The impact of unique characteristics of projects and project-based organisations on knowledge transfer

Knowledge has been recognised as an important organisational asset that increases in value when shared; the opposite to other organisational assets which decrease in value during their exploitation. Effective knowledge transfer in organisations helps to achieve and maintain competitive advantage and ultimately organisational success. So far, the research on knowledge transfer has focused on traditional (functional) organisations. Only recently has attention been directed towards knowledge transfer in projects. Existing research on project learning has recognised the need for knowledge transfer within and across projects in project-based organisations (PBOs). Most projects can provide valuable new knowledge from unexpected actions, approaches or problems experienced during the project phases. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of unique projects characteristics on knowledge transfer in PBO. This is accomplished through review of the literature and a series of interviews with senior project practitioners. The interviews complement the findings from the literature. Knowledge transfer in projects occurs by social communication and transfer of lessons learned where project management offices (PMOs) and project managers play significant roles in enhancing knowledge transfer and communication within the PBO and across projects. They act as connectors between projects and the PBO ‘hub’. Moreover, some project management processes naturally facilitate knowledge transfer across projects. On the other hand, PBOs face communication challenges due to unique and temporary characteristics of projects. The distance between projects and the lack or weakness of formal links across projects, create communication problems that impede knowledge transfer across projects. The main contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that both social communication and explicit informational channels play important role in inter-project knowledge transfer. Interviews also revealed the important role organisational culture play in knowledge transfer in PBOs.

Characteristics of alternate supply of shielding gases in aluminum GMA welding

Recently, unlike conventional method in supplying shielding gas, a newly method which alternately supplies different kinds of shielding gases in weld zone is developed and partly commercialized. However, literature related to the present status of the technology in the actual weld field is very scant. To give better understand on this technology, this study was performed. Compared with conventional gas supply method, the variations of weld porosity and weld shape in aluminum welding with alternate supply method of pure argon and pure helium were compared with conventional gas supply method with pure argon and argon + 67%helium mixture, respectively. As a result, compared with the welding by supplying pure argon and argon + 67%helium mixture by conventional method, the welding by supplying alternately pure argon and pure helium, produced lower degree of weld porosity and deeper and broader weld penetration profile.