Knowledge management, leadership and decision making: a case of Academic Libraries

Abstract

Over the past three decades like other organizations libraries are going through fundamental changes aimed at increasing their operational efficiency, and contributing towards knowledge economy using Knowledge Management (KM) tools and technologies to acquire, build, share and apply knowledge. Several factors contribute towards successful execution of knowledge management; good leadership is decisive among others. Key to knowledge management, an organizational culture that emphasizes cooperation, sharing, and innovation can only be established under strong leadership and commitment from the library managers and top management, who can influence an organization’s knowledge sharing efforts in a positive way. Knowledge management facilitates informed and sustainable decision making, since decision making is knowledge intensive. This paper examines the role of leadership in knowledge management in academic libraries; highlights the importance of knowledge management in decision making and provides a framework for the desired leadership for a library manager. The paper is based on the latest knowledge management literature and the author’s own experience and it is exploratory in nature.