Document Type

Dissertation

Rights

This item is available under a Creative Commons License for non-commercial use only

Disciplines

Computer Sciences

Publication Details

Sucessfully submitted for the award of M.SC in Computing (Knowledge Management) to the Technological University Dublin, July 2009.

Abstract

Knowledge in a software company is the blood of the company, not surviving without

the valuable knowledge running through its veins. Knowledge is no longer seen as an

object of competitive advantage but is the core of how an organisation operates.

The transfer of tacit knowledge into a format that is usable and can be transmitted to

other individuals is a challenge in any organisation due to the nature of this

knowledge. Tacit knowledge is a challenge to convert into an explicit form as it is hard

to contextualise this knowledge in order for it to be reusable for others. Investigation is

carried out into whether explicit and tacit knowledge that has been documented

throughout a software project can be recorded and easily transferred to someone

outside of the original project team.

The research demonstrated how a Wiki, if used in the correct way, is a sufficient and

effective tool for managing important tacit and explicit knowledge within a software

team. 1 Knowledge exists in a spiral and grows and matures as it moves though this

circle of communication. The people and the technology using it need to be able to

deal with its ever-changing nature. The first issue highlighted as the main barrier to

knowledge transfer was ensuring that knowledge is in a context that is going to be

understood by users who had no previous experience with it. The second issue is

regarding the addressing of factors that might result in the contributor of tacit

knowledge not participating in the knowledge transfer process.

The transfer of project knowledge is possible to users outside of a project team, but

only if the issue of user contribution and the contextual knowledge issue are addressed.

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