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Volume 5 Issue 1, February 2007
Successful Sharing of Project Knowledge: Initiation, Implementation and Institutionalisation
Waltraud Grillitsch, Alexandra Müller-Stingl and Robert Neumann
Alpen-Adria-University of Klagenfurt, Austria
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Interdisciplinary project teams foster the creation of new ideas and innovations to meet customer needs and to challenge competition under the pre-condition that the team and knowledge transfer processes are running smoothly and efficiently. In practice knowledge created in projects often is lost when the team splits up and the members return to their tasks in the organisation. This leads to inefficiency as time and money is spent in inventing things which are already known inside an organisation. One of our institutes´ partner companies contacts us to optimise processes in their consulting department. The consultants are not systematically sharing their experiences gained in software implementation projects. They are software specialists but most of them are not experienced in organisational change which accompanies software implementation. The consultants often have to improvise but they strive for a more professional approach to their daily business.
The paper outlines how knowledge and potentials for improvement can be explored and synergies can be realised within a company. To enhance the information, communication and knowledge transfer "knowledge oriented project supervision meetings" are initiated. The case study describes the concept and process of a successful initiation, implementation and institutionalisation to foster communication and sharing among the consultants (e.g. learning and reflection about problems and solutions as well as organisational change aspects are supervised by externals). Our approach offers guidelines on how to accumulate transfer and utilize knowledge acquired in projects to improve future business. Through a knowledge-oriented concept the consulting and software implementation process of the case study´s company is optimised. This offers the possibility of integrating organisational change management know-how and furthermore it gives the opportunity for a critical reflection on finished and ongoing projects. In thi s process "best practices" and "lessons learned" are explored to foster a better planning and realisation of projects in the long run.
Keywords:
knowledge sharing, best practice, lessons learned, knowledge creation, community of practice
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