| PROBLEM: The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between organizational structure types and management levels in terms of perceived levels of knowledge management practices within organizations.;METHOD: Data were collected from a sample of 155 individuals employed in San Diego County. Survey responses were received as a result of an electronic invitation to participate in a web-based survey. The variables measured by the survey included organizational structure type, management level, knowledge transfer, information filtering, knowledge-sharing training, and knowledge culture. The organizational structure types used in this study were adhocracy, SBU, divisional, functional, and matrix. The management levels used in this study were non-managerial, mid-management, and C-level/executive.;All statistical analyses were performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the reliability of the scales.;RESULTS: The ANOVA results of the null hypothesis were rejected with a statistical significance level of p < 0.03 for hypotheses 1, 2, and 4, which evaluated knowledge transfer, information filtering, and knowledge culture, respectively. These results indicate that the knowledge management practices of knowledge transfer, information filtering, and knowledge culture are influenced by organizational structure type. Thus, it can be concluded that a need exists for management to analyze the structure of its organization to identify opportunities for maximizing efforts related to knowledge management practices.;The matrix organizational structure type returned the highest perceived levels of knowledge transfer, information filtering, and knowledge culture, relative to the other organizational structure types. The matrix organizational structure type is heavily associated with the freedom and need to share knowledge. Collaboration is a requirement within a matrix organization, and mutual adjustment is its primary coordinating mechanism. These characteristics of the matrix organizational structure type contribute toward the results that indicate the matrix organizational structure type cultivates the highest perceived levels of the aforementioned knowledge management practices, relative to the other organizational structure types.;The results of the ANOVA test for hypothesis 3 failed to reject the null hypothesis. Hypothesis 3 evaluated the difference between organizational structure types in terms of the perceived levels of knowledge-sharing training. According to the results of this study, there was no significant difference between organizational structure types in terms of perceived levels of knowledge-sharing training. This can be interpreted to mean that there is no valued added through efforts to design knowledge-sharing training initiatives in accordance with known characteristics of organizational structure types.;ANOVA test results of the null hypothesis on the issues of the difference between management levels in terms of the perceived levels of knowledge management practices within organizations failed to reject the null hypothesis for all four related hypotheses. Hypotheses 5, 6, 7, and 8 evaluated knowledge transfer, information filtering, knowledge-sharing training, and knowledge culture, respectively. The conclusion drawn from these results is that there is no value added through efforts to design knowledge management strategies in accordance with known characteristics of different management levels. This, in combination with the aforementioned results indicating a significant difference between organizational structure types and knowledge management practices, further solidifies the assertion that organizational structure types do influence knowledge management practices. |
