A participatory action research study of knowledge management implementation in a large European telecommunication company in their UK office

Knowledge management is being highlighted as a major source of sustained competitive advantage for contemporary organisations. Deploying knowledge management programs presents many challenges and this is evident by the high failure rate of initiatives. Conventional research techniques have failed to develop a rich understanding of the major implementation barriers and have therefore provided minimal assistance to practicing managers. This paper discusses the importance of knowledge to customer support organisations in the telecommunications sector and how one European support organisation approached the deployment of knowledge-centric support in their UK office. The deployment approach incorporates a participatory action research framework that facilitates research and project delivery and ensures practising managers have learning outcomes that can be applied in their organisations