Management of project knowledge in a project-based organisation : a case study of research enterprise

Knowledge Management (KM) is vital factor to successfully undertake projects. The temporary nature of projects necessitates employing useful KM practices to reduce any issues such as knowledge leakiness and rework. The Project Management Office (PMO) is a unit within organisations to facilitate and oversee organisational projects. Project Management Maturity Models (PMMM) show the development of PMOs from immature to mature levels. The existing PMMMs have focused on discussing Project Management (PM) practices, however, the management of project knowledge is yet to be addressed, at various levels of maturity. A research project was undertaken to investigate the mentioned gap for addressing KM practices at the existing PMMMs. Due to the exploratory and inductive nature of this research, qualitative methods using case studies were chosen as the research methodology to investigate the problem in the real world. In total, three cases selected from different industries: research; mining and government organisations, to provide broad categories for research and research questions were examined using the developed framework. This paper presents the findings from the investigation of the research organisation with the lowest level of maturity. From KM process point of view, knowledge creation and capturing are the most important processes, while knowledge transferring and reusing received less attention. In addition, it was revealed that provision of “knowledge about client” and “project management knowledge” are the most important types of knowledge that are required at this level of maturity. The results also revealed that PMOs with higher maturity level have better knowledge management, however, some improvement is needed. In addition, the importance of KM processes varies at different levels of maturity. In conclusion, the outcomes of this paper could provide powerful guidance to PMOs at lowest level of maturity from KM point of view.

Managing knowledge for asset management : shifting from process to relational frames

The purpose of this paper is to review existing knowledge management (KM) practices within the field of asset management, identify gaps, and propose a new approach to managing knowledge for asset management. Existing approaches to KM in the field of asset management are incomplete with the focus primarily on the application of data and information systems, for example the use of an asset register. It is contended these approaches provide access to explicit knowledge and overlook the importance of tacit knowledge acquisition, sharing and application. In doing so, current KM approaches within asset management tend to neglect the significance of relational factors; whereas studies in the knowledge management field have showed that relational modes such as social capital is imperative for ef-fective KM outcomes. In this paper, we argue that incorporating a relational ap-proach to KM is more likely to contribute to the exchange of ideas and the devel-opment of creative responses necessary to improve decision-making in asset management. This conceptual paper uses extant literature to explain knowledge management antecedents and explore its outcomes in the context of asset man-agement. KM is a component in the new Integrated Strategic Asset Management (ISAM) framework developed in conjunction with asset management industry as-sociations (AAMCoG, 2012) that improves asset management performance. In this paper we use Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) model to explain antecedents of relational approach to knowledge management. Further, we develop an argument that relational knowledge management is likely to contribute to the improvement of the ISAM framework components, such as Organisational Strategic Manage-ment, Service Planning and Delivery. The main contribution of the paper is a novel and robust approach to managing knowledge that leads to the improvement of asset management outcomes.

Succession management as a knowledge management strategy

One of the most critical issues for building innovation capacity in organisations is the acquisition and maintenance of knowledge. As knowledge is the basis of human capital, then the ability to attract, retain and engage talent is argued to be an important element of innovation. By attracting and retaining good staff, the organisation is retaining organisational knowledge which is necessary particularly for exploitation of current capabilities, but will also contribute to capacity for exploration for future innovation. This paper addresses the importance of retaining and developing staff as a critical issue for knowledge management and addresses the issue of retaining talent through effective succession management practices. The findings from an exploratory study into current practices in the Australian rail sector, provides further insight into the potentially critical issues for the effective use of succession management as a knowledge management and employee retention tool for building innovation capacity.

Extending knowledge management across the supply chains in the construction industry : knowledge sharing in construction supply chains

Supply chain management and knowledge management have emerged as two distinct business philosophies in the last decade. Both are making rapid inroads into the construction industry. The premise of this paper is that knowledge management would make it possible for all the trading partners in a supply chain to reap benefits. Current research in knowledge management in the construction industry is generally targeting those big organisations that are main contractors. This has restricted the scope of knowledge management, and limits the benefits to a few, rather than the whole industry. If the construction industry as a whole is to prosper and improve its productivity, strategies for knowledge management strategy at the industry level must be established. This paper argues the case for extending the scope of knowledge management across the full extent of the supply chain, and attempts to identify the benefits that may arise out of sharing knowledge across the supply chain.

Five case studies applying soft systems methodology to knowledge management

Construction projects are faced with a challenge that must not be underestimated. These projects are increasingly becoming highly competitive, more complex, and difficult to manage. They become problems that are difficult to solve using traditional approaches. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is a systems approach that is used for analysis and problem solving in such complex and messy situations. SSM uses “systems thinking” in a cycle of action research, learning and reflection to help understand the various perceptions that exist in the minds of the different people involved in the situation. This paper examines the benefits of applying SSM to problems of knowledge management in construction project management, especially those situations that are challenging to understand and difficult to act upon. It includes five case studies of its use in dealing with the confusing situations that incorporate human, organizational and technical aspects.

Knowledge channelization and innovation

This paper examines knowledge management and innovation in the Australian Construction Industry. A conceptual model is presented, based upon analysis of the literature and a series of preliminary construction industry interviews. Extensive knowledge management (KM) research has focused upon types of knowledge contained within specific organizational settings. However, we argue that a crucial missing link in KM research concerns the interface between flows of knowledge from external sources of innovations and its channelization in and out, and between organizations. This interface, regulating and facilitating knowledge from external sources of innovation into the organisation, operates under the influence of two main forces visualized as “pulling” and “pushing” forces in the model presented in this paper. The premise of the model lies in a hypothesis that as an organization changes itself into a more mature, learning organization (LO) over time, knowledge flows into it through “pull” rather than “push” forces. We conclude that a successful knowledge management initiative installs a learning and knowledge sharing culture, which is easily adaptable to new learning offering little resistance to new knowledge that flows into the organisation. The model bridges the gap between research and its application in construction practice.

Key organizational elements for effective information and knowledge management

Effective information and knowledge management (IKM) is critical to corporate success; yet, its actual establishment and management is not yet fully understood. We identify ten organizational elements that need to be addressed to ensure the effective implementation and maintenance of information and knowledge management within organizations. We define these elements and provide key characterizations. We then discuss a case study that describes the implementation of an information system (designed to support IKM) in a medical supplies organization. We apply the framework of organizational elements in our analysis to uncover the enablers and barriers in this systems implementation project. Our analysis suggests that taking the ten organizational elements into consideration when implementing information systems will assist practitioners in managing information and knowledge processes more effectively and efficiently. We discuss implications for future research.

A distributed knowledge management infrastructure based on a Topic Map grid

Modern enterprise knowledge management systems typically require distributed approaches and the integration of numerous heterogeneous sources of information. A powerful foundation for these tasks can be Topic Maps, which not only provide a semantic net-like knowledge representation means and the possibility to use ontologies for modelling knowledge structures, but also offer concepts to link these knowledge structures with unstructured data stored in files, external documents etc. In this paper, we present the architecture and prototypical implementation of a Topic Map application infrastructure, the ‘Topic Grid’, which enables transparent, node-spanning access to different Topic Maps distributed in a network.