This presentation covers the use of knowledge management in the UAE government, current practices and ways for improvement

1. 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
www.mofa.gov.ae

2. 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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3. 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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4. 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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5. 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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6. KM in UAE Public sector: vision and strategic objectives are drivers for
adopting KM practices
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7. 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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8. 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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9. 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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10. 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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11. Reasons and desired outcomes from implementing KM in Dubai public
sector
Improve
efficiency,
productivity
and service
delivery
Fulfill the
requirements
of DGEP
Sound
policy
making and
improving
decision
making
Enhance
org.
performance
Enhance
knowledge
transfer
Facilitate
communicati
on of
knowledge
among
employees
Facilitate egovernment
initiatives
To make
use of good
practices
within
organization
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12. 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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13. 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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14. KM in UAE: Federal Level – Ministry of Foreign Affairs Intranet Portal
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15. UAE excellence programs and KM
Excellence programs are drivers for implementing KM to achieve organizational
excellence
 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
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16. KM is mandated by the EFQM excellence model and adopted by UAE
local and federal governments
RADAR methodology
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17. 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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18. 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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19. 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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20. 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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21. 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
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