Save the Date and Call for Abstracts!
The TRB National Summit on the Future of the Transportation Workforce will be held June 2-4, 2025 in Westminster, Colorado (near Denver). Be a part of the conversation as we address the challenges faced in each of the workforce life cycle steps, and help identify the research needs of practitioners to ensure a resilient and skilled workforce for our changing modes and communities.
The Call for Abstracts invites presentations answering three key questions:
How do we attract and engage a diverse workforce?
What kind of workforce do we need for the 21st century?
What business models and tools sustainably support workforce needs?
Submit a proposal to present by *September 30, 2024.*
Resources
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS for NCHRP 20-44(45): Supporting State DOT Adoption of Knowledge Management Practices is now LIVE HERE.
Background
Knowledge management (KM) practices, related to the identification, sharing, and retention of employee know-how and expertise within an organization, are important to improve operational efficiency, workforce development, organizational resilience, and innovation. While state departments of transportation (DOTs) recognize this importance, their KM practices are often in various stages of maturity (as determined by using the American Productivity & Quality Center’s Knowledge Management Capability Assessment Tool or the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Committee on Knowledge Management KM Litmus test). In comparison to organizations such as the U.S. Department of Defense and private sector companies, KM remains an emergent topic in state DOTs. Many state DOTs struggle when asked by decision-makers to provide examples of KM practices and their benefits, and to define KM as a presence within their respective organizations.
NCHRP Report 813: A Guide to Agency-Wide Knowledge Management for State Departments of Transportation (2015) and NCHRP Project 20-68A, Scan 12-04 Report, Advances in Transportation Agency Knowledge Management (2014) framed core concepts of KM to help accelerate the adoption, acceptance, and integration of KM within state DOTs. Since the publication of the two NCHRP reports, AASHTO formed the Committee on Knowledge Management (CKM) and many members have referenced these works in the development of their KM practices. The CKM surveys its members biannually about KM priorities and practices in use, and survey respondents frequently cite concerns about employee retention and knowledge loss due to retirements, transfers, and departures for different positions, as well as the need for succession planning and on-boarding new employees. Subsequently, state DOTs are seeing the need for KM and to treat knowledge and human capital as an asset. Early adopter state DOTs have begun to pilot and integrate KM practices, which has resulted in the current need to capture these practices to help improve agency efficiency, performance, resilience, and innovation.
State DOT adoption of KM has parallels to the adoption of other new practices for transportation. For example, transportation asset management (TAM), which began in the 1990s, began with a period of outreach and early adopter agencies testing strategies. Following this, examples of implementation were developed to provide other DOTs insight into potential uses and methods for development. This led to further adoption, acceptance, and integration of TAM practice. To complement the research results from NCHRP Report 813 and NCHRP Project 20-68A, Scan 12-04 Report, and to address the concerns raised in the CKM surveys, research is needed to develop a set of products that can be utilized by state DOTs to implement KM activities. The NCHRP reports and the CKM both emphasize that development of the products from this project will be helpful to those just getting started and those further along the KM journey. In addition, these products will strengthen the community of practice by presenting examples of tangible state DOT efforts on KM.
Impact
What impact is your project having? Describe how your product, service, or initiative is impacting people's lives.