Knowledge Management for Project Management

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Baltimore County Department of Aging’s Administrative Offices recognized in 2005 the impending wave of workplace retirements associated with the baby-boomer generation. Baby Boomers—the generation of 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 represent the majority of employees in the Agency and Baltimore County Government. The average age of employee in Baltimore County Government is 48. The public sector is more prone to being affected by Boomer retirement because of the age of workers and long tenure typical of employees in the government. The wave of boomer retirement is seen as a great threat to operational continuity, a “Silver Tsunami.” As such, the Agency developed an initiative to capture the institutional knowledge of employees so their many years of experience did not retire with them. The Agency operationalized a concept of Knowledge Management: collecting and warehousing data for the more efficient dissemination for that same data. The Agency staff and management found the benefits of implementing this initiative exceeded previous expectations by having an immediate impact to all levels of staff and all stages of employment within the Agency.