Benchmarking the role-modification process for successful knowledge transfer

The ultimate objective of knowledge management is to effectively maintain and transfer the necessary knowledge to the operation's staff. The conventional knowledge-management methods may only be suitable for the larger-sized enterprise, but, for the small and medium-sized companies, it is difficult to spare dedicated resources (people, time, and money) to manage the knowledge-accumulation and dissemination-activities. The work presented in this paper proposes a method to overcome some of these difficulties. A role-modification approach is used to stimulate an autonomously conducted knowledge transfer. New knowledge is developed and managed by the person who successfully takes up a new role in work team. To achieve role modification, ordinary staff-training methods may not be effective. Psychotherapists already have a set of role- modification practices to assist people having role problems. Benchmarking is a suitable methodology to apply to these practices. The authors assisted an engineering-and-design company in adopting this psychotherapists' practice and applied it to a work-team environment. One of their team members was induced to undergo a role modification and an autonomous knowledge- transfer experience.