The importance of process knowledge for cross project learning: evidence from a UK hospital

A core prescription from the knowledge management movement is that the successful management of organizational knowledge will prevent firms from “reinventing the wheel.” Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are seen as a key enabler of this process. Our findings challenge this logic. They suggest instead that knowledge is embedded within organizational processes and it is through the continual enactment of these processes that knowledge is created, renewed and transferred. Evidence from a cataract project underway at a Midlands Hospital substantiates our findings. We suggest therefore that attention should be directed at the development and use of ICTs to support the relational aspects of project working and the production of process knowledge facilitating processes of knowledge exploration.