Communication Education for Managers Managing Knowledge

Abstract

Communication education for managers remains undervalued, including in the area of-knowledge management (KM). As a ·consequence, many KM professionals design KM initiatives without understanding how knowledge creation and sharing is enabled by organisational communication (OC). This paper reports research across two somewhat distinct scholarly fields-KM and OC-emphasising communication climate's role in facilitating knowledge sharing. It proposes that communication audits provide a measure of willingness to share knowledge and information by providing data on perceptions of other organisational members' communication openness. The research results highlight that: 1. KM initiatives are only as good as the knowledge staff have about how KM facilities can be incorporated into their work activities; 2. higher levels of willingness to share knowledge are associated with communication in interpersonal contexts, except when that communication is with top management; and 3. lower levels of willingness are associated with communication experiences in organisational contexts. These findings demonstrate that education in organisational communication is a necessity for managers of organisational knowledge processes