Potentials of Knowledge Management for Making Informal Learning Visible to Improve Project Staffing—Insights from German Large-Scale Companies

Knowledge management in companies is facing new challenges due to faster work processes and cycles and also due to new forms of collaboration in virtual teams. Informally acquired knowledge and competences gets more importance but is often not visible for the managers. This rises the question how companies respond to this and which measures they already have implemented to address this challenge. To answer this question explorative interviews with ten managers and employees were conducted in four companies. Existing knowledge management applications, project orientation as well as demands and obstacles in the implementation were inquired. The results show that the situation in companies is changing. They are facing barriers in this transition due to culture, tradition, employee participation and data protection. Furthermore, the results indicate how the companies can address these problems and where further research of best practices is needed and where an international perspective could be useful.