98 Zyngier, Burstein, and McKay
Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written
program for retired researchers (Hackett, 2000). One of the motivations for the alumni
proposal is succession planning for the management and utilization of corporate and
individual memory. The STDO currently has a mentoring program that works toward this
purpose; however, the demographics of the workforce, as described earlier, show this
as an imperative. Storytelling (Snowden, 2002) has been identified as another means of
sharing tacit knowledge; however, this element of the strategy is yet to be implemented.
Another strategy is Pathways, a five-year program to support the integration of
new employees into the organization. It focuses on organizational memory (Spender,
1996; Walsh & Ungson, 1991) and encompasses an understanding of the organization
as a whole, an understanding of the Australian Public Service, and in particular, of the
Department of “Operations.” Additionally, professional development through continu-
ing education, mentoring, skills enhancement, and career planning are important. The
program also supports both individual and team development and management. This
program has the additional purpose of fostering organizational culture. The STDO has
initiated a separate program called Smartways with the intention of soliciting responses
for knowledge transfer and other systems improvements in the organization. This was
also a mode of increasing levels of trust — specifically seen by the strategists as a people
and cultural issue in the capture and sharing of knowledge.
Managing Explicit Knowledge Transfer
The management of explicit knowledge is well understood at the STDO comprising
internal reports in paper and electronic formats, material on the STDO intranet, library and
information centre resources, document management, and record keeping functions.
This is further enhanced by databases created for active participation in research
cooperation with equivalent international entities.
The initial parts of the IMKM plan implemented were projects to manage explicit
knowledge that had been identified as being the “low-hanging fruit” — clearly required
and easily achievable. These were in the main activities that the library staff had identified
that were not being handled very well in STDO but that could be achieved with the
support of resources. The library and information service staff was clearly placed to
understand and manage the explicit knowledge — the traditional database and paper-
based resources. However, the one of the key issues in this domain was making available
and the management of the life cycle of internal publications — technical reports and
published papers. This was well supported by staff and researchers who were enthusi-
astic for proactive management of the information produced as part of their research. An
additional aspect of the plan was to implement a means of establishing a complete record
of all external publishing in journals and conferences. This external publishing ultimately
may also be available to the public through the organization’s Internet site.
Another project being activated was the proposed new development of a document
and record management system. No system has replaced the Registries since they were
abandoned in 1998. Observed outcome has been that “over the years ... all our
correspondence was [by] e-mail and the whole thing has fallen down and no one anymore
takes the time to put anything on a registry file and we don’t have the proper corporate
systems to create virtual files either” (Informant 7). Problematically, the issue of
budgeting for the implementation of a new document and record management system has