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The Role of Organizational Culture 229

There are a number of other ways of characterizing culture, and organizational
cultural analysis must be one of the fi rst steps to be taken in any KM initiative. One
of the fundamental prerequisites to a culture that fosters rather than hinders KM is
the notion of trust. When organizational members feel they are respected, that they
can expect to be treated in a professional manner and that they can trust the other
members of their group, then knowledge sharing is greatly enhanced. Trust removes
any potential barriers due to lack of confi dence that the person on the receiving end
will not attribute authors of knowledge or that they will make inappropriate use of
the knowledge shared.

Organizational Culture Analysis

Culture surrounds us all, and we need to understand how it is created, embedded,
developed, manipulated, managed, and changed. To understand the culture is to
understand your organization. Schein (1992) approaches this issue through his three
levels, as shown in table 7.2 . The third level is ultimately the basis for all values and
actions.
Artifacts are easy to detect (e.g., a dress code) but they may be diffi cult to under-
stand. They represent “ the tip of the iceberg, ” and it remains a challenge to discern
or decipher what lies underneath them (i.e., what is the reason for this type of dress
code or other visible structures and processes?). General and abstract statements that
express certain ideas and truths about human beings usually represent basic assump-
tions in organizational culture. They are the expression of a philosophy, of a general
concept on individuals and society. Given the diversity of such concepts and the
contradictory characteristics they have, these assumptions often have an eclectic,
heterogeneous, fragmentary, and unilateral aspect.
The values shared by the members of an organization represent the second
layer in culture analysis. From an organizational perspective, values express essential

Table 7.2
Levels of culture
Cultural level Description
Artifacts The visible organizational structures and processes
Values The stated strategies, goals, philosophies and justifi cations
Assumptions The basic underlying assumptions, unconscious, taken for granted beliefs,
perceptions, thoughts, and feelings

Source: Adapted from Schein 1992 .