Ethical Issues in Knowledge Management in Nigerian Academic Libraries

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to x-ray the ethical concerns in the knowledge management processes, with particular focus on academic libraries. The paper started by exploring the conceptual analysis of knowledge management which presents knowledge management as a discipline and as a model. Knowledge management is fast evolving as a model for increasing organizations’ performance. The paper noted the ways that academic libraries as a learning organization stand to gain the competitive advantage which KM offers to them in their bid to provide value added service to their academic community of users. The paper equally examines the knowledge management processes of knowledge creation, capturing, and organization. Others are knowledge auditing, knowledge mapping and knowledge sharing. The authors therefore argued that knowledge management processes and gains have been established in literature, however some issues which are ethical in nature and which are common where there is more or less a formal structure, are yet to be given adequate attention in relation to research and practice. The paper thus discussed these ethical concerns under two broad themes namely; knowledge rights and cultural values conflicts. The paper concluded that the success of the processes involved in managing knowledge in organizations is not independent of the values of the members of that organization and therefore made recommendations to the effect that organization should rethink their traditions and focus on achieving knowledge management goals with recourse to the ethical considerations raised.