Is Knowledge Management Really an Oxymoron? Unraveling the Role of Organizational Controls in Knowledge Management

Many current implementations of organizational knowledge management, although based on the most advanced information technologies, are hobbled by the pervading organizational controls. Such information systems related organizational controls could spell the success or failure of organizational management initiatives despite application of latest groupware and collaboration software. Often, such failures of knowledge management systems implementations arise from incorrect understanding and misapplication of the notion of “controls.” Hence, it is critical to develop a better understanding of information systems related organizational controls so that they can facilitate the success of knowledge management systems implementations. This chapter fills the critical void of incomplete and often incorrect interpretations of organizational controls by developing a better theoretical and conceptual understanding of organizational controls and their pragmatic implications. The chapter also proposes an organic model of organizational controls for design of knowledge management systems that can effectively enable creation of new knowledge, renewal of existing knowledge and knowledge sharing.