Abstract:

The positive aspects of knowledge management have been known about for almost 20 years. This is gradually being introduced in various professions, and where it succeeds, it leads to greater effectiveness, which benefits the economy of the country as a whole.

Introduction of knowledge management should be prioritized in workplaces with a large proportion of "knowledge workers". One such typical sector is education.

The education sector is one specific area of every national economy which needs particular attention, because only if it functions properly can the education system provide a qualified workforce for the future. The vast majority of people working in this sector are teachers - university-educated knowledge workers.

The aim of this paper is to show how teacher's work motivation and job satisfaction influences the introduction of knowledge management in the education system. It also shows how the motivation, job satisfaction and willingness of teachers to share information with colleagues is influenced by the way managers do their job.

The author has spent several years working on this and related areas. The research has drawn on specialist literature in the field of knowledge management, human resources management, sociology and psychology. The primary material was obtained by the author's own questionnaire survey in early 2012 of teachers and managers in the primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors.

The research is based on the working hypothesis that most teachers do not receive adequate or appropriate stimulation from school managers, and that is partly the reason why they are unwilling to share their accrued knowledge, or why they leave the school altogether, with the result that the teaching is less effective. The main issue is lack of awareness of the factors that motivate staff.

The author intends to continue researching the motivation and stimulation of different groups of employees with the aim of identifying as accurately as possible the motivational factors and job satisfaction of current employees as a basis for proposing the most appropriate forms of stimulation. Employees given appropriate stimulation will be more willing to share information, which is an essential requirement for introducing knowledge management and improving performance.

Paper relevance: The paper discusses barriers to the practical introduction of KM in the education system. These are often lack of motivation and job satisfaction among teachers, which may be caused by school managers with an inadequate understanding of teacher motivation. The author describes her research.