Knowledge Management maturity level in a Brazilian Air Force flight test environment

Abstract

The research described herein investigated how Knowledge Management (KM), in a Brazilian Air Force (BAF) flight test environment, was impacted by the establishment of a science and technology management structure. The research was conducted initially by a bibliographic revision on the main KM theories. A documental research regarding the flight test environment KM was done and a questionnaire was submitted to identify KM characteristics previous and after the structure change. With the data obtained, the KM maturity level and the core competence in each moment were identified. Results show that both environments had the same KM maturity level. Particularly, after the structure change, it was possible to observe some development on KM processes. Both environments pointed the capability of performing flight test campaigns as its core competence. The research revealed that the structure change did not impact, in a clear way, the BAF flight test KM maturity level and, as a lesson learned, that the simple adoption of a science and technology management structure has a poor impact on knowledge management maturity level of an organization.