ISO 9001:2015 Knowledge Management Implementation With Action Research Methodology in Healthcare Organizations

This paper aims to describe the implementation of a knowledge management system according to the new ISO 9001:2015 standard and the application of the Action Research methodology for the scientific evaluation process through a case study. The concept of knowledge management is discussed in literature for more than three decades now but the success of practical implementations of knowledge management systems is still beyond the expectations. The new ISO 9001:2015, released in November 2015, now contains a chapter about knowledge management (DIN EN ISO 9001). The ISO 9001 with more than 1 million certificates in 2014 is the most distributed norm in the world (The ISO Survey of Management System Standard Certifications - 2014). After the implementation of the new ISO 9001 standard, all of this organizations will have to implement a knowledge management system according to the ISO 9001 standard. With this new version of the ISO 9001 it is now possible to have a certified knowledge management system. This development will revitalize the research on knowledge management implementation. With the following article, we present a case study as part of a PhD-thesis about "the implementation of a knowledge management system through the new ISO 9001:2015 using the Action Research methodology. Action Research is a common research methodology in healthcare organisation, but not used often to examine the implementation of a knowledge management system. Due to the project situation the researchers were able to fulfil the double role as project manager and researcher. The contribution of the article is to give a practical insight in the usability of the new ISO 9001:2015 norm form implementing knowledge management systems. With the article we want to discuss the research questions if the ISO 9001 is an appropriate model for implementing a knowledge management system in a healthcare organization and if "Action Research", as a research methodology, can help to the implement such a knowledge management system with the new ISO 9001