Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Knowledge Transfer

Most if not all of the books, articles, blog posts and papers I read about knowledge management are talking about relatively simple and traditional organizational environments.  Silos, if they exist, are silos within a single organization.  I am looking for resources that address more complex environments.  How do you efficiently manage knowledge transfer in an environment where the matrixed organization is superimposed on layers of contractors.  On specific projects, everyone on the "team" (contractor or not)  may recognize the need to collaborate around the goals of the team/project, but when it comes to supporting the longer-term goals of the organization, isn't each individual expected to run back to his/her respective home base.  If you are a contractor, how much of your personal knowledge are you comfortable transferring to someone working on another contract?