Presented atr: ICEIMT/IEMC’02 - Intern. Conference on Enterprise Integration and Modelling Technology and International Enterprise Modelling Conference, 24 th -26 th of April 2002,Valencia, Spain Barriers within the inter-organisational management of knowledge and the proposition of a human-centred solution framework Michael Wunram*, Frithjof Weber*, Kulwant Pawar ☼ , Abishek Gupta ☼ , Richard Barson ☼ * Bremen Institute of Industrial Technology and Applied Work Science Hochschulring 20, 28359 Bremen Germany ☼ School of Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing Engineering and Management The University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD Abstract This paper aims to describe different barriers encountered in the NPIP of an extended enterprise in the telecommunication sector, which were identified along the course of the European project IST-1999-12685 CORMA – Practical Methods and Tools for Corporate Knowledge Management. Further, it is the intention of this paper to propose a human- centred solution framework for the identification of key drivers and enablers for inter- organisational knowledge management. Keywords Knowledge management, inter-organisational, barriers, solution framework 1 Introduction In a world of increasing specialization, the development of focus and core competence is necessary to achieve world class performance. But world class product delivery and service frequently require an amalgam of multiple world class capabilities (Jagdev, Browne 1998). Traditionally the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) was solely responsible for the development of new products. The suppliers main duty was to deliver cost-effective and high quality products and services as defined in the requirements specification by the OEM. However, it has been shown that inter-organisational co-operation in traditional labour division, as well as in simultaneous parallel processes may be beneficial (Lischke 1992). Businesses can no longer stop at their formal boundaries when looking for the answers to business challenges. Answers to overcome these boundaries lie in the concept of extended enterprising, which suggest a close collaboration of companies with their costumers and suppliers. One of the processes in which companies often collaborate is the new product introduction process (NPIP). The NPIP, as being knowledge intensive (Starbuck 1992), is of special interest for knowledge management activities. However, when co-operating on an inter-organisational level instead of an intra-organisational one, additional and different kinds of barriers have to be overcome (Pawar et al. 2000). 2 Working definitions for knowledge and knowledge management Definitions of the term knowledge are existent to a inflationary degree, thus being discussed differently, depending on the perspective taken (Schindler 2000). In order to have a working definition of the term ‘knowledge’ for this paper, knowledge will be defined in accordance to Probst et al. (1999) as being the entirety of cognitions and abilities, used by individuals to solve problems. This comprises theoretical perceptions as well as practical day to day rules and guidelines. Further, knowledge is based on data and information, however it is always