Abstract
M.Com. (Business Management)
This research was conducted at the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED). The aim of the study was to explore the importance of knowledge sharing (KS) between employees at middle and senior management in the public sector within the GDED. A literature study was done on the importance of KS in public sector institutions and on how KS could be integrated into modern public sector institutions. Due to the focus of this study, it was more pertinent and important to see how KS can be infiltrated into the GDED, to potentially enable more effective delivery on its provincial mandate of facilitating and promoting economic growth and development in the Gauteng province.
The study used a purposive sampling technique, which is also known as judgemental, selective or subjective sampling to identify respondents. Open-ended and closed-ended questions were used to elicit information from respondents. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and the researcher used an audio recording device to record the interviews which were then transcribed into text and analysed using codes.
Many authors write that the concept of knowledge management (KM) in the public sector is of relevance and of importance. This study investigates KS and KM processes within the public sector and focuses on how knowledge is created, stored, transferred and retained.
This study also addresses the barriers to effective KS in the public sector and the effect of a bureaucratic structure within the public service on KS. Consequently, invaluable organisational knowledge is easily lost, making the continuity and sustainability of knowledge a challenge. On the contrary, KS has been linked with many progressive results in the past such as organisational effectiveness, organisation innovation capability; improved productivity and team performance. In turn, these results contribute to the sustainability of an organisation.
The study analyses the valuable inputs of respondents from the GDED and these contributions were used to make recommendations on how KS can be applied at the GDED. Special emphasis was also placed on how the GDED can make productive use of its existing knowledge repository system called Livelink. A final recommendation is made to the GDED to apply retention strategies in order to sustain its mandate of economic growth, development and inclusivity in the Gauteng Province...