Operations Knowledge Management in Health Care

Abstract

The aging population of the western world poses a medical challenge for the society of today and the future. The pressure on health care and its organization is increasing as the demand for health care is growing at the same time as the costs are continuously rising. There seems to be consensus regarding bottlenecks in health-care production systems, and that knowledge is needed in order to increase insights about operational decisions. This chapter is based on a qualitative case study conducted at a hospital in western Sweden. Eleven CEOs together with their production controllers were interviewed. The chapter aims to analyze knowledge management mechanisms in the infrastructure of a health-care organization. The analysis shows how mechanisms have significant impacts on the knowledge management practice in the operations management. A learning and knowledge creation culture, together with an organizational architecture for adaptive and exaptive capacity, and a business model for knowledge capitalization could support the production of smooth and effective health care in society, which is of high quality.