The Black and White Book of Knowledge: Knowledge Sharing in the Oil and Gas Industry

The oil and gas industry in western Canada has a wealth of knowledge and experience, the sharing of which is challenged by an uncertain economic environment, a naturally complex project management setting and, more recently, an aging population of baby boomers that are transitioning to retirement. There is a need to explore the oil and gas industry to understand its unique challenges and discover in what context sharing knowledge works in order to make it more effective. Experiential observations led to the postulation that there could be two versions of knowledge; a "black book" (that is least shared) and a ''white book" (that is more readily shared). This research investigates this dichotomy by posing three research questions: 1.- Do industry participants perceive information and knowledge differently?; 2.- What information and knowledge are shared?; 3.- What is the context in which information and knowledge are shared? A modified Delphi methodology was employed to survey industry participants. Results were displayed in an "information-to-knowledge spectrum", which identified a "grey area of uncertainty" regarding what information and knowledge meant to the oil and gas industry. Contradiction among the 'owner' and 'engineer' industry roles was observed and no correlation was found between the information-to-knowledge spectrum and willingness to share. However, willingness to share was found to be motivated by the perception of 'added value' or 'benefit' in the specific context of information and knowledge. This research concludes by illustrating that there is neither a black nor white book, but rather a "grey book with black and white tabs" that are movable and assigned subjectively by an individual following observation of the specific context.