Kunskapsdelning i praktiken : En fallstudie om vilken roll IT spelar för delning av kunskap i ett distribuerat systemutvecklingsteam

In a world of tough global competition, where the use of distributed working methods must be described as common, it’s crucial for organizations to have successful knowledge sharing between employees. The natural face-to-face communication is being replaced by various forms of IT-solutions, but it’s unclear what actual consequences that brings to knowledge sharing within organizations. Therefore, this paper research question is: What role does IT play for knowledge sharing in a distributed system development team? The theoretical data is collected from a literature study within the IS research. The empirical data is collected from observations and interviews at an IT consultancy. The results of the interviews and observations show how knowledge sharing occurs in the investigated practice and how it relates to IT. Our conclusion shows how IT does not replace communication face-to-face outright, but rather how IT generates new kinds of learning processes which changes the conditions for knowledge sharing. Furthermore, in the specific practice, the organization should develop conscious strategies around knowledge sharing which takes into account the interaction between IT, human actions and structural conditions.