Knowledge management processes in south australian infrastructure projects: aligning key stakeholders expectations and practices

Abstract

Despite its scale and complexity, infrastructure projects have constantly challenged public sectors, and the manifestation of project success lies in one of the most critical facets in modern project management practice, i.e. knowledge-centred culture. How effectively an organisation or team manages its knowledge and experience impacts how successful the projects are. There has been a significant amount of research into knowledge management theory and strategies however, little has been given to the understanding of core practical characteristics, processes and practices by multiple key actors or stakeholder organisations with vested roles and interests. Many studies have focused on an organisation or from one discipline point of view, not in project environments. The principal objective of this paper is to highlight findings of small-scale exploratory research conducted to identify the extent of implementation and effectiveness of knowledge management process, transfer, practice and its culture in three different key stakeholders organisation involved in the delivery of infrastructure projects in South Australia. A concise review of the literature and semi-structured interviews served as the basis for analysis and identification of what knowledge management processes are used, how effective they are, what factors affected the process selected, and their effectiveness. The findings show that organisations involved in projects recognised the importance of knowledge management but were not as effective at implementing it, and the processes varied across the large organisations. The organisation’s core business area or discipline is the primary factor impacting the knowledge management process, thus setting the “culture” of its implementation.