Managing the KM Trade-Off: Knowledge Centralization versus Distribution

KM is more an archipelago of theories and practices rather than a monolithic approach. We propose a conceptual map that organizes some major approaches to KM according to their assumptions on the nature of knowledge. The paper introduces the two major views on knowledge ­objectivist, subjectivist - and explodes each of them into two major approaches to KM: knowledge as a market, and knowledge as intellectual capital (the objectivistic perspective); knowledge as mental models, and knowledge as practice (the subjectivist perspective). We argue that the dichotomy between objective and subjective approaches is intrinsic to KM within complex organizations, as each side of the dichotomy responds to different, and often conflicting, needs: on the one hand, the need to maximize the value of knowledge through its replication; on the other hand, the need to keep knowledge appropriate to an increasingly complex and changing environment. Moreover, as a proposal for a deeper discussion, such trade-off will be suggested as the origin of other relevant KM related trade-offs that will be listed. Managing these trade-offs will be proposed as a main challenge of KM

Knowledge Construction as Socially Embedded Collective Learning

This paper discusses how knowledge construction is a socially embedded collective learning through analyzing learning embodied in five specific patterns of knowledge construction. The analysis reveals that knowledge construction is socially imbedded in the empirical world and is generally a collective activity

Translation of Enterprise Architecture Concept to Facilitate Digital Transformation Initiatives in Vietnam: Processes, Mechanisms and Impacts

Governments around the world have increasingly adopted digital transformation (DT) initiatives to increase their strategic competitiveness in the global market. To support successful DT, governments have to introduce new governance logics and revise IT strategies to facilitate DT initiatives. In this study, we report a case study of how Enterprise Architecture (EA) concepts were introduced and translated into practices in Vietnamese government agencies over a span of 15 years. This translation process has enabled EA concepts to facilitate various DT initiatives such as e-government, digitalization, to name a few. Our findings suggest two mechanisms in the translation process: a theorization mechanism to generalize local practices into field-level abstract concepts, making them easier to spread, while a contextualization mechanism unpacks these concepts into practical, adaptable approaches, aligning EA with adopters\u27 priorities and increasing its chances of dissemination. Furthermore, our findings illustrate how translation happened when the initial concepts are ambiguous and not-well-understood by adopters. In this situation, there is a need for widespread experiments and sense-making among pioneers before field- and organizational-level translation can occur

Circle talks as situated experiential learning: Context, identity, and knowledgeability in \u27learning from reflection\u27

This article presents research that used ethnographic and sociolinguistic methods to study ways participants learn through reflection when carried out as a “circle talk.” The data indicate that participants in the event (a) invoked different contextual frames that (b) implicated them in various identity positions, which (c) affected how they could express their knowledge. These features worked together to generate socially shared meanings that enabled participants to jointly achieve conceptualization—the ideational role “reflection” is presumed to play in the experiential learning process. The analysis supports the claim that participants generate new knowledge in reflection, but challenges individualistic and cognitive assumptions regarding how this occurs. The article builds on situated views of experiential learning by showing how knowledge can be understood as socially shared and how learning and identity formation are mutually entailing processes

Knowledge development and creation in email

Newly created knowledge is increasingly viewed as a highly valuable source of competitive advantage for business. Email is explored in its recently recognized role as a place of organizational knowledge development and creation, employing discourse analysis of email conversations as the research approach. This paper describes a knowledge development lifecycle derived from the empirical study, and provides insight into the nature of knowledge development and creation in organizations. We found that in selected email conversations, employees naturally and intuitively build purpose driven new knowledge incrementally and iteratively, crystallizing knowledge under construction by submitting it repeatedly to a range of key stakeholders for comment, until a \u27consensus\u27 is reached regarding the outcome. Our findings identify the process of knowledge qualification in organizational knowledge creation, and suggest that organizational knowledge may be politically constructed. The research results have the potential to assist organizations in understanding and facilitating processes and conditions for knowledge creation and development. The study also highlights the potential for email as a key component in a company\u27s formal KM strategy.<br /

DYNAMIC CONTEXTUALIZATION IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK

Computer-mediated collaboration, a dominant mode of organizational communication particularly in dispersed and multinational organizations, introduces unique opportunities but also new problems. One of these problems is the higher risk of misunderstandings, which is more likely to occur in computer-mediated teamwork than in face-to-face teams (Cramton, 2001). Moreover, it may be particularly acute when distributed workers come from different functional backgrounds, holding different perspectives (Dougherty, 1992; Powell et al., 2004). Dispersed collaborations are also likely to suffer problems of culture since collaborators are embedded in a different local work setting with its own rules, language, histories, and myths (Armstrong & Cole, 2002). Current theories of communication suggest that misunderstanding may be reduced by contextualization, i.e., providing contextual information to explain a core message. However, a central hypothesize in the current research, is that contextualization is beneficial in some situations but not in others. Treating contextualization as a form of adaptive behavior, the research model aims to understand its contingent impact on performance in collaborative tasks. The motivation for contextualization is explained, arguing that it can be predicted by the extent to which the perspectives of the collaborators are different or shared: a difference of perspectives between collaborators motivates them to contextualize in order to increase mutual understanding and thereby increase performance. Computer support should also motivate communicators to contextualize by making it easier for them to do so. A controlled experiment tested these relationships in a collaborative machine-assembly task performed by dyads. The collaborators\u27 perspectives and the level of computer support were manipulated, and contextualization behavior, mutual understanding and performance were measured. Results show that contextualization is effective only for dyads with different perspectives and may be detrimental when perspectives are similar. When computer support is available, users may contextualize even if it is counterproductive. Therefore, computer-mediated collaboration should be designed to ensure only effective contextualization. Some potential practical implications for collaborative systems are offered

The analysis of mutual learning processes in the European employment strategy: a social constructivist approach

The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 summarizes the recent debate in the political science literature on analytical approaches to learning, which has gradually developed in a direction of being less and less individualistic. Section 3 follows up on this development and introduces a social constructivist approach to learning that redefines learning as changes in language-constituted relations to others. In section 4 this argument is elaborated into a model for mutual learning. Section 5 contains a qualitative analysis of the organisation of the EES in practice with regard to the possibilities of policy diffusion of the EES learning processes as predicted in the model in section 4. Section 6 deals with the conflictual views on the size and character of the learning processes of the EES in recent studies and proposes a new methodological path to investigate the mutual learning processes based upon a social constructivist approach. Section 7 is the conclusion of the article which sums up the examination of the both the various approaches to learning analysed in the paper and the evaluation of the possibilities of policy diffusion resulting from the learning processes.Mutual learning, European employment strategy, social constructivism

Progressing Context in Entrepreneurship Education: Reflections from a Delphi Study

Stimulating entrepreneurial agency among citizens, companies, and organizations is a central objective of many policymakers, potentially requiring arenas for innovation, networks of advisors, training, infrastructure, and finances, among other things. Nonetheless, central to agency is the individual’s own willingness and empowerment to engage. Some aspects of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial action have been argued to be broadly applicable across disciplines, geographies, and cultures, while others are significantly dependent upon a set of variables in which one is embedded. Thus, considering ways in which the contextual complexity of entrepreneurship (and education) is represented in entrepreneurship education is critical. Recent literature establishes that it is important to design for and with context in entrepreneurship education (Thomassen, et al., International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior &amp; Research 26(5):863–886, 2020), but we lack documented knowledge regarding how this can and potentially should be done. In this chapter, we aim to progress a research agenda by identifying current challenges and future opportunities brought forward by experts in entrepreneurship education research through a Delphi study in order to advance the contextualization of entrepreneurship education