Bridging thought worlds of an academic CoP and IT support

This paper reports a case study of a Community of Practice (CoP) of tertiary educators in information technology (IT), who seek ways to obtain adequate IT support to match their particular work environment. A facilitated workshop sought to bring members of the CoP and a key representative of the central IT department together with the aim of creating common ground for improved communication and collaboration. Subsequent individual interviews explored perceptions, boundaries and potential boundary spanning opportunities. While literature argues that shared domain knowledge and associated language should alleviate boundary issues, we found that in some circumstances it might intensify them.<br /

Financing University Research

While the detailed mechanisms of the interplay of knowledge creation and economic growth have been discussed in great detail by endogenous growth theory, this paper is interested in assessing the role that universities play in the knowledge based economy. It does so at the example of best practice scenarios, as currently being undertaken by the University of Oxford, U.C. Berkeley, the M.I.T. and Chalmers School of Technology. It argues that key to successful research commercialization is the leverage of clusters and networks that assure knowledge flows between universities and business. We call this the ‘Third Way’ of university research commercialization, which focuses on systemic change, rather than on single stakeholder intervention. It reflects a novel generation of knowledge policies that focuses on training, awareness raising and the leverage of cluster effects, rather than the development of physical infrastructure (i.e. science parks). This is a unique approach that outperforms existing best practice in many ways; i.e. it focuses on the leverage of networks among the various academic institutions, rather than repeating the traditional ‘one university – one technology transfer office’ approach. The ‘Third Way’ also outperforms existing best practices by adopting latest trends in intellectual property management , such as online trading, perceiving intellectual property as a financial asset and leveraging open innovation for improving patent quality. Organizational values, structures & procedures of various actors (business, academia, government) are recognized and different institutional cultures are sought to be overcome through boundary spanning. The competing demands and interests of business and academia are reflected through the introduction of ‘social responsible university research commercialization’, as currently undertaken by U.C. Berkeley.Technology Transfer, Research Funding, Intellectual Property, Chalmers School of Technology, U.C. Berkeley, Oxford University

Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams: An exploratory study.

Modern organizations face many significant challenges because of turbulent environments and a competitive global economy. Among these challenges are the use of information and communication technology (ICT), a multicultural workforce, and organizational designs that involve global virtual teams. Ad hoc teams create both opportunities and challenges for organizations and many organizations are trying to understand how the virtual environment affects team effectiveness. Our exploratory study focused on the effects of cultural diversity and ICT on team effectiveness. Interviews with 41 team members from nine countries employed by a Fortune 500 corporation were analyzed. Results suggested that cultural diversity had a positive influence on decision‐making and a negative influence on communication. ICT mitigated the negative impact on intercultural communication and supported the positive impact on decision making. Effective technologies for intercultural communication included e‐mail, teleconferencing combined with e‐Meetings, and team rooms. Cultural diversity influenced selection of the communication media

The Evolving Role of Supply Chain Managers in global Channels of Distribution and Logistics Systems

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Purpose – Supply chains have become a strategic strength to many firms due to the nature of the globalization of business. The past roles of supply chain managers have changed dramatically and now also include various new duties that will enhance firm competitiveness due to their boundary spanning nature and the new focus of learning organizations. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This was a theoretically developed paper exploring trust, learning organizations, and supply chains. Findings – Researchers are now focussing on the relationship among the supply chain network through the paradigm of relational marketing as the governance structures of contractual arrangements globally cannot be anticipated. Originality/value – The research through the lens of relational marketing explores how supply chain managers’ core duties are now compounded by global/cultural nuances in respect to implicit knowledge acquisition and relationship development through strong-form trust

Enhancing Employee Communication Behaviors for Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Crisis Situations: Strategic Management Approach for Effective Internal Crisis Communication

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the organizational effectiveness of internal crisis communication within the strategic management approach, whether it enhanced voluntary and positive employee communication behaviors (ECBs) for sensemaking and sensegiving. By doing so, this study provides meaningful insight into: new crisis communication theory development that takes a strategic management approach, emphasizing employees’ valuable assets from an organization, and effective crisis communication practice that reduces misalignment with employees and that enhances voluntary and positive ECBs for the organization during a crisis. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a nationwide survey in the USA among full-time employees (n=544). After dimensionality check through confirmatory factor analysis, this study tested hypothesis and research question by conducting ordinary least squares multiple regression analyses using STATA 13. Findings This study found that strategic internal communication factors, including two-way symmetrical communication and transparent communication, were positive and strong antecedents of ECBs for sensemaking and sensegiving in crisis situations, when controlling for other effects. The post hoc analysis confirmed theses positive and strong associations across different industry areas. Originality/value This study suggests that voluntary and valuable ECBs can be enhanced by listening and responding to employee concerns and interests; encouraging employee participation in crisis communication; and organizational accountability through words, actions and decisions during the crisis. As a theoretical implication, the results of this study indicate the need for crisis communication theories that emphasize employees as valuable assets to an organization

From Traditional to Virtual Organization: Implications for Work Unit Boundaries

Boundary and virtual organisation theory were used to study the implications of organisation level virtualisation for work units. A single case study in a geographically dispersed public sector organisation revealed multiple implications of the coexistence of traditional and virtual work units. Different quality ICT access for traditional and virtual work units was found to result in conflicting expectations about the speed of information sharing. Exclusive reliance on time-based performance measures to control the allocation of staff to virtual work units compromised knowledge sharing, whilst virtual team arrangements and poor formal knowledge capture simultaneously increased workers’ dependence on informal exchanges. Although the fragmentation of knowledge that resulted from the virtual work arrangements threatened operational performance, there was no evidence of mitigating initiatives. The research contributes to the currently limited understanding of the virtualisation process by proposing an empirically derived framework for analysing the challenges emerging from the coexistence of traditional and virtual work units. The proposed framework correlates the networking, restructuring and organisational learning aspects of the virtualisation process with their implications for interfaces, permeability and boundedness of work units. The findings are also of interest to practitioners in traditional organisations seeking to exploit the potential of virtual organisation

Measuring Connective Capacity throughout the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Network

The Gulf of Mexico provides substantial resources along its 1,680-mile coastline, spanning 5 U.S. states and providing millions of pounds of seafood and hundreds of millions in revenue annually. Continued success of the fishery relies on the ability of a large, complex, multiagency network to find the best solutions to balance the needs of humans, as well as ensure long-term sustainability. Organizations with varying objectives require effective communication when addressing intricate ecosystem-based management topics such as endangered species and regional economies. To better understand the connectivity within the Gulf fishery management network, an IRB reviewed survey was dispersed to the largest, most influential organizations. The survey anonymously measures perceptions and interactions with other organizations, with a supplemental semi-structured interview to allow for researchers to investigate past the limitations of the survey. Metrics such as four dimensions of trust and three dimensions of influence are used to understand connective capacity

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 9: Information intermediaries and the transfer of aerospace Scientific and Technical Information (STI): A report from the field

From the NASA/DOD survey data, there can be no way of inferring what strategy for knowledge transfer is best; indeed, given the fact that the respondents were all presumably well qualified professionals, the data tend to call into serious question the idea that any one model might meet the needs of more than a distinct minority of possible users. The evidence to date appears to reinforce the concept that different information environments take many different shapes, and interact with each other and with formal data transmission sources in many different and equally valuable ways. Any overall strategy for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of scientific and technical information sharing must take this divergence into account, and work toward the creation of systems that reinforce true interactive knowledge utilization rather than simply disseminating data

Fostering implementation of health services research findings into practice: a consolidated framework for advancing implementation science

Abstract Background Many interventions found to be effective in health services research studies fail to translate into meaningful patient care outcomes across multiple contexts. Health services researchers recognize the need to evaluate not only summative outcomes but also formative outcomes to assess the extent to which implementation is effective in a specific setting, prolongs sustainability, and promotes dissemination into other settings. Many implementation theories have been published to help promote effective implementation. However, they overlap considerably in the constructs included in individual theories, and a comparison of theories reveals that each is missing important constructs included in other theories. In addition, terminology and definitions are not consistent across theories. We describe the Consolidated Framework For Implementation Research (CFIR) that offers an overarching typology to promote implementation theory development and verification about what works where and why across multiple contexts. Methods We used a snowball sampling approach to identify published theories that were evaluated to identify constructs based on strength of conceptual or empirical support for influence on implementation, consistency in definitions, alignment with our own findings, and potential for measurement. We combined constructs across published theories that had different labels but were redundant or overlapping in definition, and we parsed apart constructs that conflated underlying concepts. Results The CFIR is composed of five major domains: intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, characteristics of the individuals involved, and the process of implementation. Eight constructs were identified related to the intervention (e.g., evidence strength and quality), four constructs were identified related to outer setting (e.g., patient needs and resources), 12 constructs were identified related to inner setting (e.g., culture, leadership engagement), five constructs were identified related to individual characteristics, and eight constructs were identified related to process (e.g., plan, evaluate, and reflect). We present explicit definitions for each construct. Conclusion The CFIR provides a pragmatic structure for approaching complex, interacting, multi-level, and transient states of constructs in the real world by embracing, consolidating, and unifying key constructs from published implementation theories. It can be used to guide formative evaluations and build the implementation knowledge base across multiple studies and settings.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/1/1748-5908-4-50.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/2/1748-5908-4-50-S1.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/3/1748-5908-4-50-S3.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/4/1748-5908-4-50-S4.PDFhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/5/1748-5908-4-50.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78272/6/1748-5908-4-50-S2.PDFPeer Reviewe