KM Capability Assessment: A Qualitative Approach

The knowledge management (KM) literature highlights both the desire of organizations to assess KM capability and the need to create better methodologies and tools to do so. Although some progress has been made in developing valid assessment tools, the topic still remains inadequately explored. Answering a call for the exploration of KM capability maturity assessment across a variety of organizations (Kulkarni & St Louis, 2003), this research uses the Knowledge Management Capability Assessment (KMCA) methodology (Kulkarni & Freeze, 2004) and Freeze & Kulkarni (2005; 2006) as a guiding framework to qualitatively assess the KM capability of the Secretary of the Air Force Financial Management and Comptroller (SAF/FM) organization—a military organization recognized for exceptional KM efforts. The research resulted in rich, contextual findings with regard to the specific KM efforts underway within SAF/FM. Interestingly, the nature of these efforts translated into KM capability levels lower than expected; however, precise areas for improvement were identified