Standardized knowledge transfer in project-based organizations is analyzed. The empirical material considered comes from 11 recurring projects from two sectors: the construction sector and the IT sector. Existing research is extended by developing a conceptual framework that expresses how standardized knowledge transfer and where difficulties arise. Results show that knowledge is difficult to capture and control. Standardization is viewed as the core over which the team member, the recurring project, the permanent organization and the product claim joint ownership. My framework describes how standardization tasks are fulfilled as knowledge proceeds through the transfer process. I show that standardized knowledge tends to take the shortest path in a transfer, i.e., to move the individual who has acquired the knowledge. However, choosing the quickest transfer path de-standardizes the knowledge. Engaging the permanent organization offers opportunities to standardize but requires a longer transfer process. This process is often too lengthy to achieve. It is difficult for the permanent organizations to transfer even existing routines. Project members often fail to use standardized knowledge. My framework is also designed to take into account the new knowledge that develops in projects. I show that knowledge from projects fails to complete the lengthy transfer journey and remains personalized. The studied corporations resisted transfer. To explain why, I highlight roles in the transfer. The individuals provide the content to be transferred. The permanent organization gathers and standardizes knowledge. Finally, the temporary organization opposes standardization when an arena is offered to adapt the standardized concept to local conditions. When the three roles are coordinated, power becomes important as projects ignore knowledge made available by the permanent organization, and the permanent organization shows little interest in knowledge formed in the projects.

The project-based nature of construction organisations creates a learning opportunity from most of the activities carried by these organisations. Knowledge is being created in the course of carrying core and non-core activities in the organisation. For organisations to make the most of this knowledge, a mechanism for tapping has to exist. Such tapping can occur through the organisation’s various activities and organisations stand to benefit if these activities are done strategically not only to tap, but also to create and transfer knowledge and ultimately enhance performance. The study has henceforth analysed the knowledge transfer process of construction organisations in the Tanzania construction industry and explored how these organisations facilitate creation and transfer of knowledge. A survey in a pilot study in the year 2001 was conducted to refine and focus the study’s questions and propositions and a case study strategy of inquiry has been adopted for the main study. Four construction organisations in the Tanzania construction industry are studied. The analyses from findings support the propositions set forth in the study and among others establish: the specificity of the knowledge transfer process in construction organisations, the situational nature of the knowledge being transferred, the ephemeral nature of goals and the “selling of jobs” in construction sites influencing incentives for knowledge management initiatives. The study further establishes that there are inadequate attributes towards knowledge creation in the organisations. That: there is limited practice of on-the-job training, peer assist and learning by imitation; codification of procedures, rules, and checklists is done insignificantly or absent completely; networking of knowledge is poor; experience sharing and learning by doing is low. In effect the study proposes an optimal knowledge transfer process for construction organisations in Tanzania using an IDEF0 business process model, and explores the cost-effectiveness for organisations in the industry pursuing knowledge management initiatives such as the knowledge transfer process. Lastly, recommendations for construction organisations at policy and functional level are made. / QC 20101008

“Enabling Knowledge Communication between Companies” is essential for creating competitive advantage from collaborations. Communicating knowledge is about the capacity to e.g. transfer knowledge, create learning and design new technology. It is an issue of increasing importance to many companies whose operations are outsourced, offshored and integrated with alliance partners. This book addresses the type of collaboration that perhaps is the most challenging to manage – the development of new and complex products between companies. Collaboration on product development is attractive to many companies because of opportunities to share costs, distribute risks and enhance innovation potential. Achieving the goals of such collaborations is often hard because of difficulties with knowledge communication. The book identies issues that are critical for enabling knowledge communication between companies, including: The role of work integration between collaborating companies. The type of location suitable for different kinds of product development between companies. The managing of differences in companies’ perspectives on product technology and development processes. If you are in a position of leading, planning or analysing advanced collaboration with other companies, you should benefit from this study. It is intended for both researchers and managers dealing with operations between the company and its external network of partners, suppliers and customers. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2008

This paper investigates formal mechanisms of knowledge transfer and assimilation in Large Cap companies listed on the Nordic Exchange, as well as potential reasons to why formal mechanisms are not used or implemented. The findings, that are consistent with previous research on the subject, indicate that formal mechanisms like reports, seminars, meetings, workshops, IT based systems, and rewards to motivate and stimulate knowledge transfer and assimilation, are in general not used. Investigate potential explanations to why formal mechanisms are not implemented or used are related to the tacit nature of knowledge, the organizational culture and structure, as well as the absence of interest, initiatives and structures.

Abstract Problem: The desire for development in less privileged countries like Uganda has created the need for the privileged countries like Sweden to embark on external knowledge transfer through different projects, as one of the objectives to achieve development. However, some factors tend to limit the success of this external knowledge transfer process. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to find out the factors that lead to the barriers and limitations of knowledge transfer in development projects. Since there are differences in objectives between nonprofit and profit making projects, the research is also aimed at highlighting the extent to which the affecting factors hinder the achievement of objectives and goals. Method: Qualitative methods were used in this research. Telephone interviews were conducted after sending questionnaires to four respondents from different organizations that were actively involved in the projects. In order to have balanced results, two respondents each from Uganda and Sweden were interviewed. Trustworthiness and ethical issues were put into consideration while conducting the interviews, in a bid to create a desirable atmosphere for conducting the study. Result: External knowledge transfer is affected by factors like culture, individual factors, and knowledge management factors. Apart from the mentioned factors, research found that instead of organizational factors that would affect profit making projects to a greater extent, factors like the political will, ownership and local needs are the ones that affect development projects. Conclusion: The factors that affect the external knowledge transfer process are to a greater extent human, and are controllable. In development projects, the recipient country should identify the needs that would initiate the external knowledge transfer process. Most of the affecting factors would be controlled through building of relationships and strong ties, local ownership, and political considerations. All this put into consideration, external knowledge transfer between developed and developing countries stand a high chance to succeed.

The global competition and as the worldwide market has become more open a company’s ability to outsource activities to external companies based in other countries, i.e. offshore outsourcing, has increased dramatically. Companies are starting to transfer higher value-added activities that require certain skills, domain knowledge and experience, i.e. Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO). These activities are getting more difficult and complex to manage compared with standardised activities such as payroll, and predict another kind of co-operation and communication between the companies. When the sender and receiver are based in different context, such as organisational and cultural, other aspects might be added to the difficulty. The purpose of this thesis is to describe, and analyse knowledge transfer in a cross cultural context based on three categories identified in the theoretical framework: character of knowledge, distances between sending and receiving context and mutual understanding. Also to answer how cultural differences might affect the knowledge transfer process. The objective of this study is mainly from a Swedish R&D company’s perspective that has an established relation with an external consultancy company based in India. The activities are within the area of dynamical changing software development of complex, communication and knowledge intensive products. A qualitative case study has been performed based on open target interviews. The findings show that the character of knowledge is an important factor to consider when establishing the knowledge transfer process. It was a need to transfer knowledge not only related to the product itself but also knowledge embedded in organisational routines, processes, practises and norms. This is related to distances between sending and receiving context: organisational and knowledge differences shown in organisational skills and previous experience, and cultural differences mainly visible in communication such as raising problems and an expected top-down approach by managers. The geographical distance adds to the difficulty due to the missing face-to-face contact. The sending company must therefore be very active and can not just expect the receiving company to handle the activity, and especially when the companies’ prerequisites differ as much as in this case. Culture awareness and mutual understanding are factors that improve knowledge transfer.

This thesis examines which processes enable knowledge transfer and which factors affect the transfer of knowledge from a repatriate to the home office within management consulting services. The results from one firm engaging in management consulting activities in Sweden suggest that the prime process for knowledge transfer is through providing post-repatriation assignments, which requires the repatriate to use the acquired knowledge and to cooperate with coworkers and thus share the knowledge. The main factors affecting the knowledge transfer are a corporate culture and a strategy which promote teamwork and sharing. The study indicates that the studied firm has a pragmatic view of sharing knowledge; knowledge is shared when it is used, and all efforts should in the end gain the firm's clients.

Background: Due to the rapid change of conditions knowledge is becoming increasingly more importance today. Knowledge is now considered superior to technology and capital as a source of competitive advantage, however needs to be efficiently transferred and well managed to explore its full potential. Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to map the process of structured knowledge transfer. This is done in two phases from host organisation to expatriate and from expatriate to home organisation. Secondary the results will indicate some major influences on the knowledge transfer process. Research method: A case study of SAAB and Denel Aviatons has been selected for this thesis. Primary information was predominantly obtained through qualitative interviews with some quantitative survey support. The case study has been conducted with people involved in the structured knowledge transfer programme. Results: The study shows that different types of knowledge is transferred and that knowledge moves through several stages as it gets transformed from raw data to action. It also captures the methods of knowledge transfer as it moves from velocity to viscosity. It has also been discovered that although the second phase within the case study is different than the first, that ideally it should be almost identical.

Background: Though small enterprises are regarded as engine for the modern economy, they are not pioneers when it comes to implementing new advances like tacit knowledge transfer procedures. Tacit knowledge is often referred as skill, know-how and expertise which are embedded in each individual in an organization. The critical skills and competences of employees are intangible assets and firms’ intellectual resources. In this context, the tacit dimension of knowledge is potentially important to be transferred among individuals, either in tacit or explicit form, to build the core capabilities of small enterprises. Problem Discussion: The existent Knowledge Management (KM) research has been mainly focused on big companies, providing little information for small enterprises. Authors believe the lack of attention that those small enterprises are putting on the strategic management of their knowledge is worrying. Tacit knowledge is one of the less explored areas within KM due to the difficulty to codify, formulate or express it. Despite this fact, it is perceived as “some kind of Holy Grail that will enable magnificent things to happen as soon as the codes of tacit knowledge have been deciphered”. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of the transference of tacit knowledge among individuals within small segment of small enterprises. Method: To gather the information pertaining to tacit knowledge transfer in the small segment of small enterprises, authors have performed a qualitative and explanatory research by conducting several interviews with two small companies. Result: Tacit to tacit knowledge transfer has been identified as more relevant than tacit to explicit conversion in the small segment of small enterprises. Therefore the main drivers of the transference of tacit knowledge are learning at personal level and common culture. Time, cost and distance have been recognized as major problems for small enterprises when transferring tacit knowledge.

Having experienced climatic warming before, First Nations people of the Albany River basin in sub-arctic, Canada, have already shown the ability to be adaptable to external influences. However, societal changes and the current accelerated rate of environmental change have reduced First Nations people ability to adapt. In addition, young people are no longer going out on the land as much. Fort Albany First Nation community members have commented on the lack of connection that some youth have with the land. A disconnect with the environment by youth can threaten the adaptive capacity of sub-arctic First Nations. As identified by Fort Albany First Nation community members, one potential tool that could influence the youth to become more aware of their land, is the collaborative geomatics tool. The collaborative geomatics tool is based on the WIDE (Web Informatics Development Environment) software toolkit. The toolkit was developed by The Computer Systems Group of the University of Waterloo to construct, design, deploy and maintain complex web-based systems. The collaborative geomatics tool supports a common reference map, based on high-resolution imagery. Three environmental outreach camps were held from 2011-2012, programming utilized place-based education as the platform to engage youth in their environment and community and begin using the associated mapping technology. All camps utilized the newly developed collaborative-geomatics tool and a camera ready handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) while participating in various activities that engaged them in their community and environment. The outreach program worked well in connecting youth with knowledgeable community members allowing for the direct transfer of traditional knowledge in a culturally appropriate manner, that is, learning through observation and doing, as well as other culturally-appropriate educational strategies. In addition, the informatics tool supported the archiving of this knowledge through the uploading of geospatially tagged pictures taken by the youth.