Introduction: Much has been discussed on the importance of knowledge management over the past years in various communities. Hence, knowledge management has become one of the most essential tasks of the organizations attempting to become a learning organization. Since a considerable number of patients lose their lives annually due to medical errors caused by lack of academic knowledge, research conducted in the field of knowledge management seems to be necessary. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the cultural and structural factors of organizations with knowledge management strategy in public teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).

Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2011. The study population consisted of the staff, working at nine public teaching hospitals of TUMS, 200 of whom were randomly selected. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire the validity of which was determined by experts’ ideas and the reliability of which was measured by Alpha Cronbach Coefficient (0.88). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation coefficient through SPSS.

Results: Knowledge management was found to be at an intermediate level due to high formalization and concentration in the organizational structure of the public teaching hospitals. There was a significant relationship between structural and cultural dimensions of organizations with knowledge management (p<0.005). Moreover, structural and cultural dimensions of organizations had a negative correlation with formalization(r= -0.144) and concentration(r=-0.272) but a positive correlation with communication flow (r=0.223), knowledge distribution (r=0.217) and continual learning (r=0.162).

Discussion: Considering the correlation between the cultural and structural factors of the organization with knowledge management as well as the role of knowledge in the quality of medical services provided by the centers, it is recommended that the cultural and structural dimensions of the organizations be highly taken into consideration while establishing knowledge management in public teaching hospitals. It is also suggested to provide an atmosphere for multilateral communications, continuous exchange of information and to enhance and support the culture of trust through giving freedom to personnel and decreasing excessive restrictions on them.