Indwelling - Collective Commitment

Many managers struggle with how to motivate employees to share their tacit knowledge; knowledge that is sometimes acquired without the employee's awareness or that the employee does not see as adding value to colleagues and the organization. The challenge in encouraging tacit knowledge sharing is how to shift the employee's individual commitment to their achievements and goals, to a collective perspective and commitment - Indwelling.

Collective commitment means an organizational environment and conduct where individuals naturally share tacit knowledge during its creation and formation as part of their work. In this supportive environment, employees will develop knowledge while receiving feedback from colleagues, thus creating genuine work and thinking teams in the organization. An employee who adopts collective commitment will strive to foster a collaborative work environment to enable the most effective utilization of knowledge created by colleagues. Mutual knowledge sharing leads to collaborative knowledge development, the foundation for business and organizational innovation.

So, how can a collaborative and supportive work environment be created among organizational employees?

Certain aspects of organizational culture can promote or inhibit knowledge management and sharing within the organization. Researcher Von-Krogh argues that organizational care influences knowledge creation and sharing, and at its highest level even leads to collective commitment.

Dimensions of organizational care include:

• Mutual trust: A vital dimension ensuring that employees will help each other receive and provide information and knowledge to others.

• Active empathy means employees actively try to understand their colleagues and their situations.

• Access to help: Employees who need assistance know where to turn and can find it directly.

• Lenience in judgment: Tolerance in response to others' mistakes, creating an environment for innovation and experimentation.

• Courage promotion: Organizational employees are not afraid to express their opinions publicly and provide feedback to advance their colleagues' achievements.

The impact of organizational care on creating individual and collective knowledge can be summarized as follows:

	Individual Knowledge	Collective Knowledge
Low level of organizational attention	SEIZING Conduct based on personal achievement	TRANSACTING Conduct based on the exchange of documents and the sharing of open knowledge
High level of organizational attention	BESTOWING Conduct based solely on sharing insights	INDWELLING Conduct based on collective commitment and a collaborative work environment

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Want to learn more about KM strategy?

Here are some articles you might find interesting:

• Knowledge Management Best Practices

• MORE FEARLESS CHANGE - Book Review

• Maximizing KM Impact: Linking Knowledge to Core Business Goals