Knowledge management in project management offices: diagnosis and definition of strategies for a private research institute

Effective Knowledge Management (KM) practices have provided improvements in project performance. Literature indicates that Project Management Office (PMO) has an important role to play in reducing the barriers that hamper the transfer of knowledge among projects. However, there are still few studies that relate KM practices in project offices. As an attempt to fulfil this research gap, the present paper aims to analyze knowledge management practices applied by a PMO belonging to a private institution of science, technology and innovation. Through a case study, a questionnaire based on the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) KM model was applied with project managers to diagnose the current stage of maturity in KM, in addition to semi-structured interviews with a view to identifying current initiatives and opportunities for improvement in the KM strategy of that institution. The main results indicate that the organization is in an initial stage of maturity in KM and it is concluded that in order to reach higher levels of maturity and to act more assertively in supporting the projects, the PMO needs to act more effectively in the knowledge transfer among projects. The study indicates a set of KM practices that can be applied in different project offices.