1. ¹Department of Systems & Engineering Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson, OH, U.S.A.
2. ²HQ AFSOC/FMJ, Hurlburt Field, FL, U.S.A.
3. ³AFMC/PKXA, Wright Patterson, OH, U.S.A.

Correspondence: Daniel T. Holt, Department of Systems & Engineering Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, AFIT/ENV, 2950 Hobson Way, Wright Patterson, OH 45433-7765, USA. Tel: +1 937 255 3636 ext. 7396; Fax: +1 937 656 4699; E-mail: daniel.holt@afit.edu

Received 31 October 2006; Revised 11 January 2007; Accepted 22 February 2007.

Abstract

Implementing knowledge management (KM) projects or knowledge-sharing philosophies in organizations require significant organization change. Because the introduction of change is difficult, leaders have been encouraged to proactively prepare their organizations and its members as they begin one of these initiatives. As the first step in this process, managers should comprehensively examine their organization's underlying readiness to embrace these initiatives. Unfortunately, the measurement of an organization's readiness for KM initiatives poses significant challenges because no known instrument is available to do so. Accordingly, this study drew on the KM and organizational change literature to take a first step in the development of a synergistic instrument that measures readiness for KM and applied it in an organizational setting.