The Trilogy of Science: Filling the Knowledge Management Gap with Knowledge Science and Theory

The international knowledge management field has different ways of investigating, developing, believing, and studying knowledge management. Knowledge management (KM) is distinguished deductively by know-how, and its intangible nature establishes different approaches to KM concepts, practices, and developments. Exploratory research and theoretical principles have formed functional intelligences from 1896 to 2013, leading to a knowledge management knowledge science (KMKS) concept that derived a grounded theory of knowledge activity (KAT). This study addressed the impact of knowledge production problems on KM practice. The purpose of this qualitative meta-analysis study was to fit KM practice within the framework of knowledge science (KS) study. Themed questions and research variables focused on field mechanisms, operative functions, principle theory, and relationships of KMKS. The action research used by American practitioners has not established a formal structure for KS. The meta-data-analysis examined 385 transdisciplinary peer-reviewed articles using social science, service science, and systems science databases, with a selection of interdisciplinary studies that had a practice-research-theory framework. Key attributes utilizing Boolean limiters, words, phrases and publication dates, along with triangulation, language analysis and coding through analytic software identified commonalities of the data under study. Findings reflect that KM has not become a theoretically saturated field. KS as the forensic science of KM creates a paradigm shift, causes social change that averts rapid shifts in management direction and uncertainty, and connects KM philosophy and science of knowledge. These findings have social change implications by informing the work of managers and academics to generate a methodical applied science

Toward Strategic Usability - User Knowledge as a Basis for New Service Development

Tämä työ tehtiin Elisa Oyj:ssä tuotekehitysprojektin lomassa syksyn 2007 ja kevään 2008 aikana. Tavoitteena oli tutustua strategisen käytettävyyden käsitteeseen ja selvittää, kuinka sitä voitaisiin hyödyntää luotaessa uuden tyyppisiä palveluita uusille markkinoille. Perinteisesti käytettävyyssuunnittelun roolina on ollut varmistaa, että kehitettävät tuotteet ovat tarkoituksenmukaisia ja helppoja käyttää sekä tarjoavat miellyttävän elämyksen. Strategisessa käytettävyydessä syvällistä käyttäjäymmärrystä hyödynnetään jo aiemmassa vaiheessa: päätettäessä, millaisia tuotteita aletaan ylipäänsä kehittää . Työn empiirinen osa koostuu kahdesta kokonaisuudesta. Käytettävyystyön roolia Elisalla tutkittiin kvalitatiivisen haastattelututkimuksen avulla. 13 päällikkö- ja johtajatason edustajan kanssa käytyjen keskustelujen pohjalta luotiin käsitys käytettävyyden roolista Elisan tuotteiden elinkaarimallissa. Toinen empiirinen kokonaisuus esittelee tuotekehitysprojektista saatuja kokemuksia. Hankkeessa kehitettiin Pelihylly-nimisen web-palvelun konsepti. Alkuperäisenä kimmokkeena projektille oli Elisan syksyllä 2006 toteuttama etnografinen Asiakaspäivätutkimus, jossa Elisan työntekijät jalkautuivat päiväksi asiakkaiden pariin selvittämään näiden arjessa kohtaamia ongelmia. Pelihyllyn suunnittelussa seurattiin tiiviin käyttäjäkeskeistä lähestymistapaa, ja käyttökokemus oli merkittävässä osassa palvelun suunnittelussa. Diplomityössä havaittiin, että vaikka Elisa suhtautuu kunnianhimoisesti uusien mahdollisuuksien tunnistamiseen ja haluaa hintakilpailun sijaan toimia palvelujohtajana, varsinaiset prosessit eivät aina sovellu iteratiiviseen käyttäjäkeskeiseen suunnitteluun. Myöskään käytettävyyden roolia ei ole varsinaisesti määritelty päätöksentekoprosessissa. Tämän vuoksi lopulliset tuotteet eivät usein vastaa alkuperäiseen tarpeeseen niin hyvin kuin olisi mahdollista. Pelihyllyä ei ole toteutettu valmiiksi tuotteeksi asti, mutta suunnitteluprosessi havainnollisti, kuinka alkuvaiheen tarkkaavaisella käyttäjien ymmärtämisellä kyettiin kehittämään palvelukonsepti, joka ratkaisi olemassa olevien kilpailijoiden ongelmia. Lisäksi se oli hyödyksi tunnistettaessa tarpeita, joita aiemmat palvelut eivät olleet huomioineet lainkaan.This thesis was written in conjunction with a service development project at the communications service company Elisa between the fall 2007 and spring 2008. The goal was to investigate the concept of strategic usability and find out how usability work could contribute to the process of creating new kind of services to new markets. Traditionally user-centered design has been used to ensuring that the developed products are both useful and easy and pleasant to operate. Strategic usability utilizes the profound user knowledge already at an earlier stage, when deciding what to develop. The empirical part of the thesis comprises of two components. A qualitative study was conducted to find out the current state of usability work at Elisa. Based on the discussions with 13 project and business managers, a general view of the role of usability in the product life-cycle model was formed. The other empirical component presents the experience gained from a service design project where a concept for the web-service Game Shelf was created. The roots of the project lie in the ethnographic Customer day study, in which Elisa employees spent a day observing the life of the customers. The approach to the design was highly user-centric and user experience was specifically considered throughout the process. In the thesis it was noticed that even though Elisa is ambitious about discovering new business opportunities and becoming the service leader instead of competing with prices, the existing processes are not always suitable for iterative, user-centered design. Moreover, usability lacks an official role in the decision-making process. This is why the final products often do not meet the original needs as well as they could. The Game Shelf service has not been realized but the design process demonstrated how early focus on users was helpful when designing a service concept that would solve the problems of the existing competitors. The approach was also beneficial for recognizing needs that had not been addressed at all by the earlier services

Direct-to-Physician Advertising, Depression, and the Advertised Female Patient

Direct-to-physician advertising is an important field to study because it has the ability to effect patient’s health. Historically, the marketing and advertising structure of the pharmaceutical industry has rewarded high decile prescribers. This incentive based system is inherently flawed as it encourages irrational prescribing behaviors. Since the 1950s, there has been a concern regarding the correlation between advertised promotion and physician’s prescribing behaviors. A central argument in this study is that there is a strong relationship between promotion and prescribing and that physicians are influenced by advertising. One class of medications that appear to influential via advertising is antidepressants. Previous research has indicated that women are most likely to be prescribed an antidepressant due to the over representation of women in medical journal antidepressant advertising. This study presents a narrative analysis of antidepressant advertising between 1990 and 2010. This timeframe is selected because it represents the rise of SSRIs, the biomedical model of science, and the deregulation of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. It is shown that the models depicted in antidepressant advertising over represent women by a ratio of 6:1 as compared to men. Additionally, the depiction of women is a distorted one as the model is positioned as being rather glamorous, educated, and quite wealthier than the depression candidate. According to epidemiology reports, people who live in poverty and have less of an educational attainment tend to suffer from depression. However, these are not the people who are depicted within the promotions which can mislead physicians about the depression patient. These portrayals further reflect the notion that depression has become regarded as being fashionable and some perceive it to be a lifestyle accessory. This is a disturbing consideration. The over representation of women in antidepressant advertising may result in the inappropriate prescribing and misdiagnosis of women for depression. Currently, women are misdiagnosed 30-50 percent of the time for depression. Through the re-evaluation of the biomedical model, the rethinking about the graphic design of advertisements and through the education of medical and health care students, the tendency for women’s health to be compromised may be reduced

Leadership Instruments Library (LIL) for Graduate Research

Created by Sam Nickels at the request of the School of Strategic Leadership Studies (SSLS) program at James Madison University, 2016-2017. Anyone should feel free to suggest updates, expand the information on instruments or add new instruments. Send the information to SSLS and we’ll screen the info before adding it to the library. Suggested changes/additions need to be well documented with citations. To provide corrected or new information, please contact the School of Strategic Leadership Studies at James Madison University: [email protected]. We hope you find it useful! Dr. Sam Nickels, former graduate assistant at SSLS and Dr. Karen Ford, Head, SSLS

Creating a Culture of Data-Driven Decision-Making

Researchers have consistently shown that a supportive culture is one of the most crucial success factors in the implementation of any big data solution. Creating a culture that supports data-driven decision-making is a difficult but ultimately required step in transforming an organization into one that can readily and successfully adopt business intelligence technologies. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the ways in which organizations can foster a culture of smarter decision-making and accountability so that businesses can improve operational metrics and ultimately profitability. Participants identified three major themes that drive the adoption of a data-driven culture. These themes included building trust between decision-makers and their data, developing a team-driven culture, and instituting data governance and standard work processes to maintain quality of systems

The utilization of artificial intelligence in online advertising and its perceived effectiveness

This study explores the utilization of Artificial Intelligence in online advertising process and the impact of using AI each stage in that process with the overall perceived effectiveness. It also provides a better understanding of the magnitude of using AI in the four stages of advertising online: namely consumer insights, ad creation, media planning and buying, and finally ad evaluation. Process model of AI utilization in online advertising is the conceptual model of the study, which is developed from the previous literature. A triangulation methodology is implemented to enhance the credibility of the research study and leads to a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. Online survey is conducted with digital advertisers worldwide from both agency and client side. Nonrandom sampling (N=60) was implemented to test 5 constructs from the perspective of the respondents. Three in-depth interviews were also conducted before and after the online questionnaire to analyze the findings and results and demonstrate insights on the five proposed research questions. Findings of the study showed beyond doubt that AI is stepping strongly and progressively in the four stages of the data-based online advertising process. Moreover, it significantly showed that there is a relationship between AI utilization in each stage and the following one. Finally, results indicated that using AI in each advertising stage promotes the perceived effectiveness of the overall online ad process

A Work place Study

This dissertation contributes to the existing body of knowledge on how we design computer systems, particularly multiuser software for knowledge sharing and creation in globally diffused companies. This is achieved by conducting a work place study of a global industrial engineering conglomerate which has the strategy of working with knowledge in the form of “best practices” meant to boost performance. The thesis explores the situation that workers are in, since they are meant to share and develop “best practices” knowledge in a portal based Knowledge Management System (KMS). The study indentifies a set of problems that prevents knowledge sharing from taking place to the degree to which management was specifically aiming. It was explored whether these problems could, to some degree, be mitigated by employing persuasive design, which is a new stance towards design where the aim is to directly seek to change the user’s behavior, i.e., persuading more knowledge sharing. The main contribution is an indication of an anomaly with regards to the strategic approach towards knowledge management, where knowledge sharing is seen as an effort by which companies can gain a competitive advantage by working with knowledge in a structured fashion. The issue is that the descriptions found in literature on strategic knowledge management do not address the many issues uncovered when conducting prolonged fieldwork among workers who engage in the activities that the literature seemingly takes for granted. Thus, many practical problems were uncovered that would need some level of mitigation before a company could hope to gain a strategic advantage from working with knowledge. This challenges the “stock" approach towards knowledge management, which seems to address only the management level of the organization. A contribution is also made in exploring the state-of-the-art of the emerging field of persuasive design. Persuasive design aims at enabling designers to create designs that deliberately change the user’s attitude or behavior. According to this new design tradition, the designer specifically designs with the aim of behavior transformation. The goal is a deliberate behavioral change, rather than supporting a set of existing tasks or a set of existing behaviors. The work presented shows how persuasive design is a very conceptual area of research, and that it is not a fitting approach for attaining a higher degree of participation in computer systems for knowledge sharing and creation. Persuasive design is thus not the remedy for the many problems found that prevent knowledge sharing from taking plac

Käyttäjäkeskeisten menetelmien käyttöönoton perustelut

Käyttäjäkeskeiseen suunnitteluun (User-Centered Design, UCD) on tarjolla lukuisia menetelmiä ja tekniikoita. Osa niistä keskittyy käyttäjätiedon keräämiseen ennen suunnittelua, osassa käyttäjiltä saadaan arvokasta palautetta, ja osassa nämä ominaisuudet yhdistyvät. Tutkimustulokset käyttäjäkeskeisen suunnittelun hyödyistä ovat kuitenkin melko neutraaleja. Käyttäjäkeskeisin menetelmin kehitetyn tuotteen arvioidaan tyydyttävän enemmän loppukäyttäjää ja olevan laadukkaampi kuin muiden menetelmien avulla kehitetyn tuotteen. Arviot säästetyistä kustannuksista tai kehitysajasta ovat hyvin varovaisia. Käyttäjäkeskeisyyttä perustelevilla asiantuntijoilla saattaakin olla vajetta argumenteista, joilla he voisivat vakuuttaa yrityksensä UCD-menetelmien hyödyllisyydestä. Päätökset tekniikoiden käytöstä tai käyttämättä jättämisestä tekee usein henkilö, jota kiinnostavat enemmän eurot kuin se, miten käyttäjien tyytyväisyys on parantunut. Argumenttien tulisikin todistaa käyttäjätyytyväisyyden ja kassavirran yhteyttä. Lisäksi oman yrityksen vakuuttamiseen tarvitaan ihmissuhdetaitoja ja tuntemusta yrityksen toiminnasta. Tutkielmassa selvitetään kirjallisuustutkimuksen ja haastattelujen avulla, mitä argumentteja UCD:n puolesta on, ja miten niitä on käytetty kymmenessä suomalaisessa IT-yrityksessä. Lisäksi selvitetään, mitä muita toimenpiteitä UCD:n uskottava perusteleminen vaatii. Taustakirjallisuuden avulla keinoja löytyi jo paljon. Lisäksi kymmentä käyttäjäkeskeisyyden asiantuntijaa haastattelemalla selvisi, että UCD:a edistäessä on tärkeää panostaa UCD-työn oikeaan ajoitukseen, ja että yrityksillä on aina asiakastiedon perustarve, jonka kautta UCD-asiantuntija voi saada yrityksen ajattelemaan myös käyttäjiä

Google and Apple’s Gale of Creative Destruction.

Creative destruction is an economic theory of innovation popularised by Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter. In this paper, Schumpeter’s theories are used to explain how radical technological innovations in information-intensive industries are influencing the erosion of traditional industry and market boundaries leading to the emergence of new competitive business models and strategies. Developments in digital technology has resulted in new technological shifts and market linkages resulting in dilemmas for the existing incumbents in traditional industries who find themselves increasingly trapped and victims of a new innovation logic. The new value innovation logic is being driven by entrepreneurs such as Page and Brin (Google) and Jobs (Apple) who are currently in the process of revolutionising the economic structures of many industries and creating new markets and organisational business models in a gale of creative destruction reminiscent of the theories developed by Sombart and Schumpeter. This creation of new market models and their impact on established industries are explained further in the value chain evolution theory and its corollary sustaining innovation classification-scheme. These theories reinforce the view that innovators, thinking in new and radical ways, provide sustainable new market developments and earn above the average revenues compared to incumbents, whose profit pools have eroded. This paper researches and analyses the impact that Google and Apple are having upon a broad range of information-intensive industries and the strategic options of the incumbent firms in the respective traditional industries in response to this radical change. Its purpose is to provide explanations of why and how radical innovators are able to redefine the rules of the market leading to economic growth and development. Keywords: creative destruction, prosumer, monetize, incumbents, institutionalizatio