Survey on Relation between Social Capital and Organizational Readiness to establish Knowledge Management (Case of Steel Company)

At the threshold of new millennium, the period of application of traditional methods of management is terminating, and new horizon in the form of knowledge based organizations, and knowledge management (KM) are coming to the world of organization and management.The first attempts regarding application of KM, in most of the organizations are facing a fundamental challenge: despite of investing on KM, its influence on applications is too slow. The main reason of this problem is related to the low capacity of organizations regarding their readiness in acceptance and making use of KM. Therefore, having an accurate understanding of readiness for correct directions in initial attempts and formulation of appropriate strategies is essential. There are many factors influencing the success of establishment of KM; one of them is social capital. For that reason, in this article we are trying to make use of social capital which has impact on better knowledge sharing, storage of knowledge, relationship based on trust and cooperation, cooperative climate, better training, increased activities related to organizational consistency and common understanding.Research method is descriptive and correlation type. The population of the research includes all managers and experts of the company under study. The results of the research are showing that, in this company, there is a positive and meaningful relation between Social Capital and Organizational Readiness to establish Knowledge Management. In other words, by increasing social capital in the company, the readiness of the company to establish Knowledge Management will be increased on such dimensions as, organizational culture, organizational structure, organizational infrastructure, the change content and supporting change.