A systematic approach to design a knowledge transfer framework for process improvement projects

A key factor for a successful organization is the ability to transfer effectively knowledge for one part of the organization to other parts. In this way institutional memory is preserved in an environment of increased employee turnover and created knowledge can be used across the organization. Although diverse studies on the importance of knowledge transfer for a competitive organization and on key factors for a successful knowledge transfer can be found in the literature, there is a lack of a pragmatic stepwise approach to design a knowledge transfer system in an organization. This paper introduces a systematic approach to design and set up a knowledge transfer framework for multiple project environments. Thereby both the transfer and preservation of explicit and tacit knowledge is being discussed. Furthermore, in order to elaborate the steps of the approach process improvement projects are used as a case study and a knowledge transfer and preservation framework is presented which was set up for the Institute of Product Development.