A comparison of Chinese and UK cultural preferences supporting knowledge management in organizations

Lai, Han and Graham, Margaret (2009) A comparison of Chinese and UK cultural preferences supporting knowledge management in organizations. International Journal of Knowledge, Culture & Change Management, 9 (5). pp. 139-150. ISSN 1447-9524

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Abstract

A supportive organizational culture has been recognised as a critical factor for a successful knowledge management (KM) initiative. This research explores the national diversities in developing such a supportive organizational culture between China and the UK. Some critical cultural attributes are identified from previous literatures as key factors for a supportive culture for KM, namely, 'Team oriented', 'Trust', 'Working closely with others', and 'Sharing information freely'. It is assumed that a supportive culture will be created if these critical cultural attributes are nurtured in organizations. Based on the perspective of 'person-culture fit', a modified 'organizational culture profile' (OCP) is employed as a research instrument to explore the different organizational culture preferences among target samples from China and the UK. The conclusions from this study are, compared to the UK, China has preferences in creating a culture of 'Team oriented', and has difficulties in creating a culture of 'Trust' for knowledge management in organizations. At the same time, both countries may be faced with the same challenges in creating organizational cultures of 'Sharing information freely' and 'Working closely with others' for knowledge management.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Knowledge management; National culture; Organizational culture; Person-culture fit
Subjects:	G500 Information Systems N200 Management studies
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering
Depositing User:	Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited:	26 Jan 2015 09:48
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2019 00:30
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/20474

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