Carrying the flame: facilitation of knowledge continuity during transition from project to services phase
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Author
Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
mib
Language
en
Pages
106
Series
Abstract
Project-based firms (PBFs) organize their businesses to provide long-term solutions to their customers' problems by dividing the delivery process into phases and assigning specific units to manage each phase. During the project phase, solutions are integrated into the customer's operations, accumulating valuable knowledge about the customer, their business, and the solution itself. This knowledge is crucial for the services phase, where ongoing maintenance, service delivery, and consultation reinforce customer relationships. Knowledge Management (KM) presents an organizational challenge, as knowledge can take different forms and be lost during operations. Moreover, KM involves processes of knowledge creation, storage, distribution, and application, each requiring managerial effort to ensure knowledge circulation. While previous studies have focused on inter-phase collaboration, limited research has explored what PBFs need to consider and manage to ensure knowledge continuity during the transition from the project to the services phase. The research objective is to identify the organizational factors, i.e., the firm's contextual elements, and managerial practices, i.e., specific actions of managers, that facilitate knowledge continuity during this transition in PBFs. To gain an indepth understanding of the topic, the research is conducted within the case company, RELEX Solutions, which provides supply chain software solutions. Data is collected via interviews with 9 experts representing the project or services unit and is analysed using thematic content analysis, where codes form themes grouped into organizational factors and managerial practices. The results indicate that friendly and adaptive culture, supportive leadership, shared ownership, and a dedicated role of project manager are crucial factors. Additionally, the level of corporate development can increase the KM quality. Well-defined meetings encourage progress and augment documentation. While a set of processes and rules need to be standardised, they should still facilitate adaptability during transition, and require careful resource allocation by managers. Timely and continuous involvement of the services experts is notable and differs for administrative and technical experts, while project specialists may still need to be involved after handover. Finally, systematic feedback allows managers to refine existing practices. Practically, some suggestions are provided for RELEX’s consideration to facilitate knowledge continuity during the transition.Description
Thesis advisor
Vuorensola, LauriKeywords
project-based firms, knowledge management, solution business, solution delivery, project, services
