Identifying the Key Barriers to Knowledge Management and Lessons Learned in the Project-Based Military Organizations

In project-based organizations, the temporary nature of the projects leads to memory weakness, forgetfulness of valuable experiences, and lessons learned from the project. Given the structure and objectives of the project-based military organizations, the milestone can be seen in the vital role of knowledge gained from projects for the survival of the organization. The purpose of this study is to identify the key barriers to knowledge management and lessons learned in the project-based military organizations. This research answers the question that “what the key barriers to knowledge management and lessons learned in project-based military organizations are and what the importance and priority of these obstacles is.” The sample population of this research contains 53 knowledge managers of the project-based military organizations with a knowledge management department based in Tehran, active in the field of manufacturing. The identification of these organizations is based on three indicators: being project-based, having independent knowledge management department, and having developmental activities. The study instrument was a questionnaire and a structured interview. The questionnaire was validated through military management experts and the reliability was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha (0.834). For inferential analysis, one-sample t-test and the Friedman test were used. The t test showed that 5 factors are statistically significant, and among these factors, content ones were more influential than the organizational factors. Finally, the barriers to knowledge management and lessons learned were identified in the project-based military organizations and classified in five sections. In addition, 13 steps in three layers were presented to reduce and improve the barriers of knowledge management and lessons learned in the project-based military organizations.