Identification and Classification of R&D Managers' Tacit Knowledge: Case Study of an R&D Institute, Active in the oil, gas and Petrochemical Industry

One of the main problems in research-based institutes nowadays is that the managers' individual knowledge is not being acquired and shared. This is found to be even more important in these kinds of organizations because their activities are mostly based on research programs, and one of the most crucial keys to success in these types of projects is the way they are managed, and how the problems are faced during the project. R&D management knowledge transfer is effective for improving the success probability of R&D programs because success or failure of these programs largely depends on quality of management rather than quality of technology. Therefore, program managers should learn best practices from previous programs. Hence the acquisition of the managers' knowledge and sharing it is of special importance. In this paper, we intend to introduce a model for capturing the R&D program managers' tacit knowledge and classifying their fields of knowledge. Knowledge transfer and application are main objectives of knowledge management. Therefore, using knowledge effectively requires fields of R&D program managers' tacit knowledge to be identified and classified. Life cycle of R&D projects and "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMBOK Guide) are used to develop this model. The "Theme Analysis method", is used to develop this model and in order to do so, we have based our study on a qualitative, cross case method and face to face interviews and questionnaire are used as the tool for data gathering. Also, to validate the collected data, we applied a questionnaire based on 5-point scale. In addition, this model is implemented. As a result of the implementation of this model in an R&D institute, active in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry, 15 fields of knowledge in three classes (program selection, program execution, and program implementation including three, ten, and two subclasses) were identified. These fields are complementary of the PMBOK Guide's modules.