Performance cultures based around teamwork are the most knowledge-friendly cultures. Organizations that work in teams on projects toward performance goals are a good fit for Knowledge Management. In this environment, there are usually processes for goal setting and for review and measurement. There is often a focus on performance improvement when teamwork is common, collaboration and sharing are valued, and the team is project oriented. Performance measurement allows good practices and less effective practices to be identified. It is much more difficult to introduce Knowledge Management and to achieve desired results in organizations where employees still work individually, where there is no performance management system, or where work is not organized into projects with goals, objectives, and deadlines. Internal competition is one of the key enemies of Knowledge Management. Where business units are in competition for money, time, or resources, there is less of an incentive to help the other business units perform better. In fact, it may be advantageous for a particular business unit to keep knowledge to itself in order to win the internal competition. Similarly, if individuals are competing with each other for results (e.g., performance bonuses), there is no incentive for them to help each other perform better. In extreme cases, employees deliberately keep important knowledge to themselves so that a rival team will be unsuccessful, and will then reveal the nugget of essential knowledge at a crucial moment in order to "save the day" and enhance their internal reputation.
Knowledge-friendly cultures are created and nurtured; they cannot be dictated or imposed. The simple tools and processes of knowledge sharing and dialogue that were introduced in Chapter 3 can be a means for developing and sustaining a collaborative and knowledge-friendly culture.