www.mofa.gov.ae

Knowledge Management in the UAE Government: Current Practices and Ways for Improvement

Dr. Saeed Al Dhaheri

Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs – U.A.E@DDSaeed

KM Middle East, Abu Dhabi, 25-27 March 2013

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Agenda

Statistics

What is KM?

Why KM in important to UAE and the region?

KM in The UAE Public Sector

Excellence Programs and KM

Social Media and KM

KM events in UAE

Challenges

Recommendations

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Statistics: UAE achieved pioneering status but strives to achieve sustainable development and compete globally

e-government

– UAE ranked 7th in online services index in 2012

– UAE ranked 6th in the e-participation index

Innovative economy

– UAE ranked 1st on Arab level and 23rd globally as the Innovation-based Economy

Global competitiveness

– UAE shows Greatest Rise of Any Country in Global Competitiveness (IMD World Competitive

yearbook). Ranking jumped from 28th in 2011 to 16th in 2012

Human development

– UAE ranked 1st in the Arab World and 30th internationally in human development index

Is this enough?

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What is KM

KM is an ongoing, persistent, purposeful process that enables organizations to create, select,

organize, conserve, disseminate and transfer knowledge to achieve its strategic objectives and

create value (Allee 1997, Davenport et al 1998).

KM should not be interpreted in technical terms only. It is not about the use of information systems

and automation

Knowledge is dynamic and has social component

KM systems are means and not an end in itself

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Why KM is Important to UAE and the region?

Support UAE vision and strategic goals towards building a competitive knowledge based economy

To address other challenges (shortage of national skills and knowledge resources, reliance on

foreign workforce)

Government objective to enhance public service delivery

Impact of the financial crises budgets shrinking, departure of talent from many sectors

To improve decision making capability leading to better results and outcomes

Part of adopting best practices and achieving organizational excellence

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KM in UAE Public sector: vision and strategic objectives are drivers for adopting KM practices

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KM Practice in UAE Public Sector: Abu Dhabi case

Top adoption - General Secretariat of the Executive Council (GSEC)

– Conducted series of workshops (2008 and 2009):

Leadership and governance in innovation and KM – public sector leading role

role of innovation and knowledge management in the creation of the foundations of knowledge economy

– formation of KM Steering Committee in Gov departments

ADAEP Office (Abu Dhabi Award for Excellence in Government Performance)

– KM unit: to promote and spread KM practices in AD government

– Target: develop Abu Dhabi government KM Portal

– Excellence drivers awards

Excellence in KM award (optional)

DED (Department of Economic Development)

– 2030 economic vision: enhancing economic transformation towards KBE

– Abu Dhabi economic knowledge initiative

Initiative to publicize and disseminate knowledge among leading parties in the economic sector

– DED KM department

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KM Practice in UAE: Abu Dhabi case

Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) – “Musharaka”

– Goal: to provide better quality services offering the residents of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,

investors & visitors and to create competitive advantage, economic development and

sustainable growth

– Purpose: KM platform to exchange knowledge and better collaboration between AD

municipalities

– Benefits: Increased efficiency & collaboration, and more innovation-fostering environments

– Initiatives supports organizational KM strategy

– Integrates different government systems

– information resources such as community sites, blogs, wikis, discussion forums, newsletters,

and RSS feeds.

– KM office formed within DMA

– DMA organized a forum and workshop in KM

A forum organized by DMA

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KM in Public Sector: Dubai Case

DSG Published a report in 2011 about KM in Dubai Public Sector• Report included DEWA, Dubai Courts, Dubai Customs,

TRA, Dubai Police, KHDA

- personal Interviews

- survey questionnaire from OECD KM survey

• Most have KM strategy and developed process for KM

• About 66% agree that lack of awareness and understanding of KM

concept is a major obstacle

• About 65% agree that capturing tacit knowledge is a major difficulty

• Some adopted incentives for knowledge sharing e.g. Dubai Police

• Dubai courts: Judges meet regularly to discuss cases and share

experiences with new judges

Dubai Forum for Best Practices in Government• Annual forum that focus on excellence, partnerships, and knowledge management

• 2012 forum focused on KM approaches, results, and applications

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KM in Public Sector: Dubai Case

Arab Knowledge Report 2010 –

2011: Preparing young

generation for Knowledge

Society

- Mohammed bin Rashid Al

Maktoum Foundation and

UNDP

- Big gap between current skills

level and required skills for

Knowledge society

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Reasons and desired outcomes from implementing KM in Dubai public sector

Improve

efficiency,

productivity

and service

delivery Enhance

org.

performance

Sound

policy

making and

improving

decision

making

Enhance

knowledge

transfer

Facilitate e-

government

initiatives

To make

use of good

practices

within

organization

Facilitate

communicati

on of

knowledge

among

employees

Fulfill the

requirements

of DGEP

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KM in UAE: Federal Level

Federal KM initiatives recently started

Gov organizations starting to address KM strategies and processes as part of the excellence

program

Award in KM ( Distinguished Federal Entity in KM) – under best practices category

– 2012 award to Sheikh Zayed Housing Program

Strategic KM plan

Established KM team

Workshops: KM for leadership

Federal e-government support the use of web 2.0 tools for increased participation (social software

- blogs, forums, wikis and SM)

Some KM practices includes Intranet portals, forums, blogs

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KM in UAE: Federal Level – Ministry of Foreign Affairs example

Starting to develop KM strategy

KM Exists under Studies & Research department

– Strategy to consolidate knowledge systems to be

accessed through Intranet Portal

– Knowledge Sharing practices exists

MoFA participated in Dubai Forum for Government

Best Practices 2011

success story of winning IRENA hosting

Other practices

Shared folders - Intranet portal - Communities of Interest

ECM and archiving project

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KM in UAE: Federal Level – Ministry of Foreign Affairs Intranet Portal

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UAE excellence programs and KM

All programs consider the presence of effective KM practice as one of the main

criteria for winning the award

Abu Dhabi and the Federal programs have an Award for KM

Similar programs exist in other emirates

A shift from “silos mode” of governance to a “competitive mode” to race for

excellence

– Despite positive change but reduced knowledge sharing among competing

individuals and institutions (DSG 2009 study)

– Require culture change to move from competing mode to collaborative mode

Excellence programs are drivers for implementing KM to achieve organizational excellence

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KM is mandated by the EFQM excellence model and adopted by UAE local and federal governments

RADAR methodology

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Networks of KM practitioners through Social Media

• Linked In, Twitter, Facebook

• Find and network with professionals

in KM

• Share knowledge and experience

• Search for job candidates

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KM events in UAE

Few number of KM conferences and workshops

– KM ME annual conference

– ICKM 2012, Dubai

Need more KM activities in the region to raise awareness and increase adoption

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challenges

Clarity of the KM concept

Lack of KM processes in public sector organizations

Lack of leadership

Organizational culture

Limited financial and resources allocation (budget cut and shrinking resources due to the financial

crises)

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Recommendations

Invest on leadership training to provide knowledge leaders and champions in the government

Build a culture that values knowledge sharing and establish incentives

Assess current KM programs (ex. OECD annual reports) and then reform and update programs

to suit international best practice

Focus more on processes that insures tacit knowledge is properly maintained and easily

accessed

Conduct more workshops, awareness and training sessions about KM

Promote the use of technologies such as web 2.0 tools and social media tools for knowledge

sharing and community building

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There is a wide knowledge gap between us and the developed world in the West

and in Asia. Our only choice is to bridge this gap as quickly as possible, because

our age is defined by knowledge.

H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 19-05-2007