Award‑Winning Organizations: How Outstanding Organizations Manage the Registration, Access and use of the Knowledge of Employees

Abstract

Organizations have managed information regarding knowledge of employees using various processes such as knowledge mapping, network analysis, codification and personalization. Some of these organizations have been chosen to receive awards for their outstanding performance, for instance for their finest use of knowledge. This paper examines how knowledge award‑winning organizations distinguished themselves from other organizations, when it came to the registration, access and use of the knowledge of employees. The aim was to provide an understanding of how these organizations supported personal knowledge registration, and whether winning an award entailed a more comprehensive overview of the knowledge residing in employees. Whether the organizations benefitted financially from the registration process was also examined. This was a qualitative research. It was a multiple‑case study, covering 18 organizations in Iceland, of which six had received the Knowledge Company of the Year award. A total of 35 semi‑structured interviews were conducted and six award‑winning verdicts analysed. A conceptual model was used to clarify the results. The findings indicate that the award‑winning organizations received the award for outstanding success. Still, little emphasis was put on the management of the personal knowledge of employees. Interviewees experienced adversity regarding costs, time, limited access and use of personal knowledge. Most interviewees claimed that the registration of knowledge had a financial gain but found it difficult to measure and hard to confirm.