A Framework for Identification and Classification of Knowledge Sharing Tools (Case Study of MAPNA Group)

Nowadays, organizations tend to aggregate and increase the knowledge resources of work groups. In this paper, we introduce a framework to classify knowledge-sharing mechanisms, especially in project-based organizations. Prior research concentrated on identifying dimensions of knowledge sharing mechanisms such as personalization vs. codification, and individualization vs. institutionalization. Personalization strategy aims at encouraging individuals to share their knowledge directly. Information technology plays less important role, as it is only supposed to facilitate communication and knowledge sharing among the members of an organization. Codification mechanisms focus on collecting and storing codified knowledge in previously designed electronic databases to make it accessible to the organization. Individualization mechanisms facilitate the sharing of knowledge at individual level while institutionalization mechanisms facilitate knowledge sharing at group level. Taking these dimensions into account and based on an empirical study of MAPNA Corp, this paper presents a framework to utilize knowledge sharing mechanisms in organizations while they have different size, nature of work, and geographical dispersion.