Knowledge Management Practices

Knowledge management practices

There are several researches were done in Knowledge management practices using different organizations. Few of them were review here to prepare good background for the study. Several authors defined KM in different ways. Plato defined knowledge as justified true belief. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) identified knowledge as a dynamic human process of justifying personal belief toward the truth.  Davenport and Prusak (1998) asserted knowledge as a fluid mix of framed experiences, values, contextual information and expert insights.  

Knowledge management process is differently defined by many scholars because there is no unified, single and a coherent method to manage knowledge in organizations. Hislop (2009) asserts, KM as an umbrella term, which includes any deliberate effort to manage knowledge of workforce via a wide range of methods, including direct and indirect social processes. KM therefore embodies all organizational processes which synergies the knowledge creating, knowledge capturing, knowledge codifying, knowledge sharing, knowledge formalizing, knowledge forgetting, and any knowledge sustaining processes. According to the Boondao, (2013) KM is a process to capture, attain, organize, and disseminate employees’ knowledge for tacit and explicit knowledge. However, Yeong, and Lim, (2010) defined the KM as the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute project effectively and efficiently. Choy (2005) has stated KM is management of organizational knowledge for creating business value and generating a competitive advantage. Furthermore, Boondao (2013) has stated KM is used to ensure get the right knowledge to the right person at the right time. As per the Al-Zayyat, AlKhaldi, Ibrahem, Tadros, and Al-Balqa (2010) KM facilitates a project team to reduce doing rework and compresses the time that it takes to plan projects.

The effects of KM processes on PM were studied in detail by Al-Zayyat et al.,2010. In their study a positivistic approach was adapted using quantitative data. Hundred and fourteen project practitioners including project managers, managers, team leaders, team members, and supervisors were surveyed. Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regressions were used to investigate the strength of the relationship between application of KM and project success. Based on the results of the data analysis, they found there is a positive relationship between the use of KM and the improvement in the management of projects. In a study conducted by Lierni and Ribiere (2008) to find out the relationship between improving the management of projects and use of KM empathized that the KM practices has a positive influence on the improvement of the management of projects. Based on the study the most frequently used KM tools and practices by project managers were identified. Shared repository of project artifacts, Lessons learned, Best practices repositories and Document management systems few of them.