Retaining Organizational Knowledge: A Case Study of an Australian Construction Company

Few would refute the importance of harnessing organizational knowledge — for reuse, learning, and process improvement. Once retained in a concrete form, knowledge becomes less fragmented and more easily accessible and useable. Such a knowledge management system indeed becomes a source of competitive advantage for an organization. The key to achieving this is by retaining the existing organizational knowledge so that we do not have to rely solely on available expertise. A number of knowledge management frameworks exist which help us to classify and structure knowledge. No single framework dominates, because different organizations have different needs depending on factors such as culture and business processes. At the same time, there is a lack of case studies on how organizations create or operate such a knowledge management system. In this paper, we present a case study of a knowledge management system used in a specific context — an Australian construction company. The study shows that, at least in this particular context, a knowledge management system can operate only where it does not interfere with the existing workflow of the organization. Furthermore, the importance of retaining valuable tacit knowledge is emphasized. We also discuss the implications for future research and practice.