| Lyna Mohamad |
A CULTURE of competition is more valued over collaboration at Kolej International Graduate Studies (KIGS), said CEO of KIGS Dr Haji Azahairani bin Haji Mohd Jamil.
He made this statement at the soft launching of the KIGS Bulletin at the college’s atrium yesterday.
“Competition is favoured because knowledge is perceived as power that leads to promotions, recognitions, higher achievements, and a better chance of contract renewal,” said Dr Haji Azahairani.
He said the impact of high turnover rate of staff at institutions like KIGS is the lack of ‘Institutional Knowledge’ which pertains to mastery possessed by individuals in an institution which is essential for an institution to function. He added that institutions suffer from a high turnover rate due to teachers leaving and joining at an increased rate.
“It seems the institution is regarded as a place of transition while waiting for ‘real jobs’ offering better security and pay. The sense of belonging seems to be a problem facing our institution,” he said.
“Individuals who leave bring the acquired skills with them resulting to ineffective ‘Knowledge Management’,” he added. “It pertains to knowledge creation, retention, sharing and utilisation and there are reasons why it cannot be managed effectively.”
The CEO said that it must be addressed in the future to ensure Knowledge Management is conducted effectively. He said the culture is also prevalent as staff at the college regard colleagues as competitors rather than collaborators.
“If we share knowledge with others we feel they become stronger in turn we become replaceable. We also feel that we shouldn’t share knowledge or teaching notes with other teachers because we work hard to prepare while others just use them without doing anything,” he said. “Individual Knowledge is valued more over than Institutional Knowledge.
“This is a very traditional way of thinking and it will not bring improve organisational performance. We should think positively and that sharing knowledge with others will make teachers more flexible,” he said. “The college introduced a ‘buddy system’ which allows the sharing of knowledge resulting to both the institution and individual becoming more flexible in educating students.
“Unwillingness to experiment and lack of management support in facilitating knowledge sharing activities are other reasons for ineffective Knowledge Management,” he added. “Many prefer to follow regular procedures to get a job well done which is more likely to be appreciated than making mistakes in the process of experimenting to encourage innovations. They tend to adopt the existing methods or systems developed by others that have been proven successful as they do not want to risk failing in their experiment.
“It’s common to find that they do not have specific formal regulations and policies to promote a knowledge sharing culture and that Knowledge Management is not seen as a critical indicator in teachers’ performance evaluation. There is a necessity for top management support to encourage more to share knowledge particularly if such behaviour is considered improving their reputation,” said the CEO. “What we have done so far at the college level in terms of knowledge sharing is the publication of the KIGS Bulletin. It is a small step in the systematic approach to the implementation of Knowledge Management.
“We still have a long way to go and we feel that publications like the KIGS Bulletin might enhance our visibility and foster a sense of belonging among KIGS teachers and students,” said the CEO.
Guest of honour Legislative Council member YB Iswandy bin Ahmad officiated the soft launching of the KIGS Bulletin.
The ceremony began with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah and Doa read by MIB Lecturer, Haji Nasrul Fakhri bin Haji Yahya.
The guest of honour toured the KIGS gallery, radio studio and broadcasting production.
KIGS Bulletin is an integral part of the KIGS Knowledge Management initiative where knowledge contributed by the students and lecturers is intended to be shared to an audience through institutional publication.
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