The Influence of Agile Project Management on Knowledge Sharing in a Team : A Study Conducted at an Engineering Consultancy Firm

Abstract: Several studies have been conducted regarding the importance of knowledge managementwithin an organization. Furthermore, due to the successful outcome of the implementation ofagile project management approaches within the IT-sector, they have been implemented inother sectors as well. The purpose of this master thesis is to examine how agile projectmanagement influences knowledge sharing within a project team in an engineeringconsultancy firm.The study was conducted through a qualitative approach at a Swedish engineeringconsultancy firm. Data was gathered from observations of project meetings and interviewswith consultants involved in projects that have implemented agile methods. Moreover,interviews were conducted with external experts with expertise in agile project managementin order to obtain additional perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted withmodified questions for consultants and agile experts. Thereafter, the empirical findings wereinterpreted by the theoretical concepts in order to sum up the report with conclusions.Firstly, the study confirmed that the implemented agile methods influence explicit knowledgesharing whereas the tacit knowledge sharing is not enabled sufficiently within a project team.Secondly, it could be concluded that the implemented agile methods influence projecttransparency, team-collaboration and communication. This positive influence enablesknowledge sharing within a project team. Lastly, the conducted research concluded that agilemethods influence consultants to share knowledge due to the nature of required inputs inthese methods. Since tacit and explicit knowledge sharing and its documentation is equallyimportant for the success of a project and the consultancy company subsequently, thisresearch has concluded that a hybrid of traditional management approaches and agile methodsis essential to share and document both types of knowledge for alike consultancy firms.Consequently, the research findings resulted in recommendations which aim to improve theprocess of creating and implementing a hybrid of management approaches.