The influence of culture on capturing and management of tacit knowledge in the energy sector

Abstract

The cost of energy has a significant bearing on the performance of economy of societies , thus management of energy resources is crucial . The available energy resources should be utilised more effectively with minimum incremental costs. In Zimbabwe the electricity generation , transmission and distribution industry aims to ensure minimum disruptions in power supply . The industry is characterised with zero tolerance for mistakes as the equipment involved is highly valued. The industry therefore relies much on the specialised knowledge of employees. This calls for the need to capture their experience based knowledge so that it is not lost as employees leave the organisation due to diverse reasons. Culture of the organisation is critical as it forms the base for the success of efforts directed towards the capturing of such knowledge. This research sought to establish the influence of culture on the capturing and management of tacit knowledge with the aim of identifying possible avenues of improvement . Various authors are of the assertion that culture of an organisation should foster the retention of experiential knowledge . The study took a quantitative approach in which a sample size of 89 was selected from the possible 115 , triangulation of data collection methods was utilised in which questionnaires and interviews were used. The research findings show that culture influences the capturing and management of tacit knowledge . The study concludes which recommendations which can be used to address cultural inertia and ensure that experiential knowledge loss is minimised.