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Knowledge Management in Non-Profit Organizations

DOI: 10.1108/13673270410567602
Authors:
Emanuele Lettieri at Politecnico di Milano
Emanuele Lettieri
Francesca Borga
Francesca Borga
Francesca Borga
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Alberto Savoldelli at PQ
Alberto Savoldelli
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Abstract

The non-profit sector is at present involved in a deep renewal process. Non-profit organizations are required to deliver tailored and high-quality services in order to overcome environmental complexity and scarcity of resources. In this context, non-profit organizations are being called to reengineer their core processes and organizational paradigms. To achieve excellence, all available resources should be managed with increased effectiveness and efficiency, the most important of these being knowledge. This paper contributes to the literature about the role which knowledge management plays in achieving excellence in the non-profit sector. In particular, the main results from an explorative survey of Italian non-profit organizations are formalized and discussed.
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Knowledge management in non-profit organizations
Lettieri, Emanuele;Borga, Francesca;Savoldelli, Alberto
Journal of Knowledge Management; 2004; 8, 6; ProQuest Central
pg. 16
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... However, 65,457 NPOs, or 85.4 percent, used information and communications technology and computers in their operation. Beyond their economic contributions, NPOs also contributed to their communities through qualitative social value and cultural efforts (Lettieri et al., 2004). To achieve the mission of social contribution, NPOs need to identify their knowledge needs and develop organizational capabilities and resources. ...
... However, there are many distinctions between for-profit organizations (FPOs) and NPOs, such as organizational design, management structures, and legal status (Hume et al., 2012). Unlike FPOs, NPOs concentrate on creating societal value rather than maximizing financial gains (Lettieri et al., 2004). The nonprofit sector strives to secure various funding, donations, volunteers, and community support (Rathi et al., 2016). ...
... Therefore, the nonprofit sector has strived to donate its efforts to develop the community and society where it has implemented its activities. The KM literature also confirmed that KM could facilitate NPOs to have better products for their partnerships or stakeholders (Lettieri et al., 2004). However, Rathi et al. (2016) revealed that KM and its application had been limited in NPOs. ...
Knowledge and Technology Resources for Knowledge Management Practices of Nonprofit Organizations in Thailand Knowledge and Technology Resources for KM in NPOs
Article
  • Sep 2021
Knowledge and technology resources are the most crucial sources for the achievement of sustainable development in competitive advantage. Meanwhile, few empirical studies have clarified the types of knowledge and technology resources that nonprofit organizations (NPOs) use and develop. This study aims to categorize knowledge and technology resources in NPOs that both researchers and practitioners can use to develop the nonprofit sector further. A qualitative research method was used for the study. Data were collected from 31 interviews with senior and founding members of NPOs in Thailand. Analysis of qualitative data identified five critical categories of knowledge resources: human resources, organizational practices, partnership or stakeholder involvement, operational practices, and other resources. This study also illustrates both internal and external technology resources, which are used in sample organizations. The study's findings contribute to developing a body of knowledge management literature related to the knowledge and technology resources of NPOs.
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... The third sector encompasses all organizations that aim to create social value for society and whose primary goal is not to generate profit for shareholders (del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez et al., 2017;Lettieri et al., 2004). On the other hand, the third sector is a network of politically independent organizations or institutions that are outside the state yet may interact with the government (Lohmann, 1992). ...
... NPOs need to continually improve their performance. The demand for integrated, dedicated, and timely services encourages NPOs to follow new managerial paradigms (Lettieri et al., 2004). In particular, trends in economy, demography, technology, communication, and even how individuals spend their leisure time can affect the decisions made by NPOs and their destiny as effective and sustainable organizations. ...
Non-profit Organizations: A Path for Social Economy
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... Penelitian dilakukan dengan mengumpulkan studi literatur, melakukan analisis kajian literatur dan mengusulkan teori hasil dari analisis kajian. Melalui penelitian ini diketahui bahwa dengan penerapan siklus hidup sprint dari Google Ventures dalam proses Manajemen Pengetahuan yang mengadopsi analisis dari kerangka kerja yang digagas oleh Evans (2014), Wee dan Chua (2013) , Akhavan (2009), Lettieri (2004), Chyi Lee (2000) dapat menghasilkan sebuah teori dasar mengenai penerapan siklus hidup sprint dalam manajemen pengetahuan, yaitu: (1) Identify, Create, and Understand, (2) Sketch and Innovation, (3) Decide and Organize, (4) Prototype and Codification, (5) Test, Use, Share, and Learn. Dengan gagasan ide hasil dari penelitian ini dapat memperluas model KMC sebelumnya dengan mengintegrasikan pola kerangka kerja sprint dengan mengaitkan beberapa inisiatif dalam KMC yang sudah ada. ...
... Tahap ini mengadopsi knowledge codification -Lettieri, Borga, Savoldelli (2004). Aktifitas kodifikasi bertujuan untuk mengumpulkan informasi atau pengetahuan dengan format baku yang sudah dievaluasi dan disetujui [24]. Pengetahuan yang terkodifikasi dapat direpresentasikan dalam bahasa formal seperti kode matematis, gramatikal, digital, dan simbolik. ...
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... NPOs are knowledge-centric organizations (Lettieri et al., 2004;Martinsons & Hosley, 1993;Murray & Carter, 2005), but paradoxically, the knowledge in NPOs is mostly heterogeneous, fragmented, and often not codified or imbued in a formal KM system (Andreasen et al., 2005;Helmig et al., 2004). This transient nature of knowledge is further exacerbated by the exit of key personnel and lack of operational maturity in extant systems (Gilmour & Stancliffe, 2004;Helmig et al., 2004;Lettieri et al., 2004). ...
... NPOs are knowledge-centric organizations (Lettieri et al., 2004;Martinsons & Hosley, 1993;Murray & Carter, 2005), but paradoxically, the knowledge in NPOs is mostly heterogeneous, fragmented, and often not codified or imbued in a formal KM system (Andreasen et al., 2005;Helmig et al., 2004). This transient nature of knowledge is further exacerbated by the exit of key personnel and lack of operational maturity in extant systems (Gilmour & Stancliffe, 2004;Helmig et al., 2004;Lettieri et al., 2004). Despite their distinct orientation and ethos, it has been seen that NPOs employ a mimetic mechanism wherein they largely mimic their for-profit counterparts in KM practices. ...
Knowledge Management Practices in Non‐Profit Organizations: An Institutional Logics Approach
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Institutional environments are often pluralistic, and organizations must balance competing and incompatible environmental demands to achieve stability and legitimacy. Knowledge management (KM) in non-profit organizations (NPOs) embodies this philosophy wherein the NPOs must balance the competing institutional demands and enact KM practices in a resource-constrained environment. We evaluate this interplay of competing demands and knowledge management practices in non-profit organizations with two polar cases using the theoretical lens of institutional logics. We find support for the hybrid nature of non-profits and the co-existence of multiple competing logics that drive the KM practices in NPOs and the use of innovative logics like bricolage and socialization to compensate for the resource constraints.
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... A key learning point is that approaches to strategic management in the third sector may need to be adapted from public as well as private sector settings, as they have many volunteers as well as some paid staff. Oster's (1995) important text essentially developed private sector-based strategic management/industrial economics thinking and techniques to make them relevant to the world of (American) non-profits, increasingly operating in competitive markets and facing demanding customers, just as private firms do. Like private firms, they are seen as facing generic management challenges in such areas as HRM, corporate governance, product mix and pricing decisions, programme evaluation and change management, as well as sectorally specific challenges in the field of fund-raising and relations with major donors. ...
... The advice is that non-profits should balance their mix of activities to ensure a focus on both the mission and economic viability. Oster (1995) recognizes some enduring differences between the firm and the NGO, especially in the centrality of mission (Chapter 2) as NGOs often operate in hard-to-monitor markets where trust is an important source of competitive advantage and hence an organizational 'core competence.' On the whole, however, Oster's discussion tends to skate over important sources of difference, in our view, from private sector firms. ...
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... A key learning point is that approaches to strategic management in the third sector may need to be adapted from public as well as private sector settings, as they have many volunteers as well as some paid staff. Oster's (1995) important text essentially developed private sector-based strategic management/industrial economics thinking and techniques to make them relevant to the world of (American) non-profits, increasingly operating in competitive markets and facing demanding customers, just as private firms do. Like private firms, they are seen as facing generic management challenges in such areas as HRM, corporate governance, product mix and pricing decisions, programme evaluation and change management, as well as sectorally specific challenges in the field of fund-raising and relations with major donors. ...
... The advice is that non-profits should balance their mix of activities to ensure a focus on both the mission and economic viability. Oster (1995) recognizes some enduring differences between the firm and the NGO, especially in the centrality of mission (Chapter 2) as NGOs often operate in hard-to-monitor markets where trust is an important source of competitive advantage and hence an organizational 'core competence.' On the whole, however, Oster's discussion tends to skate over important sources of difference, in our view, from private sector firms. ...
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... For-profits take advantage of these "interconnected and collaborative business processes" (Guggenberger et al., 2020, p. 2) via digitally-enabled environments, resulting in the proliferation of diffuse organizational processes. Other research has focused on strengthening IS capacity for maintaining competitive advantage (Lee, Chen and Zhang, 2001;Lettieri, Borga and Savoldelli, 2004), improving agility and firm performance (Richardson et al., 2014), examining the capability of IS to meet strategic marketing goals (Laureano et al., 2018), improving employee satisfaction (Lane, 1996) or revealing tensions caused by increasing demands for data-driven practices within mission-driven organizations (Bopp, Harmon and Voida, 2017). More recently, the concept of data ecosystems, defined as "socio-technical complex networks in which actors interact and collaborate with each other to find, archive, publish, consume, or reuse data as well as to foster innovation, create value, and support new businesses" (Oliveira, Lima, and Lóscio, 2019, p. 519), has gained traction in IS due to advances in IoT and web-based technologies facilitated by open data movements (Tarkkala et al., 2020). ...
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... As explained in the discussion section, volunteers who are involved in non-profit organizations gain knowledge and experience from the organization and how they can pass on to the subject of empowering and including the people around them. Therefore, inside NPO, the knowledge is created and circulates through four distinct cycles (Lettieri et al., 2004). The first cycle is concerned with an individual level, followed by the second cycle, which incorporates activities of transfer/sharing from the individual to the group level. ...
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