Project-based organisations: overcoming lack of trust and social networks within small and medium project teams

In sustainable development projects, as well as other types of projects, knowledge transfer is important for the organisations managing the project. Nevertheless, knowledge transfer among employees does not happen automatically and it has been found that the lack of social networks and the lack of trust among employees are the major barriers to effective knowledge transfer. Social network analysis has been recognised as a very important tool for improving knowledge transfer in the project environment. Transfer of knowledge is more effective where it depends heavily on social networks and informal dialogue. Based on the theory of social capital, social capital consists of two parts: conduits network and resource exchange network. This research studies the relationships among performance, the resource exchange network (such as the knowledge network) and the relationship network (such as strong ties network, energy network, and trust network) at the individual and project levels. The aim of this chapter is to present an approach to overcoming the lack of social networks and lack of trust to improve knowledge transfer within project-based organisations. This is to be done by identifying the optimum structure of relationship networks and knowledge networks within small and medium projects. The optimal structure of the relationship networks and knowledge networks is measured using two dimensions: intra-project and inter-project. This chapter also outlines an extensive literature review in the areas of social capital, knowledge management and project management, and presents the conceptual model of the research approach

Diffusion of E-Learning Practice in an Educational Institution: Organizational Learning Attributes and Capabilities

Successful knowledge transfer or diffusion of e-learning practice goes beyond precursor incentives and anticipated rewards for the individual lecturer. It also involves wider enabling of learning attributes and cultural capabilities in an organization. This paper examines how some of these attributes and capabilities play out in an educational institution in the context of web-enabled technology. An organizational-learning model is used to examine diffusion of practices after initial design and development. This paper is based on a case study of eight course-level e-learning projects in a university based in Hong Kong. The study illustrates a number of issues and challenges for the wider uptake of the initial idea from the individual course to the programme and wider institution.

Absorptive capacity and ERP implementation in Indian medium-sized firms

Whilst absorptive capacity has been identified as an important contributor to the effective implementation of IT systems, previous studies have failed to explicitly consider the contribution of individual and organizational knowledge processes. Nine case studies of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation were undertaken. The case studies were all undertaken in SMEs in a developing country since this is an important but under research area for the application of the concept of absorptive capacity. A particular implication of the findings is that firms lacking knowledge of IT implementation cannot simply seek this from external sources but must develop internal organizational knowledge processes if their implementations of IT systems are to be effective. This finding is particularly pertinent to the developing country and SME context of this study, where low levels of experience within the firm and the loss of experienced staff are found to impact on the development of absorptive capacity