A Framework for the Assessment of Knowledge Management Readiness of an organization while transferring into a Learning Organization Leila Beig, Maryam S. Mirian, Tahereh MirSaeed Ghazi, Mahmood Kharrat Education and Research Institute for ICT, Tehran, Iran l.beig @itrc.ac.ir mirian@itrc.ac.ir atieh_ghazi@yahoo.com kharrat@itrc.ac.ir Abstract In the knowledge era, learning organizations are being emerged and knowledge is the key fuel for such organizations where knowledge management plays a critical role in learning more rapidly than the competitors. However, implementing knowledge management requires a number of steps to be taken. These steps usually lead to significant changes in organizations especially in three main aspects including infrastructure, organizational processes and the organizational culture. In order to effectively manage the changes, managers need to comprehensively examine their organization’s readines s. This process will reduce excessive costs, avoid redundancy and repetitive actions, make a clear understanding of the current state of the organization, and introduce improvement actions instead of starting from scratch. In addition, identifying the gaps between the current and desirable state will provide a comparative tool for mangers to monitor organization status as they plan and implement KM initiatives over time. The key idea of this paper is to propose an integrated framework for measuring KM in learning organizations. The framework sketches a holistic and concise description of the major elements of KM assessment. This research seems to be significant since few frameworks currently exist for a holistic KM assessment in learning organizations. However, the proposed framework can be used to assess overall organizational KM to avoid probable project failures in cases in which the failure is related to the lack of awareness about the current KM status of the organization. Key words KM readiness assessment, learning organization, KM process, KM infrastructure 1. Introduction Knowledge has become one of the critical driving forces for business success. Organizations are becoming more knowledge intensive, they are hiring ―minds‖ more than ―hands‖, and the n eeds for leveraging the value of knowledge are increasing. As a result, knowledge has been treated systematically much like other tangible resources and many organizations are exploring the field of knowledge management (KM) in order to improve and sustain their competitiveness (Wong 2005). Although, today, there is a great deal of interest in knowledge management (KM), no universally accepted definition of KM exists. Hung, Y.C. et al. (2005) defines KM as a systemized and integrated managerial strategy, which combines information technology with the organizational process. KM can also refer to any process or practice of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge wherever it resides, to enhance learning and performance in organizations (Hung et al. 2005). Bounfour (2003) considers KM as a set of procedures, infrastructures, technical and managerial tools, designed towards creating, sharing and leveraging information and knowledge within and around organizations (Nianti Mohd Zin & Charles 2010). With these definitions in mind, KM might be proposed as ―a managerial activity which stores, transfers, shares, applies and creates knowledge mostly through information technologies, as well as provides the right knowledge at the right time to the right members of the organization to react and make the right decisions, in order to reach the organization’s goals‖.