Managing Organisational Knowledge: A Case Study of a Global Energy Consulting Group

This paper describes a two-year project to improve the management of organisational knowledge within a global energy consulting group by reviewing current practice and implementing new working practices, processes and systems. The case study approach adopted is divided into three parts and includes the following: the review of the initial situation, the desired future aims (covering core processes of generation, storage, distribution and application of knowledge) and a comprehensive implementation strategy. The paper outlines the corresponding management of change initiative to promote a new Knowledge Management (KM) programme throughout the organisation and the introduction of new processes, staff responsibilities and roles, knowledge dissemination and sharing, intranet design using SharePoint 2010 and an engagement plan for stakeholder involvement. The findings first confirm the classic success factors for KM projects, such as management buy-in, stakeholder participation, comprehensive training and need for super users. Second, they highlight the problems associated with standardising business processes across disparate locations where the staff have local customs and knowledge. Finally, the case demonstrates the importance of initially considering information rather than KM issues and explicitly showing potential benefits to individuals. In this way, careful consideration of business, people and technology factors can produce gains at an individual level that can then lead to long term organisational benefits, such as faster and comprehensive proposal preparation, improved client satisfaction and more effective knowledge sharing. The results will be of practical use to organisations undertaking similar global KM initiatives. (C) 2013 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.