Knowledge management in projects: a study of small consulting firms

Abstract: Background: Knowledge management and how organizations capture the
experiences gained in projects is a critical topic for many companies of
today in order to gain competitive advantage. Especially consulting firms
that are project-based companies has much to gain by considering knowledge
management strategies in their organization. Much of the literature has its
focus on how companies hiring consultants should do in order to ensure that
the knowledge stays in the organization. Little attention has been given to
how consulting firms work with knowledge management activities and their
acquired knowledge from projects. Knowledge management is an interesting
concept since there are no “best-solution” to follow for the companies that
want to consider it. Every company exists in its own special context, its
own set of employees and clients and hence the definition of knowledge
management is different for every company. Small consulting firms make it
even more special since the lack of resources they have and the dynamic and
flexible nature of small businesses.
Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and explain how the
knowledge management related processes looks like within micro and small
consulting-firms.
Methodology: The study can be described as deductive, since the study of
this thesis is based existing theories on the subject as well as a problem
observed in reality. The thesis can furthermore be described as a
qualitative study. The empirical information was gathered by performing
semi-structured interviews at three small consulting firms. At each of the
firms’ interviews were made with someone from the management (CEO/Head of
the office) as well as one or two persons working as consultants.
Results: The study is considered to show that there is a lack of fixed
routines for capturing: spreading and reusing internally acquired knowledge
from projects within the studied small consulting firm. The firms are not
considered to have an explicit knowledge management procedure and a mapped
knowledge management process. But, the firms studied have different ways of
capturing (storing) acquired knowledge, such as archives, and spreading the
knowledge, such as mentorship. The reuse of old knowledge from previous
outcomes or know-how is done in a limited amount.