Improving Knowledge Management Programs Using Marginal Utility in a Metric Space Generated by Conceptual Graphs

Knowledge management has emerged as a field of endeavor that blends a systems approach with methods drawn from organizational management and learning. In contrast, knowledge representation, a branch of artificial intelligence, is grounded in formal methods. Research in the separate behavioral and the structural disciplines – knowledge management and knowledge engineering - has not traditionally cross-pollinated. This has prevented the development of many practical practices useful in organizations. Organization managers - line and senior - lack guidance in where to direct improvement efforts targeted at specific groups of company knowledge workers. Demonstrated here is Knowledge Improvement Measurement Space (KIMS), a model providing a solution to that improvement problem. It employs marginal utility theory in a metric space, with formal reasoning via software agents realized in Sowa\u27s conceptual graphs, operating over a knowledge management conceptual structure. These components allow repeated evaluation of knowledge improvement measurements. Knowledge representation technology was applied to organize and encourage knowledge sharing, to achieve competitive advantage, and to measure progress toward that achievement. The KlMS reentrant process, a method of using the KIMS model, was shown to consist of metrics data calculated by executing joined conceptual graphs, consolidated into a distance variable to be estimated via a Minkowski metrics space. The metric space was shown to be equivalent to a marginal utility, which may be evaluated to determine the new level of knowledge capability. The procedure may be repeated until knowledge management goals are achieved. The solution took into account the body of knowledge related human understanding and learning, and formal methods of knowledge organization. These were shown to include surface ontologies based in a knowledge management program, principles of business strategy, and organizational learning. KIMS was validated through a demonstration based on empirical data collected over a five-year program in a large aerospace company during its progress in applying the Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model

Cost Consciousness: Conceptual Development from a Management Accounting Perspective

Cost consciousness is a notion which appears in thousands of scientific articles belonging to a wide range of disciplines. Despite its common use, the scientific community has allocated marginal attention to the understanding of cost consciousness. In this dissertation, I argue that it is important to develop this understanding for a couple of reasons. On the one hand, given that one of the objectives of scientific writing is to clearly communicate knowledge among scholars, unclear notions can be considered as unwanted elements of scientific literature. On the other hand, and certainly more important, developing our understanding of cost consciousness can potentially provide interesting and insightful new windows for research. This dissertation addresses the conceptualization of cost consciousness particularly from a management accounting perspective. In accomplishing this objective, this dissertation develops two interconnected exercises: (i) a conceptual exercise aiming to understand what cost consciousness is from the perspective of management accounting scholars; and (ii) a theoretical exercise analyzing how cost consciousness could be driven in an organization. In addition, a case company has been used to enrich the conceptualization of the notion and illustrate the way in which the formulation presented in this work could be used to analyze cases where the institutionalization of cost consciousness is of interest. With respect to the conceptual exercise, this work has rigorously identified and reviewed articles from management accounting related journals where the cost consciousness notion appears. From these, the definitions, interpretations, determinants and results which management accounting scholars have associated with cost consciousness have been identified and inferred. The results underline the difficulty in defining the notion and the perception of cost consciousness as a holistic concept that encapsulates various forms of understanding and reflecting on cost related issues. Moreover, management accounting systems have been identified as elements which may play an important role in driving cost consciousness. In addition, although the results of cost consciousness tend to be perceived as positive, the notion has also been associated with negative outcomes. With respect to the theoretical exercise, this work draws on the Burns and Scapens Framework (BSF) which is mainly based on Old Institutional Economics. Also, by considering the recent work by various scholars who have contributed and criticized the BSF, I have provided an extension of the framework and a formulation which includes and replaces various elements that appear on the original BSF. The conceptual and theoretical exercises are interconnected because the identified and inferred definitions, interpretations, determinants and results, have been brought into the extended BSF to theorize on how cost consciousness could be institutionalized from a management accounting perspective. In particularly, the results suggest that management accounting systems may play a very active role in the institutionalization of cost consciousness. Moreover, this dissertation also underlines the potential role of routines, rules, exogenous forces and agents in the institutionalization process. Therefore, the institutionalization of cost consciousness requires a mish-mash of elements and mechanisms interacting between each other. This dissertation serves as a comprehensive platform for various avenues of research on cost consciousness which could be based not any more on hunches, but on knowledge and better grounded understanding

Multi-Method Framework for Development of Systemic, Technology-Driven Capability Concepts

Emerging technologies shape the operations of many commercial and military organisations, including the Australian Defence Force. Current capability development processes, grounded in the principles of systems engineering, focus on capability gaps rather than opportunities, often locking in incremental improvements but not transformative changes enabling new capabilities and processes. Furthermore, traditional systems engineering is framed in a way that equates capability with product, leading to single-technology stove-piped processes. By contrast, the study presented in this thesis seeks to design a methodological framework for development of systemic, technology-driven capability concepts that recognise capability as an emergent property of complex systems. The study draws on the body of knowledge in systems thinking and multi-method operations research to design the methodological framework and apply, evaluate and refine it across five concept development workshops within a multi-case study. The study findings support reducing the focus on current processes, use of boundary-mitigating steps to improve generation of ideas, and evolution of technology use cases during concept development. Higher-level, operational concepts are found to be more complex than lower-level tactical concepts; cyclical processes that include resupply produce concepts with higher dynamic complexity. Elicitation of impacts is shaped by the available time and discussion prompts. Importantly, concepts are best framed in terms of capability rather than technology, as capabilities are enabled by multiple interacting technological elements. This is reflected in the novel formalism of technological ecosystem maps, which reframes the discussion of capability options towards capability effects generated by technology groupings. For operations researchers seeking to design real-life interventions, the study demonstrates a traceable process of methodological evolution, with a novel application of boundary critique as the analytical lens for improvement. For capability developers, the study provides a fit-for-purpose methodology for exploring the opportunities presented by emerging technologies, intended to complement the existing capability development processes. The formalism of technological ecosystems lays the groundwork for reframing of capability development towards a more holistic framework, emphasising integration, sustainment, and long-term management of capability elements