Trámites y Servicios

Organizational culture describes the collective perceptions, beliefs and values of employees in the workplace. Individuals learn their organizational culture from the day one he or she joins the organization and these learned experiences help them to interpret the work environment so that they can conform and operate effectively in that setting. They also interpret the work culture from a number of visible or implicit cues. The behavioral patterns that are encouraged, discouraged or allowed in an organization also reinforce a certain set of values. Each of these layers contributes to the socialization of new staff and the ongoing reinforcement of existing values, behaviours and priorities. Thus, culture is influenced at a number of levels, from the rules and values adopted by individuals to the alliances formed within the organization and hence it is rare for an organization to have a single uniform culture. Stories, interactions, anecdotes and shared reminiscences all contribute to the building of culture.

Several factors have been identified as key influences on organizational culture, including the nature of team work, the climate and related morale, information flows across community, level of individual involvement in organizational processes, type and quality of supervision provided, and the quality of workplace interactions. Leadership can be a particularly powerful influence. A strong leader can enunciate, model and encourage different values through public displays, process re-engineering, strategic direction or ongoing encouragement.

NOTES

Culture may act as different ways in an organization which are as follows:

(1) It act as a controlling mechanism which provides community members with a collective knowledge of the social expectations,

(2) Culture can act as a ‘compass’, providing direction and guidance on the social values which underlie the organization,

(3) Culture may also operate as ‘social glue’, seeking to achieve harmony, consensus and cohesion among the disparate members of the community, and

(4) It also seeks to ensure both stability and predictable values which are sustained over a long period.

Introduction of KM initiatives leads to a range of responses in the form of work patterns and values. Knowledge cultures are particularly susceptible to cultural influences, given the strong reliance on sharing.

4.3.1. Knowledge cultures

Knowledge-intensive communities, which rely on service, knowledge and sharing of expertise, need to be concerned with the underlying values which are communicated and adopted by employees. Knowledge communities are characterized as open, communicative cultures which encourage sharing, tolerance, collaboration and trust. Following are some of the implicit values found necessary in collaborative knowledge cultures:

(1) Regular communication across levels and organizational units, (2) Colleagues invitation for sharing and learning,

(3) Working together is seen as a core activity,

(4) Learning is incorporated into the work community and practice, (5) New ideas are welcomed and explored,

(6) Innovative ideas and solutions are developed through combined efforts, (7) Openness, honesty and concern for others is encouraged,

(8) Employees are kept informed of events, issues and innovations, and (9) Knowledge sharing is actively encouraged by supervision and leadership.

Principles of knowledge culture

Knowledge management is a value-driven process relying on shared knowledge, collaboration and trust, requiring an integrated approach to changing employee attitudes, gaining employee acceptance and sustaining knowledge sharing in the workplace. The organizational asset is in the minds of each individual and hence organizations need to demonstrate through word and action that they value what employees know. Knowledge flows should be encouraged since employees may operate from a basis of self-interest if the culture does not reinforce the knowledge values. Organizations should not attend more closely to the knowledge system than to the culture since KM relies on people who share and use knowledge to perform their work roles. The various organizational processes and

NOTES

systems also need to be aligned so that the knowledge philosophy is reflected in the structures, practices, performance outcomes and rewards. Thus the knowledge philosophy needs to be embedded in the organizational culture and be evident in various ways to ensure its acceptance and adoption by every employee.

4.3.2. Improving knowledge culture

In order to improve a knowledge-sharing culture, a structured plan should be followed.

Here are a few elements of a plan that should be taken into consideration by managers if they need to re-design their culture:

• Stress the need to share

• Promote trust

• Beware of information overload

• Have the correct tools

• Change the sharers

• Report small problems

• Build a solid relationship with your vendor (a) Stress the need to share

Although this aspect may seem elementary, it is often overlooked. From the moment an individual is brought into a knowledge management unit, he or she should know the importance of sharing the right information with the right people. With sharing being a norm for companies that depend on information to make sound business decisions, knowledge workers must be prepared to disseminate relevant data on an ad hoc basis. To do so, they must:

• Know how knowledge sharing has helped the company in the past through the use of case studies and best practices report

• Be trained on the tool used to share information within the company

• Be provided with “a cause-and-effect analysis” of disseminating information when it is needed

• Be rewarded when information is shared

Individuals who are unable to see the need to share within the company may not be the most appropriate persons to work in the unit.

(b) Promote trust

One of the most crucial elements behind a solid knowledge-sharing culture is trust. If there is a lack of trust within the company among personnel, knowledge will be hoarded.

Information that is in the hands of a few individuals can be dangerous. When only a selected

NOTES

few have access to knowledge, they become powerful individuals in the company and can influence decisions that are made by top management.

To avoid this situation, managers must promote an environment where knowledge workers can trust their colleagues regarding what they have discovered and analyzed. The following strategies can be implemented to provide a safe and trusting department where information will not be hidden and used for someone’s own purposes.

• Select the right individuals. The department should not be made of individuals with their own respective goals. Instead, it should be made of individuals who can form a team to get tasks done. Team members who have been together for a long duration seem to build relationships based upon trust.

• Assess the environment. Managers must discover why there is a lack of trust among colleagues. Finding out the root causes will lead to removing the barriers to trust. Obtaining the input from the personnel working in the unit can accomplish this goal.

• Participate in team building exercises. Personnel should be removed from the working environment and be taken to a retreat to be involved in a series of team-building exercises. The exercises should mimic the processes that knowledge workers will carry out on a regular basis.

(c) Beware of information overload

Information overload can hinder a knowledge-sharing culture. With the enormous amount of data flowing into a company and the limited amount of time that knowledge workers have per day, there is a limit to how much an individual can disseminate. Being constantly bombarded with information can cause individuals to share the bare minimum, while leaving the rest of the data in emails and databases. As a result, vital information will be held back from the individuals who need easy access to it.

If information overload is threatening the culture, the following tips can be used to help improve the process of sharing information in a company.

• Begin to filter information on the basis of keywords

• Conduct more focus searches on the Web and databases

• Readjust the approach used to gather information internally

• Have a solid criteria to judge what is relevant to the department (d) Have the correct tools

In order to have individuals contribute to a culture that promotes knowledge sharing, they must be given the right tools to deliver data within the company. By listening to the needs of the knowledge workers, managers should be able to evaluate what is needed to transform their department into an efficient unit that transfers data within a few clicks of a mouse.

NOTES

To ensure that the individuals who will be sharing information throughout the company utilize the right tools, managers should consider:

• Investigating which of the present tools in the company are being used to share information

• Discovering how the present tools can be used more efficiently to make information accessible

• Continuing to obtain the best possible tools to assist individuals in their work of providing data to key decision makers

• Finding the tools that will be the right fit with its users for the long term

• Training personnel to use the applications to execute sharing tasks efficiently

• Once the tools are obtained and utilized by the intended users, managers must constantly evaluate the performance of the applications and make the necessary modifications to ensure that the department is not encountering any difficulties distributing information.

(e) Change the sharers

If the situation should arise that individual(s) in the department are hindering the flow of data in the company, managers have the power to replace the individual(s). With substantiated claims, personnel can be repositioned within the department to ensure that the skilled individuals who are motivated to share are in the right place. Changing the sharers will breathe new life into the knowledge management unit and hopefully bring new ideas to the table.

Making the necessary changes in personnel is a very delicate issue to tackle. Not wanting to be unfair when removing individuals from their present job, managers have to consider issues such as:

• Are the individuals unhappy with their current tasks within the department?

• Are the individuals skilled enough to remain a part of the team?

• What contributions have the individuals made over the past 6 to 12 months?

• Can the company afford to make the necessary changes?

In document Ilustración 1 Calendario de los Programas (página 56-99)