Mid Sweden University

Knowledge and innovation become more central to competitive success, therefore more and more companies have instituted knowledge repositories, supporting such diverse types of knowledge as best practices, lessons learned product development knowledge, customer knowledge, methods-based knowledge and so forth. Perhaps the best news about rise of knowledge and knowledge management is that it has helped business leaders realize that technology doesn’t hold the answers. For the most mature knowledge-managing organizations today the challenge that lies ahead is forging this link between knowledge management and fundamental business strategy. Therefore knowledge plays a big role in business strategy and organizational performance.

The ability to manage knowledge is crucial in today’s economy. The creation and diffusion of knowledge have become increasingly important factors in competitiveness. More and more, knowledge is being thought of a valuable commodity that is embedded in products (especially high-technology products) and embedded in the tacit knowledge of highly mobile employees.

The resources that organizations use for managing and organizing their knowledge must continually adapt to the new forms and increasing amounts of knowledge that is acquired. System used to organizing both tacit and explicit knowledge are required to be constantly updated as organizations seek to learn new concepts, work with a new customers, and modify their corporate strategies as they attempt to obtain new competitive advantage. For that reason the workers participation is the knowledge process have to be embedded in daily routines.

The aim of this study is to investigate factors behind workers involvement in Six Sigma using after the Six Sigma training program and their usage of knowledge sharing. Furthermore to understand after what kind of criteria line managers selecting individuals to Six Sigma program. Hence the initiative in Ericsson Borås Factory has been chosen as a case where workers and managers have been interviewed. It has been revealed that the factors influencing workers’ involvement in Six Sigma and improvement processes as they are predominantly related to management, organizational culture and usability of knowledge sharing and content.