 in organizational theory, knowledge transfer is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another. like knowledge management, knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or distribute knowledge and ensure its availability for future users. it is considered to be more than just a communication problem. if it were merely that, then a memorandum, an e-mail or a meeting would accomplish the knowledge transfer. knowledge transfer is more complex because (1) knowledge resides in organizational members, tools, tasks, and their subnetworks and (2) much knowledge in organizations is tacit or hard to articulate. the subject has been taken up under the title of knowledge management since the 1990s. == background == argote & ingram (2000) define knowledge transfer as "the process through which one unit (e.g., group, department, or division) is affected by the experience of another" (p.&nbsp;151). they further point out the transfer of organizational knowledge (i.e., routine or best practices) can be observed through changes in the knowledge or performance of recipient units. the transfer of organizational knowledge, such as best practices, can be quite difficult to achieve. szulanski's doctoral dissertation ("exploring internal stickiness: impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm") proposed that knowledge transfer within a firm is inhibited by factors other than a lack of incentive. how well knowledge about best practices remains broadly accessible within a firm depends upon the nature of that knowledge, from where (or whom) it comes, who gets it, and the organizational context within which any transfer occurs. "stickiness" is a metaphor that comes from the difficulty of circulating fluid around an oil refinery (including effects of the fluid's native viscosity). it is worth noting that his analysis does not apply to scientific theories, where a different set of dynamics and rewards apply. three related concepts are "knowledge utilization", "research utilization" and "implementation", which are used in the health sciences to describe the process of bringing a new idea, practice or te
Educational_psychology Knowledge_transfer