Evaluating The Impact Of Organizational Culture And Leadership Style On Implementation Of Knowledge Management In An Oil And Gas Company In The United Arab Emirates

Organizational culture (OC), leadership style (LS), and knowledge management (KM) have been identified as the most important factors affecting an organization's performance. KM is now widely recognized as a competitive advantage. It is included in the core strategy and is a fundamental source of wealth and success of many organizations. The subject of OC, LS, and KM are well researched; however, very few empirical studies have been carried out linking OC and LS with KM. This research is set out to examine and evaluate the relationship between OC, LS, and KM in Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (ADGAS) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using the competing value framework (CVF) developed by Cameron and Quinn (2006). To our knowledge, there are no studies carried out to evaluate or examine the impact of the intertwined network between OC types, LSs, and the implementation of KM and its transfer and sharing in oil and gas industries in the UAE. This empirical study was carried out using a questionnaire survey to answer the following research questions: 1) Which are the most dominant cultures in ADGAS?, 2) Which OC type is most effective in supporting KM?, 3) Which leadership style is most effective in supporting KM?, 4) Is there a positive relationship between OC and LS?, and 5) How is knowledge shared in ADGAS? The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OACI) was used to measure OC types. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure the three styles of leadership whereas the Knowledge Management Assessment Instrument (KMAI) was used to assess the six KM processes considered in this study. It was revealed that the main dominant culture is hierarchy followed by a clan, and the leadership style was mainly transformational followed by transactional and that there was no existence of laissez-faire leadership style. The results also showed that there is a positive relationship between OC, LSs, and KM. KM as a single construct is strongly related with culture and leadership. Individual different culture types and leadership styles were present in the divisions and are strongly related to KM. Culture and leadership are also related, and the relationship between the OC types and KM was strongly positive except for adhocracy culture. The relationship between the LSs and KM was strongly positive except for laissez-faire (passive/avoidant). The relationship between LS and OC types was strongly positive. The implications that the change in culture makeup due to employment of foreign workforce and the intake of young national staff will affect the organizational culture in general and particularly the level of trust, leadership, and knowledge sharing and transfer. Not only that, but will the increase of national employees also increase wasta and nepotism, or will it decrease with preferred changes in leadership styles and OC? The main gaps in knowledge, skills, and experience created by new national recruits and leaving or retiring expats need to be addressed in terms of organizational cultural changes as well as changes in management and leadership styles. The way knowledge is shared within ADGAS need to be driven away from the old Arab traditional way and replaced by a learning-oriented culture, which can be only achieved by building trust and motivation between both UAE nationals and expats. The processes of the knowledge cycle need to be reviewed and enhanced in accordance to the needs of each division with the aim to improve knowledge implementation bringing about performance excellence. It is recommended that similar research has to be conducted in other oil and gas companies within the UAE and in other Gulf states, as well as in government sectors, with emphasis on the issue of trust and the drainage of knowledge. Research is suggested to investigate how globalization is influencing the national culture (NC) of the UAE and how is that spilling into UAE organizational or corporate cultures.