The effect of technology disruption on organisational health: mediating effect of competence adequacy and moderating effect of innovation capacity and competence building

As a world’s fastest growing telecommunication market, India is undergoing evolutionary changes in telecommunication technologies. Rapidly changing communication technology has been posing innumerable challenges to the telecommunication companies in India for adequate skill availability and at the same time significantly changing competence requirements. The recognition of competence adequacy as a key factor to sustain organizational health in an increasingly competitive telecommunication sector has opened up several possibilities of competence based research. The study examined the inverse effect of technology disruption on competence adequacy and subsequently on the organizational health. Further, the organization’s intervention to competence building and innovation capacity was also put through the moderating tests as balancing factors. Knowledge Evolution Theory underpins this study framework to highlight the competence issues caused by technology disruption. This quantitative study was conducted in India among four leading Telecommunication firms. An online questionnaire was administered to managers from the firms who were selected using stratified random sampling. The eight hypotheses of this study were tested with Structural Equation Modelling using AMOS software. The results of the study found significant positive effects of competence adequacy, innovation capacity and competence building on organisational health. Secondly, technology disruption was found to have significant negative relationship with both competence adequacy and organisational health. In addition, the interaction of competence building and innovation capacity on the path of technology disruption and competence adequacy significantly moderated the relationship and finally, competence adequacy was found to have a significant mediating effect on the relationship between technology disruption and organisational health. The study provides new directions to the practising human resource professionals to improve the competence adequacy in high technology industries especially among telecommunication companies. The results of the study also highlights the widening technology skill gap present in telecommunication industry in India. The findings of this study also have pointed out the importance of innovation capacity as balancing factor in technology firms in the wake of evolutionary changes in telecommunication technology

Using explicit knowledge of groups to enhance firm productivity: A data envelopment analysis application

Background: The telecommunication industry is globally recognised to be a knowledgeintensive industry where high levels of technological sophistication are a key determinant of success and performance. Consequently, existing research has examined the role of labour hours and the firm’s capital on productivity. Nonetheless, research is yet to relate, with empirical evidence, productivity gains that accrue to organisations as a direct function of knowledge work and knowledge workers, especially with respect to group-explicit knowledge usage in emerging economies such as Nigeria. The adoption of data envelopment analysis further provides originality in the area of benchmarking group-explicit knowledge in telecommunication firms to enhance productivity. As such, this research takes on a scientific investigation to fill this gap. Aim: The purpose of this research work was to determine the influence of group-explicit knowledge on the productivity of telecommunication organisations. Setting: The setting of this research is composed of the four leading telecommunication firms in Nigeria and their customer service centres. Methods: Based on a sample size of 42 customer service centres of the four most active global system for mobile communications organisations in Lagos state and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria, the research adopted the output-oriented data envelopment analysis model to show the influence of group-explicit knowledge on productivity. Results: The results showed that 15 decision-making units (DMUs) (representing 36%) were found to be technically efficient using the constant return to scale approach, while only 12 DMUs (representing about 28.6%), based on variable return to scale approach, were found to productively engage their present input resources in outputs that achieve optimal productivity for the firm. Conclusion: Group-explicit knowledge dimensions that were investigated in this study significantly influence productivity of firms in Nigeria’s telecommunication industry. It was recommended that DMUs that were identified to be productivity deficient should hold resources input constant while their employees made efforts to scale up operations to enhance productivity

Competitive Intelligence Practices And Performance Of Firms Listed On The Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya

Performance is critical for every listed firm, as it enhances shareholder’s value and capability to generate earnings from invested capital. Some of the firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) have been performing poorly as indicated by the rising number of firms issuing profit warnings. The competitive business environment is continuously working to drive down the rate of return on invested capital. To counter these competitive forces, firms have resorted to gathering information at their disposal and converting it into competitive intelligence through analysis and human judgment. This study sought to determine the effect of competitive intelligence practices on performance of firms listed on the NSE. Firm performance was evaluated using both financial and non-financial measures. The non-financial measures used in the study were goal achievement and customer satisfaction, while Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) were the financial measures used. The target population was the sixty firms listed on the Nairobi securities exchange. Primary data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire; while secondary data was obtained from the firm’s published annual reports available at the NSE using a document review guide. Quantitative data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicate that competitive intelligence practices have a positive and a statistically significant effect on the non-financial performance of firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The intelligence practices were found to have a positive but statistically insignificant effect on the financial performance of listed firms. Managers of listed firms should raise the utilization level of competitive intelligence practices to enable the firms to make accurate predictions on changes in the business environment, compete better in the marketplace against rivals, improve on innovation and automation, track competitors’ activities and improve the competitiveness of their firms by identifying threats and opportunities before they become obvious. The study suggests that future researches should focus on extending knowledge on competitive intelligence practices to non-listed corporate sector firms to support the generalization of the findings to all sectors in the economy

Knowledge management practices and the enhancement of customer capital: the importance of time

Actualmente, los responsables de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES) debido al hecho de tener que vigilar continuamente sus empresas a la búsqueda de mejoras en las relaciones con sus clientes y trabajadores, están otorgando un papel cada vez más estratégico a las prácticas de gestión del conocimiento. No obstante, hay situaciones donde las organizaciones y sus miembros se enfrentan a entornos cada vez más inciertos, por lo que es necesario reconsiderar las prácticas de gestión del conocimiento que se han venido desarrollando en la empresa desde sus inicios. Estas prácticas, en forma de procesos y rutinas, pueden basarse tanto en conocimiento tácito como explícito y también necesitan ser continuamente reconsideradas de cara a la captación de nuevo conocimiento. En tales circunstancias, sería necesario modificar e incluso eliminar parte del conocimiento existente al objeto de asegurarnos de que los empleados tienen acceso a conocimientos lo suficientemente actualizados como para que mantengan o garanticen las relaciones que las PYMEs tienen con sus clientes. Nuestro trabajo examina el impacto que un contexto de “mentalidad abierta” (openminded) en la organización existente en un momento dado (T) tiene sobre las actuaciones que intentan reconsiderar los conocimientos organizativos en un momento posterior (T+1). Analizamos además la relaciones entre los procesos de aprendizaje/conocimiento explorativo y aplicado sobre el capital relacional. Se utiliza para ello evidencias empíricas procedentes de 107 PYMES del sector de las telecomunicaciones en España, utilizando la técnica PLS.Actualmente, los responsables de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES) debido al hecho de tener que vigilar continuamente sus empresas a la búsqueda de mejoras en las relaciones con sus clientes y trabajadores, están otorgando un papel cada vez más estratégico a las prácticas de gestión del conocimiento. No obstante, hay situaciones donde las organizaciones y sus miembros se enfrentan a entornos cada vez más inciertos, por lo que es necesario reconsiderar las prácticas de gestión del conocimiento que se han venido desarrollando en la empresa desde sus inicios. Estas prácticas, en forma de procesos y rutinas, pueden basarse tanto en conocimiento tácito como explícito y también necesitan ser continuamente reconsideradas de cara a la captación de nuevo conocimiento. En tales circunstancias, sería necesario modificar e incluso eliminar parte del conocimiento existente al objeto de asegurarnos de que los empleados tienen acceso a conocimientos lo suficientemente actualizados como para que mantengan o garanticen las relaciones que las PYMEs tienen con sus clientes. Nuestro trabajo examina el impacto que un contexto de “mentalidad abierta” (openminded) en la organización existente en un momento dado (T) tiene sobre las actuaciones que intentan reconsiderar los conocimientos organizativos en un momento posterior (T+1). Analizamos además la relaciones entre los procesos de aprendizaje/conocimiento explorativo y aplicado sobre el capital relacional. Se utiliza para ello evidencias empíricas procedentes de 107 PYMES del sector de las telecomunicaciones en España, utilizando la técnica PLS

Factors shaping the evolution of electronic documentation systems

The main goal is to prepare the space station technical and managerial structure for likely changes in the creation, capture, transfer, and utilization of knowledge. By anticipating advances, the design of Space Station Project (SSP) information systems can be tailored to facilitate a progression of increasingly sophisticated strategies as the space station evolves. Future generations of advanced information systems will use increases in power to deliver environmentally meaningful, contextually targeted, interconnected data (knowledge). The concept of a Knowledge Base Management System is emerging when the problem is focused on how information systems can perform such a conversion of raw data. Such a system would include traditional management functions for large space databases. Added artificial intelligence features might encompass co-existing knowledge representation schemes; effective control structures for deductive, plausible, and inductive reasoning; means for knowledge acquisition, refinement, and validation; explanation facilities; and dynamic human intervention. The major areas covered include: alternative knowledge representation approaches; advanced user interface capabilities; computer-supported cooperative work; the evolution of information system hardware; standardization, compatibility, and connectivity; and organizational impacts of information intensive environments

Extending IT infrastructures in the service sector organisations through enterprise resource planning – a telecom case study

Copyright @ 2012 ISEing.Service Sector Organisations (SSOs) have significantly focused on adopting and implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to automate their prime business processes, enhance organisational productivity with lower costs and prompt service delivery to fulfil consumer demands. Thus, ERP systems are considered as a principal source to provide imperative information vital for strategic decision making process. On the contrary, ERP systems adoption and implementation is also highly considered as a challenging and expensive process that not only requires rigorous efforts but also demands to have an exhaustive investigation of influential factors that are critical to the adoption and implementation of ERP systems. As a result, the authors exhibit that it is of great significance to investigate this area within SSOs. In so doing, this paper thus focuses on the ERP critical success factors from five different categories such as: stakeholders; process; technology; organisation; and project based on the literature analysis. These perspectives comprise of 24 factors that are imperative for a successful ERP adoption and implementation. These factors are validated through an in-depth qualitative single case study based research. The findings from the literature and empirical demonstrate that most of the factors influencing the decision making process for ERP adoption and implementation are highly significant with exception to few that have either low or medium importance

Using ICT tools to manage knowledge: a student perspective in determining the quality of education

Within the e-learning context of a university, technology has the potential to facilitate the knowledge interaction between the source (instructor) and the recipient (students). From a literature review, it can be concluded that prior studies have not explored the types of channels that encourage knowledge transfer in this environment. For example, how explicit knowledge travels through the e-learning environment and goes through interaction processes and is received and acquired is largely unknown. According to Alavi & Leidner (2001), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can help speed up the processes of transferring knowledge from those who have knowledge to those seeking knowledge. Within the university context, technologies such as email, Internet, IRC chat, bulletin boards and tools such as WebCT and BlackBoard have the potential to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and act as a link between source and recipient. Effective knowledge transfer has to consider effective knowledge acquisition, which are therefore inexplicably linked. Nonaka's spiral model addresses knowledge acquisition through spiraling processes in which an individual would be able to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge and vice versa. According to Nonaka & Takeuchi (1995) there are four types of interaction, which give way to the conversion of one form of knowledge into another, namely tacit-to-tacit, tacit-to-explicit, explicit-to-tacit and explicit-to-explicit. In an academic environment, this can be studied as the source, either transferring tacit or explicit knowledge, and similarly as the recipient, receiving knowledge either in tacit or explicit form. Nonaka & Takeuchi (1995) also refer to this as the SECI model, where SECI stands for Socialisation, Externalisation, Combination and Internalisation. This 'Research in Progress' reports the outcomes of a study undertaken to understand how and to what extent knowledge spiraling processes and accompanying characteristics of SECI can be ICT-enabled to contribute towards the studying and learning processes for university education. A survey instrument was developed for this purpose and it is currently undergoing peer-review and other customary validity and reliability tests. Once the instrument is validated, it will be administered on about 50 tertiary students. It is hoped that the results obtained from this survey will be reported in the QIK 2005 conference

The impact of teamwork quality on new product development cycle time : Evidence from Saudi Arabia Telecom Industry

The research filled a gap in existing knowledge regarding the impact of teamwork quality on new product development (NPD) cycle time through the mediation of internal market orientation in the telecommunication industry in Saudi Arabia. The present research also considered environmental turbulence as a moderator in the relationship between teamwork quality and NPD cycle time. Specifically, this research extended previous effort done by providing evidence that high teamwork quality and internal market orientation could decrease the time taken in producing new products or services. Random sampling was used to select respondents for a survey from among members of NPD teams in Saudi telecommunications firms with total respondents 149 teams and response rate of 88.67 percent. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the direct and indirect relationships between teamwork quality, internal market orientation, environmental turbulence, and NPD cycle time, while path coefficient and assessment of measurement and structural model used to test the research hypotheses. Findings indicate that five out of six teamwork quality factors had significant effects on NPD cycle time but not on communication among teamwork members. Internal market orientation was found to affect positively NPD cycle time. Internal market orientation fully mediated the relationship between balance of member contribution and mutual support, and NPD cycle time. Internal market orientation partially mediated communication, coordination, efforts and cohesion, and NPD cycle time. Environmental turbulence moderated the relationship between two factors of teamwork quality, namely, communication and coordination, and NPD cycle time. Environmental turbulence did not moderate balance of member contribution, mutual support, effort and cohesion. The findings suggest that managers should facilitate an environment conducive to teamwork. The study also provides a theoretical understanding of how teamwork qualities drive new product development cycle time. Recommendations for future research and limitations of the study are also highlighted

The relationship between individual organizational and interpersonal factors and tacit knowledge sharing with usage the mediator

The main focus of this study is twofold. Firstly, the thesis attempts to examine the direct relationship between individual (individual attitude, organizational commitment, and knowledge self-efficacy), organizational (organizational climate, management support, reward system and organizational structure), and interpersonal (interpersonal trust and social network) factors, and tacit knowledge sharing. Secondly, it is to examine the mediating effect of information and communication technology (ICT) usage on the relationship between individual, organizational and interpersonal factors, and tacit knowledge sharing. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to the technical staff of ICT sector in Jordan. Out of 400, only 375 questionnaires were returned. However, only 365 were usable for further analysis, representing a response rate of 92.75%. Hypotheses for direct relationships were tested using multiple regression, while the mediating effect were tested using the Preacher and Hayes analyses. Results indicated that individual attitude, knowledge self-efficacy, organizational climate, organizational structure, management support and interpersonal trust were significantly related to tacit knowledge sharing. However, the mediating analysis showed that ICT usage only partially mediated the relationship between knowledge self-efficacy, organizational climate, organizational structure and interpersonal trust, and tacit knowledge sharing. The current research have several implications. Knowledge wise, it provides understanding on the factors that affects tacit knowledge sharing. Practise wise, it suggests to managers that they should focus on providing the right management support, organizational structure and climate for sharing tacit knowledge. In addition, any practices that could promote organizational commitment, knowledge self-efficacy and interpersonal trust should also be implemented. The use of ICT should also be enforced so as to facilitate tacit knowledge sharing. Besides that, suggestions were also made for further research to be conducted the exploration of the variables tested in this study on other settings, and with different sample frames, in order to achieve a more robust finding towards a better understanding of the role of individual, interpersonal and organizational factors on tacit knowledge sharin

Using explicit knowledge of groups to enhance firm productivity: A data envelopment analysis application

Background: The telecommunication industry is globally recognised to be a knowledge-intensive industry where high levels of technological sophistication are a key determinant of success and performance. Consequently, existing research has examined the role of labour hours and the firm’s capital on productivity. Nonetheless, research is yet to relate, with empirical evidence, productivity gains that accrue to organisations as a direct function of knowledge work and knowledge workers, especially with respect to group-explicit knowledge usage in emerging economies such as Nigeria. The adoption of data envelopment analysis further provides originality in the area of benchmarking group-explicit knowledge in telecommunication firms to enhance productivity. As such, this research takes on a scientific investigation to fill this gap. Aim: The purpose of this research work was to determine the influence of group-explicit knowledge on the productivity of telecommunication organisations. Setting: The setting of this research is composed of the four leading telecommunication firms in Nigeria and their customer service centres. Methods: Based on a sample size of 42 customer service centres of the four most active global system for mobile communications organisations in Lagos state and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria, the research adopted the output-oriented data envelopment analysis model to show the influence of group-explicit knowledge on productivity. Results: The results showed that 15 decision-making units (DMUs) (representing 36%) were found to be technically efficient using the constant return to scale approach, while only 12 DMUs (representing about 28.6%), based on variable return to scale approach, were found to productively engage their present input resources in outputs that achieve optimal productivity for the firm. Conclusion: Group-explicit knowledge dimensions that were investigated in this study significantly influence productivity of firms in Nigeria’s telecommunication industry. It was recommended that DMUs that were identified to be productivity deficient should hold resources input constant while their employees made efforts to scale up operations to enhance productivity