Learning for the next project : bearers and barriers in knowledge transfer within an organisation

• This study concerns knowledge transfer within an organisation. More specifically this encompasses knowledge transfer between projects and the organisation in which the projects are performed. The study has been conducted at STORA Corporation, a large Swedish industrial organisation within the pulp and paper industry, where two major investment projects at two different mills, divisions, and countries have been carried out. Through visits to the mills and by conducting interviews with participants from the projects a thematically structured story illuminating events related to knowledge transfer has emerged.The thesis concludes that different types of knowledge are developed within a project: process- and product-related knowledge, project-organising knowledge and technical knowledge, meaning that even though the end product differs between two following projects, experiences and knowledge from previous projects can be utilised in projects with similar procedures. Since there is no natural transfer mechanism between projects, because of their temporary nature, knowledge transfer becomes problematic. Through the concepts of knowledge bearers and knowledge barriers, this problem is addressed.The study actualises the importance of having a dual approach to project management, i.e. to not only focus on the traditional dimensions of time, cost and quality, but also take into consideration what the experience gained in one project can mean for the efficiency of the next project. From the view of the company as a whole, therefore, the metaphor of projects as learning experiments is introduced emphasising the explorative character of projects, i.e. gaining knowledge that can be exploited in the next.

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