| dc.description.abstract | Present day business environment is characterized by unpredictability. Importance of
knowledge management is being appreciated by businesses which are now starting to
formulate strategies and to invest in systems that will enable them to manage their
corporate knowledge. An organization should aim to optimize the utilization of all its
assets and to do so, it needs to identify and configure all the assets available. The overall
aim of the project was to establish the knowledge management and performance of
Kenya Ports Authority. Structured interviews were used to elicit information from
managerial employees whereby purposive sampling was used to select a total of eight (8)
respondents' i.e. five (5) senior management staff and three (3) middle management staff.
Data was analyzed using content analysis. It involved observation and detailed
description of items that comprise the study. The approach was appropriate for the study
because it allowed for detailed accounts in changing conditions of the study. The study
found that effective application of knowledge would result in reduced costs, better
services and products to the customer and distinct competitive advantage. Nonetheless,
high proportion of knowledge management fails to deliver benefits expected, highly
attributed to the lack of alignment between organization strategy and their knowledge
management initiatives. Several challenges were identified that were going to impact the
implementation of knowledge management in an organization. These included; situations
where managers in some cases implemented some KM strategies that were not suitable in
the prevailing circumstance. In addition, it was found out that top managers need to
understand internal and external environments analysis, from the strategic aspect of
knowledge management. This ensured appropriate and successful implementation of the
knowledge management programs to achieve competitive advantage. The implementation
of knowledge management structures may have not necessarily be driven by the level of
awareness of the concept but arise from the organization efforts to create knowledge
sharing environment. It is recommended that organizations consider integrating
management strategies with their overall business strategies. | en_US |
