The Impact of Project Management Methodologies on Project Success

This study assessed the impact of project management methodologies (PMMs) on project success in the oil and gas industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It also explored the different project methodologies used along with their strengths and weaknesses. Quantitative approach with the support of qualitative interviews was used to achieve the objectives of this research. A total of 95 survey responses were received and 17 interviews were conducted. Projects in the oil and gas industry are more about safety than speed, and hence, the use of comprehensive methodologies and applying the relevant methodology elements are important for oil and gas projects. Furthermore, the companies in the oil and gas industry in Bahrain have to pay more attention to their project management methodologies and get it evolved and improved over time to achieve higher project success rates.

Cross-Functional Teams in Support of Building Knowledge Capacity in Public Sector

Dynamic environmental changes nowadays have led organizations to look for many ways to respond to those changes. With increasing competition in markets, management approaches have emerged that helped organizations survive. This chapter presents the concept of cross-functional teams which develops a knowledge-sharing network that transforms organizations from traditional hierarchy base to informational base, and how it supports building knowledge capacity inside public sector organizations. Members of cross –functional teams belong to different branches of knowledge, and therefore have different backgrounds. They cooperate until the required task is completed successfully. This chapter concluded that cross- functional teams support building knowledge capacities in organizations. Recommendations were suggested based on the findings.

Knowledge Management Dynamics and Public Sector Organization Development

In general, organizations should identify the skills, expertise, creativity, and motivation of the people if they have to become more competitive and enhance their performance. This is all the more crucial for public sector organizations. Knowledge therein plays a critical and integral role in being productive and innovative. But, unfortunately, public sector organizations don't recognize and take advantage of the dynamics of knowledge management for developing. Implying expertise and skills of the people in the form of knowledge which they possess is ignored or at best used sporadically. Adopting a grounded theory approach and in-depth literature review, the aim of this chapter is to critically appraise public sector organization development through knowledge management dynamics. The focus is on this neglected area because in this competitive era, public sector organizations' success depends not only on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness but also on how they identify, gather, manage, integrate, share and disseminate relevant knowledge to their human capital to bring innovation.

Knowledge Management in the Public Sector

Although knowledge is recognized as a very important element of any business, the public sector does not fully explore the depth of the knowledge management (KM) as compared to private sector business. As days are passing by, public sector business has also started to realize the importance of KM. The public sector is a business that is run by the government. This sector includes organizations like government cooperation, enterprises, militaries, education, health, and related departments public services. In the public sector, the managers have started to adopt and develop practices of KM. Government organizations are facing many challenges to adapt and engage themselves in an electronic work environment. Over the years KM has grown and has been in continuous change in the public sector and has become essential to any organization in the world. Managers have been looking for a more futuristic approach for the past years. The purpose of this chapter examines the ongoing change in KM in the public sector and tackles the gap in the literature.

Communities of Practice for Promoting Organizational and Informal Learning in Public Administration

Professional development of the members of any organization is a key and essential factor to promote innovation and, ultimately, the improvement of public organizations. Communities of practice is one of the leading strategies used to promote knowledge management processes aimed at generating organizational and individual and informal learning. This chapter presents some of the results and proposals from an extensive study developed in two phases which focus on some key factors for promoting innovation in public administration. The first phase tries to identify some of the mechanisms that facilitate or hinder learning, organizational and informal, in public organizations. The second phase is focused on analysis of knowledge management practices through communities of practice in public administration. The results enable us to suggest some proposals and future research lines aimed at improving both organizational and informal learning, along with innovations that contribute to improving the public administration.

Organizational Learning Through Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities Thru Learner Readiness and Their Social Capital

Past scholars propose knowledge management (KM) frameworks, but few bare deployable KM strategies, particularly for the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) public sector. The GCC invests heavily in the KM infrastructure for its healthcare, banking, education, and now in the Ministry of Interior (MoI). A literature review revealed the need to cognize the effect of employees learning readiness (LR) and social capital (SC) on knowledge sharing (KS) in virtual communities. This study assesses these three constructs in a proposed model and tests the model using an online survey distributed to 400 Kingdom of Bahrain's (KoB)'s MoI employees. Multiple regression analysis revealed a fit proposed model of this study which articulates that organizational learning is possible thru VC KS when facilitated by LR and SC: equipping organizations to bank its social capital of employee resources in knowledge bases for future knowledge acquisition, and re-use. Theoretical and practical implications are also part of this chapter.

Sharing Knowledge With the Government

This chapter assesses the reliability and predictability of government departments as partners of private knowledge management systems. The specific topic is knowledge availability under the US Freedom of Information Act, but the general implications apply to governments at all levels around the world that hold business data, information, or knowledge assets. By comparing processes related to US freedom of information requests across departments and across time, separated by two dramatic changes in presidential administrations and attitudes toward governmental openness, this study examines the relative reliability of agency processes. In particular, reports on the handling of confidential business information provide us with specific insights on this topic as do reports on releases of records with personal privacy concerns. In the end, there appears to be little predictability in the process, even with clear instruction from the highest levels.

Knowledge Management Technologies, Applications, and Implementation in the Public Sector

The purpose of this chapter is to emphasize the various but major aspects essential to advance knowledge management (KM) as nations progress and deal with the technological explosion that began during the early 1990s and upsurged dramatically ever since. The focus in this chapter, however, is the several ways in which technology was introduced, resisted, and finally accepted and adapted to, as well as the different ways it has and can still affect the industry in private and public sectors, negatively and positively. Through this literature review, different perceptions, opinions, solutions and suggestions are introduced to regulate the simultaneous coexistence of technology and people in the field of knowledge management development using articles from 1990s to 2018. A discussion is also introduced with supporting and opposing arguments in regard to the different perceptions the authors have proposed.

Knowledge Management as Driving Force to Organizational Learning and Innovation

The genuine and actual conditions of operation of public institutions in Romania should determine the creation of behaviors oriented on development of organizational learning culture. The objectives of the chapter are focused on identifying the use of knowledge management concept in local public institutions in Romania, as well as its importance and impact in transforming them into innovative learning organizations. The theoretical part of the chapter comprises the analysis of the field literature, presentation of the definitions and characteristics of the notions of knowledge management, learning organization, the concept of innovation, presentation of the importance of developing interrelations triggering efficient and effective organizations. Concerning the case study, the chapter aims to identify the extent to which the knowledge management concept exists in three local public institutions in Romania, how knowledge is managed, if there is organizational learning, if they are learning and innovative organizations, as well as the interdependencies.

A Framework for Improving Knowledge Management Using Cloud-Based Business Intelligence

Business environment is becoming more complex which creates a big pressure on organizations to increase the performance and decrease the budget and time. Typical management information system failed to reach decision makers' expectations. In order to adapt to the global changes and support decision makers, organizations may implement different solutions and strategies. One of the solutions is to implement business intelligence (BI) in large organizations. The aim of this chapter is to assess the effectiveness of BI solutions and propose a solution for improving knowledge management using BI and cloud computing. A quantitative research method is used which includes survey and interviews. The results will be analyzed to evaluate the current BI solutions in order to identify the problems of knowledge management and decision-making process. Accordingly, a solution will be proposed to overcome the identified problem using cloud BI.