Authentic leadership and knowledge management

Besen, Fabiana; Tecchio, Edivandro; Fialho, Francisco Antônio Pereira

doi:10.1590/0104-530X898-13

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Articles • Gest. Prod. 24 (1) • Jan-Apr 2017 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-530X898-13 copy

Authentic leadership and knowledge management

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Abstract:

Leadership plays an important role in creating value, innovation and setting strategies of management and implementation of knowledge. In the context of leadership, there is a discussion about ethics and authenticity, especially after the scandals involving senior leaders of some organizations, mainly the American Enron and Arhur Endersen. The aim of this paper is to present the theory of authentic leadership, based on the assumptions of authenticity and strong ethical/moral values. It is an interesting conduct for knowledge-intensive organizations, since they are concerned with creating a positive organizational environment, focused on real and sustainable performance. Ethics and authenticity in relationships may favor knowledge creation and sharing. There are many possibilities for future (empirical) studies to analyze the authentic leadership and its development in social and organizational environments.

Keywords:
Knowledge management; Authenticity; Authentic leadership

CONCEPT	AUTHOR
Ability of an organization to create new knowledge, disseminate it in the organization and incorporate it into its products, services and systems.	Nonaka & Takeuchi (1997)Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1997). Criação de conhecimento na empresa: como as empresas japonesas geram a dinamica da inovação. Rio de Janeiro: Campus.
Knowledge management is a process of collection, distribution and efficient use of knowledge resources throughout the organization.	Davenport et al. (1997)Davenport, T. H., Long, D. W., & Beers, M. C. (1997). Successful knowledge management projects. Sloan Management Review, 39(2), 43-57.
Knowledge management is a process that helps organizations find, select, organize, disseminate and transfer information and knowledge which are important and necessary for problem solving, dynamic learning, planning and decision making.	Gupta et al. (2000)Gupta, B., Iyer, L. S., & Aronson, J. E. (2000). Knowledge management: practices and challenges. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 100(1), 17-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570010273018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570010273...
A process of creation, validation, presentation, distribution and application that enables an organization to learn, reflect, unlearn and relearn, being these five stages considered essential for construction, maintenance and replenishment of core competencies.	Bhatt (2001)Bhatt, G. D. (2001). Knowledge management in organizations: examining the interaction between technologies, techniques, and people. Journal of Knowledge Management, 5(1), 68-75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673270110384419. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673270110384...
Knowledge management can be defined as any process or practice which aims to create, acquire, capture, aggregate, share and use knowledge to improve learning and organizational performance.	Bate & Robert (2002)Bate, S. P., & Robert, G. (2002). Knowledge management and communities of practice in the private sector: lessons for modernizing the National Health Service in England and Wales. Public Administration, 80(4), 643-663. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.00322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.0032...
Knowledge management refers to the management processes that manage the creation, dissemination and use of knowledge through the fusion of technologies, organizational structures and people to create a more effective learning, solve problems and make decisions in an organization.	Na Ubon & Kimble (2002)Na Ubon, A., & Kimble, C. (2002). Knowledge management in online distance education. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference Networked learning 2002 (pp. 465-473). Sheffield: University of Sheffield.
Knowledge management is the management of activities and processes that leverage knowledge to increase competitiveness through better use and creation of individual and collective knowledge resources.	CEN (2004)European Committee for Standardization – CEN. (2004). European guide to good practice in knowledge management. Berlin: IPK.
Knowledge management is a process that favors knowledge sharing and establishes learning as a continuous process within an organization.	López et al. (2004)López, S. P., Peon, J. M. M., & Ordas, C. J. V. (2004). Managing knowledge: the link between culture and Organizational learning. Journal of Knowledge Management, 8(6), 93-104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673270410567657. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673270410567...
Knowledge management is to plan, direct and control the knowledge flows that are produced in the organization, as well as actions taken to obtain, appropriate and improve the knowledge organization needs to be competitive.	Herrera (2008)Herrera, C. G. N. (2008). El liderazgo en la gestión del conocimento. Manizales: Universidad de Manizales. Recuperado em 25 de maio de 2010, de http://www.umanizales.edu.co/programs/psicologia/Perspectivas.pdf http://www.umanizales.edu.co/programs/ps...
A comprehensive set of processes that are implemented for the purpose of identification of data sources and relevant information in organizations and its eventual conversion into knowledge for subsequent dissemination in different parts of the organization where they are needed.	Alavi & Leidner (2001)Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. E. (2001). Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: Conceptual foundations and research issues. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 25(1), 107-136. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3250961. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3250961...
Knowledge management is an intentional and systematic management of knowledge, processes and associated tools in order to fully utilize the knowledge potential in making effective decisions and achieving competitive advantage at all levels, solving problems and favoring innovation.	Kebede (2010)Kebede, G. (2010). Knowledge management: An information science perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 30(5), 416-424. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.02.004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.20...

Technology: It is related to infrastructure aspects of knowledge management, tools and technology.
Connectivity	Lack of a technical infrastructure to support the required number of simultaneous accesses, due to bandwidth limitations.
Usability	Tools or software have low usability. Users see software as a complicated use.
Overconfidence	Overconfidence in knowledge management tools can lead to neglect tacit aspects of knowledge.
Maintenance costs	The cost to maintain the knowledge management tools may be too high, which inhibits initiatives or even intervenes and ends the knowledge management projects.
Culture: it refers to the characteristics or properties of knowledge itself
Policy	Knowledge management can be used as an object of political maneuvering to gain control and authority within the organization.
Knowledge sharing	Workers do not share knowledge, due to reasons such as lack of confidence and knowledge accumulation mentality.
Understood image	Workers realize access to other’s knowledge as something inappropriate.
Organization's management commitment	The administration is anxious to start the knowledge management project, however, when the first problems arise, the commitment to the project quickly disappears.
Knowledge content: refers to knowledge own characteristics or properties.
Understanding	The content is developed in a fragmented way, dispersed in different user groups. Thus, the intersection of various functions content cannot be captured.
Structure	The content is not structured in a format that is meaningful to the task to be developed.
Relevance and circulation	The content must be contextualized or current to meet the needs of users.
Distillation of knowledge	Lack of an effective mechanism to refine the discussion of knowledge. Thus, valuable knowledge remains hidden.
Initiative management as a project: it regards to the management of knowledge management initiative as a project.
Users involvement	A lack of user involvement in the project. So in addition to not being able to ensure user acceptance when the project is implemented, knowledge user requirements are poorly understood.
Technical and business knowledge	It is when, during the implementation of the project, there is no staff with the technical and business knowledge needed to sustain the initiative.
Conflict management	Conflicts occur between the team members, but without any attempt to control it.
Implementation strategy	The knowledge management project does not have a proper implementation strategy.
Project costs	The total cost associated with knowledge management project is higher than it was originally planned.

Critical Success Factors	Authors
Familiarity with knowledge management; coordination between workers and departments; incentive for knowledge efforts; authority to carry out knowledge activities; system to deal with knowledge; culture support.	Ajmal et al. (2010)Ajmal, M., Helo, P., & Kekäle, T. (2010). Critical factors for knowledge management in project business. Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(1), 156-168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673271011015633. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673271011015...
Leadership support; culture; information technology; strategy and purpose; measurement; organizational infrastructure; processes and activities; motivational aids; resources; training and education; human resource management.	Wong (2005)Wong, K. Y. (2005). Critical success factors for implementing knowledge management in small and medium enterprises. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 105(3), 261-279. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570510590101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570510590...
People; leadership.	Ndlela & Du Toit (2001)Ndlela, L. T., & Du Toit, A. S. A. (2001). Establishing a knowledge management programme for competitive advantage in an enterprise. International Journal of Information Management, 21(2), 151-165. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0268-4012(01)00007-X. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0268-4012(01)...
Leadership; organizational culture; information technology; performance measurement.	Ramachandran et al. (2013)Ramachandran, S. D., Chong, S. C., & Wong, K. Y. (2013). Knowledge management practices and enablers in public universities: A gap analysis. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 30(2), 76-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10650741311306273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10650741311306...
Technological infrastructure; organizational infrastructure; balanced flexibility; knowledge sharing; culture as a friend of knowledge; motivated workers; knowledge resources; support and commitment of senior management.	Davenport et al. (1997)Davenport, T. H., Long, D. W., & Beers, M. C. (1997). Successful knowledge management projects. Sloan Management Review, 39(2), 43-57.
Training for workers; involvement of employees; team work; senior management commitment; infrastructure for information systems; performance measurement; culture as a friend of knowledge; benchmarking; knowledge structure; organizational constraints removing.	Chong (2006)Chong, S. C. (2006). KM critical success factors: a comparison of perceived importance versus implementation in Malaysian ICT companies. The Learning Organization, 13(3), 230-256. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09696470610661108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09696470610661...
Leadership and support from senior management; culture; strategy and purpose; resources; processes and activities; training and education; human resource management; information technology; motivational support; organizational infrastructure; measurement.	Wong & Aspinwall (2005)Wong, K. Y., & Aspinwall, E. (2005). An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(3), 64-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673270510602773. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13673270510602...
Strategy and leadership; organizational culture; people; information technology.	Yeh et al. (2006)Yeh, Y. J., Lai, S.-Q., & Ho, C.-T. (2006). Knowledge management enablers: a case study. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 106(6), 793-810. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570610671489. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570610671...

Knowledge management	Authentic Leadership
Process of knowledge creation	Encouragement and promotion of a critical, reflective and participatory environment, conducive to building new knowledge.
Process of knowledge sharing	Building an environment of trust, acting as a facilitator in processes and relations through empowering people and stimulating the knowledge sharing.
Process of knowledge using	Promoting an environment based on authentic relationships that values and encourages self-awareness and the development of followers, facilitating the use of organizational knowledge.

Universidade Federal de São Carlos Departamento de Engenharia de Produção , Caixa Postal 676 , 13.565-905 São Carlos SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 16 3351 8471 - São Carlos - SP - Brazil
E-mail: gp@dep.ufscar.br

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