Impact of Knowledge Management Strategies on Organizational Performance in the Hospitality Industry of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The research identifies the knowledge management strategies and how they impact on organizational performance in the hospitality industry in Zimbabwe. This research makes use of the Processes, Intellectual capital, Culture and Strategy (PICS) model which shows a substantial positive relationship between processes, intellectual capital, culture and strategy and knowledge management. The research was based on case studies of 3 hotels in Zimbabwe. Structured interviews were used to elicit information from managerial employees and questionnaires were administered to non-managerial employees. Stratified random sampling was used to select a total 50 participants mainly 15 managerial and 35 non-managerial staff in the research from all the hotels. The findings from this research revealed that the organisations have in place knowledge management strategies and these lead to development of new ideas, new products and also new ways of doing things that will eventually lead to improve the organizational performance. The main conclusions drawn from this study is that organizations have to learn to exploit their knowledge resource and put them to work to improve their performance. This research recommends that effective knowledge management requires that organizations incorporate knowledge management strategies into their overall business strategies. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]