Effective knowledge management is at the heart of educational leadership and yet, very little is known about how leaders create cultures that sustain learning. Organisational culture underpins knowledge management by influencing how members learn and share knowledge. Paradoxically, organisational culture has been identified as the main impediment to knowledge management (Ribiere & Sitar, 2003). For educational leaders, effective knowledge management is not so reliant on building the static 'stock' of knowledge but rather on developing the dynamic social processes through which knowledge is enhanced and renewed. In business organisations, the role of the chief knowledge officer is to oversee the organisation's knowledge infrastructure, to manage the relationships in order to maximise business results and to gain a strategic advantage (Stevenson, 2001). The objectives of knowledge management in an educational environment can be clearly stated for example, "Knowledge management is the ability to develop, share, deposit, extract, and deliver knowledge such that it may be retrieved and used to make decisions or to support processes" (Nakra, 2000, p. 54). However, delineating the roles that leaders need to undertake to develop cultures where their members are encouraged to share knowledge in an educational environment is problematic and requires further research. This paper extends previous theory by examining the interconnections among leadership, organisational culture, and knowledge management. The development of an integrated model of organizational culture and knowledge management, The Organizational Knowledge Management Model (Gray & Densten, 2004) should assist in the identification of roles and behaviours that educational leaders can undertake to improve knowledge management practices. The paper investigates the links between organizational culture in terms of the Competing Values Framework (Quinn, 1984; 1988) and knowledge management based on Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) model of knowledge creation and conversion. The Competing Values Framework provides a classification of leadership roles and a corresponding typology of organizational cultures associated with underpinning values. The model of knowledge creation and conversion: the SECI process (Socialization- Externalization-Combination-Internalization) proposes that tacit and explicit knowledge interact in a conversion process where knowledge is created through social interaction (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Drawing on the SECI model to augment the Competing Values Framework could extend our understanding of leadership behaviour that facilitates knowledge management. Clarifying the leadership roles that assist in the development of a knowledge-creating and sharing culture could have important implications for organizational change and development. Leaders face great challenges as the initiators of change which has been described as attempting to move entrenched bureaucracies and control systems in the direction of human relations and task achievement (Denison & Spreitzer, 1991). The development of theory which integrates the Competing Values Framework and SECI could advance identification of appropriate leadership roles and assist educational leaders to strategically select behaviours to optimise knowledge generation which underpins successful organizational change. Denison, D. R., & Spreitzer, G. M. (1991a). Organizational culture and organizational development: A competing values approach. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 5, 1-21.Gray, J. H., & Densten, I. L. (2004, 8-11 December). A competing values perspective of knowledge management. Paper presented at the Australian New Zealand Academy of Management, Dunedin, New Zealand.Nakra, P. (2000). Knowledge management: The magic is in the culture. Competitive Intelligence Review, 4(2), 53- 60.Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The Knowledge- Creating Company. How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Oxford U.K.: Oxford University Press.Quinn, R. E. (1984). Applying the competing values approach to leadership: Towards an integrative model. In J. G. Hunt, R. Stewart, C. A. Schriesheim & D. Hosking (Eds.), Managers and Leaders: An International Perspective. New York: Pergamon.Quinn, R. E. (1988). Beyond rational management: Mastering paradoxes and competing demands of high effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Ribiere, V. M., & Sitar, A. S. (2003). Critical role of leadership in nurturing a knowledge-supporting culture. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 1, 39-48.