Thomas M. Koulopoulos Government agencies face several challenges. Some are similar to private organizations, such as increasing drive to satisfy constituencies that are fast-changing and increasingly more demanding, not unlike consumers, and providing access to public information over the Internet. Other challenges are specific to government, such as the difficulty in obtaining sponsorship for strategic initiatives as elected officials change.
Government moves very slowly.
Knowledge management strategies are first and foremost applied to organizations that must be light on their feet to survive in their market place. Government does not provide this incentive, and in many ways, dis-incentives this type of technology. Knowledge management is all about consolidating data, sharing knowledge and leveraging existing repositories to glean new insight into how to run programs better. Creating the necessary trust, both between agencies and between government and citizens, to enable that kind of knowledge sharing is a challenge. The biggest obstacle to knowledge management is organizational resistance to a change in culture.