Preservation of knowledge through networking with retirees

Abstract

Nuclear organizations, in most countries, have for many years endured a process of a reducing workforce and of a shift of the average age of their technical professionals towards the mid fifties range. Loss of emphasis or phasing down of their nuclear programs has reduced substantially the hiring of new employees. As a result some knowledge management activities with emphasis on knowledge preservation have been undertaken in many such organizations. This work is part of an ongoing research effort aimed at studying spontaneously emerged knowledge preservation mechanisms at IPEN that could be leveraged and may be replicated in other organizations. In a previous paper recently presented at the XXIX Sunbelt Social Networks Conference a first round of results were presented, with emphasis on: (a) measuring the output of the network; (b) characterization of its key global properties and those of its key players; and (d) test of its robustness. This work shows some further results along the same path and starts a new perspective trying to unveil the factors and mechanisms that were responsible for the creation and nurturing of this network.