ENTEL: A Case Study on Knowledge Networks and the Impact of Web 2.0 Technologies
This study re-visits an organisation that defined its knowledge-management strategy in 2008-9 applying an established strategy-intellectual capital alignment framework. It addresses questions “How has knowledge management evolved at ENTEL, and what lessons can be learnt? Does the strategy-knowledge management alignment framework applied at ENTEL in 2008-9 still hold today?” The enquiry applies qualitative research in the form of a single case study, applying semi-structured interviews and analysing the evidence through coding at a phrase level. It arrives at some interesting findings, such as that leadership of communities of practice (COPs) is critical to their success, at least in the early stages of their implementation. Also that the incorporation of generation Y (GY) into the workforce is changing the culture and openness to sharing knowledge, and thus accelerating the adoption of social networking (SN) tools, but the barriers to full deployment are still embedded in the older generation of senior and middle managers. Finally, it also emerges from the study that the paradigm by which organisations needed to choose between people-driven and technology-driven networks may no longer be valid: Due to changes in culture, to the need to speed up knowledge transfer, to the imperative for innovation and to the advent of low-cost and low-complexity SN technologies, organisations can make the most of both.
