A Survey of Knowledge Sharing Behavior in Knowledge Management Systems.
Dear Respondent:
Thankyou for taking time out of your busy life to respond to the questionnaire.
This survey is a part of a study being conducted by Manish Kumar, a research scholar at IIM Calcutta. It asks you to indicate your opinion about how people behave in knowledge sharing scenario. Sometimes people are tempted to answer survey questions in the way they think is expected. Please respond based on your judgment, regardless of what you think others expect or what is socially acceptable. There are no right or wrong answers. The identity of individuals who are participating in the survey will not be revealed. The study is for academic purpose only.
Instruction: Answer the following questions below based on the scenarios.
Background XYZ is a software development company in India. It has a project database, electronic discussion board, electronic knowledge repository, and expert yellow pages. Project database is an electronic database, which contains details of all the projects completed by the company so far. Electronic discussion board is web based discussion medium, where an employee can raise queries, which other employees can answer. Queries and answers are visible to all. Electronic knowledge repository is meant for storing articles which employees write to share their experiences so that other employees can benefit from them. Expert yellow pages is a directory of people arranged expertise wise giving their names and contact information, so that employees can consult expert in a particular area if required.
Scenario 1: Srinivas is a Project Manager in XYZ Company. While estimating the cost of a project he underestimates the effort (man-hours) required. It caused a serious problem of finishing the project in the given budget and time. With the hard work and extra effort by some of his very efficient team members he is some how able to finish the project in time. Since the project is finished in time, his error in underestimation goes unnoticed. If Srinivas shares his mistake he can prevent others from repeating the same. Srinivas is expecting a promotion, bonus and a salary hike. Assume that Srinivas is like a typical employee of your organization.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it for Srinivas to share his mistake in the electronic knowledge repository?
B.
How justified would Srinivas be in not sharing it?
C.
All told, how likely is it that Srinivas will share his mistake in electronic knowledge repository?
Scenario 2: Now, Ramesh is the project manager of a different team assigned to do a similar project. From the project database, he finds out the estimate of the old project and based on it, he makes an estimate of the new project. Assume that Ramesh is also a typical employee of your organization. Ramesh had a doubt about the estimation, so he raised a query on the electronic discussion board. Srinivas has seen the discussion board and he comes to know about the query raised by Ramesh. Only Srinivas can clarify the doubt, but if he admits openly about his mistake, it will be noticed by the senior management. Srinivas has never met Ramesh.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it of Srinivas to share his mistake in the electronic discussion board?
B.
How justified would Srinivas be in not sharing it?
C.
All told, how likely is it that Srinivas will reply on the discussion board and warn Ramesh not to repeat the mistake?
Scenario 3: Ramesh accesses expert directory and finds out that Srinivas has done a similar project. Ramesh shows his estimate to Srinivas. Ramesh has never met Srinivas earlier. They work in different development centers.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it of Srinivas to share his mistake with Ramesh when meeting face to face?
B.
How justified would Srinivas be in not sharing it?
C.
All told, how likely is it that Srinivas will share his mistake with Ramesh?
Scenario 4: Sanjay is another project manager like Srinivas working in the same organization. Sanjay has worked on many software development projects. He has developed a thumb rule for estimating man-hour requirements from requirement specification based on development platform. He is not sure that his thumb rule is correct and others may not approve of this thumb rule. Sanjay is expecting a promotion, bonus and a salary hike. Assume that Sanjay is like a typical employee of your organization.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it of Sanjay to share such knowledge in the electronic knowledge repository?
B.
How justified would Sanjay be in not sharing it?
C.
All told, how likely is it that Sanjay will share it in electronic knowledge repository?
Scenario 5: One project manager Rajeev has asked for assistance in estimating man-hours in a similar project on the electronic discussion board. Sanjay has seen the discussion board but he is not sure that his thumb rule is worth sharing. Sanjay has never met Rajeev.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it for Sanjay to share his thumb rule on the electronic discussion board?
B.
How justified would Sanjay be in not sharing it?
C.
All told, how likely is it that Sanjay will share such knowledge on the electronic discussion board?
Scenario 6: Rajeev comes to know through expert yellow pages that Sanjay has done a few of such projects. He comes to Sanjay for help in his estimation work.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it for Sanjay to share his thumb rule with him?
B.
How justified would Sanjay be in not sharing it?
C.
All told, how likely is it that Sanjay will share such knowledge with him?
Scenario 7: Sudhir is another project manager like Srinivas and Sanjay, working in the same organization. Sudhir has worked on 30 software development projects. By his experience he developed a computer program which calculates man-hour requirement from functional requirement of a software development job. By this program Sudhir is able to complete the estimation work very fast compared to his colleagues. He once showed this program to his colleagues and they liked it very much. He is expecting a promotion, bonus and a salary hike. Assume that Sudhir is like a typical employee of your organization.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it of Sudhir to share such knowledge in the electronic knowledge repository?
B.
How justified would Sudhir be in not sharing it?
C.
All told, how likely is it that Sudhir will share it in electronic knowledge repository?
Scenario 8: One project manager, Dhruv has asked for assistance in estimating man-hours in a similar project on the electronic discussion board. Sudhir has seen the discussion board and the software he has developed should be useful to Dhruv. Sudhir has never met Dhruv.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it for Sudhir to share his program on the electronic discussion board?
B.
How justified would Sudhir be in not sharing it?
C.
All told how likely is it that Sudhir will share such program on the electronic discussion board?
Scenario 9: Dhruv comes to know through expert yellow pages that Sudhir has done many such projects. He comes to Sudhir for help in his estimation work.
Not at Some Very All What 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A.
How appropriate is it for Sudhir to share his program with him?
How justified would Sudhir be in not sharing it?
B.
C.
All told, how likely is it that Sudhir will share such knowledge with him?
Instruction : The following statements describe type of operating values, which may exist in your organization. Please indicate the extent to which each statement describes your organization. None of the descriptions is any better than others, they are just different. First read a group of four statements, and then mark them one to seven.
The glue that holds my organization together is loyalty and tradition. Commitment runs high.
EB.
The glue that holds my organization together is commitment to innovation and development. There is an emphasis on being first with products and services.
EC.
The glue that holds my organization together is formal rules and policies. Following rules is important.
ED.
The glue that holds my organization together is an emphasis on tasks and goal accomplishment. A production and achievement orientation is commonly shared.
