Borders and Barriers: Knowledge Transfer and Management Challenges when making Visa Application Decisions

Abstract

As governments move to increase value, deliver efficiencies and provide transparent and consistent services, the ability to manage and transfer knowledge across the organisation is playing an increasingly important part given the volume of change currently underway. This case study looks at the operational area responsible for the processing of visa applications within Immigration NZ to understand the challenges associated with managing knowledge including barriers to knowledge transfer. Through using an online survey and semi-structured interviews, we find that three main barriers exist, namely the time available, the complexity of the system as a whole and the current systems that are available and that these barriers may change depending on an individual’s role within the organisation.

A separate finding was that communication channels are misaligned between preferred and actual and are via one directional channels with little opportunity for feedback to enable better decision-making.

Management can mitigate these barriers through putting in place a number of activities and initiatives, including dedicated time for knowledge transfer and aligning commination channels, including the use of feedback loops across processes and systems.

Through the awareness of knowledge management activities, transfer barriers, and preferred communication channels, public sector organisations can become more effective and consistent in their decision-making, delivering a better outcome for their customers.