Knowledge Sharing and Employee Development in Oil and Gas Companies in the United Arab Emirates

It is a fact nowadays that knowledge is the number one resource of organizations, and having that knowledge managed and shared effectively gives the organization the competitive advantage over other organizations. Many oil and gas organizations believe that having a good system and environment for knowledge sharing will have a positive effect on the learning curves of both the individual and the organization. In this study the researchers test the relationship between knowledge sharing and employee development and address the key knowledge-sharing factors that might have a positive relationship with employee effectiveness and subsequently their development. An empirical study was carried out to investigate this relationship in two oil and gas companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). One hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed in both companies. The questionnaire consisted of 46 items addressing four factors of knowledge sharing: Organizational culture, Individual Communications skills, Procedural justice, and Supervision and feedback. The dependent variable is employee development. Of the responses receive, 124 were valid to use. The analysis was undertaken using the statistical package of social science software (SPSS) and the results showed a positive relationship between the global variables (knowledge sharing and employee development), but surprisingly one knowledge-sharing factor – Individual Communications skills - showed no significant relationship with employee development. At the end of the paper the researchers address the limitations of the study and make some recommendations to organizations on how to improve knowledge sharing which should lead to employee development and accordingly give the organization a better competitive advantage. Finally the researchers suggest some directions for future research.