Harnessing Knowledge, Innovation and Competence in Engineering of Mission Critical Systems

This book explores the critical role of acquisition, application, enhancement, and management of knowledge and human competence in the context of the largely digital and data/information dominated modern world. Whilst humanity owes much of its achievements to the distinct capability to learn from observation, analyse data, gain insights, and perceive beyond original realities, the systematic treatment of knowledge as a core capability and driver of success has largely remained the forte of pedagogy. In an increasingly intertwined global community faced with existential challenges and risks, the significance of knowledge creation, innovation, and systematic understanding and treatment of human competence is likely to be humanity's greatest weapon against adversity. This book was conceived to inform the decision makers and practitioners about the best practice pertinent to many disciplines and sectors. The chapters fall into three broad categories to guide the readers to gain insight from generic fundamentals to discipline-specific case studies and of the latest practice in knowledge and competence management

Harnessing Knowledge, Innovation and Competence in Engineering of Mission Critical Systems

This book explores the critical role of acquisition, application, enhancement, and management of knowledge and human competence in the context of the largely digital and data/information dominated modern world. Whilst humanity owes much of its achievements to the distinct capability to learn from observation, analyse data, gain insights, and perceive beyond original realities, the systematic treatment of knowledge as a core capability and driver of success has largely remained the forte of pedagogy. In an increasingly intertwined global community faced with existential challenges and risks, the significance of knowledge creation, innovation, and systematic understanding and treatment of human competence is likely to be humanity's greatest weapon against adversity. This book was conceived to inform the decision makers and practitioners about the best practice pertinent to many disciplines and sectors. The chapters fall into three broad categories to guide the readers to gain insight from generic fundamentals to discipline-specific case studies and of the latest practice in knowledge and competence management

Intelligent Systemic/Systematic Innovation and Its Role in Delivering Improvement and Change in the Design of Mission Critical Systems

Mission critical systems (MCS) are complex nested hierarchies of systems, subsystems and components with defined purpose, characteristics, boundaries and interfaces, working in harmony to deliver vital organisational functionalities. Upgrading MCS performance is inevitable when capability enhancement is required or new technologies emerge. Improving MCS however is considered with certain degrees of reluctance due to their sensitive role in organisations and the potential disruptive impact of unexpected consequences of change. Innovation in MCS often appears in small steps that affect the entire system due to their highly interdependent structures. Effective management of innovation introduction in complex systems require systemic/systematic processes that involve process management and collective analysis, scoping, decision-making and R&D which relies on effective information sharing. This approach should run throughout the system and must include all aspects and stakeholders, utilising the skills and knowledge of all involved. This chapter describes the basic concepts and potential approaches that could be utilised to build intelligent systemic/systematic and collaborative environments for MCS innovation. Advances in ICT technologies provide an opportunity to access the wider sphere of knowledge and support the systemic innovation processes. Adopting systemic approaches increases process efficacy, leading to more reliable solutions, shorter development lead times and reduced costs

Challenges Concerning Data-Driven Innovation

Digital transformation is highly relevant to most organisations in the business and the government sectors. One important aspect of digital transformation is the capability to exploit data in order to develop new services. For a number of businesses, this capability has become an imperative to their survival in an ever more competitive market. Today, data exploitation is of vital importance for innovation and economic growth. However, there is a lack of consolidated knowledge about the challenges of managing processes for service innovation. The purpose of this study is to elaborate on challenges concerning data-driven service innovation. We have used the Grounded Theory approach to identify such challenges which are: lack of a systematic process, problems with data access, distrust of data, lack of appropriate digital tools and insufficient competence. Our conclusions reveal that data is rarely used as a strategic resource in data-driven service innovation and that there is a lack of data management

Design thinking as a source of innovation - a micro-foundation perspective : The case of IBM Finland

Innovation plays a key role in enabling firms to gain a competitive advantage in the rapidly changing business environment. In the management realm, innovation capability which is a characterised as a systematic approach to account for building new knowledge and competitive advantage has attracted considerable attention, both scholarly and popular. The contribution of this concept has, nevertheless, been general and received little attention within how it can be built and developed. The success drawn from design and its expansion beyond the original exclusive design world to a variety of other disciplines have been recognised. Design thinking which is characterised as a human-centered and multi-disciplinary approach and gets inspiration from professional designers’ practices emerges as a promise to innovation. The portray of design thinking as a linear approach is, however, inadequate because little empirical evidence has focused on specific settings or individuals using it. By bridging the concepts of innovation capability, design thinking, and micro-foundations, this study seeks to closely examine how individual interactions which are facilitated by design thinking approach produce innovative outcomes, ultimately enhancing innovation capability of a firm over time. Furthermore, the research also sheds light on the interplay between individual and firm level, and scrutinises the mechanism to address the paradox in innovation projects between exploiting what has been known and exploring what is unknown to the firm. This exploratory qualitative research work is informed by a single-case study of IBM Finland as a corporate setting. The findings showed that innovations occur within the “third space” which is formulated by people from different organisations and led by the design-driven facilitators, or vendor team at the project level. As a result, innovation capability is developed by means of an accumulative learning process which is systematically managed with the support of technology. The present results highlight the implications for project-based businesses, non-design-background practitioners and managers, and management educators

An introduction to STRIKE : STRuctured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment

Knowledge forms a critical part of the income generation of the system and the complex environment in which actors participate in the creation of knowledge assets merits robust, eclectic consideration. STRIKE - STRuctured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment affords an unobtrusive and systematic framework to observe, record, evaluate and articulate concrete and abstract elements of a setting, across internal and external dimensions. Inter-relationships between actor and environment are preserved. STRIKE is supported by underlying techniques to enrich data and enhance the authenticity of its representation. Adoption of photography and videography tools provides illustrative and interpretive benefits and facilitates researcher reflexivity. This structured approach to data analysis and evaluation mitigates criticisms of methodological rigour in observational research and affords standardisation potential, germane for application in a verification or longitudinal capacity. Advancing exploratory validation studies, the method is employed to evaluate the knowledge environments of two enterprises in the UK creative sector. These occupy a critical role in fostering entrepreneurial innovation alongside participant self-efficacy. Access Space in Sheffield and the Bristol Hackspace are committed to open software, open knowledge and open participation; sharing peer learning, creativity and socio-technical aims to address broadly similar community needs. Drawing on Wittgenstein’s Picture Theory of Meaning, the knowledge management perspective is abstracted from the STRIKE assessment. It is argued that the tiered analytical approach which considers a breadth of dimensions enhances representation and interpretation of the knowledge environment and presents a diagnostic and prescriptive capability to actualise change. The paper concludes by evaluating framework effectiveness, findings application and future direction

Towards a holistic framework of design competence

This article focuses on the development of a holistic competence framework that highlights the relationship between knowledge, attitude, skill and capability within the field of design management and design led innovation. Whilst individual expertise in the aforementioned attributes are important to individual performance, it is argued that becoming an expert in design ultimately originates from a combination of these attributes and the ability to apply them in any given context. The article derives a framework through a systematic review of the design competence literature, before applying this framework to a case study based on a postgraduate design project. The case study provides an insight into the competence held and developed by individuals at a postgraduate level multidisciplinary design-led innovation practice course, providing a foundation for future study in the area. The framework is capable of mapping the transition of competence from the novice designer to an expert who has mastered the ability to apply competence to any given context and as such offers a unique insight into design competence, given that current models primarily focus on education alone with little discussion of transition into design management, design-led innovation and its practice

Model for Systematic Innovation in Construction Companies

The reasons that drive construction companies to innovate, as well as the processes they use, have not yet been fully explored in the construction management literature. This paper describes the hows and whys behind the push for innovation in a construction company. The research method is founded on the validation of a model developed by a case study; this is focused on a medium-sized construction company which implemented and certified an innovation management system, as established by a Spanish standard. The studies conducted by the authors over a five-year period generated a set of 18 propositions reflecting an explanatory model of innovation management. This paper reports on the external validation of this model by means of a set of interviews; the results fully corroborate 15 of these propositions. The strongest drivers of innovation in construction companies are technical problems in construction projects, client requirements, and upper management. Innovation opportunities are identified as a result of examination of the internal processes of the company, the construction projects, and the environment. Identifying, developing, and transferring an innovative solution require the Implementation of technological watch and knowledge management in the organization. Finally, the research concludes that the main benefit of innovation management is an increase in the company s technical capability, whereas the two main barriers to innovation are the prioritization of production processes and the lack of support from the leaders of the company.This research was partially funded by the Universidad Catolica del Maule (project MECESUP-UCM0205), the Spanish Ministry of Infrastructure (project 2004-36), and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (contract UPV-20050921). The authors would like to thank Ricardo Lacort, Francisco J. Vea, and Manuel Civera for their collaboration and support, and Jose C. Teixeira for his advice. Likewise, the authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and constructive comments.Pellicer Armiñana, E.; Yepes, V.; Correa Becerra, CL.; Alarcón, L. (2014). Model for Systematic Innovation in Construction Companies. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 140(4):1-8. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000700S18140

Towards technological rules for designing innovation networks: a dynamic capabilities view.

Inter-organizational innovation networks provide opportunities to exploit complementary resources that reside beyond the boundary of the firm. The shifting locus of innovation and value creation away from the “sole firm as innovator” poses important questions about the nature of these resources and the capabilities needed to leverage them for competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to describe research into producing design-oriented knowledge, for configuring inter-organizational networks as a means of accessing such resources for innovation

A systematic literature review of the use of social media for business process management

In today’s expansion of new technologies, innovation is found necessary for organizations to be up to date with the latest management trends. Although organizations are increasingly using new technologies, opportunities still exist to achieve the nowadays essential omnichannel management strategy. More precisely, social media are opening a path for benefiting more from an organization’s process orientation. However, social media strategies are still an under-investigated field, especially when it comes to the research of social media use for the management and improvement of business processes or the internal way of working in organizations. By classifying a variety of articles, this study explores the evolution of social media implementation within the BPM discipline. We also provide avenues for future research and strategic implications for practitioners to use social media more comprehensively