Knowledge management and information systems: implications for institutions of higher education in KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

The approaches of knowledge and information are mostly scattered on different forums conducted by numerous different people with no palpable connection. A cohesive and coherent approach is unlikely to occur, to retain volunteer knowledge, facilitate knowledge sharing and make use of valuable knowledge to improve current and future projects. This study is focused on identifying how information in the form of a project is stored, communicated and how to facilitate the sharing of the necessary knowledge between the project and its volunteers, and among volunteers within a higher education context. Questionnaires were administered among the participants from two selected Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in order to collect data for this project. The participants were both academics and administrative staff members. However, only 30 respondents participated in the study. The findings revealed that there is limited use of Knowledge Management (KM) that is centred at top management. This suggests a lack of the culture of information sharing which leads to employees being willing to leave their places of employment as they feel they are not rewarded or recognised. It is recommended that HEIs should extend the number of KM tools used and explore modern technologies. Further research areas would include a broad study that would involve a large sample and as many institutions as possible.