Knowledge transfer in an architecture firm A case study of millennials’ critical factors during the onboarding process.
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Publicerad
2020
Författare
CALATRAVA CASTAGNETTI, MARIANGELA
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The literature indicates the relevance of companies’ initiatives for the learning and
integration of newcomers, namely the onboarding process (OP). During the first year
of work, when the OP takes place, employees decide if they will leave a company or
not. Employees’ turnover represents a knowledge and investment loss for companies,
and millennials (1981-1996) tend to leave their job after 2 years because of their values
and motivation; this will represent a problem because by 2020 millennials will become
the biggest work force. By analyzing the OP from a knowledge management (KM)
perspective, this study evaluates two critical factors of millennials in the architecture
and construction field, i.e. job satisfaction and retention, with the objective of finding
the correlation between the OP tools and practices and these critical factors. The
research consisted in a literature review, a factor analysis to determine the work
motivation factors (WMFs) that lead to job satisfaction, and a case study of an
architecture firm (AFirm) in which thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted
and company documents were analyzed. The findings show that the OP can be
interpreted as a knowledge management system (KMS) that takes place within a
community of practice (CoP). This KMS allows the transfer of knowledge to new
employees, which enables their development and identity building as CoP members,
consequently affecting their job satisfaction and retention. Furthermore, the new
employees’ identity building, job satisfaction and retention were found to be affected
by the following: barriers for newcomers’ participation in the CoP and knowledge
transfer (KT); a substitution effect that permits to fix the failure of certain tools and
practices; as well as by a corroboration process that leads to newcomers’ verification of
the WMFs. Additionally, a correlation between job satisfaction and new employees’
intentions to remain in their job was found, in which organizational support played the
most significant role. This research contributes by bringing a new perspective to
onboarding from the KM field, emphasizing a link that was seldom considered (i.e. OP
and KM); and by suggesting recommendations for AFirm’s OP.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Knowledge , Management , Transfer , Tools , Practices , CoP , Onboarding , Millennials , Job satisfaction , Motivation factors , Retention , Turnover , Architecture firms