La comunicación y el desarrollo de la relación.

This section focuses on specific factors influencing knowledge sharing in organisations. The section begins by highlighting factors that have been identified in Malaysian Small Medium Enterprises as factors that have an influence on knowledge sharing, followed by Wang and Noe’s (2010:116) discussion of factors that influence knowledge sharing.

This section looks at the enablers or rather what could be defined as promoters of knowledge sharing within an organisation. The first enabler looks at the role of leadership in influencing knowledge sharing within the organisation, followed by the second enabler that looks at the role of organisational culture, the third enabler looks at the role of infrastructure and the last enabler looks at the design of the organisation as an enabler of knowledge sharing.

An empirical study conducted in Malaysia’s Small Medium Enterprises have identified four factors as key in influencing the knowledge sharing behaviour within the SMEs (Alam, Abdullah, Ishak & Zain, 2009:115). The following are the factors identified in the study: the reward system, the culture of the organisation, trust and lastly technology.

Wang and Noe (2010:116) are of a view that to assess the organisational readiness to promote knowledge sharing in an organisation, there are six key factors that need to be in place. Wang and Noe (2010:116) outline the factors as: the organisational context, interpersonal, team, cultural and individual characteristics, and lastly motivational factors.

The organisational context pays attention to the issues related to four factors within the context of organisations. The following are the factors under the organisational context that will be discussed in the study. The first factor looks at the organisational culture, followed by the factor that focuses on the role of management support, the third factor looks at the reward and incentives factor and lastly the influence of an organisational structure on encouraging or hindering the sharing of knowledge within an organisation.

2.11.1 Organisational context

2.11.1.1 Organisational culture

An organisational culture that is supportive of knowledge sharing is an essential element that makes the implementation of KM easier (Alam et al., 2009:116). Organisational culture is one of the key factors that could either enable or hinder the ability to share knowledge within an organisation.

According to Alam et al. (2009:116), trust is one of the most effective and least costly methods that can encourage people to share their knowledge. Furthermore, it was noted that when people feel that individuals are honest and can be trusted, it becomes easier to motivate people to share knowledge.

2.11.1.2 Management support

According to Wang and Noe (2010:118) who state that based on the previous studies conducted by various experts in the field, it was revealed that top management support affects both the level and quality of knowledge sharing through influencing employee commitment to KM.

2.11.1.3 Rewards and incentives

According to Alam et al. (2009:116) reward is one of the effective factors that encourage people to share knowledge with others. It is argued, that employees will generally act in a way that they perceive as being rewarded (Alam et al, 2009:116). The reward is not only focused on the tangible things, but the outcomes that will make individual feel that they are achieving their intrinsic or extrinsic needs.

Rehman, Kamil and Mahmood (2011:224) states that although earlier studies emphasises that rewards were considered to increase the knowledge sharing behaviour, the authors argue that later research revealed that rewards can only be used for a short-term solutions. Rehman et al. (2011:224) stipulate that the two categories of rewards have a different impact on knowledge sharing behaviour. They further argue that extrinsic rewards may only be useful for temporary purposes, while intrinsic rewards are without monetary expectations and they are built so they can last longer.

Motivational aids such as certificates and monetary incentives play an essential role in motivating employees to share and apply their knowledge. According to Wong (2005:271) giving incentives to employees, helps to stimulate and reinforce the positive behaviours and culture needed for effective KM.

Contrary to the expected positive influences of reward and incentives, it is argued that it is essential to examine how different types of rewards influence knowledge sharing, instead of focusing on the presence or absence of rewards (Wang & Noe, 2010:119). Wang and Noe (2010:119) cite Ferrin and Dines’ (2003) study, which revealed that a cooperative reward system positively influences knowledge sharing between employees, whereas a competitive system has the opposite effect.

2.11.1.4 Organisational structure

According to Wang and Noe (2010:119) organisational structure affects the manner in which employees within an organisation interact with each other. It is argued further that a functionally segmented structure is likely to inhibit knowledge sharing across functions and further.

2.11.2 Interpersonal and team characteristics

In this section, three factors are discussed that are closely aligned to interpersonal and team characteristics and that need to be taken into consideration as far as the concept of knowledge sharing is concerned. The first characteristic looks at the team characteristics, followed by a brief discussion of diversity and lastly, social networks. 2.11.2.1 Team characteristics and processes

The results of the study conducted by Wang and Noe (2010:119) suggest that team characteristics and processes influence knowledge sharing among the team members. This is based on the notion that the longer the team has been in operation and the higher the level of team cohesiveness the more likely team members are to share knowledge.

2.11.2.2 Diversity

This characteristic is linked to a view that team members who consider themselves a minority based on gender, marital status, or education were less likely to share knowledge with team members (Wang and Noe, 2010:119).

2.11.2.3 Social networks

According to Wang and Noe (2010:120) knowledge sharing may also be embedded in broader organisational networks such as communities of practice. Wang and Noe (2010:120) argue further that in virtual communities both the number of direct ties and personal relationships an individual has with other members has been shown to be positively related to the quantity and the perceived helpfulness of knowledge shared.