This document summarizes a study on knowledge transfer between experts and novices in an oil company. It discusses factors that influence successful knowledge transfer like the type of knowledge and relationships between groups. Expertise knowledge is defined as having special skills developed over 10+ years of experience. Experts are motivated to transfer knowledge both intrinsically, by enjoying teaching, and extrinsically, by rewards. However, interviews found that passion for their work is the main driver for experts to willingly share what they know with younger employees. The case study of the oil company showed that training programs and collaborative projects help facilitate knowledge sharing. The research concludes that passion encourages experts to teach others in a dialogical process beyond normal work hours in order to keep their expertise

1. Passion and Expertise Knowledge Transfer
Foundations of Knowledge Management
Developed by:
Fransisca Katherina Rumambi – G1200547C
Janardhanan Janani – G1200842B
Nguyen Ngoc Hien Trang - G1200854E

2. Purpose

3. Agenda
 Factors that influence success of knowledge transfer
 Expertise knowledge
 Motives for knowledge transfer
 Why is passion important for expertise knowledge?
 Oil company case study
 Emerging themes
 Discussion and implications
 Conclusion and limitations

4. Key Factors That Influence Success of Knowledge Transfer
• Type of knowledge
• Absorptive capacity of recipients
• Organizational features
• Cultural factors
• Level of passion, devotion to the expertise
• Level of trust
• Relationship between cognizing units – “ Strong ties enable
transfer of complex language” (Uzzi,1997)

5. Expertise Knowledge
EXPERTISE KNOWLEDGE
Specific qualification or status with Minimum criterion is to have large
individual differences being irrelevant group of people to consider the individual an expert
Sociological perspective (Mieg,2001) Social perspective (Agnew et al,1997)
• People with special knowledge capabilities
• Higher the expertise, more abstract the mental representation
• Abstraction and articulation of knowledge are significant features of expertise knowledge (Hinds et
al,2001)
• Experience is crucial ( minimum 10 years of practice ) and high degree of emotion involved
• Expertise involves using one’s abilities to acquire, store and utilize atleast 2 kinds of knowledge: explicit
knowledge of a domain & tacit knowledge of a field (Sternberg & Horvath,1999)

6. Knowledge Transfer Motives
Extrinsic Intrinsic
• Experts working independently
• Interested in monetary rewards &
Promotion
VS •
•
Experts work in teams
Willing to transfer knowledge
• Relationship between form of motivation and form of knowledge to be
transferred
• Intrinsic motivation enables the generation and transfer of tacit
knowledge under conditions in which explicit knowledge fails (Osterloh
& Frey,2002)

7. Passion and Expertise Knowledge
• Passion is a key feature of experts
• Expertise Knowledge is highly tacit
• Passion is required for commitment to expertise field
Tacit Knowledge = High degree of emotional investment
High level of passion = High level of knowledge transfer

8. OIL EXPLORE
Case Illustration

9. Interview: Target Respondents
• What motivates them to readily and willingly transfer
their expertise to younger generation?
20 INTERVIEWEES
• 7 GEO-SCIENCE EXPERTS (>15 years)
• How they experience the transfer process?
• 3 SPECIALISTS (>10 years)
Senior Researchers, Future Experts
• What are the requirements for an effective Knowledge
Transfer Process (KTP)?
• 10 NOVICES (<3 years)
Angolans Dutch Algerians
Russians Iranians Nigerians
English French Lebanese
9 NATIONALITIES Norwegians Spanish

10. Case Illustration: Oil Explore
OIL
COMPANY UPSTREAM OPERATION
• Oil and gas exploration
• Development and production
DOWNSTREAM OPERATION
• Refining
• Marketing
130 Countries •
•
Trading
Shipping of crude oil and petroleum
products
112, 877 Employees
Sales €140 Billion
Net Income €12 Billion

11. Oil Explore: Knowledge Sharing
STRATEGY
Training Programs
“ORGANIC GROWTH”
Cost-effective discoveries and
Transfer of
development of new reserves
Knowledge Project-based and
cross-age team work

12. Interview Findings
• The informants are intent on seeing their expertise live on and be transmitted to
younger generations
• Although they see that rewards and incentives are crucial, they regard that
transferring their expertise as part of their daily practices
• The informants emphasize the significance of learning by doing (cognitive aspect of
expertise), they also put premium on emotional drives (enthusiasm and passion) as
motives for learning
• Enthusiasm and passion should be manifested through sharing (social aspect of
expertise)

13. Assumptions: Dialogical Process of Expertise
Knowledge Management
Theorists’ Opinion Study’s Opinion
Knowledge Transfer Knowledge Transfer
Monological Dialogical
Process Process
Knowledge Acquisition Knowledge Acquisition

14. Assumptions: Enthusiasm and Passion Are Important
• Passion plays very important role for becoming an
expert because of the lengthy and painstaking process
• With passion, experts spans the confines of their
workplace and working time

15. Assumptions: Enthusiasm and Passion Are Important
An expert works because of the prize which is
their passion and pleasure of performing
expertise, not because of “price”

16. Conclusion
Passion works as the internal motivation to
learn and transfer knowledge through
dialogue and discussion

17. Limitation of Research
• The study is based on only one case study even the a
lot of information was collected from interviews
• The issue how the expert’s passion can be affected by
interference of management was not address in the
research

18. Key Learning For Our Group
• We realize how closely the leadership attribute of
passion is tied to innovation
• To come up with new, better ways of doing things and
then actually implement those new approaches
requires deep commitment combined with a curious
and inclusive spirit – the essence of true passion.
• When people can find that balance, exciting stuff can
unfold…
Katherina – Janani - Trang

19. Any questions?