Assessing Perceptions of Knowledge Management Maturity/Capabilities

Description: Knowledge is an essential organizational resource that is required at all echelons to accomplish processes, to make decisions, and to improve efficiency and effectiveness. In order to take advantage of the benefits of knowledge, organizations must harvest and leverage the collective knowledge of the entire workforce through effective knowledge management (KM). The Air Force Center of Excellence for Knowledge Management recognized SAF/FM as having an exemplar KM program within the Air Force. This research used the Knowledge Management Capability Assessment (KMCA) framework to assess the overall KM maturity and capabilities of the seemingly mature SAF/FM KM program. The results indicate that the SAF/FM KM program is at an overall KM maturity of level 2; the organization recognizes the value of knowledge assets, its culture encourages activities associated with knowledge sharing, and the senior leadership communicates the value of and shows commitment to knowledge sharing. The organization's KM maturity is inhibited by its lack of a KM strategy and lack of formal mechanisms and processes to acquire and store its knowledge assets.