Critiquing the Knowledge Management: Strategies of Non-profit Organizations in Australia

Non-profit organizations are identified as knowledge intensive. This qualification, coupled with a range of environmental forces exerted by both the public and for-profit sectors have irrevocably changed the landscape within which the not-for profit sector works, and its consequent functioning. Non-profit organizations, faced with an increasingly competitive environment, require adoption of a strategic approach to ensure sustainability, part of which requires strategic management of their knowledge assets.

Debowski’s model of Knowledge Development is presented as a framework for examination of the level of conscious adoption of Knowledge Management strategies of the non-profit sector in Australia. Though competing with the for-profit sector, it will be argued that the uniqueness of non-profit organizations prevents them from directly adopting strategies used by the for-profit sector. Consequently, not only do strategies need to be tailored to suit the nuances of the non-profit sector, a number of external stakeholders, more specifically the public (Government) and for-profit sector, need to directly contribute to the development of non-profit sector’s capacity in this area. It is argued that these contributions are required, as both the public and for-profit sectors create significant barriers for such development, and that non-profit sector should be supported because of their significant economic and societal contributions.