168 Hahn, Schmiedinger, and Stephan
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- In principle, all results and interfaces of components or assembly groups are
described as complex and time critical (for the delivery process). - Results about new technologies are also time consuming at the delivery.
- The employees are positively motivated to use a project management tool as
support for delivery. - The construction department should be informed about the current status and
content during the project to be able to bring in its know-how for optimal results. - After delivery, there should be responsible persons at the development department
for each technical aspect for assistance with various problems.
One important activity within this phase was to review existing knowledge manage-
ment methods regarding their applicability within the context of this machine manufac-
turing company.
Theoretical Backgrounds
Before the concept is described in detail, it is important to emphasize that this
solution is not an existing knowledge management approach but a combination of
existing tools and instruments. In this section we explain the theory the authors used for
designing the concept. Main sources are the approaches of community of practice,
moderation and coaching aspects, project and team meetings, lessons learned, and
aspects of organizational learning.
First of all, it is important to say that with the concept we intend to approach the
existing structure of the organization to the structure of hypertext organization. This kind
of organization is characterized on the one hand by a hierarchical structure, and on the
other hand by the cooperation of the employees in projects in their department but also
to projects with members of different departments. The advantage of this kind of
organization is the contact between experts in different areas and, as a result, the
exchange of their knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995).
Figure 1. Current state of project handover