Knowledge Management in a Project Environment: Organisational CT and Project Influences

During a project implementation various forms of information and experience are generated within the organization. If this accumulated knowledge is not recorded and shared amongst other projects, this knowledge will be lost and no longer be available to assist future projects. This may lead to increased future projects costs as resources, time and money will be wasted on redefining the knowledge that once existed within the company. By not capturing and redeploying this knowledge, the quality of a project’s deliverables may adversely suffer. First the publication reviews the concept of project knowledge management. It defines the reasons for managing project knowledge, the benefits it brings to organizations and challenges that exist within the organization that prevent the process from being successfully deployed. Secondly, the sources of knowledge within projects and strategies that can be used by organizations to manage this knowledge are reviewed. Further more the paper examines a number of studies to identify the practices of project knowledge management within different organizations. Finally, the paper draws conclusions on the influences and implementation of project knowledge management by project-based organizations. From the findings it is evident that the nature of the projects and organizational culture has a significant impact on the ability to manage project knowledge which in turn aids to the projects success or failure. The paper assists practitioners in understanding the complexities of establishing organizational and project culture to enable knowledge management activities within projects in order to improve project performance and enhance chances of project success