Abstract:
Knowledge management has received much attention in recent years and becoming the way
forward for building sustainable organizational competitive advantage. However, there are
factors that enable or hinder knowledge management. Jimma University is a higher educational
institution that is equipped with experts in many disciplines and aspires to be the leading public
premier in the country, renown in Africa and recognized in the world. The university becomes
the primer amongst higher learning institutions in Ethiopia. However, there is a need to capitalize
on it creatively. To remain at the forefront and achieve the vision, the university needs good
capacity to manage individual capabilities by assessing all opportunities for knowledge
management and barriers exist in the organization that could impact organizational
competitiveness. The main objective of this study is thus to assess knowledge management
opportunities and barriers for organizational competitiveness in Jimma University. Survey
research and simple random sampling technique were used. Both quantitative and qualitative
data were collected using questionnaire and interview from Jimma University staff and
observation is also another collection method in this study. SPSS version 20 was used for data
analysis. Socio-demographic data is summarized by frequency tables and summary statistics.
Percentages and tables were used for description of the data as appropriate. This study identified
the major KM opportunities, KM barriers and the effectiveness of JU in using KM opportunities
in place for organizational competitiveness. The study further categorized the KM barriers in to
two major categories, namely people related and organizational related barriers that hinder KM
practices in JU. As outcome, this thesis provides a view of KM opportunities that enable the KM
practices and KM barriers that impede the success of KM in JU for individual and organizational
competitiveness, as well as the possible methods to use all KM opportunities and overcome the
KM barriers to attain a competitive advantage through successful KM.
