Pekka Pihlanto

Tacit knowledge acquisition and sharing in a project work context

Abstract In this article we address the question of what kind of social engagements provide the proper project work context for tacit knowledge acquisition and sharing to take place. In pursuit of this objective two epistemological assumptions are presented, and the analytical tool for understanding the behaviour of project team members, the Holistic Concept of Man, is illustrated and discussed. Project as a context of tacit knowledge utilisation is discussed, and different factors and situations that affect acquisition and sharing of tacit knowledge in project work, are analysed. The results of the study suggest that the situations, where the members of a project team can interact face-to-face with each other, reinforces tacit knowledge sharing. Also used language, mutual trust and proximity are factors which affect the grade of tacit knowledge utilisation in project work.

The action-oriented approach and case study method in management studies

Although the case study method has become increasingly popular in management studies, it does not always seem to be properly understood: researchers have not fully clarified for themselves the scientific approach they are using, although it greatly controls the realization of a study. This article focuses on action-oriented or hermeneutic case studies. The subjectivist nature of this approach and its effect on the conduct of a case study are stressed, in order to distinguish it from its methodological antithesis, the nomothetical case study. Certain hierarchical relations between the relevant subjectivist social science assumptions are suggested as a further way of helping researchers to internalize the essentially actorcentric nature of action-oriented (hermeneutic) case studies.

Trust in a knowledge related project work environment

This conceptual paper highlights the role of trust in a project work context. First, the paper describes the concepts of trust and knowledge. Then the discussion goes on to deal with four different knowledge related project work environments and the role of trust in the connection of them. It is concluded that it is very important that knowledge related project work environments are neither over-challenged nor under-challenged in relation to trusting relationships. Furthermore, it is also concluded that there is not always time in a project work context to develop thick forms of trust, and therefore the project teams have to accept thin forms of trust as a reality with which they must manage.

Why Knowledge Management in Project-Based Companies?

It was the 1980s when knowledge was supplanting physical assets as the dominant basis of capital value and when the current interest in knowledge and possibility of creating more and using it better began. Knowledge management emerged as a new branch of management theory, starting with the evidently knowledgeled industries, and progressive companies were quick to take up the idea. Their experience fed back into research, and understanding of the processes by which knowledge is acquired, shared and used, and how they can be improved, grew rapidly.

Decision support for strategic management in a hyperknowledge environment and the holistic concept of man

In the design, development and use of computer-based decision support systems, the ultimate challenge is how to arrange successful interaction between the computer and the active human being. This paper therefore examines the extent to which, by applying the hyperknowledge framework and the holistic concept of man to decision support systems, these systems can be made to emulate human cognitive processes. The approach is a new one, and represents an emerging paradigm for achieving holistic mapping and synergy between human decision making processes and computer configurations. The approach also takes account of the relations and interrelationships involved in both the situationality and the corporeality of the human actor.

The Project Manager in the Theatre of Consciousness: A New Approach to Knowledge Creation and Communication

This paper focuses on knowledge management stressing an individual project manager’s point of view. First, the authors outline two knowledge management strategies as well as the notion of project manager. The authors concentrate on the project manager’s knowledge creation and communication using the so-called theatre metaphor for conscious experience. According to this metaphor, the human brain and consciousness work together like a theatre. With the help of the metaphor, the authors describe and attempt to understand important aspects of the project manager’s mental action in the above tasks.

Knowledge Sharing and Methods of Knowledge Sharing

Many projects are often dependent on knowledge that is not in their possession (cf. Jones and Smith, 1997). Studies on project management have also demonstrated a lack of learning in projects (Ekstedt et al., 1999) that can be connected to decoupling and separation. The ambition to decouple one project from others can contribute to the difficulty of sharing knowledge and competencies developed elsewhere (Bengtsson and Eriksson, 2002). In any case, knowing what others know is a necessary component for co-ordinated action to take place (e.g. Clark, 1985; Krauss and Fussell, 1991). Individuals working for a project communicate with each other by a number of different means — such as face-to-face conversation, telephone, electronic mail, snail mail, etc. (e.g. Koskinen, 2003; Koskinen et al., 2003; Koskinen, 2004). The effects on problem solving, decision making and better understanding of technical issues are perceived as the most valuable effects of knowledge sharing.

A theatre metaphor for conscious experience as an approach to an individual's knowledge creation and communication

Knowledge creation and communication processes of individuals in organisations are not understood very well yet. This conceptual paper tries to shed new light on these problem areas with the help of the theatre metaphor for conscious experience. First, in order to get a better understanding of the human being as a whole the notion of holistic concept of man is described. After that the discussion deals with the concepts of knowledge creation and communication. Next the notion of working with metaphors is illustrated. Then follows a description of our analysis tool: the theatre metaphor for conscious experience. And finally an individuals knowledge creation and communication is described with the help of the theatre metaphor.

The Project Manager as Knowledge Creator and Communicator Analyzed with the Help of the Theatre Metaphor for Conscious Experience

This conceptual paper describes a project manager’s knowledge creation and communication with the help of the theatre metaphor for conscious experience. At the beginning of the paper the concept of project manager is described. Then the notions of knowledge creation and communication are highlighted, followed by a detailed depiction of the theatre metaphor. And finally a project manager’s knowledge creation and communication is described with the help of the theatre metaphor.

The Basic Framework

The literature of organizational knowledge reveals that companies — including project-based companies — can be regarded as knowledge-intensive systems of knowing (e.g. Newell et al., 2002; Love et al., 2005a). However, in this literature the epistemological assumptions have not been well clarified. The attempts to improve a knowledge-based theory of a company are thus also relevant here because it is assumed that knowledge has an important role to play in project-based companies’ and projects’ knowledge management (Spender, 1996).