Investigating the relationship between knowledge management and organizational agility in an industrial company

Aghileh, Marzieh; Lima, Rui

Investigating the relationship between knowledge management and organizational agility in an industrial company

Organization, Technology and Management in Construction: an International Journal

Volume 16 (2024): Issue 1 (January 2024)

By:

Marzieh Aghileh and Rui Lima

Open Access

|Jul 2024

Figures & Tables

Frequency distribution of statistical samples by age

Age (Years)	Frequency	%
21–30	8	16.7
31–40	33	68.8
41–50	3	6.3
>50	4	8.3
Total	48	100.0

Frequency distribution of statistical samples by education

Education	Frequency	%
Bachelor	2	4.2
Master	40	83.3
Ph.D.	6	12.5
Total	48	100.0

Notation used in present article

Abbreviation	Description
IT	IT Infrastructure
KA	Knowledge Application
KG	Knowledge Generation
KIC	Knowledge Management Infrastructure Capabilities
KMS	Knowledge Management Systems
KPC	Knowledge Management Process Capabilities
KR	Knowledge Sharing
KS	Knowledge Storage
OC	Organisational Culture
OS	Organisational structure

Kolmogorov–Smirnov test results

Variable	Test statistics	Significance level	Test result
Organisational agility	0.109	0.200	Normal
Flexibility	0.123	0.200	Normal
Responsiveness	0.120	0.066	Normal
Culture	0.063	0.095	Normal
Speed	0.114	0.185	Normal
Integrity	0.147	0.521	Normal
Quality	0.096	0.092	Normal
Competence	0.138	0.172	Normal
Human resources	0.106	0.068	Normal
KM	0.191	0.796	Normal
Infrastructure	0.120	0.200	Normal
Process	0.110	0.200	Normal

Pearson correlation coefficient test results between KM and organisational agility

Variable	KM
Variable	Pearson correlation coefficient	Significance level
Organisational agility	0.875	0.000
Flexibility	0.767	0.000
Responsiveness	0.705	0.000
Culture	0.853	0.000
Speed	0.856	0.000
Integrity	0.810	0.000
Quality	0.535	0.000
Competence	0.714	0.000
Human resources	0.672	0.000

Frequency distribution of statistical samples by work experience

Work experience (years)	Frequency	%
<1	8	16.7
1–2	27	56.3
2–3	9	18.8
>3	4	8.4
Total	48	100

Classification of organisational agility assessment indicators (Swafford et al_ 2006)

Indicator	Components
Flexibility	Production model flexibility, production system flexibility, flexible workforce, flexibility structure and methods, flexible workplace and flexible business strategy
Responsiveness	Responding to changes in demand, responding to changes in the business and market environment, responding to changes in social environmental achievements and the degree of adaptation of business goals to changes
Culture of change	Continuous improvement, product-related change capability, reconfiguration capability, supporting the learning environment, change management, changing organisational responsibilities and continuous monitoring of internal and external environment to identify opportunities and threats
Speed	Learning to perform tasks and operations in the shortest possible time, operation time, production change time, time of the delivery of products and services, learning time and adaptation time to change
Low integrity and complexity	Integration inside and outside the organisation, integration of individuals, technology and organisation, combination of technology, conflicting skills and competencies, flow of materials, products and suppliers, and facilitating change
High quality and custom production	Goods and services with high volume of information and added value, quality throughout the life of the product, correct and timely decision and short development cycle time
Central competence	Multi-risk capability, difficulty in copying developed business methods, skills and knowledge of increasing technologies, close communication with customers and suppliers, customer enrichment, customer incentive innovation, customer satisfaction, and cooperation and collaboration for increased competitiveness
Human resources	Employee empowerment, job rotation, decision-making independence, access to knowledge and information, teamwork, multitasking teams, manpower training and development, and individual initiative

Regression model summary

Model	Correlation coefficient	Coefficient of determination	Durbin–Watson
Regression	0.875	0.766	1.867

Coefficients of regression model variables

Variables	Unstandardised coefficients		Standardised coefficients	T statistic	Significance value
Variables	β	Standard error	β	T statistic	Significance value
Constant coefficient	0.787	0.205		3.830	0.000
KM	0.763	0.062	0.875	12.261	0.000

Agility Evaluation Questions (Comparison with the strongest competitor)

		Very low	Low	Medium	High	Very high
Flexibility
1	The level of readiness of the company’s production system to produce various products
2	The degree of readiness of the company to change the production volume of products at the appropriate time
3	The ability of company employees to perform a variety of tasks
4	The possibility of changing the number of employees of the company in consecutive time periods
5	The degree of attention to flexibility in formulating strategies
Responsiveness
6	The ability of the company to respond to diverse customer demands (in terms of product variety and quantity)
7	The extent of the company’s ability to respond appropriately to changes in the environment (raw material prices, government policies, etc.)
8	The extent of the company’s ability to take advantage of environmental opportunities (seasonal changes, popularity in society, etc.)
Culture of change
9	The degree of willingness of senior management for the progress of the company
10	The level of readiness and acceptance of employees for innovation in all areas of work
11	The rate of formation of appropriate training courses for employees of different levels
12	The degree of positive attitude to change in different areas of the company
13	The amount of identifying opportunities and environmental threats and exploiting them
Speed
14	The ability of company employees to quickly learn new tasks
15	The speed of action of employees in doing work
16	The ability to produce and deliver goods needed quickly to customers
Integrity
17	The degree of coordination between the internal environment (employees, goals, rules, etc.) and the external environment (competitors, suppliers, market, etc.)
18	The ability of employees to exploit the technologies used by the company
19	The degree of coordination in the flow of raw materials (from warehouse to production line)
20	The degree of coordination between raw material suppliers, production process and distributors
Quality
21	The quality of manufactured products
22	The amount of necessary information about the product to customers
23	The degree of continuity of product quality during its useful life
Competence
24	The degree of ability to deal with different risks simultaneously (competitors’ pressure, demand reduction, etc.)
25	Extent of measures taken to prevent competitors from copying the designs and technologies used by the company
26	The ability of the company to form rapid cooperation with competitors and suppliers
Human Resources
27	The level of attention to employees’ opinions in decision-making
28	The degree of independence of employees in making decisions related to their work
29	Employee access rate to the required information and knowledge
30	The amount of work done by team
31	The level of attention to the individual initiative of employees in the company

Frequency distribution of statistical samples by gender

Gender	Frequency	%
Male	19	39.6
Female	29	60.4
Total	48	100.0

Knowledge Management Evaluation Questions (in your company)

		Very low	Low	Medium	High	Very high
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE
1	The possibility of implementing knowledge management in the company
2	Existence of a positive attitude of high-level managers towards the implementation of knowledge management
3	The degree of attention to acquire, support and develop knowledge as a tool of competitive advantage
4	The degree of attention to the values of knowledge management in the company’s programs
5	Existence of leadership and senior management interested in knowledge management
6	The degree of consistency of the company structure with the knowledge management process
7	Existence of information technology infrastructure in accordance with the goals and needs of the company and employees
8	Ability to record existing information and knowledge through information technology tools (computer databases, etc.)
9	The possibility of using computer and Internet networks to exchange information
10	Existence of training courses to develop and improve the knowledge of employees and managers of the company
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
11	The readiness of the company to create and accept new knowledge
12	Existence of access to experiences, technologies, advanced and new skills
13	Take appropriate measures to maintain (record) knowledge and promote innovation in the company
14	Ability to organize and codify knowledge in existing databases
15	The amount of effort to survive and maintain knowledge (after entering and acquiring it)
16	Number of seminars, learning programs and working groups to strengthen knowledge
17	The degree of ease of access to knowledge due to the proper arrangement of processes
18	Ease in the process of receiving and transmitting information (created or acquired)
19	The appropriateness of staff knowledge with their needs
20	The use of existing (known) knowledge to make decisions and achieve company goals

Classification of KM indicators

Component	Indicator
KI
OC	OC is also known as a set of assumptions, rules, standards, systems and beliefs shared by employees within the organisation that affect their thinking and decision-making (Obeidat et al. 2015).
IT	IT includes various hardware and software that facilitate and help in providing technological capabilities that lead to transfer of knowledge between units (Soud Jaradat and Al Maani 2014).
OS	Definition of hierarchic relationships and sector boundaries of an organisation, and the necessary policies and procedures which create the conditions for managing the designated activities, roles and responsibilities (Gold et al., 2001).
KP
KG	KG involves the development of new knowledge or the replacement of the existing content of the organisation’s tacit and explicit knowledge (Chang and Lin 2015).
KS	This process also includes all activities that allow knowledge to be stored, updated and easily retrieved by users (Al-Shanti 2017).
KR	The process of KR helps people exchange tacit and explicit knowledge and generate new knowledge among the target people (Birasnav 2014).
KA	The purpose of KA is to transform the knowledge into practical application (Dalkir 2005).

Frequency distribution of statistical samples by position

Position	Frequency	%
Manager	5	10.4
Employee	31	64.6
Researcher	12	25.0
Total	48	100.0

Descriptive statistical indicators of the main research variables

Variable	Central orientation indicators		Dispersion tendency indicators
Variable	Mean	Median	Variation range	Variance	Standard deviation
Agility	3.26	3	2.06	0.322	0.57
Flexibility	3.19	3	2.8	0.442	0.66
Responsiveness	3.14	3	2.33	0.396	0.63
Culture	3.12	3	2.4	0.43	0.66
Speed	3.03	3	2.33	0.516	0.72
Integrity	3.21	3	2.75	0.535	0.73
Quality	3.48	3.67	3	0.557	0.75
Competence	3.44	3.33	2.33	0.355	0.60
Human resources	3.46	3.4	2.2	0.366	0.61
KM	3.24	3	2.32	0.425	0.65
Infrastructure	3.27	3	2	0.336	0.58
Process	3.21	3	2.82	0.528	0.73