ABSTRACT
This study investigated the status of Knowledge Management (KM) in the administration of federal universities in South-East Nigeria. Five Research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey design was used. The population of the study was 420 administrative and academic in the universities investigated, while the sample of 212 was drawn using simple random sampling technique. A 30-item self-developed questionnaire, Status of Application of Knowledge Management in Administration of Federal Universities Questionnaire (SAKAFUQ), was used to collect the data. Cronbach Alpha technique was used to test the reliability of the instrument and it yielded overall reliability index of 0.98. Real limits of numbers were used to take decisions. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the five research questions, while t-test was used to analyse the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that the level of the status of application of KM by both administrators and academics in the federal universities in South-East, Nigeria is low. It also showed that the extent to which applying KM in administration enhanced professional advancement of both administrative and academic staff is little. The findings further showed that use of KM tools low. Based on the findings, recommendations were made which include; that administrative and academic heads should make effort more to embrace the internet, that university management should make key and longest serving employees to write memoirs of their experience to be presented on the day of their sent forth. Finally, the teaching of KM should be made a component of post-graduate study in all universities.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Computer, robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, internet and other related technologies came into being in the last century. No doubt, these are some of the foremost products of cutting edge technology. Since their arrival in the 1940s, efficiency and effectiveness in almost all spheres of work were redefined. Surprisingly, till date, there still appears to be no end to the possibilities these products bring into the world of work. It is important to note that one crucial factor that brought the creation of all these is knowledge and how it is being put to use. Given the place of knowledge in proffering solutions to difficult humans problems, the cost of acquiring it and the volume of it resident in various deans, vice chancellors, registrars, directors of institutes, books, journal, databases, internet, intranet, and so on the need to investigate the present status of Knowledge Management (KM) in some universities arose.
Knowledge can be described as the awareness of information, idea, principles, or truths and facts which can be applied to create possibilities as well as solve real-life problems. Tiamiyu and Aina (2008) opined that knowledge is an organized accumulation of information at specific points. This means that knowledge can be found in various forms. These include human beings, documents, databases, internet, and so on.
Out of the forms of knowledge, human knowledge, which is knowledge possessed by humans is unique in its mode of acquisition and processes (Fadele & Madu, 2009; Tiamiyu & Aina, 2008). In agreement with this assertion, Ajenikoko and Adeyemo (2004) noted that despite the high level of computerization, automation, artificial intelligence and other attempts to simulate human knowledge, none of these–not even expert systems–has been able to demonstrate the uniqueness of human knowledge. Human knowledge which can also be referred to as human knowledge asset, intellectual asset and intellectual capital is critically important in all organizational operations as it is held by employees in such organisations (Bontis & Choo, 2002; Bresman, Birkinshaw & Nobel 2010). This is why Bontis and Choo (2002) and Booker, Bontis and Serenko (2008) noted that great expertise is lost when highly competent individuals leave organizations such as the university system.
While internet connectivity enhances global visibility which is a factor critical in the webometrics ranking of universities, it is important to note that there is attrition of very highly competent individuals away from Nigerian universities to other countries because of inadequate funding. These factors are partly implicated for poor quality of research and teaching in Nigerian universities (Ajayi & Ekundayo, 2011; Babalola, Jaiyeoba, &Okediran, 2007).As a result, Onwurah and Chiaha (2008) were alarmed that despite the volume of knowledge related activities in Nigerian universities none of these universities was among the 500 top-ranked universities in the international ranking of universities. According to Coomassie (2009), this trend is contrary to what obtained in the 1950s through to mid-1975 when funding was adequate to allow research go on without distractions. Better funding, Adebowale (2004) and Adesina (2006) concluded, was what made those years to be the most productive years in the history of Nigerian universities. They further concluded that it was during this time that Nigerian intellectual community recorded considerable international presence in terms of scholarship and publications
In addition to the foregoing, there is depleting capacity for profession advancement on the part of administrators as well as academics as costs of professional trainings are high in juxtaposition to their earnings. Concomitant to this is the falling job satisfaction causing many university administrators to eagerly desire and switch to pure academic employment in belief that the latter is more flexible and enjoys higher job status. When this trend is not checked,there will be underutilization and outright waste of well-motivated and highly competent academics and administrators in federal universities. Corroborating this, Haslinda and Sarinah (2010), concluded that valuable human and knowledge resources will be wasted unless management of such organizations accept and supports efforts to gather, transform, record and share knowledge that will bring optimal functioning of such organizations. These and a deliberate effort to create knowledge for a particular goal are the major thrusts of Knowledge Management (KM).
KM deals with all processes of on-the-job discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion forum, professional training and mentoring (Bontis & Choo 2002; Sorenko, Bontis& Booker, 2010). Given the prevalence of modern means of communication, as observed by Scott (2006) and Spanbauer (2006), modern KM application involves but not limited to knowledge sharing and transfer as KM process sometimes requires requisite ICT skills, availability of basic ICT and e-learning infrastructure like Web 2.0, intranet and internet, teleconferencing for the purpose of assembling or reaching geographically distributed knowledge asset and expert locations. This is corroborated by Haslinda and Sarinah (2010) who noted that KM comprises efforts to gather, sort, transform, record and share knowledge using various channels. This variegated approach is important as KM focuses on codified and uncodified knowledge as well as human wisdom. In a university system, a situation whereby outgoing holders of prominent offices like the registrar and the vice chancellors are made to write memoirs shortly before or immediately they leave such offices will enrich the KM processes. In summary, for the purpose of this investigation, an operational definition of KM can be seen as a.....
================================================================
Item Type: Project Material | Size: 97 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.