SUCCESSFUL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROJECTS

In a study of thirty-one knowledge management projects in twenty-four companies, the authors examine the differences and similarities of the projects, from which they develop a typology. All the projects had so meone responsible for the initiative, a commitment of human and capita l resources, and four similar kinds of objectives: (1) they created re positories by storing knowledge and making it easily available to user s; (2) they provided access to knowledge and facilitated its transfer, (3) they established an environment that encourages the creation, tra nsfer and use of knowledge, and (4) they managed knowledge as an asset on the balance sheet. The authors identify eight factors that seem to characterize a successful project: 1. The project involves money save d or earned, such as the Dow Chemical project that better managed comp any patents. 2. The project uses a broad infrastructure of both techno logy and organization. A technology infrastructure includes common tec hnologies for desktop computing and communications. an organizational infrastructure establishes roles for people and groups to serve as res ources for particular projects. 3. The project has a balanced structur e that, while flexible and evolutionary, still makes knowledge easy to access. 4. Within the organization, people are positive about creatin g, using, and sharing knowledge. 5. The purpose of the project is clea r, and the language that knowledge managers use in describing it is fr amed in terms common to the company's culture. 6. The project motivate s people to create, share, and use knowledge (for example, giving awar ds to the top ''knowledge sharers''). 7. There are many ways to transf er knowledge, such as the Internet, lotus Notes, and global communicat ions systems, but also including face-to-face communication. 8. The pr oject has senior managers' support and commitment. An organization's k nowledge-oriented culture, senior managers committed to the ''knowledg e business,'' a sense of how the customer will use the knowledge, and the human factors involved in creating knowledge are most important to effective knowledge management.