledge w orkers at the U niversity of Botswana in July 2010.

Indeed,most organisations stand by the stock statement that our people are our greatest asset , but in practice theyremain unreceptive to concepts such as PKM. Much of knowledge management research and practice is focused at theorganisational level, aiming to develop an environment where knowledge is created, shared and used, as well asimplementing specific interventions that support these processes (Efimova 2006). PKMseems to be a neglected area.Only few organisations equip employees with the appropriate tools and techniques to support their personal knowledgeand informa tion management needs (InsideKnowledge 2004). In this knowledge based economy, whe re knowledge playsa central role in economic prosperity, organisations are faced with tremendous challenges of improving individualcapability and productivity. An impo rtant strategy for any organisation in this com petitive age is to remain knowledgeablein the areas critical to the company's survival as well as those areas that will add to its ability to thrive (Blair 2006).Knowledge management has been seen as a strategic to ol to manage employees' knowledge, but PKM as such does no tget much attention, which is surprising given the fact that personnel are the most critical assets of an organisation.Personal success is the foundation of organisational success but often personal issues are linked to reduced productivity atwork. The purpose of this study was to explore how people perceived Personal Knowledge Management PKM);whether people were aware of the concept or not; how PKM can have an impact on organisational knowledgemanagement and product iv i ty. This study was also an attempt to explore how personal and organisational goals can beharmonised.


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Backgroundto PKMThe origin of personal knowledge management can be traced back as far as 1968, when Drucker (1968) used the tementioning the dynamics of knowledge work and knowledge workers . Drucker (2001) again used the phrasknowledge worker and advanced knowledge workers in 1974 to refer to knowledge professionals and amentioned personnel management . However, the term personal knowledge was first used by Polanyi ( 1958) and tterm personal knowledge management (PKM) as such appeared for the first time in a working paper by Frand & Hix(1999). It's been in the background since the early days of knowledge management, but the connection betwepersonal and organisational effectiveness has so far been ignored (David Skyrme Associates 2004). However, in the ptwo years people have begun to recognise the importance of PKM and there are several activities around PKM: bloworkshops, conferences, e-book and online surveys. All of these are indications of growing awareness and recognitionPKM.

The PKM has multidisciplinary roots. One of the more apparent antecedents of PKM is Personal InformatiManagement (PIM), which comes from research in library and information management as well as personal productivtools and softwares (Jones & Teevan 2007). The modern PKM focuses on how individuals can become productiknowledge workers. Literature reviewThis section reviews some literature on personal knowledge management.3.1 What is personal knowledge management (PKM)?According to Martin (2006) personal knowledge includes knowledge gained from formal and informal instructiomemories, stories, personal contacts and relationships, books read or written, notes, documents, and photographs of or by us. PKM has different descriptions: people-centred knowledge management (Gurteen 2009); a sub-set organisational knowledge management; the starting point for KM; the 3rd KM (Anklam 2009); a bottom-up approachknowledge management (Pollard 2008); human-centric KM (David Skyrme Associates 2004) and interpersonknowledge management (Ash 2009). Thus PKM is interpreted differently by different people (Jones, Corner Hmlinen, 2008).

PKM has been defined in different ways by various authors. The following table presents some definitions of PKM:

Table I PKM definitionsPersonal knowledgeisa system designedbyindividualsfortheir own personalusemanaging and supporting personal knowledge and informationtomakeitaccessible,meaningful and valuableto theindividual; maintaining netw orks, contacts and commu nities;making life easier and more enjoyable; and exploiting personal capitalinvestigationof howknowledge workers can enhance their productivitybybetter encoding,accessing,andreusing their personal kno wledgeknowing what knowledgewehave andhow wecan organizeit,mobilizeitand useit toaccomplishourgoals andhow wecan continuetocreate knowledgeto provide a frameworkforIndividual Knowledge Wo rkerstomanagenewinformation,integrateitand enrich each individual knowledge databaseinan effective manneran overall structure d processforintentionally managing information and turningitinto usefulknowledgefocusedonpersonal productivity improvementforknowledge workersintheir w orkingenvironments.

SourceFrand&Hixon (1999).Higgison (2004).

Volkel&Abecker (2008;95).Martin (2006).

Cheong Tsui(20IO).Averyetal . 2001) citedInCheong&Tsui (201Academic Dictionaries & Encyclopedias (2010) .

From the above definitions PKM can be distinguished with the following characteristics: It focusesonpersonal knowledge: It referstoknowledge whichisimportant to anindividual inpersonal working and social capacities; It is themanagement of personal knowledge tomakeit easilyaccessibleandusable; It is thefoundation fororganisational knowledge management; Itemphasisesthe importance of PKM inordertoimprove organisational produc tivity;and It is anongoingactivity.


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knowledge time-effectively so as to use, re-use and mobilise it for the benefit of the person, the organisation and thecommunity. Sometimes personal knowledge is narrov/ed down to tacit knowledge only. Here, it largely refers to explicitknowledge but also includes tacit know ledge.3.2 Why do we need PKM?A great deal of organisational knowledge resides in the individual employees' heads and individual knowledge databases.There is a scarcity of research in this area. Knowledge Management (KM) research emphasises extracting knowledgefrom people instead of encouraging them to manage their personal knowledge and link PKM to organisational knowledgemanagement and productivity. Knowledge wo rkers spend a lot of tim e looking for valuable inform ation w hich is already intheir possession. This lowers th eir produc tivity.

A survey conducted by Davenport (2003-2004) cited in Anklam (2009) found that an average user spent 40 % of the irtime each day using technologies to process work-related information. According to a Workplace Productivity Surveycommissioned by LexisNexis sixty -two percent of professionals re por t that they spend a lot of time sifting throug hirrelevant information to find what they need; 68 percent wish they could spend less time organizing information andmo re time using the inform ation that comes their wa y (Business W ire 2008). These are indications of how personalknowledge, time management and productivity are tied up in PKM. Organisations need to realise that employees wastemuch of their time in tracing useful information. It would be better if PKM could lead to greater organisational success.According to Jefferson (2006), PKM was developed in response to the technology revolution which resulted in theproblem of information overload. According to Verma (2009) it is a response to the idea that knowledge workersincreasingly need to be responsible for th eir own grow th and learning (Verma 2009). So, PKM is impo rtant for all peopleand organisations envisaging enhancing their productivity to keep abreast with the latest information literacy skills andcompete in the global village. Available literature notes numerous benefits of PKM, which can be categorised into twotypes, individual benefits and organisational benefits:Individual Benefits PKM can provide the following benefits to an individual worker:

PKM can address the information overload problem ; Individuals can recognise their own value and consequently m ake better decisions for self-development; Individuals are better equipped to wo rk and be mo re produ ctive; PKM enables knowledge-based and informed decision making; ' Employees feel motivated ifgiv nPKM tools and methods to make their lives easier and them more e mployable; It makes people innovative and think cr itically; PKM identifies the personal knowledge and skill gaps and builds on capacities; PKM manages personal human capital fo r professional excellence (M art & Enache 2008 ; Cheong & Tsui 2010).

Organisational Benefits PKM benefits to organisation are: Improved productivity and performance; Continuous innovation; Effective decision making; Internal knowledge dissemination; and, External informa tion awareness.

Thus, PKM plays an important role in the KM process, both individual and organisational; PKM improves theircompetences. The roles of PKM are positively corre lated t o the values of PKM fo r individuals and organisations (Cheong& Tsui 2010). PKM is managing key information/knowledge so that it can be easily accessible when needed.3.3 PKM and organisational performanceThe main drive behind PKM is to leverage a personal knowledge database and through it organisational knowledge andproductivity. It has been empirically proved that there is a close relationship between personal knowledge andorganisational knowledge management. Considering employees themselves as the means of tacit knowledge, Kiessling,Richey, Meng & Dabic (2009) believe that the firm based knowledge management resulting from the employeesknowledge leads to organisational outcomes such as produ ct impro vem ent, firm innovation, and employee improvem ent,and came up w ith a model that the authors refer to as a conceptual m odel; a meso-level model of Eastern Europeanknowledge management . ;


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management; personal knowledge internalization, personal wisdom creation, and inter-personal knowledge transferriare the m ain components.3.4 PKM skillsPKM skills are importa nt. If knowledge is power, a precious asset to attain leadership and self-realisation, wh y shouldnot be at the centre of an individual's personal aspirations and efforts? Why should it not be the object of specific sdevelopment? (Pettenati, Cigognini, & Sorren tin 2007). Too often, know ledge m anagement is thought t o be containedsophisticated electronic networking software tools and the human factor is ignored. PKM skills are far more importathan technical tools (Richardson2001 .Avery etal 2001) cited in Cheong and Tsui (2010) identified seven skills in proposed PKM framework for (I) retrieving information; (2) evaluating information; (3) organizing information; (collaborating around inform ation; (5) analysing inform ation; (6) presenting inform ation; and (7) securing informa tion.

Along the same line. Berth (2003) presented a7-pointPKM fram ewo rk, which was developed byProf.Paul DorseMillikin University in Decatur. This is: I. accessing information and ideas; 2. evaluating information and ideas; 3. organizininformation and ideas; 4. analyzing information and ideas; 5. conveying information and ideas; 6. collaborating arouinforma tion and ideas; and 7. securing information and ideas. Undoubtedly, these are all importan t skills for PKM, but thbasically focus on information without mention of knowledge. According to Lambe (2002), PKM skills are: identifyisources of knowledg e, searching, navigating, analyzing, organizing, linking, mapping, converting back and for th betwetacit (head) knowledge and explicit (written down) knowledge, relationship building skills, communication, presentatioknowledge packaging, and so on. Moving away from an individualistic approach. Lambe argues that each of us hadifferent personalities and profiles in relation to our personal knowledge affinities and capabilities, so each of us can heothers at the simplest working levels in different roles as a: collector, connector, consumer, critic, communicator acreator of personal knowledge depending on personal capabilities and limitations. In this way, the m ore w e reinforce orole,the m ore value we can add in a knowledge-based team.

Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (2010) indicate a number of skills, which are more contemporary aelaborate as follows:

Reflection: Continuous imp rovem ent on how the individual operates; Manage learning: Manage how and when the individual learns; Information literacy: Understanding what information is important and how to find unknown inform ation; Organisational skills: Personal librarianship? Personal catego rization and taxonomies; Netw orking w ith others: Knowing what your netw ork of people knows, wh o m ight have additional knowledge aresources to help you; Researching, canvassing, paying atte ntio n, interv iew ing and observational 'cultural anthropology ' skills; Com mun ication skills: Percep tion, intuitio n, expression, visualisation, and interp retatio n; Creativeskills:Imagination, pattern re cognition, appreciation, innovation, inference. Understanding complex adapsystems; and, Collabora tion skills: Co ordina tion, synchronisation, expe rimen tation, coopera tion, and design.

Thus,the major PKM skills can be characterised as: Life-Long Learning skills; Manage learning skills; Informa tion literacy skills; Organisational skills; Ne two rkin g and collaborative skills; Research and observation skills; Com munication & visualisation skills; Creative and innovative skills; Latest information and comm unication technology skills; and, Information management skills.

3.5 PKM adoption stagesAccording to an exploratory study carried out on 206 KM participants in 44 different countries/locations by CheongTsui (2010) only 3 7 respondents had attended PKM training. The tw o authors elaborated the respondents' stagePKM adoption in five stages: knowledge stage, persuasion stage, decision stage, implementation stage and confirmati


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Persuasion stage, at this stage the individual is interested in PKM and actively seeks inform ation abou t it. Decision stage, when the individual takes the concept of PKM and makes a decision to adopt o r reject it. Implemen tation stage, at this stage the individual uses PKM and may explore it fur ther. Con firmation stage: the individual continues using it and may use PKM to its fullest potential (Cheong Tsui 2010).

3.6 Tools and technologies to manage personal knowledgeThere are several tools and technologies t o manage personal knowledge. Some of them are as fo llows : SasSApplications: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)is acomputer application over the Internetvia aWeb B rowser. Todaythere are manySaaSapplications available that can be used by students to suppo rt the ir PKM. There are also cloudbasedSaaSapplications. To organise information there are online notebooks such as Z O H O . Introduced in 2005ZOHO. ZOHO providesawide range of online applications includinganeNoteboo k, which collects information intotabbed sections, or pages. Any page in the notebook can contain a collection of media types such as tex t, images,video, and links as objects on a page.

To analyse and collaborate around information, there is Google Docs that provides word processing,spreadsheet, presentation and drawing and diagrams tools and easy to create HTML forms. To presentInformation, Google Docs has presentation software such as PowerPoint and presentations can be shared.There is also a site called SlideShare. This site is the equivalent of YouTube for slide presentations (GoogleDocs 2010; Garner 201 0; SaaS 2010; Z O H O 2010). PpcSoft iKnow 2010 for W indow s: PpcSoft iKnow is a personal knowledge management tool for helping you storeand find the in form ation when you need it. Especially designed to handlealarge number of notes PpcSoft iKnow helpsyou manage information o verload, saves time and improves prod uctivity. It consists of inter-linked notes (whe re eachnote is like a simple web page or yellow note) that gives you access to your inform ation. It collects all kinds ofinformation into PpcSoft iKnow, and creates your own, personal knowledge web on your computer. It has severalfeatures; such as, collect in form ation. Co nnect notes. Quick search, auto complete. (PpcSoft2 1I). Other PKMSoftwares are E-mail, Calendar, Task managers, Web logs (w itha Web RSSfeed). O nline We b Assistants,W iki,Personal

Wiki,and Semantic Wik i (Garner 2010).Based on the above litera ture review , the basics of PKM can be summ arised in Figure I consisting of PKM Skills, PKMbenefits for individual and organisation, PKM and organisational performance, PKM adoption stages and PKM toolstechnologies;

PKM Tools an dTechnology

Basics of PKM

PKM Benefits Individual Organisational

PKM Ado pt ionStages

PKMand organisat ional

per formance

Fig ure Basics of PKM


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4.1 Scope and context of the studyThe University of Botswana has 6 faculties; this study was carried out in the Faculty of Humanities. The Faculty Humanities was chosen because it is one o f the largest faculties at the University of Botswana and most of the researchthe Faculty involves searching and researching for knowledge and information from diverse sources. Owing to the abovfacts, the Faculty of Humanities was the most app ropriate for the subject, so the research was carried ou t. Although tstudy was limited to the Faculty of Humanities, it might generate interest in extending the study to other faculties. TFaculty of Humanities comprises the followin g seven departm ents: African Languages and Litera ture w ith 12 stmembe rs, English 3 1 , French 5, History 13, Library & Information Studies 15, Media Studies 8 and Theology & ReligioStudies 14, resulting in an overall tota l of 98 staff members.

This was an exploratory study. The purpose of this study was to explore how people perceived Personal KnowledManagement (PKM) with major questions whe ther respondents were aware of the concept of PKM or not; whethe r tharmonisation of personal and organisational knowledge goals was possible; how PKM can have an impact organisational knowledge management and productivity. The study also aimed to create awareness of concept of PKM,4.2 MethodologyA stru ctured questionnaire was used to ca rry ou t the study, including bo th qua ntitative and qualitative questions. Reasofor employing this approach were to ensure reliability, time effectiveness and mutual inclusiveness. The questionnadesigned for this study had 18 questions. Out of the 18 questions, 15 were quantitative where respondents weprovided with o ptions to tick the right answers. Each quantitative question had Any oth er option to allow trespondents to w rite wha t was not in structured o ptions. In some questions respondents were allowed to choose m othan one op tion.Qualitative questions were only 3. One question asked the respondents if they were aware of the concept of PKhow they would define it. This was to enable respondents to define PKM as they understood it. In the second qualitatiquestion respondents were asked if it was possible to harmonise personal and organisational goals and what thesuggestions for harmon isation w ere. The last qualitative question was for add itional suggestions or com ments, which gathe respondents another opportunity to suggest or comment on the pertinent issues which the researcher might haexcluded fr om the survey. These qualitative questions provided respondents with ample opportunities to express thpoints of view on harmonisation, and providing options could limit them. Sixty (60) questionnaires were delivered, which 54 were responded to at the response rate of 90%. Of 54 responded questionnaires 34 (63%) were sent aresponded to electrically, while 20 (37% ) w ere self-administered and collected.

The purpose of any sampling is to represent the characteristics of the entire population. In this study no sampltechnique was used because the aim of the study was to involve all teaching staff in the Faculty of Humanities who wthere and willing to participate.Data analysis was done by simple frequency count and cross tabulation, comparing responses across demograpvariables. The qualitative (open-ended) questions were analysed separately, by identifying and grouping key respons

into themes, after which related/associated themes we re fu rther grouped into variables for frequency count.4.3 FindingsA t the end of the academic year some staff members go on vacation. Of the 98 staff members, 60 staff we re available a54 (90 %) participated in the survey. Table 2 displays the respondents:

Table 2 Respondents' profile N=54)RespondentsProfessorsAssociate professorsSenior lecturersLecturersTotal

Number4822254

71541371


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Respondents we re asked several questions. On the question whe ther they we re aw are of the concept of PKM o r not,63 indicated that they were n ot aware, 35 we re aware, while 2 had a vague idea about it. Table 3 presents theresponses from those, wh o knew about the concept of PKM:

Table 3PKM defined by the respondents (N=54)Ho w an individual manages know ledge, be it tacit o r general knowledge in day-to-day activities. In most of the times a human being may notbe aware of PKM as it may also imply how one's knowledge may be used to run a person's activities efficiently every day.The way individuals collect, manage and share information at a personal level.A co llection of processes thatanindividual carries ou t to gather, classify, store, search, retri eve , and share know ledge in his/her daily activitiesand how these processes support w ork activities.University and traditional African knowledge t o be used in teaching, research and social and professional interaction w ith people from allwalks of life.The way in which an individual searches, retrieves, stores, manages, and uses informa tion, kno wledge and experiences in their personal andprofessional capacities.The way an individual organizes or arranges his/her knowledge capital, entailing seeking, storing, arranging and retrieving and disseminatinginformation or knowledge.A body of information thatanindividual has about something and which they have captured it either by recording it or in their own mem ory.It's also awareness of what is happening around one.Wha t we use and what m ethods we em ploy to m ake it easier for us to identify, locate and process knowledge or informationA com bination of library and information services and record m anagement tools to manage and use to enhance productivity at wo rkandhelpcreate value for companiesKnowledge gained from the past experiences or acquired through reading, writing e tc.

The above selection of definitions from the respondents shows that some respondents were really familiar with theconcept of PKM but the majority were not.

On the importance of personal knowledge, 83 (45) felt that it was importan t, 1 3 (7) thought it was not important,while 4 (7) we re n ot sure. The reasons of PKM importance wer e given as shown in Table 4:

Table 4Why PKM is importantPKM importanceIt can improve organisational performanceIt can increase Individual productivityIt identifies the personal knowledge gapsIt can solve informa tion overload problemIt enhances knowledge-based decision making

Number4543383733

8378706661

N o t e : Here a person could choose more than one option

Here it is important to note that even though respondents were not aware of PKM,still they w ere able to appreciate itsimportance. Secondly, they seemed to practice PKM without knowing about it.

On the question of what type of knowledge was important to the respondents, the responses are presented in theTable 5:

Table 5Type of personal knowledge (PK) importan t to respondentsType of PKWork-related documentsPersonal libraryContacts and community networksLecture notes mails

Number5439373432

10072696359

N o t e ; Here a person could choose more than one option


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managed personal library brings several benefits wi th it: source of re creation and relaxation,avaluable source of teacmaterial, facilitates social networking carrying knowledge from one person to another. Identifying contacts community networks as an important type of personal knowledge means people appreciated the significance of socnetw orkin g. It is through social netw orkin g people are able to share and exchange expertise, collaborate, help each o thand imp rove each others ' skills and knowledge . Due to technological advancements relations and netw orks have becomeven more critical than ever before. At the press of the button one can be face-to-face and share and exchanginformation and knowledge. A substantial number of people acknowledged that e-mails were one of the important typof personal know ledge, yet many highlighted that it was challenging to organise e-mails and retrieve them whe n neede

The respondents were further asked how much time they spent in searching for the relevant information; Figurereflects the responses:

Figure Time spent searching for relevant information per day No: 5

Acco rding to th e above Figure 2, the respondents spent an average I hour 46 minutes per day in looking for the relevainformation, which translates to 9 hours 40 minutes per week and is equivalent to one working day. It would meemployees are working equivalent to 4 days a week instead of 5. This illustrates the need for PKMand documemanagement. Each of us has an incredible knowledge base, but we do not use all of it regularly because we do not knwhere the volumes, chapters and margin notes are (Martin 2006). Due to the information explosion in this digital agdocument management is a serious p roblem in most organisations today ; therefore organisations are incessantly lookfor new strategies to make their people more productive and efficient. Document management software has become intrinsic part of most organisations and there are several document management software and systems available in tma rket t o manage, create, store, categorise and retrieve vast quantities of data and knowledge, such as, conten t C entrSharePoint Server, Knowledge Tree Document Management, Document Locator by ColubiaSoft, OpenDocMaOrganisations need to avail and train staff in the latest technologies to manage their knowledge. If all employees manatheir knowledge effectively and efficiently, they would not be wasting their time in looking for the relevant informatioThese findings corrobo rate D avenport's (2003-2004) cited in Anklam (2009), that employees spent 4 0 of their timeach day using technologies to process work -rela ted inform ation.


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bearing on organisational productivity and performance. It is therefore important for people to manage personalknowledge.

There is also a need to make staff members aware of their potential and personal knowledge databases and skills inorder to motivate staff to utilise their skills to their optimum potential. Once individual workers become willing to utilisetheir skills in a way that benefits both them and their organisations in service of others and for improving groupknowledge, they plan to manage their personal knowledge accordingly (Avery et al 2003) cited in Jones, Corner andHmlinen (2008). Therefore, respondents were further questioned how often they updated their personal knowledgedatabase. Table 6 displays th e results.

Table 6Update of personal knowledge database N=54)Update of personal knowledgeEvery dayEvery w eekEvery monthEvery six m onthDid not knowTotal

Number1414138554

%262624159100

As evident from the findings above, only 2 6% of the respondents we re able to update their personal knowledge databaseevery day. To ascertain the challenges and limitations associated w ith updating personal knowledge database, respondentswe re furthe r asked if they faced any challenges in managing personal know ledge. O f the 54 respondents, 5 5% indicatedthat they faced challenges and 4 5% not. Th e major challenges were identified as shown in Table 7:

Table 7Challenges in managing PKMChallengesLacko f facilitiesLack of timeLack of awareness of PKM tools & technologyLack of time management skills

Number36343828

%67635452

N o t e : Here a person could choose more tha n one option

As apparent from the above Table, the lack of facilities was identified as most challenging by 36 (67%) respondents.Indeed people cannot perform to their optimum potential if they are not well-equipped with adequate facilities includingnew technology. Lack of time was another challenge. For a lack of tim e, one respondent comme nted, Ne ver enoughtime prioritize d to do things . Ano ther respondent observed, Th ere is just no time to even think that I need to managemy personal knowledge. As a lecturer, I find myself in a hurry to publish and advance my career The need for PKM onlyrings in my mind when I am looking for som ething and I cannot find it . On a similar note tw o respondents n oted, Th ewo rkloa d at the University gives little chance to manage any PK .

These findings suggest the need for well-balanced job responsibilities and a well-planned wo rkin g schedule and tim emanagement skills. As Jefferson (2006:37) has rightly stated, In order to com bat the barrage of information encounteredduring a typical workday, individuals require PKMs . The respondents were also asked to make suggestion to overcomethe challenges and they suggested the following ways:

Table 8Suggestions to overcome challengesSuggestions to overcome challengesBy knowing more about personal knowledge managementTraining in personal knowledge managementAvailability of modern ICT facilities

Number403633

%74676


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10To pursue the PKM issue furthe r in relation to organisational produ ctivity, the respondents wer e asked whe ther personknowledge and organisational knowledge can be harmonised, 85 respondents were in the agreement that it wpossible to harmonise and 15 said no. Table 9 displays the suggestions recommended by the respondents to ha rmonithe personal and organisational goals;

Table 9Suggestions on harmonisation of personal and organisational goalsSuggestionsPKM should be at the heart of eachemployee development initiativeAlignment of personal & organisational goalsIncentives to extraordinary performersOrganisations be more responsive to employees' individual needs and priorities

Number45403028

83745652

Note: Here a person could choose more than one option.

It is evident from the above table, the m ajority of 83 respondents suggested that the PKM should be at the heart each employee's development initiative in an organisation.

Based on the findings, literature review, and author's own understanding, the Figures 3 shows how personknowledge management can be implem ented in an organisation.

PKM Skills Life-Long learning Time management Technology' use Learning n^^anagement Networking 8t

col laborat ion Research Information literacy Digital literacy Creative and innovative

Skills

Harmonisatbn of PersonalOrganisational Goals By: Aligning personal &

organisational goals Incentives to e xtraor dinary

per formers Conducive environnnent

Personal KnowledgeManagement

Implementation

PKM Awareness Through Research Seminars Training Marketing PKM importance

Organisation Responsibilities Putting PKM at the heart ofeach employee

development program Accountabi l i ty to

employees' needs Providing adequate facilit ies Regular trainings in PKM Modern ICTs

Figu re PKM implementation

5 Discussion of implementation and major findingsThis section discusses the implementation and major findings;


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more time for higher value work. As most of the respondents (96%) had pointed out, if they did not find relevantinform ation, they felt frustrate d, disappointed and unproductive. It becomes m ore critical to manage personal know ledgein knowledge-intensive institutions such as universities, where the main activities are research, teaching and learning.PKM provides the individual with the tools and techniques they need to surmount the overwhelming information theyencounter at the w or k place and to enable them to increase their prod uctivity (Jefferson 2006). There is a co-relationshipbetween personal capacity building and organisational capacity building. If the employees are not skilled in PKM, it wouldhave a negative impact on organisational knowledge management.Th erefo re, the re is a need of adequate trainings to equip all staff members w ith all the mod ern techniques and skills tomanage and maintain personal knowledge, such as, life-long learning, time management, technology use, leaningmanagement, ne tworking and collabo ration, research, information and digital literacy skills.5.2 Time managementTim e management is seen as another imp ortant dimension of personal knowledge management in this study, as 57 % ofrespondents suggested that training in time management was necessary to overcome the challenges of PKM. Timemanagement is the ar t of arranging, organising, scheduling, and budgeting one's tim e fo r the purpose of generating moreeffective w ork and produ ctivity (Estes 2010). It is a set of principles, practices, skills, tools, and systems w ork ing togetherto help you get more value out of your time with the aim of improving the quality of your life (Constandse 2007). Thetypical management problems in PKM are related to time and task management, matching work habits with personalproductivity level variations, investing time into personal learning and PKM improvements and work-life balance (Wales2010). Indeed in this 24/7 busy world, time management is crucial for all of us. It is important therefore to equip staffmembers with time-management skills in order to improve personal productivity leading to organisational productivity.Improving your time management skills can even help you get better results by doing less work, because you're focusingon the things that really matter rather than all the low-priority busywork that just keeps you busy (Constandse 2007).The re are numerous effective tim e m anagement software such as, Effexis So ftware, Time management software system,To-Do List Software, Daily planner.5.3 Harmonisation of personal and organisational goalsThe majority of 8 5 % o f respondents m entioned that the harmonisation of personal and organisational goals was possible.Eighty three (83%) respondents suggested that harmonisation of personal and organisational goals was possible byputting PKM at the heart of all employee developm ent programs and 74 % said harmonisation was possible by alignmentbetween personal and organisational goals. To align personal and organisational goals, there is a need for understandingwhat organisational expectations are from the staff and what do staff expect from the organisations and then formulatepersonal goals to implement organisational goals. It is important to look at oneself as part of an organisation, the twocannot be separated. Knowing organisational goals enables one to initiate activities that would contribute to theachievement of the organisational goals. This can be done by regular discussions, workshops and seminars on what theorganisation's objectives are and how individuals w ork ing fo r the organisation can dovetail their personal goals with thoseof the organisation. Following these suggestions, PKM can contribute greatly to organisational kn owledge management,performance, and productivity sthe application of personal knowledge leads to the achievement of organisational goals.

It is evident from the survey that harmonisation between the organisational and personal goal is a two -w ay process.As much as an organisation expects employees to align their goals with organisational goals, employees also haveexpectations from their organisations. One respondent observed, Th ere should be clear and specific objectives forpersonal and organisational goals. They should not be mixed up . Yet another respondent me ntioned, Mo stly initiativesfrom the organisation's side should show the relevance and role of organisational objectives for individuals to theiremp loyees . He nce, there is a need for systems wit h the capability to adapt to individual styles and wor k methods whileimposing the stru cture necessary to facilitate accurate retrieval and application of existing know ledg e (Jefferson2006:37). By valuing personal goals and investing in PKM , organisations can transform their performance and p roduc tivity.So there is a need for alignment of personal goals, incentives to extraordinary performers and a conducive workingenvironment.5.4 IncentivesIncentives for extraordinary performers was suggested by 56% respondents as means to harmonise personal andorganisational goals. Incentives are often a financial type of m otivation offered by the organisation t o the employee if he/she achieves the set target in time. They have been recognised throughout history as the best way to manage and


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remuneration, rewards and recognition systems, employees can be motivated to align their individual goals organisational goals. As one responden t comm ente d, harm onisation of personal and organisational goals is possibthrough better remuneration, rewards, recognition, appreciation from the institution, improved working conditions which em ployees feel wo rth wh ile as engines of the institution's prog ramm es . Another respondent observe d, Aorganisation should be in a position to accept and uplift those individuals who go beyond the organisational goals bremained linked with the organisation .

All this suggests that like any other initiative there is a need for adequate incentives to make PKM a succesKnowledge management means asking people to devote their scarce time to codifying their newly acquired knowledgand transmitting it to others. People need to have personal and organisational incentives and they need to be able access training to use new tools (Richardson 2 0 0 1 ). This can be done by introducing avariety of incentives:

By including PKM in job descriptions and performance evaluations; By providing bonuses to people who co ntribute the most useful inform ation; Reputational incentives via a best-seller list that publicizes the most frequen tly accessed con tribu tions to aknowledge database; Qua ntify and measure the success of akno wledge sharing program and then publicizes the results detailing whichparts of the organisation have contributed to success (Richardson 2001).

5.5 Organisational responsibilityAs discussed earlier, both employer and employees have to understand each-others' goals and expectations in orde r align the tw o for a successful PKM impleme ntation. Th e personal side of KM is often neglected: interventions ansystems are designed and implemented w itho ut thinking about how they wo uld match the practices and daily routines individual knowledge wo rkers (Efimova 2006). By incorporating individual styles and preferences into traditiona l KMorganisational productivity can be improved without imposing additional effort from a worker's perspective (Jefferso2006). Making organisations more responsive to employees' individual needs and priorities is essential. The only placwhe re knowledge can be turne d into a ction is at the individual level. Organisations need to create learning organisatiodow n to the individual level (Blair 2006).

Rapidly changing new technology requires constant renewal of knowledge and lifelong learning. If employees atrained in PKM, it would automatically have a positive impact on organisational success. So, it is vital for all organisationto change their values and priorities according to the needs of the emerging knowledge economy and innovative work inculture and accommodate the new working styles and needs of their employees in organisational culture. It is possibonly when organisations can see the bigger picture of their employees' con tributions and value their personal know ledat the root and increase their footprints. All of this requires a cultural change in organisational behaviour. Organisatioshould put PKM at the heart of each employee developmen t progra m, should feel accountable to employees needs aprovide the m w ith adequate facilities and training.5.6 Availability of modern information and communication technology (ICT) facilitiesThe availability o f m odern ICT facilities was identified as another way to overcom e PKM challenges by6 1 respondenIndeed in this digital age where every job is dependent on ICT facilities, it is not an option but a survival kit to have acceto latest technologies to enable employees to wor k smartly, effectively and efficiently.5.7 Creating awareness of PKMIt was encouraging to note that although PKM was a new phenomenon to the majority of the respondents, they wekeen to know mo re about it. As shown in Table 8,asubstantial number of respondents (74 %) emphasised that there wa need to create awareness of PKM so that m ore and m ore people start practising it in their daily activities. In this stusurvey a number of the respondents acknowledged that it was a very interesting study and they enjoyed filling in thquestionnaire and learned of something new. For example, one recognised, This research has opened my horizon on timportance of PKM . Some respondents stated that at the beginning they were not aware of the concept and towardthe end of the questionnaire; they felt they were aware of it. Ano ther few observed, Having gone through thquestionnaire, I now have an idea about PKM although I had indicated in the beginning of the questionnaire that I had knowledge of the concept . Further, 83% agreed that PKM should be at the heart of any employee-development plaand 69% felt that there was a need for constant renewal of individual knowledge. All of this shows people's interest P K M . Hence, there is a need to create PKM awareness throug h research, seminars and conferences, training amarketing PKM importance.


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13the concept, s till amazingly they appreciated the concept and they w ere in consensus that harmonisation of personal andorganisational goals is possible. In fact the results of the study seem to suggest that some respondents were practicingPKM unknowingly. The o ther aim of the study was to create awareness of the concept ofPKM,this has been achieved bycreating awareness of the concept ofPKMamong Faculty mem bers.

From the research findings it is evident that PKM is a management too l t o impro ve personal effectiveness, which hasdirect bearing on an organisation's improve d effectiveness and productivity. The majority of the respondents w ere in theagreement that PKM should be at the heart ofeachorganisational employee development program and there is a need tocreate awareness ofPKMand availability o f adequate infrastructure to introduce PKMsuccessfully. Thus,PKMshould beconsideredasthe foun dation of organisational knowledge management.7 RecommendationsThe article puts forwa rd the following recomm endations:

Since the majority of the respondents we re no t aware oftheconcept ofPKM,it is imperative to create awarenessabout PKMthrough seminars, worksho ps, trainings; To harmonise personal and organisational goals, it is the resp onsibility of the organisation to p rovide conduciveenvironment by providing adequate trainings, incentives and all the necessary facilities; Universities/organisations knowledgesystems shouldputP Mat theheart ofany employee-development programm e; Employees' individual preferencesandworking styles should be incorporated into corporate KMinfrastructure; Universities/organisations should focus on the need to constantly renew staff knowledge to survive in persistentlychanging environme nts; Adequate incentives should be provided to encourage academia to adoptPKMfullyandalign their personalgoalswithorganisational goals; The re shouldbe apro per training planandfacilities to equip staff w ith all the necessaryskillstoenablestafftopracticePKM at its optimal poten tial; Staff shouldberegularlytrainedinusing thelatest inform ationandcom munication technologies tomanage andmaintainpersonal knowledge; and To w or k sm artly staff should be endow ed wi th sufficient time-management skills and programs.

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June, 2010).ZO HO . 2010. [On line ],http://www.zoho.eom/ (Accessed on 21 November, 2010).Further ReadingCarter, SC. 2010. Rrocurement skills - how to improve y our productivity witha personal knowledge management system.[Onl ine] . http://ezineartieles.eom/7Proeurement-SkillsHow-to-lmprove-Your-Produetivity-With-a-Personal-Knowledge-

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(Accessed on 3 March 201 I).Jain,R2010 . Rerceptions on harm onisation of personal and organisational kno wledg e: an emp irical study of faculty of h umanitat the University of Botswana. A paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Knowledge Management in Asia


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Personal Knowledge Management the Foundation of Organisational Knowledge Management

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