Abstract
Knowledge has become a fundamental factor for success of organizations in today's dynamic and competitive era. Due to globalization, the survival of organizations rests upon their ability to attain and retain knowledge. Like other assets, knowledge management (KM) has gained considerable attention in the field of management. Present research is a case study carried for a focalized examination of knowledge management practices in hospitality industry of Pakistan and highlighting the antecedents that impede the KM application to this industry. The study conducted a detailed and comprehensive review of literature including both qualitative and quantitative research studies and formed a list of antecedents. Later, the application of fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) concluded that there are factors like bad law and order situation, lack of support from top management, employees' turnover, conflict among employees, lack of formal knowledge on KM, and its application and poor infrastructure facilities are among the top barriers that hinder the application of KM in the hospitality industry of Pakistan.
TopIntroduction
Knowledge, being the most valuable asset in an organization and a key segregating factor for formulating successful strategies and hence achieving the overall organizational objectives (Snyman and Kruger, 2004). From a strategic management point of view, the organizations generate, code, stock, and leverage both tacit and explicit knowledge, in order to gain competitive gain (Evans et al. 2014). Knowledge further is broadly categorized into two broad categories i.e. Explicit knowledge (which is easily acquired can be articulated in written and oral form) and tacit knowledge
Figure 1.
The knowledge value chain
Knowledge management (KM) is a very comprehensive term, the academicians and practitioners define KM from two different perspectives where the former considers it a combination of subjects1 and disciplines while later define it as an art of creating values from intangible assets. Combining the viewpoint of these two groups, studies define it, as KM is application of knowledge asset to create competitive advantage to organizations (Ahmed et al., 2002) different it is “any process or practice of acquiring, creating, capturing, using knowledge and sharing wherever it resides to improve learning and routine in organizations” (Fukey& Issac, 2014). Yu articulates KM as a set of skills that transforms intellectual capital to business value (Zerega, 2008).
In addition to all this, we are living in an ever-changing business environment there are four major and significant vicissitudes which have changed the business environment in large are globalization, enterprises transformation, the introduction of digital firms and transformations in the fields of tourism and hospitality (Wu & Lin, 2009). These transformations require a dynamic environment and implementation of KM. In this regard, a few studies in literature state that firms following the KM practices perform better than other firms do not follow. More, Brooking (1997) stated that knowledge is a tool, which makes a company powerful in the market and copes up the challenges in an ever-changing environment, moreover, KM plays a critical role in the survival and success of companies.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Knowledge Management: A process that creates, shares, uses and manages the information or knowledge of a particular organization. This usually comprise of a multidisciplinary approach to achieve the organizational targets and utilizes the knowledge to its best.
Hospitality Industry: A broader term which is referred to a services industry which serves the process of lodging, food provision, event plans, transportation, parks and amusement activities along with provision of cruise line and other services to tourism industry.
Human resource management: A strategic approach to achieve effective people management at a work environment in any organization. The human resource management serves as a source to achieve comparative advantage and optimize employee performance.
Pakistan Tourism Development Cooperation: Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation is an organization of the government of Pakistan governed by the Board of Directors and responsible for providing transportation services to various tourist attractions. It is also running the Motels across the attractive places of countries, and was established in 1970.
Knowledge: A term used in the context of awareness, familiarity, and understanding of something including information, description, or skills acquired either through process of learning or by discovering, perception discovering, or learning. Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
Sustainable Development Goals: A collection of 17 global goals, which are particularly formulated, to be a blueprint to attain sustainable future for everyone in a society is Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). United Nation General Assemble sets these SDGs in 2015.
Information and Communication Technologies: This is referred to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications. It is similar to Information Technology (IT), but focuses primarily on communication technologies. This includes the Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, and other communication mediums.
Fuzzy Delphi Method: A combination of the traditional Delphi Method with Fuzzy Set Theory in order to address some of the ambiguity of the Delphi panel consensus (Ishikawa et al., 1993 AU86: The in-text citation "Ishikawa et al., 1993" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. ). The Fuzzy Delphi is a more advanced version of the Delphi Method in that it utilizes triangulation statistics to determine the distance between the levels of consensus within the expert panel.