Implementation Planning for the Introduction of Knowledge Management in an Aerospace Engineering Organization

Abstract

The availability of information within an aerospace organization is required for engineers to perform activities. As information is considered, it’s the experience of the engineer that allows information to become knowledge for use. Knowledge sharing is critical within aerospace organizations to continually meet goals. Knowledge for personal use can maintain the organizational knowledge levels until people begin to retire, but the organization can’t maximize the use of its knowledge without sharing. The idea of Knowledge Management, or KM, was created to promote the sharing of knowledge by using IT enabled tools. KM allows for organizations to make the most of the information stored in databases: as well as knowledge stored within the minds of associates. KM takes many forms across different organizations. When KM provides the most benefit is when the organization allows the intended end users to be a part of the development process. Ideally, the result is an easy to use tool, or group of tools, that assists users in the storage and retrieval of pooled information to build personal knowledge. Such an initiative must be comprehensively planned to limit the affect of road blocks that accompany the start of any such project. Getting the buy-in of stakeholders up front, as a part of the planning process, is paramount to the success of KM. Based on the compilation of feedback from engineers at the aerospace company, as well as research in the field of study, this project aims to develop an implementation plan for KM at the company.