Developing strategic systems supporting communities of practice in the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Details

• Creators:
  Kingsley, Gordon ; Knox-Hayes, Janelle ; Rogers, Juan
• Corporate Creators:
  Georgia Institute of Technology
• Corporate Contributors:
  Georgia. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Materials & Research ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Communities Communities Of Practice Highway Departments Knowledge Management Local Government Agencies Partnerships Personnel Retention Planning Methods Retention Strategic Alliances Strategic Planning Strategy

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  GDOT research project no. 10-05
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Georgia
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Georgia. Dept. of Transportation
• Abstract:
  This study is designed to explore strategies through which the Georgia Department of
  
  Transportation (GDOT) can develop communities of practice to help employees facilitate critical
  
  exchanges of knowledge, support organizational learning, and ultimately achieve improvements
  
  in performance outcomes. Communities of practice (CoP) are groups of professionals working
  
  on behalf of an organization who develop on‐going informal knowledge exchanges as a means
  
  of learning about and performing key job‐related processes and skills. The study consisted of
  
  four main objectives: 1) to map the incidence of CoP in GDOT, 2) to monitor patterns of
  
  knowledge flows through CoP, 3) to assess the costs and benefits of CoP, and 4) to develop a
  
  strategy for application of SharePoint to the development of CoP. The study was conducted
  
  using multi‐method research including interviews across key agencies, a communications log
  
  and workshops with GDOT professionals. A number of existing types of CoP were identified.
  
  Through a communications log, knowledge exchanges were mapped and communication
  
  patterns were established according to a typology of five CoP characteristics. Six groups of
  
  communication patterns were identified with varying degrees of CoP intensity (weak or strong
  
  CoP communications). Weak CoP communications are associated with knowledge search costs,
  
  while strong CoP communications are associated with knowledge validation and application
  
  costs. It is recommended that GDOT tailor its strategy of enhancing communication within the
  
  organization by addressing the different needs of weak and strong CoP communications. To
  
  reduce knowledge search costs, it is recommended that GDOT conduct a knowledge needs
  
  assessment and centralize and enhance expertise information into a common directory.
  
  SharePoint utilities may assist with various aspects of this functionality. To reduce the costs
  
  associated with validating and applying knowledge, it is recommended that GDOT pursue a
  
  strategy of systemically building CoP through a combination of social networking, face‐to‐face
  
  training, on‐line documentation of official policy statements and standards, and the
  
  dissemination of information and training sessions as changes occur in standards.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  Task order No. 02-70
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a65a2211d328b983294669ae215d3db9b3e32dfe1b999bfee6b275217b1ac8908b2e687d30f5f763e225ec6a8a489ee93295e2adf633f8f3eb0cbe39d85feacc
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/24391/dot_24391_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 865.34 KB ]