Knowledge Management implementation in UK Public Sector

History shows that most management philosophies were first practiced in the large company (McAdam and Reid 2000) and once they gained acceptance were adopted in other sectors, including government. Programs such as those associated with New Public Management (NPM) suggest that public organisations should import managerial processes from the private sector, emulating their successful techniques. Examples include enterprise resource planning (ERM), business process re-engineering (BPR), total quality management (TQM) and Knowledge Management (KM). KM involves systematic approaches to find, understand, and use knowledge to achieve organisational objectives. KM has for sometime been at the core of government tasks, inseparable from strategy, planning, consultation and implementation (OECD 2001). Governments, realising the importance of KM to policy-making and service delivery to the public; with some government departments beginning to put KM high on their agenda, however evidence drawn from the existing literature suggests that public sector is falling behind in these practices (Cong and Pandya, 2003). KM implementation is challenging, strategies and plans for implementation must be carefully planned in advance to succeed in attempt and effort; challenges will not be met without adjustment. This paper presents the results of in-depth case-based research with three UK public sector bodies. Qualitative findings support current literature, anecdotal quotations offer insight into the views of those involved in public sector KM implementation. The paper identifies issues for government to consider and address, such as raising awareness, understanding the KM concept, managing knowledge processes, choosing initiatives that are fit for purpose, gaining and adding value to public services.