Case Studies in Knowledge Management

Where Knowledge Management Resides within Project Management 147

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As the project director meets with the alliance partners and the client at a strategic level,
the impact that this project may have on the entire body of work is also understood.
Lessons learned, both formal and informal, are an important method of knowledge
creation. Formal lessons learned occur at the end of a project or a phase of a project where
formal workshops are used to identify issues/lessons and identify how they can be
resolved (tacit to explicit knowledge creation and transfer). The lessons are documented
and made available on the network server for future use. In addition there is a review
process (between the project director and project manager or a reviewer and project
manager/project team member), linked to the project methodology, where knowledge
gained from one phase is incorporated into the next phase of the process. At the informal
level, lessons learned occur throughout the project where project team members meet to
resolve issues (tacit to tacit knowledge creation and transfer). At this level, in some
circumstances the lessons may be documented in the form of meeting minutes (tacit to
explicit knowledge creation and transfer).
Knowledge transfer occurs from the project to the strategic and business unit level
allowing it to become part of organizational memory.
Knowledge is transferred from the project director to the project manager. The
project director is a member of a formal network — a global group of regional business
leaders. This group meets face-to-face three times a year and participate in telephone
conferences every two weeks. Knowledge is rolled up from project level and is discussed
at a strategic level. As part of this transfer, knowledge is becoming part of organizational
memory.
External knowledge is transferred at a strategic level via external meeting that the
project director has with alliance partners and customer reviews (monthly).
The project manager participates in a formal section meeting on a regular basis.
Participants discuss proposals, projects, and potential business opportunities. This is
a forum for knowledge creation, reuse, and transfer where issues can be discussed and
resolved. Within this type of culture, knowledge becomes part of organizational memory
as it is transferred to other employees.

Networks

The culture at Engineering Consulting XYZ encourages the use of networks. There
is a reliance on obtaining tacit knowledge via personal knowledge or networks (both
formal and informal). Informal networks are tapped into within and outside working
hours. One project team member stated the following:

[You] build up relationships with people over a period of time. You work with them and
find out who the specialists are in areas of the company. You talk to a specialist, call
that person, and ask questions on how they have approached something and a
relationship is established. As you build personal relationships you know who to call.

The project manager and senior project team members initially relied on personal
knowledge and then their informal networks. Formal networks (e.g., as established in the
corporate e-mail system) were only tapped into if the relevant knowledge could not be
obtained from the other sources. In most cases, as well as utilizing tacit knowledge,
people sought out explicit knowledge, that is, people interviewed said it was quicker to