Knowledge management practices and usage of knowledge databases in norwegian organizations

This paper presents a study focusing on a newly established public organization – resulting from merging previous autonomous divisions into a unified entity. As new, the organization has been exploring and finding out ways to develop and structure its knowledge management initiatives and practices. In this regard, the organization primarily has started looking at knowledge databases. The organization has an idea for its knowledge systems and practices. In addition to reflect on its own practice, the organization wants to conduct a study on three other comparable organizations. The purpose is to gather these organizations' experiences and recommendations on knowledge management practices; specifically on knowledge databases. This study aims to provide guidance for the newly established organization to develop, use, maintain, and improve its own knowledge management efforts and solutions in the future. Thus, creation of an applicable and suitable database lay the foundation for evaluation and improvement. The organizations that this paper considers belong to the building construction and energy sectors. By adopting a model described by Duffield & Whitty (2015), the knowledge sharing and management practices in the four organizations are structured in two major categories: systems (structure) and people (culture). According to this study, organizational culture and integration of systems play an important role in promoting knowledge management and competence development. More specifically, this study suggests that an effective implementation and use of knowledge databases can be established by focusing on both (1) the structural aspects of knowledge management, such as evaluation meetings at the end of each phase of the project, and (2) the cultural aspects, such as Communities of Practice (CoP). Cultural mechanisms play a significant role in keeping the initiatives (for instance, knowledge database) "alive" for a long run, harvesting the intended benefits, and creating a positive learning culture. This paper is based on a qualitative study. Interviews were conducted, relevant documents from the organizations were looked at, and observation of one of the four organizations was carried out. The interviews are of semi-structured nature.