Outsourcing and Its Impact on Knowledge Management: Case Study of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Outsourcing various governmental functions has been a popular trend among state agencies for the last few decades for numerous reasons. For transportation departments, like the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the responsibility to provide a wide array of services and functions has led to the outsourcing of a number of functions traditionally done in-house. Once an agency has determined which functions will be conducted in-house and which functions will be outsourced, further thought must be given to the level of knowledge retention within the agency. As functions are outsourced and older workers retire, the amount of tacit knowledge contained within the organizational diminishes if there are not systems in places to capture and disseminate such knowledge. The primary goal of this assessment is to determine how outsourcing is affecting the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and what trends may be emerging regarding future outsourcing. The secondary goal of this assessment is to determine if the Cabinet has any mechanisms designed to capture critical agency knowledge that may be lost when specific job functions are outsourced to the private sector. Some recommendations are offered regarding the implementation of knowledge management systems as knowledge management systems are integral for tapping into the collective intelligence and skills of employees.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AB010T Knowledge Management.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Gibson, J Bryan
  • Wallace, Candice
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
• Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18p
• Monograph Title: TRB 92nd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Contracting out; Knowledge management; Private enterprise; State departments of transportation
• Identifier Terms: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
• Geographic Terms: Kentucky
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Policy; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01473318
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 13-1376
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 20 2013 9:40AM