The importance of organizational learning from IT projects: A case study from Tieto Oil and Gas

Abstract

Organizational learning is the process of creating, storing and transferring knowledge throughout an organization. A learning organization is one that encourage the development of their employees, challenge their ways of thinking and continuously evolve. This thesis acknowledges that there are several barriers organizations need to overcome if they wish to become a learning organization and aims to study how organizational learning is promoted within Tieto Oil and Gas.

Data are gathered through two interviews conducted with the management in Tieto Oil and Gas and a survey distributed to the EC services department in Stavanger and the global project managers within the oil and gas division. Each question is divided into two parts. Part A consists of multiple-choice questions, which aims to provide a statistical distribution of how the employees experience the present situation, while part B allows the employees to provide suggestions for improvements within Tieto Oil and Gas. The response from the 23 respondents of the survey and the two interviews indicate that there is an agreement between the employees and the management. However, there are some deviating results regarding standardization, analyzation of project learning and preservation of knowledge when employees leave.

The findings suggest that there are multiple areas where Tieto Oil and Gas can improve to overcome the challenges of knowledge management, increase the success of knowledge transfer and promote organizational learning within the company. A good framework for knowledge management should be established, which can inhibit compartmentalization of knowledge and improve efficient knowledge sharing throughout the organization. Project knowledge should be stored in a structured and organized manner on a company-wide storage platform, and knowledge management tools should be implemented to promote efficient search of project knowledge. This information needs to be properly communicated to all oil and gas employees. Despite having standardized procedures and documentations to promote knowledge sharing and organizational learning in place, these are commonly not followed, and they only seem to be implemented on a local scale, hence inhibiting organizational learning globally. The process of preserving knowledge and experience when employees leave needs to be more closely monitored and regulated by the management to prevent loss of valuable knowledge. Tieto Oil and Gas should also continue to improve analyzation of project knowledge and institutionalize new knowledge within the organization through systems, workflows, processes etc.