Knowledge management in the public sector: A case study of the intergovernmental response to the West Nile virus epidemic in New York State

This is a case study of knowledge management in a public sector organization formed to respond to an epidemic. This intergovernmental organization was spontantaneously created by the NYSDOH to halt the spread of a mystery virus and immediately installed knowledge management into its infrastructure. The members of the intergovernmental organization were all members of the same community of practice. The intergovernmental organization met 60 times over a two-year period via telephone conferencing. The 7,177 interactions between members of this virtual organization during this time period were codified according to a set of operational definitions of knowledge management components. Interviews with 12 individual members of the intergovernmental organization were conducted to identify members perceptions of changes and differences in the organization's formality, organizational structure and knowledge management structure over a two-year period. Complementary data, consisting of codified artifacts of the intergovernmental organization were collected for this same time period and included in the analysis of differences between Year I and Year II in the knowledge management process and its relationship to organizational structure and the environment and the nature of the dynamic interrelationships among them. The results suggested reciprocal relationships between knowledge management and both organizational structure and the environment. The results were inconclusive on the dominance of any one of these elements over the other. The results suggested knowledge management, organizational structure and the environment be considered an interwoven set, with each element manifesting equal importance. Discussion of the results included adaptations of knowledge management to an increasingly formal organizational structure in an increasingly homogenous, concentrated, stable environment.; This study contributes to the literatures on micro- and macro-organizational environments' effect on knowledge management, the special knowledge management conditions present in communities of practice, and the contribution of knowledge management to the social capital of an organization. Implications for practitioners include the importance of identifying barriers and enablers of knowledge management. Limitations of the study result from the virtual nature of the organization and the lack of research methods capable of capturing phenomena like knowledge management.