Knowledge Management and Higher - Educational Institutions : Challenges and Opportunities

The effectiveness of Knowledge Management (KM) activities is in large part dependent upon employees’ attitudes toward knowledge in general and to KM processes in particular. This chapter reports the results of a small-scale (N = 10) interview study of the “ways of knowing and knowledge sharing” of academics in three Slovene universities. The chapter presents an analysis of the responses from in depth, semi-structured interviews concerning the understanding of knowledge, KM processes, required social ecology, and attitude of academics. Responses were classified and tabulated in relation to theories of epistemology and KM and the findings analysed in relation to how they might be used for development of a conceptual KM framework within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The conclusion can be drawn that the KM framework within HEIs needs to take into account the bureaucratic and at the same time competitive and individualistic culture of academia.