Information and knowledge sharing within virtual communities of practice

Background: The concept of a virtual community of practice (VCoP) emanates from the need to create a new mode of learning and knowledge development platform. It has also been found that highly structured forums are not always the best way to assist people to learn and improve their knowledge. The first author (main researcher) has limited background knowledge and professional practice in the area of VCoPs. Within this context, the investigation of the use of VCoPs to optimise knowledge sharing within stakeholders is the central theme of this research. The authors adapted the life cycle knowledge flow model and present an extended model that resulted after an empirical research was conducted with various VCoPs.   Objectives: The objective of this paper is to report on the research that, firstly, attempted to find a suitable model among all previous research conducted on knowledge sharing (management) and to create a new model that could be used to optimise knowledge sharing within VCoPs.   Method: In this research, a review of literature was used to define the main concepts of this research. A qualitative methodology was used. The responses received using two questionnaires were analysed to establish some premise, derived from the findings. The Miles and Huberman framework for qualitative analysis was also used to analyse the data set received from participants in the two questionnaires administered. This framework for analysis includes data reduction, data display, drawing and verifying conclusions.   Results: An extended life cycle knowledge flow model is proposed to optimise knowledge sharing within VCoPs.   Conclusion: A comprehensive knowledge flow model, namely the extended life cycle knowledge flow model, was found to be most suited from the literature. The analysis of two questionnaires, one administered in 2011–2012 and the other in 2016, led to the adaptation of the model to enhance knowledge sharing within VCoPs and, in turn, to develop and optimise knowledge sharing in enterprises

A Knowledge Management System and Social Networking Service to connect Communities of Practice

International audienceCommunities of practice (CoPs) emerge within companies by the way of informal discussions with practitioners who share ideas and help each other to solve problems. Each CoP develops its own practices, reinventing what is certainly being replicated somewhere else, in other companies. Our work aims at connecting CoPs centred on the same general activity and capitalising on all the produced knowledge. For that purpose, we propose a model of the interconnection of communities of practice (ICP), based on the concept of con- stellation of communities of practice (CCP) developed by Wenger. The model of ICP was implemented and has been used to develop the TE-Cap 2 platform. This platform relies on a specific knowledge management tool and a social networking service. We applied the model and platform to the case of university tutors. The TE-Cap 2 platform has been used in real conditions with tutors from different institutions and countries and we present the main results of this descriptive investigation

A case study on how employees use social media in a consulting work environment

Information Scienc

Étude d'intégration fonctionnelle du cycle de développement des produits et des communautés de pratique virtuelles

RÉSUMÉ Afin d’augmenter leur compétitivité, les industries manufacturières visent à réduire leurs cycles de développement de produits, sans toutefois pouvoir atténuer la complexité de leurs produits. Pour cela, il y a une nécessité d’échanger les informations de façon synchrone afin de partager les connaissances parmi les employés, souvent géodistants et multidisciplinaires. Une fois techniquement et humainement supporté, le flux d’information informelle augmente la productivité lors du développement de produits. Ainsi, les entreprises cherchent à exploiter les fonctionnalités des Réseaux Sociaux d’Entreprise (RSE). Effectué en milieu industriel, ce mémoire explore l’intégration fonctionnelle des technologies d’informations (TI) formelles comme la gestion de cycle de vie d’un produit (PLM), et les TI informelles telles que les RSE. Une revue de littérature a permis d’identifier les zones grises non abordées précédemment, notamment le lien entre les Communautés de Pratique Virtuelles (CdPV) et le développement de produit ainsi que le lien entre les solutions PLM et les RSE non contrôlés dans l’industrie aéronautique. Dans le but d’analyser l’état actuel en termes de la collaboration, l’auteure a effectué des enquêtes en ligne au sein d’un département ayant des employés géodistants, des entrevues semi-structurées et de la recherche dans la documentation existante. Deux maisons de qualités (PLM et RSE), adaptées aux systèmes d’informations, sont élaborées pour extraire des choix préliminaires du support au transfert de l’information en fonction de la nature du contenu. La combinaison des résultats via une catégorisation des besoins similaires permet d’émettre des recommandations au niveau des TI à utiliser. Les CdPV prennent part à cette solution en tant que facteurs humains dans le support de la maturité de l’information. L’auteure propose aussi des moyens efficaces d’en développer de nouvelles ou de supporter celles existantes. Pour conclure, la candidate démontre les limites de cette étude, émet des recommandations à l’entreprise et propose des futures pistes potentielles de solutions qui incluent le PLM 2.0 et les RSE non contrôlés.----------ABSTRACT Product development, subject to time constraints and system complexity, needs synchronous communication between different disciplines and locations in order to enable knowledge sharing. Being well supported, informal information flow increases productivity during product realization. Therefore, manufacturing industries are exploring the use of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) functionalities. This thesis explores the functional integration of formal information technologies such as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software with informal technologies as ESM through an industrial case study. Reviewing literature, the candidate has identified a gap between Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP) and product development, as well as the correlation of PLM solutions and non-controlled ESM in the aerospace industry. In order to disseminate a descriptive study of the current collaboration status, the author has undertaken online surveys for geodistant employees of the same department, semi-structured interviews and research among existing documentations. Subsequently, a Quality Functional Analysis is performed via two modified House of Quality matrices (PLM and ESM) to assign a convenient support for information transfer independently of its content maturity. Users’ needs are categorized, and for each category a choice of platform is made with further recommendation regarding the use of the function or the need of human intervention. VCoP form an integrated part of the solution where employees support the technical content. Thus, essential roles and responsibilities are presented to maintain existing CoP and develop new ones. Finally, the candidate presents the limits of this research, gives recommendations for the manufacturing industry and suggests potential continuation of this study using PLM 2.0 with non-controlled ESM tools

The strategic value of targeted knowledge management - case study of an Australian refrigeration company

 This thesis is a study of design and implementation of an engineering knowledge management system to facilitate knowledge capture, sharing and reuse to both ensure business continuity and resolve a make-span problem in an Australian refrigeration company. The company had encountered problems with a number of engineering staff in the small product development team leaving the company and taking their expertise with them. This situation has impacted the business continuity of the company, because the knowledge and expertise used in the refrigerated display cabinet development process is a combination of explicit and tacit knowledge as the engineers conduct the product development process intuitively. Records of previous design and testing processes were either non-existent or stored in ways that were not accessible. The other business problem in the company resulted from product development taking too long, in effect from 6 weeks up to the worst case of one year. The company needed research solutions to both of these problems to strategically maintain the competitiveness of the company business. This research applied a single case study research method with a problem-solving paradigm, Design Science methodology, to develop and then test solutions. Design Science as a research methodology has two components, first design development and second, design evaluation. The researcher developed an engineering knowledge based system as an artefact to solve the problem of enabling company business continuity. Using ontology as a structural base, the KBS contains both knowledge elements captured from the engineers during the data collection process and existing knowledge artefacts in the company. The research used a set of multilayered research techniques, including semi-formal and formal interviews, serendipitous interviews, group meetings, observation and shadowing, to capture and then structure both the tacit and explicit knowledge. The resultant ontology was used to build the KBS to store both tacit and explicit knowledge and answer the engineers’ questions about their existing and previous product development processes. The KBS developed in this research is a knowledge repository to maintain records of the products design and testing processes in a searchable form. Use and then an evaluation of the system by the engineers and the executive staff of the company confirmed that the intention of the system to address the business continuity problem by knowledge capture, classification and storage was achieved and met the company’s business needs. This research also applied Heuristic Process Mining to the knowledge stored in the KBS to address the second problem identified initially by the company, that of lengthy make span in new product design and development. HPM is a technique using mathematical models to find relationships between tasks in the process. HMP measures dependency and frequency values between tasks and tasks with low D/F value can be eliminated from the process. This then can lead to the shorter product testing process. The research showed that the application of HPM to the stored process knowledge in the KMS was able to significantly reduce the product design and testing process in the company