Exploring Knowledge Implementation in Project Teams - Insights from a Qualitative Case Study in a High-Tech Industry MNC
Abstract
Existing literature underscores the significance of knowledge management (KM) in
organisations for enhancing performance and gaining competitive advantages. Despite
scholars acknowledging that knowledge implementation activities realise the value of KM,
little is known of how these activities can be affected through organisational structures. With
an increasing amount of assessing knowledge-related activities in project teams, the need for
uncovering the relationship between project teams and knowledge implementation should no
longer be neglected. Yet, there is limited research on how project teams affect knowledge
implementation. By conducting a qualitative case study within a high-tech industry MNC,
this study illuminates knowledge implementation within project teams and uncovers how this
organisational structure affects knowledge implementation activities. This study identified 15
determinants of how project teams affect knowledge implementation, sorted in three groups:
individual, team, and socialisation determinants. The analysis of these findings showed that a
holistic assessment of these groups is necessary to understand the interplay between project
team context and knowledge implementation. In line with existing KM theory, this study
found that knowledge implementation is directly affected by determinants that reside within
the individual. This study identified intrinsic motivation, time allocation, prioritisation and
the ability to align new knowledge with existing operations as directly affecting knowledge
implementation. This study develops existing literature by finding that synergies within teams
and between teams affect these individual determinants, therefore having indirect effects on
knowledge implementation. This implies that managers need to account for the influence of
project teams, if KM strategies are expected to increase performance.
Degree
Master 2-years
Other description
MSc in International Business and Trade
Collections
View/ Open
Date
2023-07-18Author
Daut, Torben
Klang, Eric
Keywords
Knowledge Implementation
Knowledge Management
Project Teams
Knowledge
Absorptive Capacity
Case Study
Multinational Corporation
Series/Report no.
Master Degree Project 2023:8
Language
eng