Organizational knowledge documentation in project-based institutes. A case study at the satellite research institute
| Pages | 994-1012 |
| Published date | 02 October 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-10-2015-0196 |
| Date | 02 October 2017 |
| Author | Fatemeh Navidi,Mohammad Hassanzadeh,Ali Zolghadr Shojai |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Organizational knowledge
documentation in project-based
institutes
A case study at the satellite research institute
Fatemeh Navidi
Department of Knowledge and Information Science,
Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Hassanzadeh
Department of Knowledge and Information Science,
Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran, and
Ali Zolghadr Shojai
Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Department,
Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Purpose –Employees, as the most important assets of an organization, acquire a great deal of
experience, skills and knowledge throughout the time period they work for the organization. If
their skills and technical knowledge are not documented properly, these will be lost once the
employees leave the organization. Therefore, documentation is necessary for preserving this
invaluable knowledge, avoiding duplication and preventing repeated mistakes that occurred in the
past and, providing the junior staff with experiences gained by their predecessors. Thus, this
research aims to elaborate on the role of organizational knowledge management (KM) as an essential
tool for turning tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and sharing the gained experiences with
others.
Design/methodology/approach –This research is developmental applied research with qualitative
approach and it was conducted using thematic analysis method. This method includes a semi-structured
interview with 18 researchers conducting research projects at the Satellite Research Institute under the
supervisionof the Iran Space Agency.
Findings –The projects contain knowledge that is a combination of “know why”,“know what”,“know
who”and “know how”. A large amount of thisknowledge is, indeed, the tacit knowledge. Most of this tacit
knowledge is not reflected in the project documents.Generally, the documents contain results only and they
do not include experience, technical details, methodology, analysis and mistakes that were made during
research activities. Documentation challenges fall into three major types: technical, human resources and
administrative.
Originality value –Considering the necessity of documentation within the knowledge transfer
process and its important role in KM; and, with respect to the lack of technical knowledge and
experience transfer observed in the documents of Satellite Research Institute, this research
proposes some steps that need to be taken to turn the knowledge sharing into an organizational
culture.
Keywords Explicit knowledge, Tacit knowledge, Knowledge management, Knowledge sharing,
Documentation, Document management, Knowledge taxonomy
Paper type Case study
EL
35,5
994
Received10 October 2015
Revised18 October 2016
Accepted9 December 2016
TheElectronic Library
Vol.35 No. 5, 2017
pp. 994-1012
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-10-2015-0196
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
Introduction
Organizational knowledge is one of the most important and invaluable resources associated with
organizations. It includes intangible assets, procedures and creative processes. Knowledge is
considered to be one of the key resources for establishing and maintaining sustainable
competitive advantage in a post-industrial economy. Moreover, a large portion of knowledge and
organizational experience belongs to organization members rather than the organization itself.
Numerous research efforts have explored the importance of knowledge management (KM) as a
prerequisite for the development of new technologies, products and services. In today’sworld,
knowledge is viewed as a privilege that enables organizations to benefitfromcontinuous
competitive advantage and innovation. Thus, KM plays a vital role in organizations.
Considering real-world complex circumstances, organizations should be fully aware of
previous experience and make the most of KM to survive and demonstrate successful
performance. Furthermore, repetition of mistakes must be avoided and secrets to successful
historical performance need to be identified. Lack of knowledge sharing and reuse leads to
capital waste and can be deemed to be a symptom of poor productivity. Considering the nature
of knowledge and intellectual capital that reside in organization members, it is highly likely
that their tacit knowledge may be lost as they leave the organization owing to various reasons,
such as retirement, transfer to other branches of the organization and organizational structural
modifications. Documentation and the transfer of experience are essential to organizational
learning. Consequently, it is necessary to make use of organization members’experience and
their explicit and tacit knowledge in an appropriate way (Tavalaei, 2008).
Literature review
As a basic principle, human resourcesshould be considered as the most important capital in
organizations. Stewart and Brown (2011) believed that human resources are the most
significant organizational asset nowadays and pointed out that large companies should
implement various methods to keep their best employees satisfied. Nevertheless, human
resources cannot be the sourceof advantage alone and structural capital is requiredfor KM.
Structural capital and intellectual capital are interdependent and encompass a perpetual
cycle of creation and use of shared knowledge and experience. The main goal is to codify
and store knowledge that can be transferred via documentation and databases. This
approach facilitates access to data sources, specialists and subject-matter experts whenever
needed (Al-Hawamdeh,2002).
The process of KM includes knowledge discovery and creation, knowledge documentation
and storage, knowledge distribution, knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing and knowledge
use. Discovered knowledge must be stored and codified first. Then, it is distributed among
others to establish a knowledge synergy. It is incorporated into ongoing operations and
decision-making processes of the organization which leads to the improvement in and
excellence of organizational performance. KM can be seen as a facilitator to identify, capture,
organize and disseminate organizational knowledge to implement current plans and long-term
strategies. Dalkir (2013) believed that KM can lead to the full utilization of existing potentials
and it can create a more efficient and effective organization.
According to Enting et al. (1999), knowledge acquisition, as one of the crucial initiatives
in developing a knowledge-based system, included knowledge elicitation from different
sources, such as domain experts,books, maps and real-world observations. Moreover, it is a
process of analysing, structuring and recording knowledge that can be defined
as knowledge documentation. A three-phase methodology (CommonKADS) was developed,
as follows: documenting conceptsand facts in hierarchies, documenting separate inferences
Knowledge
documentation
995
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