Knowledge management practices at Uganda National Oil Company

Abstract

This study investigated knowledge management practices in the oil and gas sector in Uganda, paying attention to UNOC. The objectives of the study were to find out the knowledge management practices in place at UNOC, to examine the enabling environment for knowledge management in Uganda's oil and gas sector, to identify the challenges that are limiting knowledge management within Uganda's oil and gas sector and to propose strategies to strengthen knowledge management within Uganda's oil and gas sector. Knowledge Conversion (KC) theory was used to underpin the study. However, it was necessary to overlay it with a conceptual framework. The study adopted a mixed method approach consisting of qualitative and quantitative methods. A study population of 64 staff, all of which participated in the study. Quantitative data was collected using questionnaires while qualitative data was collected using interviews. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data was analyzed thematically using NVIVO software. The findings of the study indicated that there were efforts that have been put in place for effective knowledge management practices such as the availability of individuals responsible for explicit knowledge identification, capture and documentations, management support in some areas. The study also revealed that knowledge management environment was still at an infant stage without policies and procedures to guide in knowledge management and also the top management support towards knowledge management was not convincing with unclear knowledge management organizational culture. The findings indicated that there was some technology such as Microsoft SharePoint that was adopted to enable management of explicit. Several challenges, such as lack of knowledge management policy, inadequate management support. The study recommended user training of staff, formulation of knowledge management policy to improve knowledge management practices at UNOC. These findings partly concur and partly disagree with those of the earlier studies, suggesting that more studies are needed to test the comprehensive. Further research on KM practices' impact on oil and gas sector performance could be beneficial.