A Small Review of Issues in Knowledge Sharing in Malaysia

In order to understand the issues that contribute to Knowledge Management , we have to first determine which definition most applies to our review. The definition according to "Cap Gemini Ernst & Young" [2000]  is "System and framework to help with capturing, analyzing, applying and reusing knowledge to make faster, smarter and better decision and achieve competitive advantage"

In order to understand Malaysia's contribution to KM we should first look at some global statistics. Asia even as a continent according to "Saleem & Iqbal" [2012] only provided 13% of the sample that has been reviewed by them on "15 Years Journey of Journal of Knowledge Management".  There were no contributions from Malaysia on this sample review by  "Saleem & Iqbal" [2012]. 

In any context there are some basic factors that contribute to the success of Knowledge Sharing according to Azmi, I. M. (2010) : 

1. Codification
2. Knowledge Workers Efectiveness
3. Encouragement of Transmitter-Receiver Model
4. Technology's Role
5. Effective use of both Tacit & Explicit Knowledge

Based on the above , lets look at some points that could be hindering Malaysia from a Legal and Ethical Perspective. 

• Point 1 : Vast difference of Knowledge Sharing in Malaysian Industries. According to  Azmi, I. M. (2010) , a success factor that gives a vast difference of knowledge sharing in the educational institutes is whether the field is more tacit or explicit. Tacit knowledge is understandably more difficult to share like in the Law Schools as opposed to more explicit knowledge structred sharing in technology related fields like IT or Engineering
• Point 2 : Malaysian Law entails that "Freedom Of Speech" is not necessarily a license to defame people. As such it would seem like Malaysians are more careful with legal restrictions of Knowledge Sharing.
• Point 3 :  Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission clearly govern the contents that is available to public and this may curtail interest and Knowledge Sharing to some level. 
• Point 4 : Social Sharing seems to trend towards more political interests as opposed to skills related knowledge sharing.

Conclusion : 

There is need to introduce some level of Knowledge Sharing awareness via a top down model. The points above are all valid but management of these systematically will move the issues away from a problem model to a solution model.

Citations : 

Azmi, I. M. (2010). Legal and ethical issues in knowledge management in Malaysia. Computer Law & Security Review, 26(1), 61-71.

Saleem, M. A., & Iqbal, J. (2012). A Quest for Excellence: 15 Years Journey of Journal of Knowledge Management-Highlighting Key Ideas and Identifying Potential Research Avenues.