<p>Today we are living in a knowledge-society where knowledge sharing is of utmost importance for companies in order to keep their competitiveness. Therefore, it is a much debated issue - in both the academic and the corporate world - in what way one should handle the knowledge which continuously is created within companies. The aim of this study is to describe how practitioners share tacit knowledge within a large knowledge company. By that we aim to get an answer to how the chosen theoretical models regarding tacit knowledge relate to the empirical world. In this study we will focus on tacit knowledge in contrast to explicit one. Further we will not study knowledge sharing between organisations but concentrate on this process within them. We chose to approach the purpose of this study in a qualitative way by conducting interviews within a large knowledge-firm. The company was Systems Integration within the Ericsson-group where we held interviews with four persons familiar with knowledge. Furthermore, we have perceived that theories concerning the knowledge-sharing process are relatively fragmented. Therefore, we have built a model which links the different theories together in order to give a better overview of the whole process. Having conducted the study, we found that the case company to some extent handlesknowledge in line with the theories chosen. Furthermore, we came to the conclusion that some modifications in the model are necessary in order to achieve a successful knowledge-sharing process.</p>

Technology providers understand that almost all companies from banks to cell phone carriers are challenged to be synchronized with the evolution of their products.Failure to understand and utilize new developments, especially with hardware and software, is detrimental to any corporation. One of the biggest challenges high-tech companies face, is the ability to enhance their current training modules. Moreover, in the education process, companies could miss the opportunity of extracting valuable information from their own products and services. . The objective of this thesis is to highlight the importance of investing in the growth of knowledge transfer models. It will assess current methods of communication to provide recommendations of the most efficient vehicles in education. The investigation performed also targets possible solutions to help strengthen the feedback and vital information that can be gathered during the process of coaching. . The context of this research is to provide a suggested tool that should be implemented by technology companies to increase the efficacy of training modules. Information found in the text was drawn from research literature on knowledge transfer.The ideas diffused in this paper are intended to plant a seed in key areas of communication that directly impact the bottom line of a business. My ultimate goal is to have high-tech companies utilize the recommended models to transfer knowledge and, at the same time, acquire valuable information. The suggestions presented have potential to generate an increase in sales, revenue and client retention. / text

Background Previous research in the area of knowledge management shows that projectbased organizations often struggle with their employees resistance to shareknowledge with colleagues for reasons of self-interest. Other research show thatimplementing incentives to stimulate knowledge sharing behaviors has beenproven efficient. However, the fact that no previous research has touched uponthe topic in the context of project based organizations, motivated us to immerseourselves in the area. Purpose The purpose of this study was to map how incentives stimulate knowledgesharing in project based organizations. Method A qualitative single-case study performed with semi-structured interviews on thedepartment of medical systems at project based Sectra AB. Conclusion The study highlights the value of combining incentives with clan control formotivating knowledge sharing in project based organizations. It indicates thatproject based organizations with help from incentives can stimulate knowledgesharing behaviors, both directly and indirectly.

Sammanfattning: Vi står inför en tid med stora pensionsavgångar, endast under 2011 kommer 124 000 svenskar att fylla 65 år. Då äldre anställda ofta innehar mycket kunskap efter lång erfarenhet inom en organisation finns en risk att kunskapen följer med dem när de slutar till följd av en pensionering. Med denna studie önskar vi kunna bidra med en större förståelse för betydelsen av en tydligt utarbetad pensionerings- och kunskapsledningsstrategi för en organisation då dessa stora pensionsavgångar väntar. Vi önskar även bidra med en ökad medvetenhet om kunskapsledningens relevans i organisationer, och att denna medvetenhet bör finnas hos alla anställda och inte endast vara individspecifik. Syftet med denna studie var att kartlägga och analysera det personliga nätverket runt en nyckelperson i en organisation för att kunna utvärdera nätverkets roll i bevarandet av kunskap vid nyckelpersonens pensionering samt identifiera kunskapsbevarande faktorer. Studien genomfördes som en kvalitativ fallstudie där både intervjuer och dagböcker användes för att samla in det empiriska materialet. Studien genomfördes på ekonomiavdelningen på Linköpings kommun där den snart pensionerade ekonomidirektören och hans närmsta nätverk undersöktes. Utifrån det empiriska materialet genomfördes en nätverksanalys med avseende på individers samspel, roller och kunskapsutbyte i nätverket. Studiens resultat visar att ett nätverk som arbetat tillsammans under en lång tid har delat kunskap och utvecklat en gemensam kunskapsbas, som till viss del kan förhindra en kunskapsförlust vid en nyckelpersons pensionering. Dock kan en nyckelpersons insikter, systemkunnande och plats i organisationens historia som uppnåtts genom lång erfarenhet aldrig fullständigt ersättas. Studiens resultat visar även att en individs tidiga insikt om potentiell kunskapsförlust vid pensionering och motivation att dela med sig av kunskap bidrar till att förminska kunskapsförlusten. / We are facing a time with a great amount of retirements, as many as 124 000 Swedish people will retire only during 2011. Experienced people possess much knowledge and when employees leave an organization due to retirement they often leave with what they know. With this study we wish to contribute with a greater understanding of the importance of a clearly stated knowledge management strategy in an organization for the scenario when employees retire. We also wish to increase the awareness of the relevance of knowledge management in organizations, and underline that this awareness should exist among all the employees and not only be bound to specific individuals. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the personal network of a key figure in an organization, to be able to evaluate if this network could help in preserving knowledge in the organization when the key figure retires and identify knowledge-preserving factors. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study where interviews and diaries were used to assemble the empirical material. The study was conducted at the department of business administration at Linköpings kommun, where the soon retired manager and his personal network were studied. A network analysis was carried out in order to study the roles, the interactions and the exchange of knowledge in the network. The findings of the study indicate that a network can prevent a certain knowledge loss due to a long working experience together where knowledge has been shared and hence a knowledge base has been obtained. However, the insights, the understandings and the place in the history of the organization achieved through experience can never be fully replaced. The findings also imply that the early individual insight of a potential knowledge loss due to retirement and the individual motivation of sharing knowledge contribute to a reduced knowledge loss.

The necessity of managing the tacit knowledge sharing is becoming more significant because of the upcoming demographic changes facing companies all over the industrialized part of the world. The so called baby boomers born in the middle part of the 20th century will soon reach the retirement age and this is anticipated to create an extensive loss of knowledge. In light of that, companies face a dilemma when over bridging the knowledge gap between their more experienced senior employees who have accumulated plenty of knowledge and the novel ones. It opens the discussion concerning how to “capture” that knowledge since it is the competitive advantage in the contemporary world. This is particularly sensible for knowledge-based firms which are the main focus of this study. Scholars have developed different approaches of the knowledge sharing phenomenon, but still there is a lack of understanding regarding how this abstract process should be supported in a daily basis. This work investigates the factors that aid or hinder the knowledge process within consulting firms as a prerequisite to reach a greater awareness of the particular setting that will foster the sharing. Supported by a theoretical background, this was accomplished by following a systems approach, favoring qualitative methods. The empirical data was collected using semistructured qualitative interviews within the headquarter offices of Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Stockholm, Sweden. The exploratory results suggest that by converging specific aspects, consulting firms can overcome the most common barriers when sharing knowledge transfer. Furthermore, it is pointed out the positive conditions a firm has to develop as well as Theoretical and Managerial implications.

This thesis has explored the context of police interviews with suspects of serious crimes. Focus group studies, a case study and additional interviews have shown several aspects of information flow, decision making, interviewing tactics, human rights and tacit knowledge as these interviews are planned, performed and evaluated. The informants, homicide investigators, describe their work as an information generating and information evaluating process. They apply a series of methods, e. g. different forms of tactics in the use of investigative information during the police interviews. Based on the informants’ description and the case study, their methods seem to have research evidence in general, where such is available. The informants specifically stress the important role of planning and evaluation. The investigative process generates a vast amount of situations where decision making is needed. In these, the bases for the decisions are mainly the information flow of the investigation, which tends to be obscure and in constant change. The investigators’ decision making is thereby exposed to the risk of confirmation bias. The informants express an ambition to work objectively and to presume the suspects’ innocence. However, this generates a psychological conflict, which might affect the human rights of the suspect in negative ways. The informants describe several ways to handle this conflict. The informants describe that they have several concerns when making decisions. These can be categorized as legal, organizational and tactical concerns. Taken together, legal rule conflicts and the organizational ambition to lead the investigators in a target oriented way using quantitative measures, result in strong incitements for investigations to be finalized when they are good enough, rather than when they are good. The informants describe their profession as one where it is possible to develop expertise and where tacit knowledge plays an important role. When previous research on tacit knowledge is combined with the interview results, there seems to be a level between the tacit and the explicit knowledge. I have called this low-key knowledge. This low-key knowledge can be verbalized in the proper context in communication among those initiated in the subject at hand. The low-key knowledge also seems to risk being over-voiced in certain contexts.

Theatre has been a school subject in the Swedish upper secondary school's national arts program since 1992 and has its own syllabus and grading criteria. The National Curriculum in theatre emphasises the development of performative capability, which is the focus of this dissertation. This study aims to contribute to the improvement of teachers’ subject-specific language, and concerns certain aspects of student ways of knowing. Theatre encompasses tacit knowledge (Lagerström 2003) and as an art form belongs to a tradition of practical knowledge. Knowledge in theatre has traditionally been acquired within a master-apprentice tradition (Johansson 2012, Järleby 2003). When theatre as an art form becomes a school subject the conditions of the art form change through a didactic transposition (Chevallard 2005). The previous two curriculum reforms in Sweden have developed competency-based syllabuses. To meet the school's requirements for planning teaching activities with colleagues as well as assessing and giving feedback to students, theatre knowledge needs to be articulated. Research is therefore needed to develop a professional language among teachers within the subject of theatre. I have chosen to work with Learning study, which is a collaborative and iterative research approach which enables the articulation of teachers and students knowing. Data is analysed using foremost phenomenographic analyses. The results generated in this study could be useful for teachers in the process of planning lessons, giving feedback to students, for assessments and grades, for discussing the content of lessons with other teachers, and ultimately for us to begin to recognize different levels of knowing.

In the world we live in transfer of technology is of a great importance. The primary ‎means of technology transfer is by imitating and making copies. However, there are ‎cases where copying is impossible or prohibited. In those cases, technology transfer ‎involves contracting. Those agreements may contain both transfer of codified and tacit ‎knowledge. Technology transfer agreements, containing tacit knowledge, have special ‎characteristics due to the presence of the know-how, and to the need to transfer it. ‎ In this paper, I explore the special measures of technology transfer agreements ‎containing tacit knowledge. I explain why general contract law does not address ‎properly those challenges. I elaborate on the current solutions to these problems, ‎adopted both by the parties and by legislatures, as well as their difficulties. Eventually, I ‎propose possible solutions, either to the legislature or to the judiciary, in order to ‎address those issues in a better way.‎

In the world we live in transfer of technology is of a great importance. The primary ‎means of technology transfer is by imitating and making copies. However, there are ‎cases where copying is impossible or prohibited. In those cases, technology transfer ‎involves contracting. Those agreements may contain both transfer of codified and tacit ‎knowledge. Technology transfer agreements, containing tacit knowledge, have special ‎characteristics due to the presence of the know-how, and to the need to transfer it. ‎ In this paper, I explore the special measures of technology transfer agreements ‎containing tacit knowledge. I explain why general contract law does not address ‎properly those challenges. I elaborate on the current solutions to these problems, ‎adopted both by the parties and by legislatures, as well as their difficulties. Eventually, I ‎propose possible solutions, either to the legislature or to the judiciary, in order to ‎address those issues in a better way.‎

ABSTRACT Beginning in 1946 fertility in Canada and other Western countries increased to rates unequaled throughout the rest of the 20th century. Sixty five years since the beginning of the baby boom, as this generation was labelled, workers are retiring or nearing retirement on scale not previously witnessed. This workforce exodus has signalled concern among scholarly, professionals and government sources alike. The public sector has been identified as particularly at risk with both and older average worker age and a low average retirement age. Within the public sector, jobs relating to the Canadian water workforce have similarly been identified for retirement concerns, specifically among senior positions. Retirements have highlighted aspects of concern for the future: knowledge leaving the workplace, and recruiting talent for the future. Among primary concerns is for knowledge that has no place in traditional documentation methods, tacit knowledge. Although transferring this knowledge presents difficulties, strategies include retaining knowledgeable employees and creating programs that facilitate knowledge exchange. Mentorship programs are one such strategy identified specifically for tacit knowledge transfer. This thesis considers how retirements would affect the water workforce including positions centred on conservation and policy efforts, as well as the water utilities industry. Although a few studies have focused on water utilities, this area of the public workforce had largely been ignored. Conducting fourteen interviews within three case study municipalities, primary data was gathered to determine how the water workforce would be affected by retirements, if retirements created concerns with respect to inter-organizational networks, and what strategies would be most suited to the needs of participating organizations.