A decision model for benchmarking knowledge management practices

This paper presents a decision model for benchmarking and evaluating organizational knowledge management (KM) practices. Linguistic variables approximated by fuzzy numbers are used for adequately handling the subjectiveness and imprecision of the evaluation process. Pairwise comparison is adopted in the evaluation process for greatly reducing the cognitive burden of the decision maker. A fuzzy multicriteria analysis algorithm is developed for generating an overall ranking of all the organizations regarding their KM practices. As a result, the relative performance of organizations in managing their knowledge can be properly assessed, and effective decisions can be made for further improving their KM practices. An empirical study in evaluating the KM practices at Victorian local governments in Australia is presented for demonstrating the applicability of the proposed decision model in real situations.