Projekt i tid och rum : Kunskapsintegrering mellan projektet och dess historiska och organisatoriska kontext

Sammanfattning: The use of multi-project organizations has become increasingly common, which in turn, from a knowledge perspective, has enhanced the need for understanding how knowledge is managed within such a context. There is particularly a need for research on how knowledge is integrated between the project and its historical and organizational context. The notion is that you need to take into account both the intra- and interorganizational perspective, i.e. both the internal and the external context, in order to understand how knowledge is integrated.The empirical part is comprised of two longitudinal qualitative case studies conducted between 2002 and 2005, covering two subsequently executed projects carried out in a multinational company. The projects chosen were one national and one international project. The data consist of responses from semi-structured interviews and observations that were complemented with diary notes and studies of documentation and used IT tools.The results indicate that the process of integrating knowledge consists of multiple mediators, where it is necessary to consider all mediators to further enhance our understanding of how knowledge is integrated. The historical context influenced the knowledge integration, both in a positive and in a negative sense. The integration of knowledge from the sales phase was shown to be particularly problematic. Results further show obstacles as well as possibilities when integrating knowledge between the project and its organizational context. The multi-project environment was primarily a source for integrating already existing knowledge, whereas the external context was mainly used when creating new knowledge. Evidence further suggests that consultants are part of both the intra- and interorganizational context. To understand the knowledge integration it is therefore important to consider both contexts. Finally, a comparison between the two cases indicates that the international project used IT in order to overcome differences in language, and distance in time and space.