Transferring Experiential Knowledge from the Near-retirement Generation to the Next Generation
The capital projects industry is experiencing a dramatic increase in the departure rate of experienced people from the workforce; this is due to the large number of retirements from the Baby Boomer generation and a shortage of qualified workers able to fill the resulting employment gap. (RS292-1, p. 1)
The operational effects of a knowledge gap within an organization include the following: reduced efficiency, an increase in the number of critical errors, a reduced ability to innovate, and a reduced ability to pursue growth strategies.
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Demographics are not the sole contributor to the knowledge management difficulties of the capital projects industry. Project based organizations, especially organizations with short project cycles, see knowledge generated, re-invented, and lost as teams are formed and later broken up to work on new projects. This is an additional challenge that must be overcome, and provides motivation for project based organizations to develop strong knowledge sharing cultures.
