| The need to better capitalize on the knowledge and experience found within the employees of an organization results in initiatives based on the tools, procedures and principles of Knowledge Management (KM); however, studies suggest that a majority of KM initiatives may be failures rather than successes. As a result, organizations not only realize a loss of the resources that were dedicated to the initiative; perhaps more importantly is the loss of the valuable knowledge and experience they sought to harness.;This paper proposes that a lifecycle framework that identifies developmental maturity stages of a KM initiative could illuminate expected initiative plateaus and potential growth spurts; further, it could identify appropriate nurturing and intervening measures, thus reducing the number of KM initiatives that are deemed failures. To substantiate this proposal, this paper provides a thorough literature review to support the organizational necessity to manage knowledge followed by literature review that identifies foundational requirements for an environment that is conducive to the success of a KM initiative. A number of lifecycles are reviewed to determine if these lifecycles provide a framework for developing developmental lifecycle that could be applied to a KM initiative.;From the review of these lifecycles, it is determined that it is possible to develop a developmental, cognitive-growth potential lifecycle framework that could be applied to a KM initiative, and a potential developmental lifecycle framework is presented for consideration. This lifecycle framework provides decision-makers with a new method of forecasting resources and timelines for KM initiatives possibly resulting in increased KM initiative success and ultimately in improved opportunity to leverage organizational knowledge.;Finally, the flexibility of this lifecycle is highlighted as a benefit when it is used for planning KM initiatives, given future KM trends. Future research suggested includes: testing the proposed lifecycle by applying it to a KM initiative from the planning phase through the termination phase of its lifecycle; testing if the lifecycle can be modified to address generational differences, to determine if this lifecycle can be applied to non-KM projects; and testing if the lifecycle could further define the cognitive maturity of an organization. |
