Proposition of a method to design tailor-made knowledge management systems for small and medium enterprises

The aim of this paper is to propose a knowledge management system design method for small and medium enterprises that addresses the problems encountered on the existing ones. A literature review highlighted 5 main concepts that have a crucial role in knowledge management system design. To take these recommendations into account, a knowledge management system design method was designed. It uses the small and medium enterprises characteristics, needs and problems to select adapted knowledge management tools and practices, and offers a comprehensive and tailor-made knowledge management system. This method was used to design a knowledge management system for a high-tech small and medium enterprises from the navigation sector. It allowed to choose from the adapted knowledge management tools and practices and to write a set of requirements for the knowledge management system while taking the user into account, thus easing the knowledge management system implementation and ensuring its sustainability

Analysis and Development of an Online Knowledge Management Support System for a Community of Practice

The purpose of this study was to investigate how particular business practices, focusing on those occurring in multi-site non-governmental organization (NGOs), could be enhanced by use of a knowledge management system (KMS). The main objective of this KMS is to enhance business processes and save costs for a multi-site NGO through streamlining the organizational practices of knowledge creation, storage, sharing and application. The methodology uses a multiple perspective approach, which covers exploration of the problem space and solution space. Under exploration of problem space, interviews with employees of the NGO are done to identify core problem that the organization faced. Still under exploration of problem space, organization’s knowledge management maturity was assessed through an online questionnaire. The methodology then moved on to exploration of problem space. During the exploration of problem space, the requirements gathering and definition process was done through a combination of interviews with company employees and by completing a systematic literature review of best practices. The requirements were used to design system architecture and use-case models. The prototype for a Community of Practice (COP) support website was developed and investigated in test cases. The tests showed that the prototype system was able to facilitate asynchronous communication through the creation and management of events, creation and management of collaboration groups, creation of discussion topics and creation of basic pages. Furthermore, security capabilities were tested in terms of login functionality. Lastly page load times were tested for eight different scenarios. The system performance was found to be satisfactory because the scenarios covering crucial system requirements aspects had a response time of below 11 seconds. An exception was the landing page, which after login took 26 seconds to load. It is believed that creation of a platform that enables, and records, user interaction, easy of online discussions, managing groups, topics and events, are all major contributors to a successful knowledge management approach

Knowledge management in consultancy-involved process improvement projects: Cases from Chinese SMEs

Knowledge management (KM) is considered as an effective strategy to improve organisational performance. In its application to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), resource constraints mean that exploitation of knowledge from external sources, such as management consultants, is often needed. Drawing on the knowledge management literature, in particular the theory associated with liminality, this study explores practical KM issues encountered by Chinese SMEs when working with management consultants to introduce new business improvement practices from a multi-level practice-based perspective. A comparative case study is conducted focusing on two consultancy-involved process improvement projects in Chinese manufacturing SMEs. The case results suggest a clear KM strategy is needed at the outset of the project and SME managers and employees need to play a proactive role in the learning and adoption of new knowledge. The research is novel in that it is the first study to explore knowledge management and the notion of liminality within the context of consultancy-involved Chinese SME improvement projects. The paper culminates with two research propositions that require further empirical study. Implications of this research are provided for SME owner/managers and management consultants

Factors affecting the use of wiki to manage knowledge in a small company

This paper intends to present and discuss the findings of a case study analysis of the adoption and use of a wiki system by a small enterprise that is intended as a tool for managing the knowledge needed to successfully perform its business activities. The study aims at contributing to the still insufficient research on the factors influencing the use of new Web 2.0 technologies in small organisations to support internal knowledge management

Wikil baseeruva kasutusjuhendi loomine Tartu Ülikooli välisüliõpilastalituse näitel ning loomisprotsessi analüüs pehmete süsteemide meetodil (SSM)

Käesoleva magistritöö raames on wiki keskkonnas loodud sihtgrupipõhine juhend DA vastuvõtusüsteemi kasutajatele. Wiki on üks Veeb 2.0 tööriistu, mille tehnoloogiast tulenevad võimalused muudavad selle keskkonna kasutamise veebikeskkonnas lihtsaks ja mugavaks. Uue asja juurutamine organisatsiooni tasemel nõuab kõigilt osapooltelt arusaamist selle vajalikkusest. Wiki sobilikkus teadmusjuhtimise keskkonnana sõltub konkreetsest organisatsioonist ja wikile seatud eesmärkidest. Loodud DA elektroonilise avaldustesüsteemi kasutusjuhendi puhul on oluline, et probleemide tekkimisel oleks võimalik saata lahenduskäike linkidena, ühtlasi on wiki keskkonna eeliseks koostööd võimaldav sisu loomine, täiendamine ja muutmine

Kunnskapsledelse i organisasjoner som praktiserer brukerstøtte : en pragmatisk studie i Skatteetatens IT- og servicepartner

Masteroppgave i informasjonssystemer IS501 - Universitetet i Agder, 2016Bakgrunn: Skatteetatens IT- og servicepartner (SITS) opplever årlig en økning i antall brukerstøttehenvendelser fra etatens ansatte. På bakgrunn av dette ønsker de å lære mer om hvordan de kan innføre elementer fra kunnskapsledelse (Knowledge Management (KM)) i et forsøk på å bli bedre til å håndtere kunnskapen i organisasjonen, samt redusere antall brukerstøttehenvendelser som registreres og behandlingstiden av disse. SITS inviterte derfor til et samarbeidsprosjekt med masterstudenter fra Universitetet i Agder for å få en forskningsbasert tilnærming med formål om å forbedre brukerstøttefunksjonen gjennom å anvende kunnskapsledelse som løsning. Masteroppgaven bygget på følgende forskningsspørsmål; 1) Hvordan bør innføringen av kunnskapsledelse i organisasjoner gjennomføres? 2) Hvilke tiltak er sentrale for å oppnå effektiv kunnskapsledelse? 3) Hvordan kan kunnskapsledelse støtte og effektivisere organisasjoners brukerstøttefunksjon? Metode: Studien bygger på aksjonsforskning som tilnærming og en casestudie ble gjennomført hvor kvalitative og dialogbaserte intervjuer utgjorde den primære datakilden. Masteroppgaven bygger på en forstudie som ble utført høsten 2015 og en hovedstudie som ble gjennomført våren 2016, og totalt ble 12 intervjuer gjennomført. Utover dette ble interne dokumenter fra SITS anvendt som sekundære kilder for å få kontekstuell informasjon. SITS ønsker å integrere KM i sin forretningsstrategi, men innføring av kunnskapsledelse er krevende både tidsmessig og ressursmessig, og denne studien har derfor kun omfattet de to første stegene av en aksjonsplansyklus, diagnose av organisasjonen og planlegging av tiltak for kunnskapsledelse. Resultatene fra studien og forslagene som fremmes er dog en viktig begynnelse for SITS og deres arbeid med KM fremover. Resultater: Ansatte i SITS opplever en rekke utfordringer i arbeidet med brukerstøtte. Skatteetaten er en stor organisasjon med omkring 6500 ansatte totalt, og det er mange brukerhenvendelser som skal løses raskt og effektivt. Per i dag benytter SITS mange forskjellige systemer som har flere overlappende funksjoner. Dette har ledet til at mye av organisasjonens dokumentasjon (med dokumentasjon menes alle viktige kunnskapsdokumenter som andre i caseorganisasjonen har bruk for, samt informasjon om spesifikke brukerstøttesaker og løsninger) ligger spredt og det blir derfor utfordrende for brukerne å lokalisere og gjenfinne kunnskap. I tillegg er brukergrensesnittene tungvinte å forholde seg til, og dokumentasjonsarbeidet for brukerstøttefunksjonen blir vanskelig. Det foreligger få retningslinjer i forhold til hvilke systemer de forskjellige faggruppene skal benytte til ulike arbeidsoppgaver. Deltakerne i studien ytret også misnøye i forbindelse med SITS’ fokus på kompetanseutvikling og kurstilbud hvor det var forskjeller på kurs som ble tilbudt i de ulike faggruppene. I forbindelse med brukerstøtte opplevde de ansatte på tredjelinje at unødvendig mange brukerstøttehenvendelser videresendes ut i organisasjonen til tredjelinje, og at et mye høyere antall brukerstøttesaker i realiteten kan løses av førstelinje eller av brukerne selv. Konklusjon: For å bistå SITS i deres arbeid med kunnskapsledelse har vi basert på dataanalysen og tidligere KM-forskning utarbeidet et veikart (“roadmap”) med en rekke forslag til tiltak. Tiltakene innebærer blant annet å tilse at de ansatte får god kjennskap til KM-begreper, at organisasjonen innfører tydelige retningslinjer i forbindelse med utarbeidelsen av ny dokumentasjon og de ulike IT-systemenes bruksområder, implementering av et kunnskapsreservoar for å samle organisasjonens dokumentasjon, og utviklingen av et felles språk vedrørende kunnskapsledelse. Veikartet inkludert tiltakene utgjør det endelige produktet, artefakten, fra studien basert på fasene Diagnose og Planlegging. For å oppnå refleksjon og en foreløpig evaluering av veikartet, ble alle deltakerne i studien oppfordret til å gi en vurdering av foreslåtte tiltak. Tilbakemeldingene fra deltakerne belyste at tiltakene er gjennomførbare, men at deres samlede effekt vil medføre store forandringer på organisasjonen, og derfor må evalueres møysommelig. Enkelte deltakere stilte spørsmålstegn ved spesifikke tiltak, som innføringen av bonusordninger i forbindelse med kurstilbud, og implementeringen av en kommunikasjonskanal i brukerstøttesystemet Remedy. Selv om tiltakene er utarbeidet på bakgrunn av én caseorganisasjon, har veikartet overføringsverdi til andre organisasjoner som har utfordringer ved intern brukerstøttefunksjon og som ønsker å benytte kunnskapsledelse som løsningstilnærming. Utover veikartet retter oppgaven også søkelys på områder innenfor KM med begrenset forskning. Det foreslås at det forskes ytterligere på hvordan KM-elementer kan støtte og effektivisere brukerstøtte, og SITS oppfordres til å fortsette videre med prosjektet ved å gjennomføre de resterende fasene av aksjonsplansyklusen og evaluere effekten av planleggingen og de foreslåtte tiltakene.

Understanding the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the shaping of inter-organisational knowledge exchange (IOKE) practice: The context of European living labs

Inter-organizational knowledge exchange is an important process for stimulating innovation and improving collaboration among multiple organizations. With the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), this process could be greatly affected for effectiveness and efficiency. However, existing studies provide an insufficient understanding of how knowledge exchange processes are shaped by the nature of ICT in the context of inter-organisational settings. Therefore, this research attempts to address this research gap through conceptualising the role of ICT in the shaping of inter-organisational knowledge exchange (IOKE) practice by investigating the context of European Living Labs, as an exemplary inter-organisational collaboration setting. In methodological terms, this study adopts an inductive, qualitative research approach, and follows a combination of Grounded Theory, Multiple Case Study and Documentary Research, making use of in-depth semi-structured interviews with European Living Labs stakeholders and analysing Living Labs project documents. The data has informed the use of Practice Theory, Sociomateriality Theory, and Technology Affordance Theory at different levels of analysis to understand the research phenomena. This research has found that 1) ICT-based IOKE practice can be characterised by ICT affordances and constraints, human knowledgeabilities, and triple-layer contexts (inter-organisational context, intra-organisational context, and wider environmental context). 2) ICT mediates such enactment of knowledgeability by affording or constraining distinct human abilities that allow actors to accomplish their knowledge work or hold them back as they engage in knowledge exchange practice. Diverse ICT affordances (e.g., cross-distance networking, instant workaround) and constraints (e.g., accessing, communication continuity) can mediate the enactment of four different types of knowledgeabilities: inter-connecting, interactive learning, co-creating, and co-ordinating. 3) Different knowledgeabilities, their associated ICT affordances/constraints, and their embedded contexts are inter-related, and they co-evolve over time across the project lifecycle. This has been conceptualised into an ICT-based IOKE practice framework (integrated) and its three variations (three variated frameworks for different project lifecycle stages). The findings have strong theoretical and practical implications that signal the salient areas for future research to study, particularly for ICT affordance studies

Exploring knowledge sharing through social media among members of the African Community of Practice.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.This study sought to examine the extent of social media use for knowledge sharing among members of the African Community of Practice (AfCoP), a distributed community of practice of development practitioners. It also sought to find the factors affecting knowledge sharing through social media among AfCoP members. The study followed a pragmatic approach using mixed methods to collect data through a survey, semi-structured interviews and content analysis on the AfCoP knowledge sharing platform. The study revealed that social media is providing new ways through which tacit and codified knowledge is shared in distributed communities. Several types of social media were found to support various knowledge sharing activities including learning, networking, collaboration and expert location. Social Capital and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) factors were found to play an important role in knowledge sharing behaviours among AfCoP members. Social interaction ties, trust, norms of reciprocity, identification, shared language and shared vision significantly correlated with the knowledge sharing intentions of AfCoP members and the quality of knowledge shared on the AfCoP platform. Perceived usefulness also correlated with both knowledge sharing intentions of members and the quality of knowledge shared on the platform, while perceived ease of use correlated with the quality of knowledge shared on the AfCoP platform. Members were also motivated to participate on the AfCoP knowledge sharing platform by a desire to improve their career practices and to encounter professional opportunities on the platform. The challenges members encountered in their pursuit of sharing knowledge on the AfCoP platform included: lack of time and an unwillingness to exert the necessary effort to meaningfully participate on the platform, lack of participation, insufficient incentives for participation and lack of financial guarantee for the sustainability of AfCoP. The study demonstrates that social media can bridge challenges of distance and physical location through facilitating the sharing of tacit and explicit knowledge despite one’s location. To encourage knowledge sharing through social media, social capital and TAM factors must be addressed. The study also adds to empirical evidence on the role of social media in facilitating knowledge sharing among development sector practitioners from an African context