Defining and Measuring "Knowledge Capital" in Health Service

"Knowledge capital" comes in many forms based on the context of its creation, some in terms of pure knowledge, some of which is public good and some rival. Furthermore, some of its forms are less easy to describe since it includes custom, practice and understanding of how best to organise things. Practitioners and academics, across disciplines of organisational management, economics, and accounting define the concept of "knowledge capital" (KC) or "intellectual capital" (IC) as human skills enhanced by organisational structures, resources and relationships to form a composite knowledge based resource, which creates competencies, capability and capacity that generate revenue for the organisation. Health service provision is based on the transfer of tacit, explicit, established and emerging knowledge. The capture of learning gained during service delivery is therefore critical for the safety, effectiveness and quality of service provision co-creating knowledge based resources including enhanced understanding, skills, processes and routines. The need arises, therefore, to understand if the way resources are managed should change to take account of the generation of more or less of something that is of value to health organisations and systems. The joint production and "public goods" features of inexhaustibility and non-exclusivity, in certain circumstances, make the measurement of "knowledge capital" in health challenging. The management and maintenance of this key resource in health service requires it to be recognised and measured, although there are problems in defining "knowledge capital". There are challenges in measuring it and even bigger ones in valuing it. There is a need, therefore, to start with a clearer understanding on what it is and then attempt to measure it. This research through an empirical case study highlights the co-creation of, explores its nature and attempts to measures the scale of "knowledge capital" in health service, as a resource. The models "knowledge creation cycle in health" and "dimensions of knowledge capital in health" developed from the literature review are investigated in the study of the specialised pulmonary hypertension (PH) services at Papworth hospital, a NHS specialist centre. The additional dimensions of "public goods in health" and "capacity in health" are surfaced in this study. Management accountancy method of costing, informed by the economic concept of opportunity cost of capital, provides a helpful mechanism for the measurement of this difficult to measure resource in this study. This method is based on the estimates of the inputs of joint production of "knowledge capital" using the "bottom up" approach being recommended by NHS guidance. This case study at Papworth hospital reveals that the scale of the value of stock of "knowledge capital" can be more than twice the value of its tangible assets. This highlights the necessity for management strategies of health organisations and health systems to recognise fully its co-creation and measure the scale of “knowledge capital” in health service. A systematic stock take of "knowledge capital" assets in health organisations and systems is therefore recommended to enable informed decision making for effective and efficient management of health services

Corporate Mission and Vision and Customer Knowledge Management for Increasing Competitive Advantages

Customer knowledge is highly valued in today’s business environment where supply is more than demand and firms are trying their best to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Building customer knowledge base through knowledge management provides firms with strategic weapon for customer value creation, average level of customer knowledge enhancement, cost and time reduction, service quality improvement and quicker customer knowledge creation. The main objective of this study is to propose a conceptual framework for exploring the relatedness of the three dimensions: resource provision, knowledge management process and customer knowledge performance. The proposed conceptual framework emphasizes the link between knowledge management with corporate mission and vision and that they set out the direction of corporate knowledge management. This study takes a kitchenware manufacturer and seller in Taiwan as an example to perform a field study to collect the concerned data for exploring the expressed relatedness among the three dimensions of the proposed framework as reported by the respondents in the case company. From the responses of the surveyed case company, it is also demonstrated how customer knowledge can be enhanced through resource provision and knowledge management and that people who surely understand their corporate mission and vision can outperform in knowledge management process and in customer knowledge performance compared with people who do not in this particular setting

Multi-agent reputation point system framework

An interview survey was conducted on respondents from service, manufacturing and education industries in Malaysia, to understand the processes of personal knowledge management (PKM) among knowledge workers. The findings show that personal knowledge network is enhanced when recommendations from associates outside the organisation are relied upon to identify the required knowledge experts.Thus the reputation of knowledge experts is known by some people in the network since it is the basis for assessing and deciding the reliability of the expertise required.This paper proposes a framework for a multi-agent system to search an existing network, analyse and manage reputation points in the process of identifying knowledge experts to fulfill the need of connecting to knowledge experts in managing personal knowledge. Recommendation on future work includes the technical possibility of expanding this multi-agent system to be implemented in the Semantic Web

Knowledge management practices and challenges in international networked NGOs: the case of one world international

This paper is based on the outcomes of a study that explored the knowledge management practices and challenges in an international NGO network. The investigation constituted comparative case studies of two centres (one in Zambia and the other in the Netherlands) belonging to a single international network. An empirically grounded framework of knowledge management practices based on the taxonomy proposed by Holsapple and Joshi was utilised as the reference framework for the study. The framework provided guidelines to characterize factors that influence organizational knowledge management; knowledge manipulation activities (processes) and organizational knowledge resources. The results of the empirical study confirm that a variety of factors affect knowledge management behaviours in an organization. These factors include managerial and internal controls such as management styles and incentives for knowledge creation and sharing; resource influences; and environmental influences relating to an organization's culture and the needs of partner organizations. The study highlights important variation in diversity, gaps and perceptions in managing knowledge between centres in the network that are based in Europe and Africa. This is despite significant communality in knowledge management processes and infrastructures. The results further show that institutionalization of knowledge management practices within a network seem to enable or constrain knowledge management at centre and network level. Recommendations are proposed to improve knowledge management practices at local and international level and include enhanced technical and advisory services at international level; capacity building; creating greater awareness of knowledge management; decentralization of knowledge management processes; implementation of a knowledge management strategy at network level and improving relationships between centres. The authors conclude that networked NGO's and specifically OWI could operate more efficiently and incrementally enhance service provision by leveraging their knowledge resources more effectively. It is in this light that knowledge management practices should be examined in NGOs and particularly networks with their complex structures and attendant reoccurring and unavoidable problems

Inscribing Service into IT Service Management

Processes of IT Service Management (ITSM) are often defined in frameworks and standards pre-sented as best practices. However, existing best practices are often solely directed to service provid-ers, which does not correlate to a modern service-dominant logic. Moreover, existing best practices are often regarded as too comprehensive which prevents several actors from adopting them. Thus, this paper is based on the idea that there is a need to study how foundational premises of the service dominant logic could be inscribed into essential ITSM processes. This, we argue, will support practi-tioners to embrace a service culture while streamlining their work with ITSM work procedures. To this end, we have collaborated with service providers and service customers and adopted the Action Design Research methodology in order to identify, modify and evaluate essential ITSM processes in practice. Our theoretical contribution constitutes normative knowledge of enhanced essential ITSM processes from a service-dominant logic perspective

Web2Touch 2019: Semantic Technologies for Smart Information Sharing and Web Collaboration

This foreword introduces a summary of themes and papers of the Web2Touch (W2T) 2019 Track at the 28th IEEE WETICE Conference held in Capri, June 2019. W2T 2019 includes ten full papers and one short paper. They all address relevant issues in the field of information sharing for collaboration, including, big data analytics, knowledge engineering, linked open data, applications of smart Web technologies, and smart care. The papers are a portfolio of hot issues in research and applications of semantics, smart technologies (e.g., IoT, sensors, devices for tele-monitoring, and smart contents management) with crucial topics, such as big data analysis, knowledge representation, smart enterprise management, among the others. This track shows how cooperative technologies based on knowledge representation, intelligent tools, and enhanced Web engineering can enhance collaborative work through smart service design and delivery, so it contributes to radically change the role of the semantic Web and applications

Enterprise social networking and service innovation: a governance perspective

To innovate, firms need to share knowledge across their different functions. An increasing number of organizations are using enterprise social networking (ESN) for knowledge sharing internally because it is more effective than traditional knowledge management systems. However, ESN use can also have some negative outcomes; for example, it may distract employees from their work and overload them with information, while also providing a channel for leaking confidential information. This study aims to understand how knowledge sharing through ESN affects the level of innovation in firms from the service industry and how this relationship is affected by the governance of ESN. Using data from a survey of 104 participants from global financial firms, we find that the level of innovation in firms is enhanced by the use of ESN for knowledge sharing, and that governance positively moderates this relationship. The paper concludes with some theoretical and practical contributions

Impact of Knowledge Management in Supply Chain of Creative Industry

Abstract- In Indonesia, creative economies are deemed as the alternative answers to difficulties facing stiff competition mainly brought by the technological revolution. This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the role of knowledge management (KM) in supply chain management. In this research literature focusing on the application of a KM in the supply chain system for creative industry in Indonesia presented. Results showed that KM is a commercial process that is allied to the production of new information and guaranteeing the espousal of the created knowledge in the company whenever it is needed. KM processes facilitate heightened organizational productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction, and enhanced productivity/process improvement in the supply chain context. The above business sustainability variables rely heavily on the capacity of creative workers to share knowledge, traditions, and experiences. Nonetheless, individuals in the creative world are inclined to hoard or hid knowledge for fear of knowledge risk and loss of livelihood. As a result, professional service firms (PSFs) should embrace. Recommendation of adopting nondisclosure or trade secrets’ contracts, patents, and trademarks to prevent creative staff from practicing knowledge hiding and knowledge hoarding, and consequently, promote knowledge sharing

Using a Knowledge Management Approach to Support Effective Succession Planning in the Civil Service

The modern workforce is highly mobile. The challenge facing organisations is how to safeguard key expertise and knowledge in the face of staff mobility and turnover. The Irish Civil Service is still recovering from the impacts of significant loss of staff, and their knowledge and expertise, as a result of cutbacks over recent years. This project will establish the potential of using a Knowledge Management approach to support effective succession planning in the Civil Service. The literature review charts the evolution of Knowledge Management from when the phrase was first coined in 1986 through to what is considered to be the latest generation of Knowledge Management enabled by Social Software. The journey has not been an easy one with challenges along the way including confusing terminology, failing initiatives, and an over-emphasis on technology not entirely suited to the human endeavour that is knowing. However, the arrival of Social Software, or Web 2.0, so heavily used by the millennial generation, has revitalised the KM field with it’s the enhanced user experience. This project was initially informed by interviews with recent appointees to their roles and a case study on the experience of one organisation in using a wiki to support knowledge management. A OneNote wiki hosted on Microsoft SharePoint was implemented and a group of 16 middle managers participated in the experiment to assess its potential as a repository to capture and share key knowledge about the organisation. The conclusions of the experiment include that succession planning is important for organisations to protect key knowledge and expertise; it is important to strike the right balance between people, process, and technology; use of overly academic or technical language should be avoided; the technology is no longer a major inhibitor; structures and rules should be in place so that only appropriate content is posted to a corporate wiki; for a wiki to be successful it needs to be relevant, have a purpose, and the content updated on an on-going basis; people are the most important dimension to succession planning and any knowledge-based endeavour

Impact of performance evaluation on service rendering by the Department of Education in the Lady Frere District at selected schools (2010-2011)

The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of performance evaluation on the service rendering by the department of education. There have been studies made around performance management system but to my knowledge it was the first of this nature in Lady Frere District. Performance Management System has not been a success ever since its implementation. A lot had happened in our country from apartheid era to the present democratic dispensation. Among the achievements South Africa masters is the ability to formulate or the formulation of policies but its weakness is on the implementation. Performance management system is among the policies that were developed but its implementation has never been a success. Its main aim is to enhance service delivery and attempt to make government effective and efficient. This research considers if performance management system and performance evaluation might address the question of service delivery in the Department of Education in Lady Frere District. Findings on this research spell it out that effective implementation performance management system will lead to an enhanced service delivery.Thesis (MPA) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce , 201