Achieving Effective Knowledge Sharing by Bridging Knowledge Islands: Lessons From Ernst & Young Case

It is commonly acknowledged that the largest amount of knowledge that companies posses is embedded into the minds of employees, or disseminated in hundreds of documents, procedures, etc. This is especially the case of dispersed companies, where geographical, cultural, and organizational barriers may hinder the effective retrieval, sharing and reuse of the existing knowledge. The experience shows that the distinct parts of an organization tend to become knowledge islands with specific and, sometimes, idiosyncratic backgrounds, cultures, languages, behaviours. To bridge such islands and, hence, achieve an effective knowledge sharing, companies are experimenting with different solutions, each one showing specific points of strength and weakness. The paper aims to discuss the benefits and critical issues of developing a common knowledge base in a real situation. In particular it describes the experience of Ernst & Young, and analyses the problems that a global organization faces in connecting and integrating its different knowledge islands by means of a common knowledge platform. The purpose is to understand benefits and limits of the implemented solution, and the arising difficulties. Managerial suggestions are also derived