INVESTIGATING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT : A GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH

Abstract

Despite the increased interest and attention accorded to knowledge management by researchers and practitioners, a lack of understanding on this topic has been found. Other than a few anecdotes of successful knowledge management efforts, there has been little theoretical developments to guide organizations in pursuing knowledge management initiatives. Using the grounded theory approach, data was collected at the Global Transaction Services department within a large international financial organization. A theoretical framework, grounded in the field data, was developed to characterize the steps taken by an organization to transform itself into a knowledge organization. Results shows that knowledge management should be taken as a holistic approach that includes organizational context, processes, people, technology, and knowledge contents.