Systematic Knowledge Sharing in a Natural Hazard Damage Context: How Organizational Borders Limit Lessons Learned

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to increase knowledge about systematic lessons learning in a public-private partnership. Empirically, it focuses on road maintenance in Sweden where the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) is responsible for the state-owned infrastructure and tendered contractors carry out all maintenance. The tendering process stipulates that the stakeholders should enable learning and the knowledge transfer that is, by necessity, required for preventive purposes. Semistructured interviews with project leaders from the STA and respondents from two tendering contractors of maintenance were used to investigate attitudes to and the understanding of sharing experiences and knowledge about damage caused by weather extremes and the relevance of climate change adaptation in their field. The analysis suggests that most of the respondents' experiences stay within their own organization, which creates parallel feedback loops, rather than becomes shared knowledge that could be used as lessons learned enhancing preventive work against future damage and loss. The analysis indicates imbalance in feedback of knowledge concerning weather extremes and their effects.

Collective Learning in Organizations—Opportunities and Constraints: Case Study of an Avalanche Blocking a Railway Line

“…In this case study, the focus is on an extreme weather event and how learning and lessons were drawn from this event in an organizational setting. Extreme weather events often affect and involve many different actors, with competing and different demands and interests—not least, if the setting contain public–private partnerships (Rydstedt Nyman, Johansson, & Liljegren, ).…”