VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit

Introduction

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) was founded in 1906 as the

Department of Highways to engineer and construct Virginia’s primary roads, transforming mud
routes into a modern roadway network. In the 1950’s, this mission was expanded to successfully
participate in the construction of the interstate highway system. Today, however, transportation
needs can no longer be met by simply building more roads, and yet there is an ever increasing
demand for transportation capacity and efficiency. VDOT must shift its mission from roadway
construction to maintenance and system operations, which requires tremendous collaboration
between previously distinct internal agency functions, with exterior state agencies, and with
private industry partners. Finally, VDOT’s population is aging; the hierarchical organization
which served so well the demands of the first century must change in order to meet the needs of
the new, but the transition depends on successfully integrating new strategies with experienced
practices. Simply put, massive organizational change must be managed in a way to meet new
demands and increase efficiency.
VDOT currently has about 7,500 employees, of whom approximately 30% are eligible
for retirement within the next five years. The agency experienced a loss of knowledge in the
mid-90’s during two statewide workforce reductions, cutting 20% of total staff in less than 5
years, impacting productivity and effectiveness. To prevent a recurrence of knowledge loss, the
agency created a Knowledge Management Division in late 2003 to address critical knowledge
identification, collection, organization and dissemination.
Preparing for the future loss of staff starts with the premise that we need to re-think and
encourage knowledge transfer in the agency. VDOT’s program focuses on the transfer of tacit
knowledge: identifying knowledge held by individuals or groups, and sharing that knowledge
with other individuals or groups, in order to improve how business processes are approached,
considered, or handled. The transfer of knowledge is evidenced when a change in performance of
the organization results. In order to enhance the agency’s access to the expertise and knowledge
of its staff, its organizational memory, we have fostered organizational change by encouraging
knowledge sharing by staff. People who are used to accessing and sharing information are better
prepared to deal with change.
The program has been a demonstrated success and was recognized by the Harvard
Innovations in Government Program in 2008 which funded this toolkit for the purpose of
disseminating best practices.

What is KM?

Knowledge management emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a response to the
realization that valuable organizational knowledge, the collective knowledge that makes a
company unique, was at risk and that the loss could compromise a company’s ability to compete
or operate in an increasingly complex environment. The original focus was on the private sector
and the non-tangible assets of a company. In 1991, Skandia created a position of Director of

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Intellectual Capital and during the 1990s articles and books on corporate knowledge
management began to appear (Wiig, 1997). The federal government and public organizations
such as the military branches began to pursue knowledge management a few years later. In 1999,
the federal government appointed its first chief knowledge officer for the General Services
Administration (Federal CIO Council; Rubenstein-Montano, 2001).
Rubenstien-Montano, Buchwalter and Liebowitz (2001), provide “eight key indicators
that a knowledge management initiative is needed: 1) the average age of employees is senior; 2)
lack of a mentoring program between experts and novices; 3) little funding for development and
training; 4) lack of time for informal knowledge sharing; 5) loss of knowledgeable employees; 6)
lack of capture and documentation of knowledge; 7) lack of knowledge about what other
departments do; and 8) large amounts of time spent looking for information” (3.1 Overview
section, ¶ 2).

Definition

Knowledge management is the identification, collection, organization and dissemination

of critical knowledge within an organization. It is an attempt to identify what knowledge an
organization holds, who has need of it and ensuring that it is provided at the right time (Ives,
1998). It supports innovation, through the creation of new knowledge, which provides the
organization with financial benefits and returns. “Innovation, or new ways of doing things, is
required both from a financial perspective, but also (and particularly in the public sector) from a
modernization and democratic renewal perspective” (Bartlett, 2003, p. 351).
Knowledge Management also provides the means to transfer knowledge between
individuals and groups. Knowledge transfer refers to identifying knowledge held by an
individual or group and sharing that knowledge with another individual or group, resulting in a
change of how the business process is approached, considered or handled. The transfer of
knowledge is evidenced when a change in performance of the organization results (Argote and
Ingram, 2000). Walsh and Ungson (1991) describe five repositories for knowledge in
organizations: individuals, roles and organizational structures, standard operating procedures and
practices, culture, and the physical structure of the workplace.
The working definition of knowledge management at VDOT is: “Implementing ways to
better utilize the expertise that we have—people and information—to improve ongoing
processes and procedures and to retain critical knowledge”. This includes the following
approaches:

• Getting the right knowledge to the right people at the right time
• Identifying, capturing, organizing and disseminating critical institutional knowledge
• Establishing networks between people to share knowledge
• Sharing lessons learned and best practices to avoid reinventing the wheel
• Knowing the why behind decisions and actions
• Knowing what we know
• Supporting change management
• Identifying the intangible assets of the organization

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Tacit Knowledge

Knowledge held by the individual is a reflection of expertise and experience, influences

the attitudes of individuals and is a knowing that informs the individual how to best accomplish a
task (Constant, Kiesler & Sproull, 1994; Davenport, De Long & Beers, 1998). Tacit knowledge
is based on experience and is affected by context. Individuals may be unable to express the
knowledge held that assists in making decisions or performing tasks, the know-how (Koskinen,
2003). It is difficult to transfer because it is not easily written or expressed. Tacit knowledge can
be shared through apprenticeships and opportunities for employees to work together and share
common experiences to in turn, share that experience with others in the organization. While it
might not be possible to write the knowledge down, it may be possible to demonstrate it. Polanyi
(1966) defines tacit knowledge as knowing more than we can express or put into words, that we
are aware or understand but would find it difficult to explain to others how or why. Therefore,
tacit knowledge is more easily expressed using metaphors or through demonstration. It is tacit
knowledge that is most valuable to an individual or organization because it is unique and scarce.

Tacit knowledge originates with the individual and it is necessary for that knowledge to
transfer from person to person to be useful to the organization. One way of transferring is
described by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) as socialization, the sharing of experience to create
shared mental models as through apprenticeships. However, tacit knowledge must be applied
carefully. According to Bontis (1999), much of the literature fails to acknowledge that while tacit
knowledge can contribute to the competitiveness of an organization it can also limit its
competitiveness if that knowledge does not fit the context of the desired industry.

Explicit Knowledge

Explicit knowledge can be codified and often takes the form of procedures, policies,
memos, databases, and research reports. This type of knowledge is found in libraries, on websites
and intranets and in file cabinets and desk drawers. Making knowledge explicit supports
ownership of that knowledge by the organization. Once the knowledge is codified and made
explicit it no longer belongs solely to the individual but rather the organization owns it and can
make it available to all employees to benefit the organization through increased efficiency and
effectiveness. “The knowledge management literature’s focus on intellectual capital and
knowledge assets signal intention to claim ownership, and the strategy for transforming
knowledge into capital and assets is to make it explicit” (Kreiner, 2002, p 112).

Role of Culture

Holsapple and Joshi (2002) state that “an organization’s values, principles, norms, and
unwritten rules and procedures comprise its cultural knowledge resource …[which] influences
each participant’s use of knowledge as well as the interactions among participants’ knowledge”
(p. 53). Culture affects knowledge by determining how it is used and shared within the
organization. “An organizational culture that enforces a policy of command and control to create

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an order seldom provides opportunities to create knowledge” (Bhatt, 2000, Managing knowledge
section, ¶1). This command and control may inhibit the informal exchange of knowledge. Sveiby
and Simons (2002) found that “a culture of trust and collaboration improves knowledge sharing
and organizational effectiveness in general is argued by several authors, who also link trust,
collaboration and knowledge sharing” (p. 421). Participants of a senior knowledge managers'
focus group “described a knowledge-sharing culture as one where people share openly, there is a
willingness to teach and mentor others, where ideas can be freely challenged and where
knowledge gained from other sources is used” (Smith & McKeen, 2003, Section 2, ¶ 2).

General challenges in implementing knowledge management include such things as a

lack of understanding what knowledge management is and how knowledge can be managed; the
reluctance of people to share what they know as they fear the loss of power; a willingness of
people to share what they know but they don’t have time; a willingness to share what they know
but they don’t know how or don’t view their knowledge as critical; and a lack of processes or
tools that allow knowledge to be easily shared.

One of the KM Division’s critical goals then, was to foster both high sociability and
solidarity. High sociability facilitates employees’ willingness to seek knowledge from peers and
to be a source to others. High solidarity ensures that employees share and support common goals
that benefit the organization as a whole. Employees must perceive organizational leadership to
be supportive of and recognize employees who share and that there is no favoritism. At VDOT
all of these have been publicly embraced and communicated to employees allowing success in
the program.

Who Owns the Knowledge?

There is a debate about who owns the knowledge, the individual or the organization.
Knowledge held by the organization is reflected in operating procedures and systems, it is how
the organization performs its work (Bryant, 2003). Knowledge held by the individual is a
reflection of expertise, a knowing that informs the individual how to best accomplish a task
(Constant, Kiesler & Sproull, 1994). Drucker (2001) says that the knowledge worker owns the
knowledge. Ultimately, determining ownership of knowledge involves values, beliefs and
behavior.

Knowledge transfer benefits the receiver and the organization, but the source of the knowledge
may perceive it as costly as knowledge may be seen as a source of power or insurance that the
organization will not be able to replace them thereby securing longevity in the workplace
(Davenport, Eccles and Prusak, 1992; Jarvenpaa and Staples, 2001; Reagans & McEvily, 2993;
Szulanski, 1996) and therefore be unwilling to share it with the organization. The individual
controls what knowledge is shared, not the organization (Bhatt, 2002). The willingness to share
knowledge with the organization is a reflection of trust in the organization (Brown and
Woodland, 1999).

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 However, there is a perceived difference between sharing knowledge about the work and
sharing expertise. “Sharing tangible information work may depend on prosocial attitudes and
norms of organizational ownership; sharing expertise may depend on people’s own self-
expressive needs” (Constant, Kiesler and Sproull, 1994, p. 400). While the individual may be an
important source of knowledge for the organization, it may be difficult to persuade employees to
share that knowledge…“organizations must consider their employees as an important source for
organizational knowledge but must recognize the potential difficulties of trying to capture
knowledge that is not only tacit but also, from the employees’ perspective, proprietary” (Staples,
Greenaway and McKeen, 2001, p. 9). Age, education and the role of the individual within the
organization also affect perspectives of ownership. “The higher the education level, status, age,
and tenure of a person, the more likely he might value social reciprocity and hence have beliefs
of organizational ownership of information and knowledge” (Jarvenpaa and Staples, 2001, p.
158). Davern (1997) discusses social networks and network capital, “the amount of favors and
individual can call in at any given time. People build up these favors through their structural
position within some type of social organization” (Davern, 1997, p. 293).

Need

Frappaolo and Wilson Todd (2000) referenced a 1999 survey by Delphi Group that asked
companies about their primary knowledge repositories and responses indicated that on average,
42 per cent of the corporate knowledge was within the minds of employees. This percentage
indicates the need for a major focus of a knowledge management program to be on identifying
and facilitating the transfer of tacit knowledge. Risk of tacit knowledge loss can occur both when
a large percentage of employees are eligible for retirement and when a functional area is staffed
by a limited number of employees (McBriar, et. al., 2003). If undocumented, knowledge is not
easily shared within the organization and instead may only be available within small groups of
employees. The value of tacit knowledge to the organization can only be realized if it identified
and appropriately shared.

Demographics

According to the Knowledge Management Working Group of the Federal Chief

Information Officers Council (2001), “approximately 71% of federal senior executives will be
eligible to retire by 2005. And unless the knowledge of those leaving is retained, service to
citizens will likely suffer” (Executive Summary section, ¶ 11). State government mirrors the
demographics of the federal government leading to the possibility of large amounts of critical
knowledge walking out the door unless steps are taken to preserve it within the organization.
One step is to encourage the exchange of knowledge to share what is known and to facilitate the
creation of new knowledge.

Changing Workforce

Turnover of employees will occur in all organizations due to retirements, new

opportunities for the employee and unforeseen circumstances. To prevent the loss of knowledge,
organizational support of employee networks to transfer critical knowledge and information is

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needed. “Managers must accept the inevitability of employee turnover, and through an
understanding of social networks, make structural changes to their organization which promotes
the diffusion of knowledge before crucial information is lost” (Droege & Hoobler, 2003, p. 59).
Such trends as rightsizing and reorganizations destroyed or compromised tacit knowledge
networks along with the pending retirements of long-term employees and the mobility of the new
workforce, where the informal contract between the company and an employee moved from
employment for life to employment for as long as there is mutual benefit (Smith, 2001).

Competitiveness

Knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge, provides organizations with unique assets

contributing to competitiveness and affecting financial returns. The involuntary loss of
organizational knowledge is costing companies millions of dollars every year. When a company
finds itself in the situation of having to reinvent or buy knowledge it once had, resources are
wasted. In that situation, not only is the time and money spent developing those skills lost, but
there is also an opportunity cost (de Holan, Phillips and Lawrence, 2004, p. 45). If codification
of the knowledge speeds the transfer between employees and making it available in that format
does not threaten the competitiveness of the organization, efforts will be made to transfer tacit
knowledge to explicit.

Public Organizations

Public entities in particular need to focus on capturing this tacit knowledge held by
employees as evidenced by the rising human capital crisis resulting from the eligibility of over
half the U.S. government employees (Liebowitz, 2003). These statistics are echoed in the
employee demographics of state and local governments as well.

According to Chiem (2001), presenting knowledge sharing as a way to make jobs easier
can assist is making the practices appealing to government employees. McAdam and Reid (2000)
found that the public sector organizations viewed the major benefits of knowledge management
to be improved efficiency and quality and public employees received intrinsic benefits related to
job enrichment from participation. “The non-information sharing culture of many government
agencies is perhaps one of the greatest barriers that many agency directors will face” (Auditore,
2003, p. S4).

In a study, Chiem (2001) found that government employees may perceive knowledge
sharing as just more work and may resist the building of a knowledge sharing culture. Employees
may be intimidated about sharing by the presence of superiors. “Employees will not share
knowledge among all group members if the groups are constrained by hierarchies or perceived
power imbalances—people are inhibited by their superiors” (Connelly & Kelloway, 2003, p.
295). According to Chatzkel (2002), knowledge sharing in government organizations must
contend with the ‘not invented here’ syndrome and the ‘knowledge is personal power’ issues.
For others, sharing knowledge seems like a lot of work for little return. “Knowledge sharing
provides intangible and uncertain rewards, is not always noticed by influential others, and may
involve more significant effort or sacrifice” (Connelly & Kelloway, 2003, p. 294).

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Tools and Techniques

There are many tools and techniques available to promote knowledge capture, sharing and
organization. Below are some that have been used successfully by the Virginia Department of
Transportation.

Communities of Practice

Definition

A community of practice is a group of people “who share a concern, set of problems, or a

passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting
on an ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermott and Snyder, 2002, p. 4). Organizations support the
transfer of tacit knowledge from one employee to another through project teams and
communities of practice to create redundancy and embed the knowledge within procedures and
routines. VDOT defines communities of practice as a critical tool to create networks and share
knowledge that have resulted in new tools and changes in processes.

Many organizations support the sharing of knowledge through the use of communities of
people interested in the same knowledge area or practice. These communities gather to share
explicit and tacit knowledge within an organization or profession. “At work, communities of
practice can exist solely within an organizational unit; they can cross divisional and geographical
boundaries; and they can even span several different companies or organizations” (Burk, 2000, p.
18). According to Brown and Duguid (2001), communities of practice are “privileged sites for a
tight, effective loop of insight, problem identification, learning and knowledge production” (p.
202). The communities support individuals in learning about the work and private interests and
skills of others resulting in the construction of social and advice networks. According to Brown
and Duguid (2001), “these groups of interdependent participants provide the work context within
which members construct both shared identities and the social context that helps those identities
to be shared’ (p. 202).

Supporting the creation of communities of practice, a type of network, aids in the transfer
of knowledge and new technology (defined as a work practice as well as a product). According
to Allen (as cited in Hoegl, Parboteeah & Munson, 2003), “researchers have found that
technology transfer primarily occurs via informal communication channels as opposed to formal
documentation” (pp. 745-746). According to Burk (2000), communities of practice can
“potentially speed the application of new products and procedures and provide a feedback loop”
(p. 18). In addition to speeding knowledge transfer, the communities or network assist the
organization in rapidly responding or adapting to changes in the environment. According to Stark
(as cited in Brown and Duguid, 2001), “the ability to adapt continuously and respond proactively
to environmental change—is to a significant degree determined by communities of practice” (p.

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203). Brown and Duguid (2001), state that communities of practice are “privileged sites for a
tight, effective loop of insight, problem identification, learning, and knowledge production” (p.
202). “With these communities of practice in place, this network emerges as the chartered source
to build and deliver knowledge” (Burk, 2000, p. 18). . In a study on communities of practice,
Lesser and Storck (2001) found that supporting communities assists employees in building
connections and trust resulting in a positive impact on business performance. These communities
assisted employees in identifying subject matter experts. When documents produced by the
community were placed in the knowledge repositories and listed the experts name as an author or
reviewer, the documents were seen as more valuable and trustworthy.

A Community of Interest is a group of diverse stakeholders that share a common interest and
collaborate for mutual benefit. What is the Difference between a Community of Interest and a
Community of Practice? A Community of Practice seeks to improve a particular business
process or function. In contrast, a Community of Interest seeks to improve a particular input to
multiple business processes.

How to Form a Community of Practice

Maintain a clear focus on business objectives and on the role of the CoP. For example, if
this is not a group that decides on policy, be clear that you will not be developing policy. You
may offer ideas or suggestions to policy groups, you may be asked for feedback or suggestions
about policy, but the group needs to stay focused on the areas in which it can have an impact. A
little venting can be useful, but you don’t want to spend much time complaining about areas that
you can’t control or impact directly. Focus on what you can do that will support the business
goals of the organization.

Development of the focus of a CoP may involve pre-meeting research, for us this usually
means one-on-one meetings with stakeholders, both CoP members and their “customers”, those
that are impacted by the work of the CoP, to get a broad sense of framework.

Have the right stakeholders involved. Everyone involved in a meeting should have a clear role
in that meeting. Reduce or cut out the presence of people who are there to “watch” and see what
the group is doing as this severely impacts frank discussion.

Use an iterative process to gain trust and bring in new stakeholders at the right time. This
is a means of evolving and ongoing improvement in the group’s work. Use this iterative process
to think about who needs to know what and when in order to have appropriate agency buy in to
the group’s work.

Think about management support of the effort, what is appropriate? We work with
managers from the start, and keep them involved and informed. We make it clear that we are
focusing on business objectives and that we will keep the right people informed so that no one
gets concerned about their prerogatives being abused, or surprised about what is happening.

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Keep the group small (few CoP are more than 15 people) to enable frank discussion.
Keeping the meetings small makes it imperative that the right people are kept informed about
what is happening. In most cases, it is not a good idea to surprise managers with what “their”
people have been doing. In the beginning this is particularly important, as the group matures and
managers see that they are kept in the loop and that they benefit from the group’s activity there is
more trust about the process.

Keep the process simple and informal and utilize existing groups and processes as much as
possible to keep the burden low

Have in-person meetings as much as feasible. Our groups meet about quarterly in person. We
utilize videoconference capabilities in between for information transfer, but real dialogue and
breaking down problems and developing solutions comes most effectively at in person meetings.

KM facilitates. KM plays a coordinating and management role to keep meetings focused on

business goals and objectives that have been identified by the CoP.

CoP develops the objective and goals. The group identifies the business objectives and
initiatives on which they will focus as they are the experts in the field. They also develop the
plans/next steps. The KM facilitator will be the goad, coordinator, advocate, and opponent, as
needed to keep the group focused on their goals and objectives and on achieving outputs. The
KM facilitator WILL NOT identify the business objectives and goals of the group. The CoP has
to own this or it won’t work.

Some training of team members in working collaboratively may be necessary. When you
have polarized positions, it may be necessary to sensitize people to the need to talk in ways that
the other members can understand. Avoid blaming language and encourage language about how
to work better together in the future. Many people don’t even realize how much they have fallen
into this kind of language, and it may take careful re-framing of an issue to enable CoP members
to understand the impact of how we think about, and talk about, issues.

Maintain an objective rather than a solution focus. What is important is achieving your
objective. If you get caught up in the solution that you identified, it becomes hard to let go when
others (like decision-makers or impacted stakeholders) become involved and want to change
(evolve) the solution. In fact, such change is often critical to buy-in and may well be a better
solution as it takes a broader perspective into account. As long as the group stays focused on the
ultimate objective, it is easier to let go of the solution that it came up with as the solution
evolves.

This is not a race. KM’s objective is supporting staff in increasing their professional networks,
in strengthening their ability to share knowledge and to learn, and to develop methods for
ongoing and evolving improvement. This means we need to keep an eye of the broader impacts
of the group.

It is important to identify and develop successful products and outcomes relatively early as a
team-building practice and also as a measure of whether the group is meeting a need.

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Measures of success. Measures of success are important to the group, and to management
support of the development of CoP. From the very beginning it is important to think about how
you will determine that the group is benefiting the organization. Measures, or indicators, of
success include both quantitative and qualitative measures, or some combination of the two, as
appropriate. For example: changes in practices and policy, time or cost savings, training or
development needs to support staff, or satisfaction by the group’s customers—either their bosses
or other sections that depend on their work as measured through surveys, SHORT surveys.

CoP assume greater responsibility over time for the group in terms of maintaining a focus on
business objectives and maintaining minutes to document decisions and actions.

Ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the CoP is useful to both maintain its focus on
needed work and to identify when the group either has served its purpose or needs to evolve to a
new form or focus. See above for examples of some measures.

Examples of Community Types

Community Type Purpose

Best Practice Develop, validate, codify, index and disseminate proven practices
Helping Facilitates informal knowledge sharing, Q&A, mentoring
Knowledge Stewarding Collect, select, update, organize, and distribute day-to-day knowledge
Innovation Foster innovative ideas and practices

Knowledge Mapping

Access to experts within the organization is important to problem solving, building the
knowledge base of employees and innovation in product construction or delivery. “The role of
experts is important as they are ultimately the source of the innovations or knowledge that is
being diffused. Consequently, they form local peaks in the knowledge distribution, and agents
directly connected to them benefit, becoming second-order experts” (Cowan & Jonard, 2003, p.
1568). By sharing knowledge with others, the demand on the time of experts is lessened freeing
the expert to focus on high value projects. It also supports the redundancy of knowledge within
the organization ensuring that knowledge does not walk out the door.

According to Brown and Duguid (2001), networks that cut across the organization
horizontally are where knowledge flows. Knowing which individuals are contained within the
network or what expertise the individual has is necessary for managers to construct project teams
to create or manage solutions to organizational challenges. It is also useful to know when the
knowledge does not exist within the organization, but rather outside it and who within has access
to it. In addition, knowledge of these networks and expertise can be used to provide new
employees with access to necessary knowledge to perform work tasks. “New staff and staff in
new roles can be productive much more quickly by accessing the institutional knowledge base”

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(Burk, 2000, p. 18). When the network is disrupted due to retirements, downsizing or
restructuring, or when management is unaware of the existence of the network, access to
organizational knowledge and expertise by new staff or staff placed in new roles is blocked.

Networks allow individuals to access more knowledge than what may be available
individually through personal education or experience or through immediate co-workers.
“External memories are accessed through directories held in the mind of individual team
members that identify existence, location, and mechanisms for retrieval of knowledge held by
other team members or in various storage devices” (Alavi and Tiwana, 2001, p. 11). These
connections may be direct or indirect.

Networks support the exchange and dissemination of knowledge. What is exchanged or

shared depends on what individuals are connected. According to Cowan and Jonard (2003), “the
details of who is connected to whom will clearly effect what type of information is passed, how
much, and how efficiently” (p. 1558). Organizations may construct networks through the use of
communities of practice or encourage employees to belong to networks that span organizations.

According to Lesser and Prusak (2001), when organizations downsize, it is often the most
knowledgeable employees who leave first resulting in damaged critical social network and an
increase in time needed for knowledge transfers. This often occurs when organizations offer
buy-outs and early retirement incentives without considering the knowledge held by those
designated as eligible, which is what occurred in the state agency for this study. These
knowledgeable employees have built and maintained extensive networks used to share
knowledge. “What really distinguishes high performers from the rest of the pack is their ability
to maintain and leverage personal networks. The most effective knowledge workers create and
tap large, diversified networks that are rich is experience and span all organizational boundaries”
(Cross, Davenport & Cantrell, 2003, p. 20). Awareness of and support for these networks and the
individuals within is a critical function of leadership and management as the networks are used
daily in completion of work. “The traditional organization chart may show who reports to
whom, but often who talks to whom is more important in getting work done and generating new
ideas” (Foster & Falkowski, 1999, p. 53).

VDOT defines knowledge mapping as a tool to help us identify areas of need for
succession planning and to build networks.

Organizational Network Analysis

• A visual map that shows who talks to who and what role they play in a network or group

• Can be used to gather information about leadership, knowledge transfer, and

communication patterns

VDOT uses UCINet, an organizational network analysis (ONA) program, along with a web-
based questionnaire developed by the University of Virginia. This tool is used to map knowledge

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sharing amongst a group of individuals providing managers with a visual image of how
employees connect and how knowledge is transferred amongst them.

According to Bogenrieder and Nooteboom (2004), networks have three components:

structure, peoples’ positions within the network and the strength of ties. Structure refers to how
dense the network ties are or how many ties bind individuals within the network together.
According to Rowley (1997) “in sparsely connected networks, some sections of the network may
become isolated, or segregated cliques develop, restricting communication between actors” (p.
897). Positions indicate the role played by individuals within the network. A central position
indicates multiple connections. “This has implications for power, in terms of access to alternative
members, bargaining power, control of information and gossip, coalition formation, and a policy
of ‘divide and rule’” (Bogenrieder and Nooteboom, 2004, p. 292).

Another position is that of the boundary spanner, contacts who have ties with other
networks and support knowledge diffusion through the networks across the organization (Foster
& Falkowski, 1999). Granovetter (1973) refers to this position as a bridge between two sectors.
Hislop, Newell, Scarbrough and Swan (2000) state external networking and the use of spanners
leads to the introduction of change and innovation while internal, intra-organizational
networking contributes to the formation of coalitions and using internal knowledge. A third
position is found on the periphery of the network and may be occupied by agency experts who
are tapped for knowledge as needed. It is also where the unconnected or isolated individual
resides. Most individuals are general nodes of the clusters within the network-binding people
together.

Ties determine how closely related nodes are within the network. The stronger the tie
between two actors, the more the ties held with others are similar, creating a redundancy in
knowledge (Granovetter, 2003). According to Hansen (1999), ties among team members are
considered weak when they have distant relationships and their interactions are infrequent. These
weak ties lead to more innovation and creativity as connections bring together non-redundant
knowledge. Dense ties imply a shared context and environment between members.

Interviews

When the knowledge held by an individual employee is critical to the organization and is
not widespread, we also conduct interviews adapted from Beazley, Hamilton, Beasley, Jeremiah
& Harden, David. (2002). Continuity management: Preserving corporate knowledge and
productivity when employees leave. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The purpose is to
identify deeply held knowledge and an understanding of the employee’s networks.

Lessons Learned

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 According to Bogenrieder and Nooteboom (2004), another barrier to knowledge sharing
is absorptive capacity; the more different the contexts and experience of the parties are, the more
energy it requires to exchange knowledge. The other side of absorptive capacity is retentive
capacity (Szulanski & Cappetta, 2003), which occurs when there is initial difficulty in
transferring knowledge, thus providing employees with an excuse to abandon the new
knowledge. This impacts the collection of lessons learned and the transfer of best practices and
must be considered in the approach.

As part of a Knowledge Management pilot, VDOT’s Construction Quality Managers

Community of Practice implemented an agency-wide construction lessons learned initiative in
April 2007 to encourage a culture of sharing knowledge by construction field staff. Its purpose
was to capture lessons from previous experiences that are shared across the agency. The
community reviews the lessons for best practices that result in changes in processes, procedures
and contract language. The pilot was recognized by the American Association of State Highway
Officials Performance Improvement Committee with a Trailblazer Award in 2009. Below is the
template we use along with pointers and tips:

Lesson
Learned
How to Produce a Lesson Learned
Pointers and Tips to Make the Process Work

Lesson
The Construction Quality Managers’ Community of Practice won a national
Bronze Trailblazers Award from AASHTO in 2009 for their work in creating and
producing Construction Lessons Learned. The group uses a formal process to create one
lesson per month that includes peer review and use of a lessons-learned template. This
lesson shares information about the lessons-learned process that makes it work so well.

VDOT Lessons Learned

The lessons are archived on InsideVDOT in the VDOT Lessons Learned team site.

Explanation

VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit 13

Creating a Lesson
First of all remember, you are the expert! You do the work. Your knowledge
and experience are valuable assets to VDOT, particularly if you are good at your job and
can share ways to do what you do better.

In choosing a lesson, pick a topic that is worthwhile to be shared with

people who work in your area of expertise. The lesson can be a description of a
more efficient way to accomplish a job, can share information about a new process,
standard, or specification that is required, or even can be in the form of a warning of
how best to avoid a common mistake.

Whatever the topic, stay focused on the lesson and how it can benefit
those to whom it is directed. You wish to convey the information in the quickest,
simplest, and most direct manner.

Using the Process

Form a peer group to discuss lessons. Get feedback from the people with
whom you work to bring forth and validate lesson ideas. Get their input. Your peers can
help you keep focus and can and will contribute ideas and resources to improve your
lesson, but only if you ask for their assistance. Include colleagues from other divisions or
work units with whom you interact in the work on the lesson topic.
A big part of the lesson is the process used to create it. By involving
others with whom you work to get their input and feedback and have them validate that
the lesson is accurate and worthwhile, the lesson is reinforced within that peer group of
experts and vetted for sharing with others. If you are not sure about something, ask the
colleague(s) who you recognize as the expert(s) on the topic of your question.

Avoid policy, human resources, or legal issues unless you set policy, work
in HR, or provide legal advice to VDOT. Lessons are not forums for discussion of issues
beyond your control. Stick with what you know in the field in which you work.

The Lesson Document

Write clearly and get to the point quickly. Explain as best you can as if you
were telling someone the lesson. Have others read and review it to make sure what you
write is accurate and understandable. Limit how much you write. More than two pages
may be too many.

If a diagram or photo can improve the lesson, use it. Use of photos or
illustrations as examples can save a lot of writing.

Use hyperlinks in the lesson so readers can go to sources that are cited and
get more information from the source material immediately with a click.

Create a template. If developing a group of lessons, create a template similar

to the one used here. The template helps provide focus and space for each element
necessary to write a complete lesson; provides a framework for familiarity by readers;
helps to limit lesson size; and includes repetitive elements like the title header at the top
of page 2 and the disclaimer in the footer.

VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit 14

 List the lesson contributors so they may be contacted for questions regarding
the lesson topic.

For More Information and Assistance

Contact the contributors below.

Audience Contributors

Process Mapping

Part of identifying critical organizational knowledge is to know how and where it is

embedded, and process mapping is a tool that can be used to bring that out. It is a means to
encourage knowledge sharing and to develop new and innovative approaches. It is also a method
that can be used to help forget old habits and how we have always done things in order to be
more effective in the new environment (Martin de Holan & Phillips, 2003). Process maps can
also help decrease dependence on memory (past experiences, practices and attitudes) of how
things were done (Koupoulos, Spinello, & Toms, 1997) and make that knowledge widely
available. Unlearning takes two steps—changing the process or policy and then changing the
procedures or steps/routine. If the process is changed but not the routine, the organization has not
forgotten (Tsang & Zahra, 2008)

VDOT uses a process that brings together experts to help map out the process and to
provide supporting documentation for that map that clearly outlines steps and accountability. The
maps should attach processes across separate functions providing a clearer picture of how the
agency operates.

Assessment, Outcomes and Measurement

The Knowledge Management program has conducted an assessment each year since its
inception (formalized in 2006). The assessment has looked at both qualitative and quantitative
data to measure progress, accomplishments and challenges. These criteria were adopted from the
research which showed that successful projects had 1) a link to economic performance or
industry value; 2) technical and organizational infrastructure; 3) standard, flexible knowledge
structure; 4) a knowledge-friendly culture; 5) a clear purpose and language; 6) a change in
motivational practices; 7) multiple channels for knowledge transfer; and 8) senior management
support. We tracked the number of projects (communities, lessons learned, knowledge mapping

VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit 15

and other) initiated, specific products resulting from these projects, ROI, perceptions of the
program by employees and leadership, development of a knowledge transfer infrastructure,
techniques and tools, and the changes in culture. Below are summaries from the past three years :

FY07: Direct Indicators: 1) Knowledge Management has implemented and/or

maintained 46 of 51 projects that directly involve about 500 VDOT staff from all nine districts
and Central Office and impact agency-wide. 2) Out of these projects have come 20 final products
and outcomes this fiscal year with identifiable benefits to the agency. Among the more visible
and important projects are: The implementation of the Project Record Keeping System (PRKS)
with a conservative ROI of about $500,000 (based on a one hour/week savings per inspector);
and resource sharing across districts in the Right of Way and Utilities function without the need
to hire consultants with a conservative ROI of $1.4 million cost avoidance. Indirect Indicators:
As VDOT’s KM office has developed, other agencies and individuals outside of VDOT have
expressed increasing interest about its work, evidenced by 46 requests for more information and
consultations, 18 invited presentations, and 8 articles published by staff or about the program.

FY08: Direct Indicators: Knowledge Management implemented 40 of 48 new projects

assessed for agency value and continued work on 23 that had begun prior to the fiscal year. Work
in 8 projects among these 63 was completed. This work directly involved approximately 700
VDOT staff from all nine districts and Central Office and impacts VDOT agency-wide.
Indirectly, given KM’s work on the Construction Lessons Learned process, the VDOT
Teleworking Committee, and InsideVDOT, more than 6,000 VDOT employees are involved. Out
of these projects have come 61 final products and outcomes this fiscal year with identifiable
benefits to the agency. Among the more visible and important projects are: • One community, the
Area Construction Engineers (ACE), developed a streamlining action plan with suggestions that
were adopted by District Construction Engineers as the statewide construction streamlining
action plan. • KM supported an initiative to facilitate regional relationships between VDOT and
partner agencies to develop Incident Response Management. The benefit for VDOT will be to
improve incident clearance times through developing better working relationships with partner
agencies. • KM conducted an organizational network analysis on an extremely successful
construction project for the State Fair. Data was gathered on efficiency, innovation,
communication speed, effectiveness, and time saved. This analysis provided actual data on how
networks operate to develop information effectiveness and efficiency. Indirect Indicators:
Other agencies and individuals outside of VDOT have expressed increasing interest about KM’s
work, evidenced by 18 requests for more information and consultations, 11 invited presentations,
and 2 articles published by staff or about the program. The KM Program has been recognized
both nationally and internationally as reflected in its finalist status in 1) The KM Reality Award,
KMWorld 2007, and 2) the Harvard Innovations in Government Award, 2008.

FY09: Direct Indicators: Knowledge Management worked on 71 discrete projects that ranged
from supporting communities of practice to special assignments. This work directly involved
approximately 900 VDOT staff from all nine districts and the Central Office and impacts VDOT
agency-wide. Indirectly, through KM’s work on the Construction Lessons Learned process and
InsideVDOT, the agency’s intranet, more than 6,000 VDOT employees are involved. The work
crossed all business lines of the agency. Specific projects included one with the Environmental

VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit 16

Division has resulted in an annual cost savings of $300,000 to the agency. This savings was achieved
by working with VDOT experts to streamline the state environmental review process. This process-

VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit 17

mapping project now serves as a model for other groups within the agency and will result in a clearer
map of agency processes and identify where they intersect. This fiscal year the construction
communities of practice—District Construction Engineers, Area Construction Engineers,
Construction Quality Managers, and Project Controls—evolved into a new phase. The District
Construction Engineers began assigning projects to relevant CoPs to address specific areas regarding
strategic planning in construction. The findings returned by the CoPs were integrated into their
strategic plan. What has resulted is new to VDOT: a statewide vertical and horizontal integration of
expertise represented by different communities of practice made up of VDOT’s experts—people
responsible for implementing and managing the agency’s day-to-day construction work—
contributing their expertise in significant ways to help develop the strategic plan for construction.
KM has worked with a special committee of the Emergency Response Task Force to develop a
comprehensive suite of documents that will establish a statewide Command and Control Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP), along with complete processes detailing how VDOT will respond to
incident types: crashes, terrorist attacks, HAZMAT spills, and weather-related events. The Command
and Control SOP for Emergency and Incident Response was completed along with the weather-
related process this fiscal year. The lessons learned process has been successful. AASHTO
recognized the merit of Construction Lessons Learned (CLL) by awarding the Construction Quality
Managers a 2009 Trailblazer Award. Perhaps more important is the recognition and buy-in within the
agency. In surveying users, almost all—97%—of VDOT’s construction inspectors and construction
managers said that the CoP should continue to develop and distribute construction lessons learned;
94% said that the CLL have been a means of learning and sharing information; and 92% said the
CLL have provided information that they have used. The CoP has gotten feedback, not just from
field staff, but from non-construction staff, from consultants, and from FHWA as to CLL usefulness.
The program has required thought, close listening to users, willingness to change original plans for
the process, teamwork, and effort to maintain it over a two-year period even in the press of other
ongoing needs. The sharing of lessons learned has resulted in increased knowledge and ensures that
VDOT learns from staff experience. Indirect Indicators: Again this year, the VDOT Knowledge
Management Program was contacted by other state and national organizations to consult on KM
tools and techniques, as listed in Appendices 6 and 7. Members of staff were also invited to publish
an article in an international journal about VDOT’s communities of practice and were recognized by
national organizations for the division’s work.

VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit 18

Other Resources

Clark, K. C. & Hammer, M. L. (2008). Communities of Practice: The VDOT Experience. KM

Review, 11(5).

Hammer, M. L. & Clark, K. C. (2009). Organizational Memory. In Marcia J. Bates and Mary
Niles Maack (eds.) Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences [3rd ed.].

McNabb, D. (2007).. Knowledge management in the public sector: A blueprint for innovation in
government. New York: M. E. Sharpe.

NCHRP Synthesis Study 37-02 on Preservation of Knowledge (Note: NCHRP: National

Cooperative Highway Research Program)

Other Toolkits:

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOLKIT for the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Practice
Area
http://www.undp.org/cpr/documents/whats_new/UNDP_Toolkit_LowRes.pdf

Dare to Share
http://www.daretoshare.ch/en/Dare_To_Share/Knowledge_Management_Toolkit

Overseas Development Institute Tools for Knowledge and Learning

http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/153.pdf

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and KM4Dev Community Toolkit

http://www.kstoolkit.org/

Contact Information

Maureen Hammer, PhD

Knowledge Management
Virginia Department of Transportation
530 Edgemont Road
Charlottesville, VA 22903
434.293.1987
Maureen.Hammer@VDOT.virginia.gov

VDOT Knowledge Management Toolkit 19

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