Where Knowledge Management Resides within Project Management 141Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtenProjects can have a variety of intra- and interorganizational relationships, especially
long-term projects. The challenge within these types of projects is to look at the process
for the capture and reuse of knowledge in future projects (or phases of the same project)
and to ascertain how intra- and interproject learning occur (McLoughlin, Alderman,
Ivory, Thwaites, & Vaughan, 2000).
Learning within a project provides an ongoing store of data, information, and
knowledge (Kotnour, 2000). Knowledge can also be transferred between projects
(Kotnour, 2000). At a project level, knowledge is created by individuals and groups
building on existing knowledge and creating new knowledge (adapting McElroy’s [2003]
definition of knowledge production at an organizational level).
Definition of a Project
Project Management Institute (2000) in PMBOK defines a project as “a temporary
endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means that every
project has a definite beginning and a definite end. Unique means that the product or
services is different in some distinguishing way from all other products or services” (p. 4).
For a project management organization to be competitive, project managers need
to retain and build knowledge and improve project performance (Cooper, Lyneis, &
Bryant, 2000).
Explicit, Implicit, and Tacit Knowledge
Explicit, implicit, and tacit knowledge help to ensure project success. Tacit knowl-
edge is stored in a person’s head and cannot be readily expressed in words, while explicit
knowledge is knowledge that is expressed tangibly and can potentially be stored in
databases or documents (Bollinger & Smith, 2001). Implicit knowledge is knowledge in
a person’s head that could be coded and stored in databases or documents (Nickols
2000). Tacit and implicit knowledge held within the corporate structure and contexts (e.g.,
as described by Nelson & Winter, 1982) and from individuals and explicit knowledge
together provide a complete picture of the project. Tacit knowledge exists in the corporate
structure (in the form of contexts and routines [Nelson & Winter, 1982; Von Krogh &
Roos, 1995]) and implicitly and tacitly in members of the organization. Individuals also
produce and consume explicit knowledge existing within the organization or from its
environment. Sharing of knowledge among multiple individuals with different back-
grounds is a critical step in project knowledge creation and reuse. Tacit knowledge based
on previous experiences in a similar context is important to project success, as is the
transfer of explicit knowledge (Koskinen, 2000). Knowledge can be captured and
transferred tacitly within the organization via social networks, while implicit knowledge
can potentially be captured and coded.
Knowledge Transfer and Reuse
Knowledge that is gained in a project needs to be transferred to an organization’s
memory for reuse on other projects; the challenge is to capture and index this knowledge
for retrieval while it is available, as project teams are temporary (Damm & Schindler, 2002).
Dixon (2000) identifies five different types of knowledge transfer or reuse: serial
transfer, near transfer, far transfer, strategic transfer, and expert transfer.