Sharing Knowledge in Projects

Introduction

An increasing number of organizations have implemented their business operations through projects (Todorović, et al., 2015). Projects can be defined as temporary effort to create a specific product or service (PMI, 2017). Temporarily, in the sense that a project has a defined beginning and end, and is unique, in the sense that the product/service is different in some way and is distinct from other products/services (Owen & Burstein, 2005; PMI, 2017). Projects are collective endeavors, with goals based on the development of common understandings, which generate personal and group knowledge that contribute to their success (Sankarasubramanian, 2009).

For many organizations, knowledge is the most important asset and its survival depends on the organization's ability to effectively use existing knowledge and to effectively create, develop, and use new knowledge (Pascoe & More, 2005). Proper knowledge is a basic prerequisite for effective project management (Gasik, 2011) and knowledge management is a vital factor for successfully undertaking projects (Sokhanvar, 2014). According to Koskinen and Pihlanto (2008), projects are often dependent on knowledge that is not in their possession. Within this context, the integration of knowledge management in project management is necessary to share information and knowledge to solve problems effectively and efficiently (Yeong & Lim, 2010). Knowledge is defined by Gao et al. (2018) as the practical and theoretical understanding of a subject, and it is considered to be an essential organizational resource (Buvik & Tvedt, 2017; Hanisch et al., 2009) and its management is considered to be a fundamental tool for the success of projects (Romani, 2017).

Generically, knowledge management represents the set of processes and practices carried out in organizations to increase the intellectual potential and of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the management of organizational knowledge resources (Heisig, 2009; Andreeva and Kianto, 2012). The basic purpose of knowledge management is to create and share knowledge within organizations (Chen et al., 2018). Knowledge sharing is especially important in a project environment and contributes significantly to the performance of organizations (Buvik & Tvedt, 2017) and their ability to understand the best way to share knowledge between teams and between members of a project (Fernie et., 2003). Furthermore, Al Ahbabi et al. (2019) conclude that the dimensions of knowledge management have a positive impact on the innovation, quality, and operational performance of employees. Gürlek & Çemberci (2020) show that firms led by knowledge-oriented leaders have a high level of knowledge management capacity, innovation performance, and firm performance. In turn, owing to the temporary nature of projects, knowledge management in project-based organizations is not similar to functional companies (Kasvi, Vartiainen, & Hailikari, 2003). In addition, project team members split up or leave after project completion and this poses several challenges to projects and project-based organizations (Ajmal, Helo, & Kekale, 2010).

Through a case study approach, this research proves that team members use different knowledge-sharing practices and recognize their importance for the successful management of their projects.