The prevalence of knowledge management practices in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Abstract

In a knowledge economy the ‘knowledge’ of an organisation is its competitive advantage where it plays a role in productivity and acts as the main driver of growth, wealth creation and employment (Storey and Barnett, 2000). The knowledge of the organisation has therefore become the dominant resource for creating a ‘knowledge economy’ characterised by massive investments in knowledge creation and distribution efforts throughout all levels of the economy. With the new economy being global in nature, i.e., not confined to time and space, and characterised as highly dynamic, competitive, swift and ever evolving, the new economy public sector thus needs to demonstrate fast paced innovation to efficiently address increasing needs with an ever-increasing need for improvement in productivity. The aim of the research was to investigate the prevalence of KM practices in The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) (focussing specifically on the Agricultural component of DAFF) to enable its delivery on its mandate by exploring DAFF’s position in relation to specific KM enablers. Survey data was collected from 42 participants within the Agricultural component of DAFF in Pretoria across five post grades (11-15). The research findings indicated that DAFF’s leadership and organisational culture do not serve as enablers for KM practices. DAFF’s IT infrastructure and the use and co-ordination of KM practices were found to partially meet the requirements as KM enablers.