Mian M. Ajmal

Knowledge Transfer in Project-Based Organizations: An Organizational Culture Perspective

This conceptual paper investigates the process of knowledge transfer in project-based organizations from the perspective of organizational culture. The paper identifies obstacles to knowledge transfer in project-based organizations and emphasizes the importance of organizational and project cultures in this process. The study provides some suggestions for improving knowledge transfer in project-based organizations and notes the implications of the paper for project management.

Critical Factors for Knowledge Management in Project Business

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify and examine various factors that influence the success or failure of knowledge management (KM) initiatives in project‐based companies.Design/methodology/approach – Following a literature review, the study proposes a conceptual model of six factors of potential importance to the success of KM initiatives. The model is then examined through an online survey of project managers and assistant managers from project‐based businesses in Finland.Findings – The study finds that a lack of incentives and the absence of an appropriate information system are the most significant barriers to successful KM initiatives in projects.Research limitations/implications – The findings of the study may be restricted in terms of generalisability because of the limited empirical study.Practical implications – Project managers should formulate an attractive incentive package to encourage project members to participate in KM initiatives and to suggest ideas for new KM opportunities...

Adopting TQM approach to achieve customer satisfaction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a survey of customer satisfaction with regard to the strategy of total quality management (TQM) adopted in a wheat flour milling company.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted to learn more about customer expectations and satisfaction. The respondents were all customers of a flour‐based food processor. Quality function deployment (QFD) was applied to improve customer service performance by focusing on customer satisfaction, value and retention.Findings – The results show that customer satisfaction has increased steadily over a period of three years. The QFD approach helped to design a competitive product by aligning the company resources to customers’ needs.Research limitations/implications – The findings are limited to a specific food manufacturing company and for this reason they cannot be generalized to the whole in service sector. Further research is needed for other service companies.Practical implications – The findings m...

Cultural Impacts on Knowledge Management and Learning in Project-Based Firms

Purpose – Projects almost invariably involve a variety of diversely skilled people from different national, organisational, and professional cultural backgrounds. These people come together for a specific period of time to accomplish certain unique, unpredictable, and complex objectives. These distinctive characteristics mean that project-based firms require a particular approach to knowledge management (KM) and learning activities that differs significantly from prevailing strategies. This paper aims to explore the way in which these distinctive cultural issues (national, organisational, and professional) influence KM in project-based firms. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first looks at the general issues of KM and the “learning organisation”. Second, the study discusses the more specific issue of KM in project-based firms. Third, the paper explores national, organisational, and professional cultures in the context of project-based business. Finally, the paper draws the three preceding sections together to discuss the managerial implications of dealing with cultural issues in fostering KM in project-based firms. Findings – It is apparent that culture has a most significant influence on the KM capability of an organisation. The moral and budgetary support of senior management is essential for the success of any KM plan in project-based business. Research limitations/implications – This paper puts forward a conceptually grounded argument by stressing on cultural complexities to KM and learning in project environments. The key cultural issues highlighted here need to be empirically tested in future studies. Practical implications – At the organisational level, people and processes must be the first priority for project managers who wish to nurture a “KM culture” in project-based business. At the team level, the project manager can help to create a team culture conducive to KM by transmitting appropriate values and beliefs to the team members. Originality/value – The paper helps practitioners and academics to understand the complexities of cultural issues during KM initiatives in the context of improving project performance.

Competitive priorities and knowledge management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify attributes of knowledge management (KM) for large and small manufacturing companies in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to propose a process to evaluate the competitive priorities of these companies. Design/methodology/approach – This research is designed by composing multi criteria decision making of KM attributes in order to identify competitive priorities of large and small manufacturing companies to achieve better customer focus. To deal with this complexity of multi criteria decision-making process, Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) method has been used in this research. Findings – Results show that large manufacturing companies are putting more emphasis on “Know-Why” knowledge attribute in all four competitive priorities for achieving customer focus. While, small size manufacturing companies put higher weight on “Know-What” knowledge attribute by focussing on two competitive priorities (flexibility and quality). Research limitations/implications –...

Knowledge sharing in supply chain

This chapter introduces the thermodynamics analogy as a means of studying knowledge sharing in supply chain. The study finds that distance and the knowledge capacity of the supplier are important to reduce knowledge sharing uncertainty. Furthermore, higher contact frequency between the supplier and the buyer without considering supplier capacity is proven to be insignificant to reduce knowledge sharing uncertainty. For intellectuals, the mechanism provides a new approach to explicate knowledge sharing in supply networks. Besides, it provides deep-rooted opening point for supplementary empirical assessment. The mechanism facilitates managers to expand their understanding of composite circumstances embedded into global supply networks to share their knowledge. With that enhanced understanding, the managers can spotlight their actions, which help further to perk up their firms’ competitiveness provoked by the knowledge sharing activities.

Organisational Culture and Knowledge Management: An Empirical Study in Finnish Project-Based Companies

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical source for understanding how the cultural artefacts in project-based organisations affect Knowledge Management (KM) activities. The paper primarily provides a theoretical investigation identifying the key concepts within the literature. Then, it follows an empirical analysis based on a questionnaire. Findings are obtained from the data analysis by applying statistical methods. It appears from the findings that organisational culture artefacts have significant effects on KM in project-based organisations. The study findings are restricted to Finnish project-based companies. Therefore, findings can be further tested within other group of companies situated outside Finland. Project managers should fully concentrate on organisational culture artefacts in order to press forward KM practices in their projects. This article offers various findings showing how organisational culture links with KM activities particularly in project-based environments.

A study of technology adoption in manufacturing firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of technology adoption on operational competitiveness by taking an example from international manufacturing companies.Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops a conceptual model to generate strategic flexibility and benefit for a manufacturing firm by managing manufacturing strategy and technology adoption with different leadership roles.Findings – The results show that the leadership role is a significant factor to motivate strategic flexibility and generate higher benefit. For intellectuals, the mechanism provides a new approach to explicate technology adoption in a manufacturing company. Besides, it provides a deep‐rooted preliminary point for supplementary empirical assessment. The mechanism facilitates managers to expand their understanding of the leadership role for trust building and knowledge sharing in manufacturing firms.Practical implications – With that enhanced understanding, the managers can spotlight their actions, which he...

Role of Organisational Culture for Knowledge Sharing in Project Environments

This article aims to look at the relationship between organisational culture and knowledge-sharing practices in a project work context. The key objectives for this exploration is to consider the significance of organisational culture within project-based companies and to determine how organisational culture can assure that effective knowledge-sharing activities would be a permanent phenomenon in projects. An online survey was conducted to collect the data from project and assistant managers. The study attempts to find out the impact of organisational culture on knowledge-sharing activities, i.e., it aids the practitioners in responding to unusual impediments related to knowledge-sharing practices in the quest for sustainable competitive advantage. The results show that organisational culture significantly (positively) correlates with the knowledge sharing in project-based companies. It is advocated that project managers should harmonise knowledge-sharing practices with organisational cultures in order for the practices to be supported and protected.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Business Consulting in Operations Development Projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the question of the effectiveness of business consultants in operations development projects. It does this by analysing the results of collaboration between a multinational firm and business consultants who applied the theory of constraints to a series of development projects.Design/methodology/approach – Following the presentation of an overview of business consultants and the need to measure the effectiveness of business consulting practices, the paper presents empirical data on the return on investment achieved from 20 development projects in the multinational company under study.Findings – The findings indicate that the involvement of business consultants in development projects has a positive impact on outcomes and can be justified in financial terms.Research limitations/implications – The generalise ability of the results in service sector companies remains to be tested. The data is limited to a set of internal operations development consulting projects within one multinational company. Management consultants and managers will benefit from the results of study.Originality/value – The study provides important insights into the assessment of the effectiveness of business consultants in operations development.