The Barriers to Establishing Knowledge Management in the Public Sector Organizations of Lorestan Province

Knowledge is a collection of overt and hidden learnings and experiences related to work, such as ideas and creativity, skills, knowledge documents, problem-solving methods, specialized meetings content, and project criticism, which should be emphasized in their management. Although announcing the constitution of knowledge management in the public sector by the Administrative and Recruitment Affairs Organization and its necessity in its implementation is of the changes in the administrative system of the country; establishing knowledge management in organizations requires identifying possible barriers and trying to solve them. Therefore, the present study aims to prioritize the barriers to the establishment of knowledge management in the public sector in Lorestan province.

The current research is of an applied type, which was carried out with a mix-method approach. The research population includes the public sector organizations of Lorestan province, among which twelve were selected based on the indicators of education, research, and educational qualifications of the employees. The final analysis was performed on 252 returned questionnaires.

Data analysis showed that organizational structure and process (56.02), knowledge management process (32.31), leadership (31.30), employees (28.60), information and communication technology (27.32), organizational culture (26.13), and learning and innovation (24.68) are the most important barriers to establishing knowledge management in the public sector of Lorestan province.

It should be noted that the knowledge management system establishment policy in the public sector is carried out at two extra-departmental levels (the Islamic Council and the Government Board and the like) and intra-departmental (public sector organizations), and public sector organizations are the executive arms of these policies and strategies. Hence, policies are often not the result of multiple decisions; Rather, they are the result of multiple decisions made by multiple decision-makers. Accordingly, choosing the appropriate management model for establishing the knowledge management system is a dependent variable of its leadership model. Lack of independence of the public sector in reforming work  processes,instability and lack of experience of managers, non-professional decisions, lack of monitoring and evaluation system, the disproportion between programs and budgets, and factors that have been mentioned before, all will face great challenges in the establishment of knowledge management. Undoubtedly, the awareness of policymakers and executive managers about the benefits of knowledge management and their ability to establish a logical connection between various barriers and their effects on each other can be the basis for the establishment of knowledge management in the public sector. Policymakers, planners, and executive managers of the country should pay attention to all elements and the mutual relations between them in planning for the establishment of the knowledge management system; Because any changes and transformations in each pillar will not be beneficial if other pillars are neglected.