Semiotic Analysis of the Conceptual Outlay of Knowledge Management: Lessons from South African Case

Knowledge Management (KM) development in the SADC region has been hampered by contextual challenges and lack of context-aware KM designs and interventions. In most of the cases, the frameworks and models utilized are adopted from the developed world with inherent characteristics of the developed world and when these are introduced on the African scene, they provide a contextual mismatch. This chapter presents the fundamental concepts of knowledge management especially as conceptualized in the African context and paves way for the design of a framework commensurate to the dynamic environment of the African continent. The chapter presents key concepts of knowledge management and probes whether the desired levels of knowledge management development have been reached to guarantee effective participation in the global knowledge value chains. This conceptual chapter emanates from extensive literature and document review on the different interventions and strategies for KM development in the SADC region. Using South Africa as a case, the chapter presents the ramifications that need to be followed with regards to KM design and implementation. The chapter provides "semiotic" analysis of the synergy between different KM interventions propagated by the governments and/or co-operating partners and actual realization of a knowledge economy.