Knowledge Inventory in a project based...

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KNOWLEDGE INVENTORY IN A PROJECT BASED ORGANISATION

A study submitted in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Information Management

at

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

by

KAVITHA SHANKAR September 2008

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Abstract Background

Knowledge management is recognised to play a pivotal role for organisations

in the race to gain competitive advantage in the market place. Managing

knowledge in the changing environment in which organisations function, has

become a challenge to managers. This research study attempts to measure

the knowledge in a project based organisation. The knowledge management

stream of literature provides many methods and techniques to manage and

measure knowledge in organisations. A large body of literature concentrates

on the measurement of intangible assets of the organisation. The project

management stream of literature provided limited research in the area of

management of knowledge in project based organisations.

Aim

This study aims to make an account of the existing knowledge in a project

based organisation. The author attempts to use measurement models found

in the knowledge management literature and use it in a framework chosen

from the project management literature in this instance.

Methods

This dissertation is a case study. The context of this study is set in an IT

service provider organisation, EDS in their Sheffield office. An existing

framework from the literature is applied to two project teams of EDS. Some

modifications are made to the framework to adapt it to the context in this

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study. The data collection is through interviews and questionnaires. There

was a 43% response to the questionnaire.

Results

An account of the existing knowledge of the two projects was made.

Observations from the knowledge inventory were presented to the

organisation who found it interesting as it brought out the employees

perception of their level of knowledge. EDS agreed with the observation of

low importance to processes of close down phase, high awareness of risk

management and quality control procedure, the low level of use of the

intranet. EDS was surprised with observations relating to the low level of

business knowledge. EDS mentioned that the observations of this study

could be used as supporting evidence to deal with issues mentioned.

Conclusion

This case study provides an instance of measuring the project knowledge

using measuring criteria identified from intellectual capital and knowledge

management literature. Further research on measurement of project

knowledge would enrich the project management literature and link

knowledge management and project management stream of literature.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my dissertation supervisor Dr. Ana Cristina

Vasconcelos for the feedback and support she gave me in completing this

dissertation.

I would also like to thank EDS, for providing me an opportunity for doing this

research project. I would like to specially thank Mr. Lukman Faily and

Ms.hJeanette Whitehouse for the time and access to resources provided

towards the completion of this dissertation.

Finally, I would like to thank the University of Sheffield for giving me this

opportunity to learn. The facilities at the Information Commons and the

Department of Information Studies were of great help.

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Contents

Abstract.2

Acknowledgements...4

Contents5

1.0 Chapter 1 Introduction9

1.1 Purpose.10

1.2 Theoretical Perspective..11

1.3 Aims & Objectives...12

1.4 Research Questions13

1.5 Scope of the Research...14

1.6 Limitations of the Research14

1.7 Ethical approval...15

1.8 Dissertation Structure.15

1.9 Chapter Summary...17

2.0 Chapter 2 Research Design18

2.1 Research Approach18

2.2 Research Strategy..19

2.3 Sample Size of Data Collection20

2.4 Data Collection & Analysis method..21

2.5 Criteria for Evaluation.23


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3.0 Chapter 3 Literature Review27

3.1 Introduction...27

3.2 Definitions and Concepts from the Literature.29

3.3 Approaches to KM......31

3.4 Intellectual Capital Management & Measurement..33

3.4.1 Skandia Navigator...36

3.4.2 Intangible Assets Monitor...37

3.4.3 Intellectual Capital Index38

3.4.4 Balanced Scorecard...39

3.4.5 Integrated Knowledge Benefit Value Model40

3.5 Project Management Stream of Literature.40

3.6 Project Based Organisation..40

3.7 Project Knowledge Management.42

3.8 Knowledge Management in Information Technology Industry45

3.9 Existing Knowledge in Projects How to identify it?...............46

3.10 Measurement of Project Knowledge....49

3.10.1 Knowledge Inventory Model..49


4.0 Chapter 4 Knowledge Inventory Framework..52

4.1 The Organisation.52

4.2 The framework.56

4.3 Modifications to the Framework58

4.4 Data Collection Instrument for defined Domains62

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5.0 Chapter 5 Research Results & Discussion.68

5.1 Responses....69

5.2 Knowledge inventory presentation69

5.3 The Knowledge Inventory..70

5.3.1 Process Knowledge71

5.3.2 Business Knowledge.73

5.3.3 Technical Knowledge.75

5.3.4 Knowledge Growth.76

5.3.5 Knowledge Reuse..77

5.3.6 Knowledge Sharing78

5.3.7 Training79

5.4 Usefulness of Knowledge inventory to Organisation80

5.5 Discussion81

5.5.1 Low importance for Project Closure....81

5.5.2 High Awareness of Risk Management83

5.5.3 High Awareness of Quality Control Procedures....84

5.5.4 Use of Intranet.....85

5.5.5 A knowledge Sharing Culture87


6.0 Chapter 6 Recommendations & Conclusion.90

6.1 Recommendations.90

6.1.1 Institutionalising Knowledge Sharing..90

6.1.2 Reward System......91

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6.1.3 Effective Use of Intranet91

6.1.4 Project Specific Training92

6.2 Conclusion93

Bibliography.97

Annex 1 Questionnaire.109

Annex 2 Knowledge Inventory.115

Annex 3 Presentation of Results to Organisation.119

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1.0 Chapter 1 Introduction

Knowledge management (KM) is recognised to play a pivotal role for

organisation in the race to gain competitive advantage in the market place.

Managing knowledge in the changing environments in which organisations

function, has become a challenge to managers. Organisations follow many

approaches and invest money and time to find an ideal solution to manage

and measure their knowledge. Technology is often seen as a means of

successful knowledge management. In the recent years the growing

awareness among managers regarding the importance of the employees as

knowledge assets of the organisation has led to the development of many

methods and procedures of knowledge management.

To survive the dynamic and complex market environment organisations are

becoming flexible and are responding fast to the changing needs in terms of

delivering a product or service. This has given rise to the trend of project

organisations. Project teams are characterised by team members coming

together during the life-cycle of the project and then separating to be part of

other project teams. Project teams are knowledge intensive. Managing the

knowledge created within the projects and ensuring its dissemination to the

organisation has become a challenge for organisations.

Organisations require to measure and understand the existing knowledge

within their projects to manage it effectively to an advantage. This research

study tries to measure the available knowledge within a project to enable

organisations to use it to their advantage. An existing framework from the

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academic literature is chosen and applied to particular project teams in an IT

service organisation.

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this research project is to assess how tacit and explicit

knowledge are measured in project based organisations. After the decision to

undertake the research project in the field of knowledge management a

limited literature review was done to investigate the aspect of the subject that

could be studied.

A growing body of literature mentions about the increasing trend of project

organisation (Disterer, 2002, Lang, 2001, Davenport & Volpel, 2001). This

trend, according to the literature, posed a problem to manage knowledge

within projects for the organisation, which leads to the main purpose of the

study.

IT industry is a knowledge intensive one and is characterised by projects and

project teams. The organisation chosen, EDS, is a multinational company

where knowledge management initiatives have been implemented and used

for several years. This forms an ideal context to measure the knowledge

inventory of projects in the organisation.

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1.2 Theoretical perspective

The literature on knowledge management was reviewed to understand the

subject from the perspective of organisations and knowledge management

approaches followed by them.

The focus of the literature in the knowledge management stream was on

what approaches the organisations need to follow to manage their knowledge

and analysis of the successful organisations which have effectively managed

to leverage economic advantage.

The literature in the project management stream described the trend towards

project based work that organisations were adopting to handle the changing

business environments and the difficulties and the management of different

aspects of the project for its successful completion. (Bresnen et al, 2003)

A small body of literature, but a growing one (Liernie & Ribire, 2008; Kasvi et

al, 2003) discusses the issues in managing knowledge in project based

organisations. The focus of this body of literature was on why the knowledge

management was different in project environments and what challenges

organisations have to overcome to manage knowledge within projects. Some

frameworks and methods are found in the literature to provide a solution for

managers. (Jackson & Klobas, 2007; Kang 2007; Donk & Reizebos, 2005)

The lack of solutions for the problems was reported in many journal articles

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While reviewing the literature about knowledge management approaches and

issues in organisations, the lack of research in the area of knowledge

management in project based organisations was evident. (Donk & Riezebos,

2005; Liebowitz & Megbolugbe, 2003) This became the principle reason for

pursuing this dissertation. The project management body of literature deals

on issues of knowledge sharing & knowledge management techniques for

project based organisations

The main issue recognised in the literature is the lack of tools and techniques

that help managers to leverage the knowledge within the project to its

advantage. The knowledge inventory approach proposed by Donk & Riezebs

seemed to be an answer to this. (Donk & Riezebos, 2005)

1.3 Aims & Objectives

The main aim of this research study is to make an account of the knowledge

inventory of a project in the organisation.

The Cambridge English dictionary describes inventory as a detailed list of all

the items in a place. In the same vein Knowledge Inventory would mean all

the knowledge assets the organisation would use to achieve its objectives

and goals. Knowledge assets would include both tacit (human capital) and

explicit (codified knowledge with hardware and software)

This research aims to make an account of the knowledge inventory of 2 of

the project teams at the chosen organisation. Existing project documentation

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available with the organisation will also be used for this purpose. This

research attempts to find out the employees perspective of the existing

knowledge within the team.

Objectives

To understand what knowledge is available within a project in a project

based organisation.

Understand if it is useful to take an account of the knowledge assets

(both tangible and intangible) within a project.

Investigate if an existing framework can be applied to the organisation

to measure the knowledge within a project.

This dissertation aims to report on the findings providing an account of the

knowledge inventory aspects of the projects in the organisation.

1.4 Research Question

In the light of the purpose of this project and the review of the literature the

research questions are mentioned below.

Can the knowledge inventory be measured in a project based organisation?

1. What are the types of knowledge that are useful to the organisation

in a project environment?

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2. What areas of the project should the knowledge inventory be

measured?

3. What tangible and intangible assets contain the useful project

knowledge identified?

4. Is a list of useful knowledge and knowledge assets be of use to the

managers in the project environment?

The research questions 1 and 2 correspond to the first objective mentioned in

the earlier section. The research questions 3 & 4 correspond to the second

objective mentioned. All the research questions together correspond to the

third objective mentioned.

1.5 Scope of the Research

The research study will be conducted at the Sheffield office of an IT service

provider organisation, Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Two projects will be

chosen based on the availability of the staff to understand and carry out the

measurements. The study will be conducted during summer 2008 in the

months of June, July and August.

1.6 Limitations of the Research

There are some limitations to this study. Not being a part of the organisation

would mean that the data collected can be subject to bias of the

organisations employees contacted for interviews and is secondary in nature.

The availability of managers for interviews was a limitation to the study. The

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study being conducted in a busy organisation, the number of completed

questionnaire results that was obtained could be considered as a limitation to

the study.

The study was limited to two projects involved in software development.

There are two main reasons for this limitation. First, among the types of

projects, the software development ones were the most knowledge intensive

ones and would have many issues of hidden knowledge. The majority of the

projects were software development ones and this reflected the core activity

of the organisation. Second reason is the limited time in which the data

collection and analysis had to be done to complete this research study.

1.7 Ethical Approval for the study

This dissertation involved interviewing employees of an organisation. The

study was placed as a Low risk one. The University of Sheffield has

approved the ethics application submitted with regard to this study.

1.8 Dissertation Structure

This section will provide the structure of this report to aid the reader to

understand the flow of the dissertation.

Chapter 1 is the Introduction to the dissertation. This chapter provides the

main purpose of the dissertation along with the research questions, aims &

objectives, limitations and the structure of the report.

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Chapter 2 is the Research Design. This chapter explains the methodology

followed to conduct the research study and methods of data collection and

analysis. The chapter also provides an explanation of the criteria the author

has considered to design this research.

Chapter 3 is the Literature Review. This chapter provides some key

concepts and definitions in the area of knowledge management. Two

streams of literature are reviewed Knowledge Management and Project

Management, to understand the background research done in this area.

Chapter 4 is the Knowledge Inventory Framework. This chapter describes

the framework that is used in this study to answer the research questions.

The modifications that the author has adopted to fit the context of the study

and the data collection instrument are described in this chapter. This chapter

also provides s description of the organisation in which this study is

conducted.

Chapter 5 is the Research Results and Discussion. This chapter presents

the knowledge inventory measured using the methodology defined and

provides gives an account of the answers to the research questions that were

defined in the first chapter.

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Chapter 6 is the Recommendations and Conclusion This chapter provides

some recommendations to the organisation based on this study and the

conclusion of this research study.

1.9 Chapter Summary

This chapter provides an introduction to the dissertation. The purpose of the

study, aims & objectives and the research questions are mentioned. The

theoretical perspective on which this research study is based is also

explained.

The scope and limitation of the study are described. Finally this chapter

provides the structure of this manual for the reader to better understand this

dissertation.

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2.0 Chapter 2 Research Design

This chapter describes the methodology followed for the research project, its

data collection and analysis. The research design of any study aims to

provide a framework for the collection and analysis of data. (Bryman, 2001)

The significance of describing the methodology followed in the research,

early in the report, is that it provides the basis for the reader to understand

the data and the interpretation to arrive at the results of this research. The

rationale behind selection of the methodology of research, data collection

and determining sample size are also explained in this chapter.

The author sees it appropriate to present the research design of this study to

the reader before the review of the literature as the main framework that is

used for the data collection and analysis in the study is drawn from the

literature. An early explanation of the research design provides the reader

with the knowledge of the intent of the literature review and the explanation of

the framework that is done in the following chapters.

2.1 Research Approach

This research follows a deductive approach. The idea for the research

stemmed from a review of literature. An examination of the idea, lead to the

research questions. This research was conducted to attempt answering the

questions, by collecting relevant data and analysing it. The design of this

research study adapted from the steps described for deductive strategy of

research, by Blaikie. (Blaikie, 2006)

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2.2 Research Strategy

This research is a case study that is based on qualitative approach though a

small amount quantitative data is collected and analysed to support the

qualitative data. Case studies are studies in which the researcher explores

in depth a program, an event, an activity, a process, or one or more

individuals (Cresswell, 2003). A case study is limited in time and the kind of

activities that are studied. This allows the researcher to employ a variety of

data collection procedures to ensure that the case in question is studied in

depth (Sake, 1995).

Yin classifies case studies as critical, unique and revelatory cases. A critical

case is one where a hypothesis is defined and the results from the case

study either supports the hypothesis or proves it to be wrong. The Unique

case is one in which the organisation or the case is unique and is the focus of

the study. The Revelatory case is one in which the researcher finds an

opportunity to research on a scientific phenomenon (Yin, 1984)

However, Bryman mentions that many case studies are conducted as they

provide suitable context for certain research questions to be answered

(Bryman, 2001). He defines such case studies that do not strictly fall in the

above mentioned 3 catagories as exemplifying case.

The author looks at this case study as an exemplifying case as the chosen

organisation being an IT service provider is both project based and

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knowledge intensive. This is an ideal context for the research questions that

this study attempts to answer, that the author has defined from the review of

the literature.

This puts forward the question of validity of the research. As per Bryman, an

exemplifying case is a particular context in which the research question is

answered. Hence this research does not claim that the results can be

generalised. The criteria for evaluation of the research that was considered

while designing it are explained later on in this chapter.

2.3 Sample size for data collection

To attempt to answer the research question, an ideal sample of the

population requires to be chosen. Project based work is adopted by

organisations in many industries like, aerospace, construction, research &

development (R&D), consultancy and information technology (IT). (Lytras &

Pouloudi, 2003; Desouza, 2003)

The IT industry is recognised as a knowledge intensive one and is mostly

organised into projects. (Disterer, 2002). The authors previous association

with the industry and the availability of an organisation that agreed for the

study to be conducted within it helped determine the sample for the data

collection. To size the case study according to the time available and the type

of projects that were undertaken at the Sheffield office of the organisation,

two projects were selected to be included in this research study.

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2.4 Data Collection & Analysis method

The data collection in this case study is done in two phases. To attempt to

answer the research questions, a framework is selected from the literature

review done for this research. To identify the measurables that will be used in

the framework, the appropriate people from the identified sample of the

population are interviewed. The interviews were unstructured ones based on

the ideas given by Patton (Patton, 1990). The interview was guided by the

review of literature done by the author in the subject of knowledge

management in project based organisations. This forms the first phase of

qualitative data collection. This data is analysed to define what is to be

measured, the scale of measurement and the validation criteria. This leads to

the second phase of data collection. The data that is collected in the second

phase of the data collection of the study is analysed to prepare the report that

presents the arguments and the analysis of facts that this study will result in

and attempts to answer the research questions that were defined initially for

this study.

This case study employs Interviewing as the method of data collection for the

first phase of the data collection. In the second phase a survey questionnaire

is circulated to the identified project team. The questions on the

questionnaire are designed to obtain descriptive answers from the

respondents. For this reason the author considers this case study to have a

qualitative approach in spite of having interviewing and questionnaires as

data collection methods.

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A pilot run of the questionnaire was conducted using 3 of key project team

members. The team members were asked to talk through the answers of the

questionnaires and provide inputs on the usability of the questionnaires from

the teams perspective.

Data Analysis

This research employs many tasks in the analysis of the data collected. This

study applies a framework identified from the literature to a particular case.

The analysis, to a large part is guided by the sequence of tasks defined by

the framework. All the interviews in the first phase of data collection were

recorded and then transcribed. From the transcriptions the main themes are

noted and matched to the categories that are identified by the author through

the review of the literature. (Silverman, 2005)

The pilot run of the questionnaire, where the respondents talked the author

through the answers and also provided with suggestions to modify the

questionnaire, were recorded and transcribed. The suggestions mentioned

were incorporated in the final questionnaire that was circulated to the chosen

team members. The responses were used in the preparation of the report

that is the final step defined in the framework.

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2.5 Criteria for evaluation of the case study

This research study considers 5 criteria for its evaluation. The author has

selected these criteria based the quantitative and qualitative research criteria

defined by Bryman in his book Social Research Methods (Bryman, 2008).

Most of the data collected is of the qualitative nature. The report that is

developed at the end of the data collection is based mostly on the qualitative

data collected but also uses quantitative data.

There are three major criteria for a quantitative study as described by

Bryman - Reliability, Replicability & Validity (Bryman, 2008). The criteria that

are considered for a qualitative study according to Bryman are Credibility,

Transferability, Dependability, Confirmability & Authenticity. (Bryman, 2001).

The author considers the following 5 criteria for the evaluation of this study

based in the environment in which the study was conducted. A brief

explanation of the criteria valid for this research study along with how this

research study deals with each criterion is given below.

Dependability & Reliability

This is the first of the three evaluation criteria for social research that looks at

the ability of the study to be repeated by others. (Bryman, 2008). According

to Bryman, Reliability in a quantitative study checks if the measure that is

defined in the study can be applied in different samples of population

(Bryman, 2001). In a qualitative study this criteria can be interpreted as

dependability that ensures the studys trustworthiness (Silverman, 2006).

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The criteria of dependability in the case of qualitative data and reliability in

the case of quantitative data are ensured in this research study. The

framework used in this study has two stages of data collection. The method

of developing the instrument used in each of these stages would be similar in

the case of any population or sample size. The interviews conducted as part

of this study were recorded and transcribed. This data was used in the final

phase of the framework. Some degree of bias from the author may be

present in interpreting the data from the interviews.

Replicability

This is the second evaluation criteria and evaluates a research study in terms

of the adequacy of the details provided so that the study can be replicated by

another researcher. (Bryman, 2008) This research study provides the source

of the framework that is used. The modifications that have been adapted to

the framework for the purpose of this study have been explained. The data

collection and analysis methods that are followed for this study have also

been explained.

Credibility

This criterion considers the acceptability of the research findings by others.

(Bryman, 2008). This criteria is ensured in this study as the author discusses

the findings with the organisation in which the study was conducted (Refer to

Section 5.4, Annex 1 & Annex2 of this report). The research results chapter

elaborates on this.

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Transferability

This criterion of qualitative data deals with the aspect of ability of this study to

be carried out on a different sample and the information provided by the

author for the reader to understand the environment in which the research

was conducted. (Miles & Huberman, 2002). In this case of this study the

author ensures this by providing a description of the organisations in which

the research was conducted.

Confirmability

This criterion ensures that the author of the study does not present the

results of the research with a personal bias. (Bryman, 2001). In this research

the author tries to provide a factual description of the observations and

interpretation of the data from the questionnaire.

2.6 Chapter Summary

This chapter describes the methodology that will be followed to conduct this

research study.

This is a case study and follows a qualitative approach for data collection and

analysis. From the review of the literature the research questions are arrived

at. To answer these questions a framework proposed by Donk & Riezebos

(2005) is applied to a particular context (2 projects of an organisation in this

case study) .

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The rationale for the selection of the sample size is described in this chapter

along with the data collection and analysis methods.

Finally the criteria for evaluation that were considered while designing this

research have been described and an explanation of how each criterion is

dealt with, in this study is discussed in this chapter.

The next chapter provides the reader with the background research that as

been conducted in this area and some of the key concepts and definitions in

the subject of knowledge management.

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3.0 Chapter 3 Literature Review

3.1 Introduction

Knowledge Management (KM) has become an important business initiative in

many industries. Since 1990, when it started being recognised as a separate

business area, the growing importance of knowledge management in

businesses is evident by the number of initiatives taken by various

organisations in that direction like Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ernst & young,

Philips (Davenport & Volpel, 2001). The different positions created in an

organisation like Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO), Knowledge manager,

knowledge architect, also indicates the place KM has secured in business.

(Earl & Scott, 1999)

In the highly competitive environment in which businesses work in present

days, the management of the knowledge within the organisation is its major

source of competitive advantage. (Disterer, 2002; Leseure & Brookes, 2004)

With globalisation and improvements in technology, organisations face new

challenges in achieving their business goals. Management of their various

assets like patents, business processes, innovations or physical artefacts

have become sacred. (Kreiner, 2002) In the last decade organisations have

increasingly realised that managing the physical assets like technology or

infrastructure is not sufficient to gain the competitive advantage. The

attention of organisations has shifted to the intangible assets that are major

contributors of the organisations success (Disterer, 2002). Managing a brand

image, developing good customer relationships are some of the examples of

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the shift of the attention that the organisations have made. (Kannan & Aulbur,

2004)

Another major trend that the organisations have adopted is that of project

based working. (Jackson & Klobas, 2007; Disetrer, 2000) Many organisations

organise their work into projects where employees come together during the

lifecycle of the project and then disseminate to join other projects. Due to the

restricted time and resources that are made available and the intensive form

of working, projects are often vehicles of innovation and delivery. (Sense,

2008) Managing the knowledge gained within the project is a challenge for

organisations.

Methods of managing and measuring knowledge in organisations have been

researched by many researchers. Wenger, Liebowitz, Wiig, Schindler &

Eppler are a few of the researchers who have done significant work in the

field of KM.

The project management literature mentions many studies that focus on tools

and techniques to improve the management of resources in a project

environment. But this stream of literature lacks in research relating to the

management and measurement of project knowledge, though a mention of

this is made in many publications (Jackson & Klobas, 2007; Kang, 2007).

The author notes that there were no significant references in the project

management literature from the studies that focus on the management of

project knowledge in organisations that have been published.

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This study tries to measure the knowledge existing within a project using a

framework from the project management stream of literature. The

measurables are drawn from the knowledge management stream of literature.

To understand the context and the background research relating to this study,

the author takes the reader through a review of the Knowledge management

literature and the project management literature. The author ends this

chapter by introducing the only framework that she found in the literature that

focused on measuring the existing knowledge in a project based organisation.

3.2 Definitions and concepts from the Literature

Before proceeding to review the literature in detail about the management of

existing knowledge in organisations and analysing the dimension of KM in

project based organisation, it will be useful for the reader to revise some

definitions and concepts in the field of knowledge management.

Knowledge management has been researched by many scholars in different

perspectives like theoretical, strategic or organisational. (Braganza, 2004).

This research project only deals with aspects of the organisational

perspective of knowledge management.

The literature on knowledge management has many definitions and

references to tacit and explicit knowledge. The idea of tacit knowledge

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perhaps originated from the Russian philosopher Michael Polyani whose

famous quote we know more than we can say is mentioned in many books

and journals. (Polyani, ed Prusak, 1997). The Japanese scholar Nonaka first

used it in the organisational context. The book The Knowledge Creating

Company by Nonaka & Tachiuchi introduces many useful concepts of

knowledge management from an organisational perspective. (Nonaka &

Tacheuchi, 1995).

Tacit knowledge can be defined as that knowledge that is embedded in the

human brain and cannot be expressed easily (Davenport & Volpel, 2001)

Explicit knowledge can be defined as that knowledge that can be codified

structured and communicated easily (Braganza, 2004).

Some authors mention a third kind of knowledge, implicit knowledge that

which can be articulated but has not yet been done. (Cortada & Wood, 2001)

The management, including creation, storage, dissemination and usage of

the existing tacit and explicit knowledge is known as knowledge

management. (Liebowitz, 1999). The term was given by Karl Wiig in an

international conference and he defines knowledge management as the

systematic, explicit, deliberate building, renewal and application of knowledge

to maximise an enterprises knowledge related effectiveness and returns

from its knowledge assets. (Wiig in Leibowitz, 1999)

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3.3 Approaches to KM

Organisations use many strategies to manage their knowledge to leverage

economic and financial benefits. The literature discusses two main

approaches Codification and Personalisation. (Greiner, 2007)

The codification approach involves collecting and storing knowledge in

databases, document management systems or specific knowledge

management systems based on technology to provide the employees with

easily accessible knowledge. The knowledge management system at Xerox

called Eureka (Bobrow & Whalen, 2002) is an example of the codification

strategy. In the Eureka system the experiences of engineers and technicians

are captured in a database so that it is accessible to all employees globally.

(Bobrow & Whalen, 2002) The codification strategy is generally used by

organisations that required using the same knowledge again and again, like

that in the construction industry. (Hansen et al, 1999).

Some organisations employ expert systems to manage organisational

knowledge. Expert systems are computer based systems that can replicate

one or more human expert minds. An example of an expert system used to

manage knowledge, is the Protocol Hypermedia System (PHES) built by the

George Washington University. This system provides its users with advice

and recommendation about a countrys business culture. The system does

this by providing pictures, video clips, voice recordings etc (Desouza, 2004).

This is an example of the application of this strategy.

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The personalisation approach is based on the concept of sharing

knowledge through interactions between experts. In this approach the

specialist knowledge is not separated from its owner. The organisation

encourages the sharing of the specialist knowledge by facilitating face to face

meetings with other employees. The concept of Communities of Practice

explained by Wenger is one of the techniques that facilitate knowledge

sharing (Wenger et al, 2002). The literature provides various other

techniques for organisations to follow like the yellow pages of experts

contact details that are available on the intranet of Philips, for all employees

to access, so that in case of any assistance an employee can browse

through the yellow pages to contact the relevant expert (Davenport & Volpel,

2001).

Centres of excellence (CoE) in another technique followed by large

organisations. These are particular business units that are recognised for

their capabilities as the experts of an area, and are appointed as a source for

knowledge creation and dissemination for that area. CoEs are generally

established by large multinational companies that have business centres in

different geographical locations and identifying and using the existing

capabilities to the organisations advantage is a challenge. For example

Hewlette Packard has set-up a CoE in Singapore for a particular area of their

manufacturing. Philips has a canter of competence for the area of

communication terminals (Frost et al, 2002).

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Management of intellectual capital Organisations have increasingly felt

the importance of managing their intangible assets to gain advantage in the

market place. Intellectual capital form elements of the intangible assets of an

organisation (Petty & Guthrie, 2000). By managing and increasing the

intellectual capital (IC) within the organisation, knowledge can efficiently be

managed to leverage benefits from the recourses (Marr et al, 2003). Many

management approaches and measurement tools for IC management have

been researched and documented in the literature. The next section deals

with the definitions of IC from the literature, the stance organisations take

with the management of IC and the tools and frameworks that have been

developed to measure IC of the organisation.

3.4 Intellectual Capital Management & Measurement

The importance of management and measurement of intangible assets in an

organisation is well established in the literature. (Kannan & Aulbur, 2004 ;

Petty & Guthrie, 2000 ; Brennan & Connell, 2000; Arenas & Lavenderos,

2008). KM has grown mainly due to organisations realising that intangible

assets like the experience and expertise of the employees need to be

managed efficiently to achieve the organisational goals and have a

competitive advantage in the market place (Desouza, 2004).

Leif Edvinssson, the intellectual Capital director of Skandia, is first known to

use the term intellectual capital in the companys annual report in 1993

instead of intangible assets that was commonly used by the financial

professionals. (Brennan & Connell, 2000) Petty & Guthrie provide a

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distinction between the intellectual capital of an organisation and its

intangible assets. They mention that IC is a part of the intangible assets of

the organisation and knowledge management is the process by which the IC

in the organisation is managed. (Petty & Guthrie, 2000) The author follows

this line of thought for the purpose of this dissertation.

Many researchers have studied IC as a means to manage the intangible

assets of an organisation. Arenos & Lavenderos mention that organisations

and governments have sought to manage their IC as a means of gaining a

sustainable competitive advantage in the market place (Arenos &

Lavenderos, 2008). They also imply that the lack of clarity between the

theoretical perspectives that knowledge is a means of competitive advantage

and the practical application of knowledge management in the organisations

casuses the initiative in this direction to be not as effective as intended.

Empirical studies show that organisations are encouraged to manage and

measure IC because of the support it provides towards the achievement of its

strategic objectives. (Kaufman & Schneider, 2004)

IC can be defined as the economic value of two categories of intangible

assets of a company: Organisational (Structural) capital or Human capital

(Petty & Guthirie, 2000). Examples of the organisational or structural capital

are proprietary software or the various networks of distribution built, culture of

the organisation etc. Examples of human capital are the employees of the

organisation and external resources like the customers.

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Arenos & Lavenderos have identified 45 definitions for IC in the literature.

According to them all these definitions have 3 basic constituents that form the

IC in an organisation (Arenos & Lavendros, 2008)

Employee related Human Capital

Process or organisation related Structural Capital

Customer related Relational Capital

Brennan & Connell explain why the measurement and reporting of IC is

required by organisations. Many times there are huge differences between

the market value of an organisation and the value that can be derived out of

the financial statement of the organisation. This difference is due to the

presence of the IC assets that are not included in the financial balance sheet.

(Brennan & Connell, 2000) This has triggered research into the measurement

of and reporting of IC. The 3 constituents mentioned earlier form a basis for

this measurement.

Accounting standards have tried to deal with this issue by classifying different

elements like the human capital and structural capital so these can be

accounted for to provide a more realistic picture of an organisation than what

the financial statement does. (Brennan & Connell, 2000) Empirical studies

show that many organisations define and track IC parameters and that KM is

an important means of managing the IC assets of the organisation (Bontis,

2001)

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Roos et al explain the two streams of research into the field of IC : Strategic

and Measurement. The strategic stream deals with how knowledge is created

and used within the organisation. The Measurement stream deals with how

the existing knowledge and the elements of IC can be measured by the

organisation. (Roos et al, 1997)

Many researchers have proposed methods for measuring IC. A classified list

of empirical and theoretical research carried out in this field is presented by

Brennan & Connell in their article. (Brennan & Connell, 2000).

Some of the significant measurement models developed is discussed in the

next section. The author uses these to arrive at the measurement parameters

for this study.

3.4.1 Skandia Navigator

The Skandia Navigator developed by Leif Edvinsson is one of the

pioneering works in the measurement of IC. The first large organisation to

publish a statement regarding the IC assets of the organisation was Skandia

in 1994, along with its financial statement. (Mouritsen et al, 2001)

The Skandia navigator model is one of the best models to measure KM as

mentioned by Govender & Pottas. This model tries to provide a picture of the

flows and transformations of IC in the organisation instead of IC at a

particular point in time. (Govender & Pottas, 2007). This model classifies an

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organisations assets as financial and intellectual. The model provides for an

organisations value to be looked at from 5 perspectives financial, human,

process, development and customer.

The Skandia navigator model considers IC as the sum of human capital and

Structural capital (Bontis, 2001). The human capital consists of the skills and

knowledge associated with the employees of the company. This provides the

human perspective of the organisation. The structural capital is all the

resources that the organisations provide, like the technology or supplier

relations, for the employees to work effectively. The structural capital is said

to be all that gets left behind when the employees leave in the evening

(Bontis, 2001). The process, development and customer perspective of the

organisation is provided by the structural capital. The traditional financial

statement published gives the financial perspective of the organisation.

Kaufman & Schneider point out that the Skandia navigator though being very

comprehensive is mostly directed towards audience within the organisation

and not to those external to it. The model is designed on the school of

thought that the management of the organisation has the responsibility to

transform the human capital to structural capital. (Kaufman & Schneider,

2004).

3.4.2 Intangible assets monitor

The Intangible assets monitor developed by Sveiby, is a framework that

helps organisations account for their intangible assets. These assets are

classified into 3 main categories External structure (like customer

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relationship, supplier network, brand image of the organisation), Internal

structure (like the organisations culture, administrative processes,

technology) and employee competence (like the education level, experience)

(Sveiby, 1997).

The framework proposed 3 main indicators for measurements of the

intangible assets. They are growth & development, efficiency and stability.

The management of an organisation decide the indicators that are required to

be monitors for each category of the assets based on the strategy of the

company. The appropriate measurement indicators are arrived at using

questions that are part of the proposed framework. This framework suggests

that the list of measurement indicators should not be more than a page but

can have supporting explanations. (Sveiby, 1997)

The main advantage of this framework is its presentation of intangible assets

in a quantifiable manner that is easy to understand and measure. (Kaufman

& Schneider, 2004).

3.4.3 Intellectual Capital index

The Intellectual Capital index or IC index is described as a second

generation practices that attempts to consolidate all the indicators to a single

index (Bontis, 2001) This model was first used by the company Skandia as a

supplement to their financial statement. (Bontis, 2001) This model attempts

to provide the organisation with an idea of how the intellectual capital of an

organisation can change over time. This model was developed by Roos et al

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and is based on the measurements defined in the Skandia Navigator. (Roos

et al, 1997)

The model divides the total vale of the organisation into financial and

Intellectual capital where the intellectual capital is formed of human &

structural capital. The Human Capital is further split into Competance,

attitude & intellectual property. The structural capital is further split into

Relationships, Organisation and Renewal & Development. (Govender &

Pottas, 2007)

3.4.4. Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard was proposed by Kaplan & Norton in1992 and is

intended to provide the managers with a comprehensive view of their

business. This model integrates the financial measures of the organisation

into the measurables identified by the strategy of the business. The balanced

scorecard is seen as a management system that can able the managers to

get the exact view of the business and hence encourage improvement in the

key areas of the business. (Kaplan & Nortan, 1992)

This model provides for four perspectives of measurements Performance

for customers, Internal processes, innovation and Financial. The organisation

determines the parameters that need to be measured

The main advantage of the model lies in the integration of the financial

aspects of the organisation with its intangible aspects. This model has its

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limitations regarding the dynamic representation of the parameters.

(Govender & Pottas, 2007)

3.4.5 Integrated knowledge benefit value model

The Integrated knowledge benefit value model proposed by Govender &

Pottas, provides for a comprehensive tool to assign a financial value to the

knowledge management initiative of an organisation while measuring the

intangibles of the organisation. This model tries to incorporate the

advantages of the previous models of measurements proposed. There are

three main value elements in the model Human Capital, Relational Capital

and Structural Capital. Detailed metrices are defined for each of the value

elements. Finally a formula is provided to calculate the value of the

knowledge management in the organisation. (Govender & Pottas, 2007)

3.5 Project management stream of Literature

In this section a review of the project management literature from the

knowledge management perspective will be presented. Tools and techniques

relating to project management approach are not dealt with in this report as

this study concerns with the management of knowledge in a project

environment.

3.6 Project Based Organisation

Many organisations across varied industries work by organising into projects,

so they can handle the challenges they face in terms of flexibility, speed of

delivery of a product or service, or availability of experts. Projects are

considered to be the best process for development of new products and for

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innovation. (Bresnen et al, 2003) Organising by Projects gives the firm the

advantages a traditional organisation cannot offer like quick information flow

across departments or hierarchical consideration in taking decisions (Disterer,

2002).

A project can be defined as temporary organisations with specific objectives

detailed tasks and restricted time and budget. (Disterer, 2002). this trend of

project based working is on the increase. Many authors confirm this through

their study (Winter et al, 2006; Cooke-Davis & Arzymanow, 2003; Disterer,

2002)

Members of a project team may be from different organisations like a

consultant or a specialist in a software tool and from different geographical

locations. (Kasvi et al, 2003)

Projects are usually set up in unconventional ways which do not have the

formal structure of traditional organisations. This gives the organisation

certain advantages but also poses certain challenges. (Schindler & Eppler,

2003). The main advantage of organising in projects is the fast delivery of a

product or service that is set as the project goal. This advantage often poses

a problem of autonomy. Frequently projects are seen as small portion of an

organisation that works independently. These projects are seen as not being

influenced by processes or changes that happen in the parent organisation

(Donk & Molloy, 2008).

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Many authors have written about the potential knowledge resident within

projects in a project based organisation. The difficulty that organisations face

to learn from past project experience are also well documented in the

literature. (Prusak, 1997 ; Scarbrough et al, 2004).

3.7 Project Knowledge Management

Project management literature extensively deals with issues of reducing the

risk of project failure, techniques of project management, quality standards

for project management etc. The importance of KM in project based

organisations has been studied by very few researchers. (Liernie & Ribire,

2008) Thought KM has gained importance in academic and organisational

context and many aspects of KM are being researched, KM in project based

organisations has had limited attention from researchers.(Kasvi et al, 2003)

The aspect of tools and techniques that help measure and manage project

knowledge is not comprehensively researched. (Donk & Reizebos, 2004)

Management of knowledge gained in a project poses certain challenges for

the organisation. Project teams often face change in members as old team

members leave the project and new ones join. This makes it difficult to

establish a systematic process to store the knowledge gained within a project.

When project teams consist of experts from different disciplines, finding a

common language to codify the knowledge is difficult. (Bresnen et al, 2003)

Kasvi et al mention the kinds of knowledge that could be gained at the end of

a project like the specific knowledge relating to the technology that was used

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in a project or process knowledge regarding the usage of the end product or

service, knowledge of organisation specific modes of communication etc.

(Kasvi et al, 2003)

Due to its limitation of time and intense form of working all stages of the

project like the start up, development, design etc are learning intensive.

Hence different types of knowledge are gained during the different phases of

a project.

The standard documentation like the requirements document or a user

manual that is prepared by the project to meet certain standards are often not

useful to capture the experiences of employees. Such standard

documentation tries to put in words the standard business practices or

describe the output product or service of the project. Knowledge gained in a

project does not get added to the organisations knowledge. This is termed

as project amnesia by Schindler & Eppler in their article. (Schindler &

Eppler, 2003)

Many organisations follow the process of recording the lessons learnt from

closed or completed projects in a database. The End of Engagement

Summary document prepared at the end of every project at IBM or the

practice of documenting the project experiences at the Swiss Bank UBS are

some examples. (Schindler & Eppler, 2003). Experience of handling a new

tool leading to its critical evaluation or experience of dealing with external

agencies leading to an improvement in the project management are some

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examples of knowledge gained through projects. This kind of knowledge

when available across projects in an organisation increases its performance.

(Jackson & Klobas, 2007).Often these databases or documents are not used

by employees because they mainly contain narration of incidents but not the

learning from them. (Newell et al, 2006). Knowledge attached to particular

individuals for example like the knowledge gained by an employee while

solving a problem during the life cycle of the project are not captured in these

documents or databases. The importance of managing tacit knowledge within

projects is expressed in the study by Owen et al where the social interactions

among employees are important in the process of knowledge management

within project teams. (Owen et al, 2004). Schindler & Eppler stress on the

point that loss of knowledge gained within a project is a big problem for

knowledge intensive industries. Organisations can save money and effort by

not repeating their mistakes if the KM in a project based organisation is well

understood. (Schindler & Eppler, 2003)

Liernie & Ribires study on KM as a means of project management provides

empirical evidence that managing knowledge within a project provides many

advantages for its managers (Liernie & Ribire, 2008). Their study showed

that managing the tacit or explicit knowledge or both in a project, reduces

project costs, increases learning from previous projects, achievement of

functional and technical requirements and reducing risks among others

(Liernie & Ribire, 2008).

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Knowledge sharing among projects and employees within projects is an area

that has been researched by a few researchers in the recent years. (Jackson

& Klobas, 2007). The empirical study by Kang shows that sharing knowledge

within projects is an important contributor to its success. (Kang, 2007). The

study shows how it is important for tacit knowledge to be converted to explicit

knowledge or have avenues to be shared with other employees, to be

leveraged as an asset to the organisation (Kang, 2007).

3.8 KM in the Information Technology (IT) industry

KM has gained a lot of attention in the research & corporate world in the IT

industry. (Dingsoyr et al, 2005). IT projects face increasing pressure to

perform in terms of timelines, cost, quality and customer service. Efficient

management of the project is crucial for achieving its goals. The quality of a

product or service delivered by an organisation in the IT industry depends a

lot on the quality of its employees and the resources available to the

employees. A good calibre of team members produces a good quality

product or service that the project team aims to deliver (Natali & Falbo, 2002).

To achieve its goals accommodating the increasing demands on the service

of IT projects organisations turn to the better management of their most

important resource The organisational software engineering memory

(Natali & Falbo, 2002)

Knowledge gained through a project forms an important input to future

projects. (Disterer, 2002). Boundaries of projects and project organisations

usually become barriers that contain knowledge within the project. Due to

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globalisation and advancements in the communication technology project

teams are becoming more complex. This necessitates the learning for the

organisation from earlier and concurrent projects (Disterer, 2002).

Efficient management of their existing knowledge will give the organisation

the advantage of reduction in cost and increased quality and productivity.

(Liernie & Ribire, 2008)

3.9 Existing knowledge in a project How to identify it

Marr et al in their journal mention that for an organisations knowledge

management initiative to be successful it is important for the people who are

driving the KM initiative to understand who uses, what knowledge for what

benefit to the organisation. (Marr et al, 2003)

This is applicable to projects as they are defined by some as temporary

organisations that come together for a specific purpose (Schindler & Eppler,

2003). Unless managers understand the different types of knowledge that is

available within the project, it will not be possible for them to manage it

effectively. The lack of effective management of knowledge within project

teams leads to loss of project knowledge. This causes the organisation to

reinvent the wheel in many situations and projects as the knowledge gained

in earlier projects had not been disseminated to others or made explicit.

(Scarbrough et al, 2004)

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To manage the existing knowledge within a project it is important for the

managers to understand the types of knowledge that is existent within the

project. The project management or the knowledge management literature

does not deal with this aspect in detail. Leseure & Brooks define 2 major

types of knowledge Kernel and Empirical. Kernel knowledge is knowledge

of core competency of the project on which the goal of the project is

dependent on. The empirical knowledge is the project specific knowledge like

that of certain administrative processes or documentation requirements.

Empirical knowledge may be different for each project within the organisation.

(Leseure & Brookes, 2004). Disterer points to process knowledge as an

important element within projects. (Disterer, 2002) Social practices that

encourage knowledge sharing are given importance in the article by Jackson

& Klobas, so the extent of knowledge sharing among employees of a project

becomes a measurable. (Jackson & Klobas, 2007). Brookes et al give the

different social practices that can be implemented by an organisation for

effective management of tacit knowledge. (Brookes et al, 2006).

Organisational culture is an important factor while considering the existing

knowledge within the project. Many studies have dealt with this subject.

(Adenfelt & Lagerstrom, 2006)

Some methods of making the project knowledge explicit have been

discussed in the project management literature. Process based solutions

focus on the sequence of various tasks that would lead to gathering project

knowledge. Document based methods focus on representing experiences on

a defined format. (Schindler & Eppler 2003)

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The literature does not provide a suitable tool to measure or account for the

existing knowledge in a project. (Donk & Riezebos, 2005).

From the review of the literature so far it is obvious that the type of

knowledge that poses a challenge for organisations to manage is of a tacit

nature. The knowledge that is often lost at the end of a project is also tacit

knowledge. (Rhodes & Garrick, 2003)

To understand the existing knowledge within a project it is important to

identify the knowledge that is useful and required for future projects. The

author could not find any journal articles or books within the project

management literature that could address this issue directly, there were

journal articles that gave a broad overview of the same.

A review of the intellectual capital literature provides an insight into the

management of intangible assets of an organisation. This is in line with the

tacit nature of the project knowledge stated above. In this study the author

tries to fit the measurables drawn from the IC frameworks reviewed earlier in

this chapter (Refer Section 3.4) into a framework that measures the project

knowledge. The next section deals with this aspect.

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3.10 Measurement of Knowledge in Project based

organisations

All the IC models discussed earlier provide methods of measuring the IC of

an organisation. KM is a vehicle to manage and enhance the IC. The author

could not find literature in project management as well as KM that dealt

specifically with the measurement of IC in a project based organisation.

Examples from the literature have been quoted earlier in this section to

establish the fact that KM in a project based organisation and intern the

management of IC poses certain unique challenges that are not common to

traditional organisation.

3. 10.1 Knowledge inventory model

The knowledge inventory model proposed by Donk and Riezebos, is

perhaps one of the very few models that address the specific issue of

measuring knowledge in a project based organisation. (Donk & Riezebos,

2005). The model is used to measure the knowledge inventory of a project

based organisation in the engineering industry. From a review of the

literature they select the types of knowledge that would be existing and

relevant within the project team in the chosen industry and then develop and

define methods for measuring these types of knowledge. This model is

specific to the construction industry.

The author tries to apply this model to the IT industry in the chosen

organisation. The type of knowledge required in each industry can be

different. Project knowledge that is useful and required in the future is usually

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tacit. (Rhodes & Garrick, 2003). IC deals with the intangibles in an

organisation, as discussed earlier in this section. Hence the author attempts

to adapt the knowledge inventory model to the IT industry by drawing from

the IC literature, analysis of the proposed models of IC measuremet and the

project management literature which provide insights into the types of

knowledge that can be measured within a project. The next chapter

discusses the model by Donk & Riezebos in detail and explains the

modifications adopted for applying it in the IT industry.

3.11 Chapter summary

After reviewing the knowledge management stream of literature and the

project management stream of literature the author finds some similarities

and differences in the way both of these streams look at knowledge

management in organisations. Both the streams of literature stress more

upon the importance of explicit knowledge and physical artefacts. While a

large body of research is available in the KM stream regarding the

management and measurement of intangible assets, the author finds many

journal articles reporting the lack of sufficient research in the area of

measurement of project knowledge in the project management stream of

literature.

The lack of research in the management of project knowledge in general and

in particular measurement of existing knowledge in project environments is

noted in this chapter.

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This chapter also brings to the front the disparity between the extent of tools

and approaches developed in the knowledge management for organisations

and those to manage project knowledge in project based organisations.

This case study attempts to string both the streams of literature by measuring

the existing knowledge in a project environment and define the parameters to

be measured using the available research done in the intellectual capital

literature.

The next chapter will describe in detail the framework that will be applied in

this case study along with the modifications the author has made to fit the

context of this study and the data collection instrument that is employed are

described.

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4.0 Chapter 4 Knowledge Inventory framework

This section will describe the Knowledge inventory measurement framework

proposed by Donk & Riezebos (2005) that will be used to answer the

research questions defined and test the hypothesis that is developed in the

initial stage of the study. The modifications that have been adapted to suite

the chosen organisation and instruments used for data collection are also

elaborated in this chapter. For the reader to understand the context of

applying the proposed framework and the modifications adopted for this

research, a description of the organisation in which the study was conducted

is seen essential.

4.1 The Organisation

This research study was conducted at the Sheffield office of a large

multinational IT service provider EDS. EDS was established in 1929 and has

offices in 23 countries. The organisation works as various project teams

typical of the IT industry. There are various types of projects that are

undertaken by EDS. The principle ones and those that this research study is

concerned with, are software development projects.

Knowledge management initiatives have been undertaken for a long time in

the organisation. The organisational intranet, accessible by all employees,

has different sections catering to different kinds of KM initiatives. Some of

them are

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Communities of practice There are 4 areas which have specific

communities of practice, Industry, Technology, Business process and

Service Offering.

Knowledge repositories There are many repositories dealing with

different areas of the business. Like repository for Standards that gives

the various standards that exist in the software industry. Perhaps the

most used repository at the Sheffield office was the Best Practices

repository that provides knowledge and information about the processes

and documentation that are essential for the project.

eRoom Is a virtual space provided for the employees to store their

ideas or files.

Directory of Experts The intranet provides a subject wise directory of

experts along with their contact details. This is accessible to all

employees.

Discussion Boards These are facilities available to all employees to

discuss issues relating to their area of work with other employees across

the globe.

Enterprise Knowledge management transformation programme is the recent

organisation wide initiative that binds all the intranet sites that provide

services to enhance the employees knowledge into one central knowledge

management system. Currently different parts of the intranet are used by

groups of employees to assist them in their work. Due to the large number of

pages in the intranet of the organisation, many parts of it are accessed by the

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employees. To leverage the full potential of the intranet and the KM initiative

of the organisation this programme was launched in 2007.

At the Sheffield office many kinds of projects are undertaken. For the

purpose of this study only the software development projects have been

selected. The Department of Works & Pensions (DWP), a government

organisation is a major customer for EDS. At the Sheffield office software

development projects are undertaken in 7 areas of the DWP. The

development projects undertaken by the organisation are ongoing ones and

have different release versions of the application developed. Developments

relating to the release version of application are handled by separate project

teams.

The organisation chart concerning the scope of this study is given in the

diagram below (Figure 1)

Programme Manager

USER

Project Team LMS 28

Project team LMS 29

Project team XXX

Project Manager

Project Team members Data base administrators

Programmers Testers

Etc

Project Manager

Project Team members Data base administrators

Programmers Testers

Etc

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Figure 1

The software development projects follow a standard project lifecycle

consisting of 4 phases Start up, Execution, Monitoring and Close down.

The author sees it fit to explain in brief each phase of the lifecycle as this

would enable the reader to understand the measurement scales and

validation criteria mentioned later on in this chapter.

The Start up phase involves the planning for the time and resources

required. This phase for the project involves the production of a number of

project documents Project Plan document, Risk assessment document,

Requirement specification document, Quality control documents,

Administrative process document and Resource allocation document.

The project manager for the project is usually appointed during this phase.

The phase also involves various meetings of the project manager with the

team.

The Execution phase involves the design and development of the

application as per the requirements specified in the start up phase. Internal

procedures of quality control and risk assessment and mitigation are involved

in this phase. Documentation for the design, programming, quality control

procedures and risk log are prepared during this phase.

The Monitoring phase involves the testing of the developed application

based on defined criteria that are arrived at after consultation with the end

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users. Activities of this phase are sometimes done parallel to the activities of

the execution phase

The Close down phase involves the delivery of the application to the end

user and closing down the project. This phase involves review meetings to

discuss the project and also documentation that records the project learning.

4.2 The framework

Donk & Riezebos, in their journal article,(Donk & Riezebos, 2005) propose a

framework to make an account of the knowledge inventory of a project in a

project oriented organisation.

According to the framework, the decision makers of the organisation are

assumed to be the users, who measure the knowledge inventory to aid

decision making on resource allocation and training. The employees are

assumed to be the knowledge resources for the purpose of applying this

framework

The type of knowledge to be measured (mentioned as the domain) and areas

where the knowledge has to be measured (mentioned as the range), will be

defined with the help of the users.

There are 3 main stages of the framework.

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1. First defines what to measure. The Domains or types of

knowledge - Entrepreneurial, Technological, Project management,

which are useful in a project based organisation, that is to be

measured and the Range (employees, project phases & markets) of

knowledge to be measured. The range specifies the places where the

availability of the knowledge will be measured.

2. Second measures what is defined Existing knowledge with in

the project, in the domain defined earlier are measured. The

measurement is done using questionnaires and interviews. Variables

are defined and value given to the variable. The scale of measurement

is defined and the validation criteria are specified in the second stage.

These are done in consultation with the defined user in the

organisation. Sample population to whom the questionnaire will be

circulated are also arrived at in consultation with the defined user.

3. Third reports on the measurements depending on the

measurements made in the second stage reports are prepared on the

knowledge inventory of the project. Reports can be prepared for

individual or organisational level. An example of the individual level

provided by Donk & Riezebos (2005) is a report on the knowledge of a

particulate employee. The organisational level or the aggregate level

report was defined as a report of the knowledge inventory of the

different project teams in the organisation

This framework is represented in the diagram below adapted from Donk &

Riezebos, (2005). (Figure 2)

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Figure 2

Two stages of data collection were specified by the framework. One stage of

data collection is done by interviewing the user of the knowledge inventory to

specify the intended use of the knowledge inventory and what requires to be

measured. The other stage employs surveying method to measure the

knowledge inventory according to the definitions in stage one.

This framework for measuring knowledge inventory was developed and

applied to a Dutch engineering company. Some modifications to the

framework are required for the purpose of this study, to adopt it to the

development project in IT service industry that is considered in this case.

4.3 Modifications to the framework

The main changes to the framework are in the first stage where the types of

knowledge and its range, that is to be measured is defined. Donk & Riezebos

propose three domains of knowledge that would be useful to measure in an

Report

Employees

Markets Project Phases

Entrepreneurial

Technical Management

Identity

Measure

D o

m a

i n

R a

n g

e

Scales

Validation

Item Level

Aggregate Level

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engineering firm Entrepreneurial, Technical and Project Management. In

the case study they described, Entrepreneurial knowledge dealt with the

acquisition of new markets, Technical knowledge dealt with compiling

documents required and Project management knowledge dealt with the how-

to knowledge at the different phases of the project work. (Donk & Riezebos,

2005). In the context of this case study the author did not see these three

domains appropriate. The project team works with a fixed market (described

earlier in this section). The project management knowledge required was

concerned with the different areas of the project which the author noted

through browsing the organisations intranet.

The author made a list of the types of knowledge that would be useful in a

project environment within the IT industry from the review of the intellectual

capital literature and project management literature. The various

measurement criteria of the Skandia navigator (Mouritsen et al, 2001), the

intangible assets monitor framework by Sveiby (Sveiby, 1997) and the

balanced scorecard developed by Kaplan & Norton (Kaplan & Norton, 1992)

were taken as major sources by the author to arrive at the list. The different

issues in the management of project knowledge researched by authors

available from journals like the work by Leseure & Brooks mention about the

Emperical & Kernal knowledge in a project environment (Leseure & Brooks,

2004) or the importance of knowledge sharing (Jackson & Klobas, 2007)

provide the author with an insight to the types of knowledge that may be

useful in a project environment.

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After discussions with the defined user, the programme manager at EDS, of

the knowledge inventory, the 3 domains of knowledge that is essential for the

project teams success at the organisation were defined as the Process

Knowledge, Business Knowledge and Technical Knowledge.

The process knowledge provides the employees with the know-how of

documents to be prepared, understand the sequence of tasks in the project

and provide the list of expected deliverables.

The business knowledge aids the employee to better understand the context

of the product that is being developed by the project. This knowledge

enhances the employees understanding of the whys of the different tasks

carried out during the project.

Technical knowledge is the skill that is gained from structured education and

work experience that enables the employee to complete the task that is

expected within the project team.

These 3 types or domains of knowledge was measured for all the employees

of the project team and across the project phases Start up, Execution,

Monitoring & Close down (elaborated earlier).

The other main modification is at the third stage. This stage of the framework

is reporting the findings regarding the knowledge inventory. For the

Knowledge inventory to have a realistic picture of the existing knowledge in

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the project, some parameters outside the defined domains are included in

data collection.

The rational of including these parameters while reporting lies in the literature

about measurement of intellectual capital. The chapter 2 of this manual gives

a detailed account of the definition of intellectual capital, its importance and

how it is measured in organisations. Parameters relating to employee

competence, organisational culture and organisational resources used by the

project team are included in the report.

In this research study an account of the level of process knowledge, business

knowledge and technical knowledge existing within the project will be made

and the knowledge inventory report will include the findings about the 3

domains of knowledge and other parameters.

The modified framework is shown in the diagram below. (Figure 3)

Figure 3

Stage 3 : Report

Employees

Project Phases

Process Knowledge

Business Knowledge

Technical Knowledge Stage 1 : Identity

Stage 2 : Measure

D o

m a

i n

R a

n g

e

Scales

Validation

Report on

Defined Domains

Report with

IC parameters

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4.4 Data Collection Instrument for defined domains

The second phase involves the measurement of knowledge through the

design and circulation of the questionnaire. The scales and validation criteria

for the knowledge that is to be measured are defined. For this the parameters

that would be monitored and measured required to be identified. These were

identified from the review of the literature as mentioned above. A

questionnaire was developed to measure the knowledge inventory within the

project. The questionnaire was designed to take an account of the existing

level of knowledge within the team across the project phases and in the

different areas of application. The parameters along with the corresponding

question number is given in the table below

Parameters that are measured through the Questionnaire

Parameter

Question that indicates this

parameter

Process Knowledge 1,8

Business Knowledge 2,8

Technical Knowledge 3,4

Growth of organisational knowledge 5

Knowledge reuse 6

Knowledge sharing 7

Table 4.1

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The parameters process knowledge, technical knowledge and

business knowledge are explained earlier in this section. The significance

of the parameter growth of organisation knowledge lies in it providing an

insight on the extent to which the organisational resources, like the intranet,

are being used. Knowledge reuse parameter measures the extent to which

the knowledge gained through previous projects are used to execute tasks in

the current project. This parameter also provides the extent of knowledge

sharing in the organisation, which forms the next parameter. Knowledge

sharing parameter provides the insight into the social interaction among

project team members and among team members of other projects.

These parameters are measured in each phase of the project and in the 6

areas in the project lifecycle where the knowledge can be applied. The 6

areas of application are Project scheduling, Risk assessment,

Requirements specification, Quality assurance, Process improvements and

Resource allocation. The author arrived at these areas of application from the

information systems development lifecycle (SDLC) (Avison & Fitzgerald,

2001) and from the interview wi

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