An empirical investigation of knowledge management support for software projects.

Projects are unique by definition. Due to this novelty software development projects, in common with all other projects, require knowledge for effective implementation. Most knowledge management frameworks reported in the literature address the organisational need to manage knowledge. The existing frameworks typically discuss the dichotomy between tacit and explicit knowledge, and lay an emphasis on managing the latter. However, software development projects rely upon the experience, creativity and intuition of individual team members to address unstructured situations typified by inherent uncertainty, ambiguity and change. Therefore software projects require the facilitation and interaction of tacit knowledge along with managing and leveraging explicit knowledge.This research examines how tacit and explicit knowledge generated while implementing a software development project can be leveraged and effectively reused in future software projects. In order to address the need to provide knowledge management support to software projects an extended case study was conducted at one of the world's largest software project-based organisations. The aim of the research was to identify and analyse the flow of knowledge, and the capabilities required to support this flow. The research design utilised a combination of open-ended interviews, survey questionnaires, observations of team functioning, work methods and development practices, and a detailed examination of the knowledge management infrastructure and process capabilities. The extensive and exceptional access negotiated for this project enabled the research to focus on a single organisation and resulted in 100 hours of interviews and 340 hours of observations from 98 ongoing projects. Established case study protocols were used for data collection. The data analysis focused on determining categories from the different streams of activities and assigning attributes using Nudist software for data reduction and displaying group-nodes, and conclusion drawing. This enabled the research to establish the 'processual' nature of knowledge, and identify the capabilities required to mobilise and utilise knowledge assets. The research critically analysed the three parallel themes of knowledge management, project management and software engineering, and the outcome of the conceptual synthesis and validation is a dynamic model which represents the knowledge processes that facilitate the flow of tacit and explicit knowledge between software projects. The model depicts the relationships and interactions between the functional areas of the development effort, and presents a continuous and long-term view of supporting the implementation of software projects and developing knowledge practices. For software project-based organisations this research has implications for their ability to manage context, provide feedback and facilitate interaction, and thus build upon their existing knowledge resources and capabilities. The research provides such organisations with a perspective to achieve excellence not only through optimisation of software process improvement, but also through learning, and, the creation and sharing of tacit and explicit knowledge as facilitated by the proposed model

Overcoming barriers to knowledge management: Visiting the dark side of the organization

Like many organisational endeavours, the success of knowledge management praxis is subject to the vagaries of human nature. There are many reasons, most of which are underpinned by the need for power, why people might choose to hoard, distort and manipulate information. Recent studies undertaken by the authors have demonstrated the way in which knowledge management processes can also be manipulated to impede the distribution of power. This dark side of organisational behaviour is usually subversive, can be unconscious or conscious and always acts against the interests of the group or part of the group. It is important for those involved in knowledge management practice to be acutely aware of the dynamics of the dark side and how they may interfere with their best intentions. As well as describing this phenomenon, this paper also suggests a number of ways in which the dark side might be overcome. Chiefly, drawing on general systems theory, we suggest some techniques that facilitate both open communication and open process

Corporate advisory networks of knowledge sharing agents

M.Phil. (Information Management)This study was aimed at the discovery of in corporate advisory networks who act as agents to share information and knowledge. In the current competitive and often uncertain economic business environment, savvy executives need to leverage off the expertise of their company employees in order to service their customers effectively and remain competitive. Since not all employees in the company have expert knowledge, executives need to discover the advisory networks of expert employees embedded in formal organisational structures and encourage them to share and transfer their expert knowledge to novices and/or less experienced employees. In light of the current argument, a diagnostic technique known as social network analysis (SNA) was used to map out and measure the advisory relational X-ray patterns within organisational departments and across to other functional business units. Once the patterns are discovered and the key expert networked employees identified, knowledge sharing interventions are introduced to facilitate experts to share and transfer their information, knowledge, insights and experiences to other less knowledgeable employees within the departments and across to other functional areas in the organisation. The overall objective of this study is therefore to utilise the SNA technique to discover the experts in the corporate advisory networks whom will act as agents to facilitate information and knowledge sharing in the organisation to improve other employees’ work performance thereby enabling the organisation to meet and even exceed its strategic objectives..

Initiating organizational memories using ontology network analysis

One of the important problems in organizational memories is their initial set-up. It is difficult to choose the right information to include in an organizational memory, and the right information is also a prerequisite for maximizing the uptake and relevance of the memory content. To tackle this problem, most developers adopt heavy-weight solutions and rely on a faithful continuous interaction with users to create and improve its content. In this paper, we explore the use of an automatic, light-weight solution, drawn from the underlying ingredients of an organizational memory: ontologies. We have developed an ontology-based network analysis method which we applied to tackle the problem of identifying communities of practice in an organization. We use ontology-based network analysis as a means to provide content automatically for the initial set up of an organizational memory

Team Relationship and Knowledge Management in Construction Projects in Thailand Part 2: Network Relationship Analysis Using UCINET Software

The study of network relationship using UCINET program in part 1 was inspired by the problematic fragmented structure of a construction project development team. In this paper, the multi-stage project development process as another key factor that underlies the construction industry’s poor performance is addressed. Knowledge management is then proposed as another key solution to achieve the more effective project development in Thailand context. Based on Nonaka and Takeuchi’s 1995 knowledge conversion model, representatives from key project members’ organisations that developed recently complete large commercial residential projects in Bangkok central business area were asked in semi-structured interviews about organisational knowledge management process using a set of standardised questions. The outcomes show the moderate efficiency due to key project members’ unawareness of knowledge potentials. A three-stage framework is also proposed to identify key project members, strengthen network relationship and improve organisational knowledge management capability to achieve the better project development performance

Ignorance Management - an alternative perspective on Knowledge Management

Managing organisational knowledge is crucial to increase business performance and competitiveness. However, given the complexity and dynamic nature of knowledge management practices, multinational organisations experience difficulties in identifying business opportunities and often fail to make necessary investments. This thesis develops an alternative perspective on knowledge management through the creation of a model based on socio-technical characteristics and organisational ignorance, and argues that managing nescience, i.e. knowing what needs to be known and also acknowledging the power of understanding the unknown, could facilitate employees' knowledge sharing behaviour and could improve both short-term opportunistic value capture and longer term business sustainability. It also creates a novel technique for managing dysfunctional knowledge management scenarios and improving knowledge management practices in the workplace by definition of the concept of KM anti-patterns, while discussing practices that reduce the risk of making the wrong decision when using uncertain information. The philosophy of this study is based on an interpretative approach with inductive reasoning. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, based mainly on workshop style discussions, questionnaires and semi-structured interview data, were implemented using various departments of one multinational organisation within the Aerospace and Defence industry as units of the analysis. Managing organisational ignorance is seldom and insufficiently discussed by the current KM literature and no previous attempt has been made to detect, analyse and categorise KM dysfunctional situations using a systematic KM anti-pattern template. It is argued that the issues addressed in this study could lead to inefficient or otherwise inappropriate KM practices; therefore it is important, particularly for managers and senior executives, to acknowledge, verify and act upon such matters in order to increase performance within their business, and optimise the level of knowledge for an individual employee or group in knowledge intensive settings

The Role of Social Networks and Artefacts in Technology Appropriation

This paper examines the role of social networks and artefacts in technology appropriation in an educational environment. We use a qualitative research method to illustrate that social networks and accompanying artefacts form an integral part of the process of appropriation. Our findings suggest three ways in which people appropriate technology for successful longer-term use: 1) adapting work practices to fit the technology, 2) adapting both technology and work practices and 3) integrating technologies and redesigning work practices in work environments. Findings also suggest that, for effective use of technologies, social networks alone may not be enough in encouraging technology use. A combination of social networks and manual and automated artefacts is necessary in supporting and enabling productive technology use. Further, it’s important that managers, IT professionals and trainers realize that lead users play important roles in creating new social- artefact networks and enable new and effective ways of using technology

Impact of Knowledge Management On Construction Projects

The implementation of knowledge management strategies on construction projects can accrue benefits such as improved performance and continuous improvement. However, many projects are still not utilising knowledge management fully and are thus plagued with inefficiencies, repetition of mistakes and lack of lessons learnt. Poor skills, design changes, errors and omissions contribute to the internal failure cost element of the overall cost of poor quality on construction projects. This study aimed to investigate the extent of the impact that knowledge management has in reducing the cost of poor quality and used a mixed-methods approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 construction industry experts on knowledge management across the UK, followed up by a questionnaire survey of 114 respondents. The data obtained were analysed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. It was found that knowledge management had a positive impact in reducing the cost of poor quality, in particular in the area of knowledge transfer through apprenticeships and mentoring. This implies the importance of managing the tacit knowledge of employees through ‘socialisation’ initiatives. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by providing a knowledge management framework for reducing the cost of poor quality on construction projects