Lessons learned from Asian tsunami disaster: Sharing knowledge

Creating an organised common platform to capture, organise and share the knowledge on disaster management strategies is considered vital to enhance the effectiveness of future disaster management efforts. Hence, ensuring the availability and accessibility of accurate and reliable disaster risk information when required entails an efficient system for knowledge sharing. This paper highlights the importance of knowledge and good practice sharing in disaster management strategies, and discusses key lessons learned from 2004 Asian tsunami, particularly relating to the Sri Lankan context. Good practices and lessons learned are discussed on five different themes: social, technical, legal, operational and environmental. Further, the ISLAND website is introduced and developed as part of a research aimed at increasing the effectiveness of disaster management by facilitating the sharing of appropriate knowledge and good practices

Linking agrobiodiversity and culture through the adoption of agroforestry practices: The Agroforestry Indigenous Agents

Agroforestry is the result of a dialectical relationship between humans and the environment, capable of increasing agricultural biodiversity. In the Brazilian Amazon region, Agroforestry Indigenous Agents have been disseminating these practices through participatory processes. They combine traditional knowledge and new techniques and technologies in order to ensure food security, improve environmental conservation, and guarantee a good quality of life. They promote behavior change towards more sustainable land management practices through knowledge sharing

HR PRACTICES AND STRATEGIC CONTRIBUTIONS IN EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRY (ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY)

This paper attempts to identify the current policies and problems of IAU (Islamic Azad University) in HR practices. On the other hand this research offers new HR practices according to experts and different persons in different levels of IAU. Finally, offered HR practices are in line with strategic contributions in educational industryHuman Resources, Human Resources Practices, and Knowledge Sharing

Linkage between knowledge management practices towards library user’s satisfaction at Malaysian University Libraries

Academic library services have begun to apply various knowledge management (KM) practices in the provision of library services. KM has been developed to enhance the use of organizational knowledge through practices and organizational learning. KM practices include the creation, capture and/or acquisition of knowledge, its retention and organization, its dissemination and re-use, and general responsiveness to the new knowledge. The focus of this research is the assessment of KM practices, particularly creation, acquisition, capture, sharing, recording and preservation, and their effects on Library User’s Satisfaction (LUS) in Malaysian university libraries. The objective of this research is the development of a model to enhance KM processes (i.e. Creation, acquisition, capturing, sharing, recording, and preserving) and to improve library users’ satisfaction. A quantitative approach in research methodology is employed (e.g. Questionnaire) for the purpose of generating new knowledge and understanding of library concerns. The findings of this research show that the overall KM practice at six Malaysian university libraries is at a high level. The findings from the structural model indicated that two KM processes, namely knowledge creation and acquisition, are not supported in terms of KM practices at Malaysian university libraries. Other KM processes, namely capturing, sharing, recording, and preserving are fully supported towards KM practices in the library. Hence, the major contribution of this research is a model, namely KM Practice-Library User’s Satisfaction (KMP-LUS) highlighting six KM processes based on strong Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) fit indices

Human resource development and knowledge sharing practices among academicians in Malaysian Public Universities

Knowledge sharing practices have been gaining much attention in organizations because of its contribution in optimizing organizations' competitiveness credibility. However, the lack of understanding in its process such as the content and contribution impedes knowledge sharing effectiveness. It has been argued that people management in knowledge management is important because knowledge is considerably personal. This study integrates Linstone's Multiple Perspectives Theory and Stewart's Human Resource Development Model into the framework of study. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the human resource development and knowledge sharing practices in public universities in Malaysia. The research adopts the mixed method sequential approach using survey and interview. Questionnaires were e-mailed to academicians in 20 universities, while semi-structured interviews were conducted with top management and policy makers. The quantitative study investigated current knowledge sharing practices and identified their relationships with knowledge sharing factors. A total of 725 academicians responded to the questionnaires. The qualitative study further described the issues and challenges that arise and dominant factors that explain knowledge sharing practices which are identified in this study. Statistical tests show that knowledge sharing level is moderately practiced by academicians. The organizational factor has the highest relationship (r= 0.819, p= 0.001) to knowledge sharing practices. The moderator effect tested in this research only moderates the relationship between technological factors and knowledge sharing practices. The main issues and challenges in knowledge sharing practices are voluntarism, social interaction and knowledge sharing gap. The knowledge sharing awareness is influenced by factors other than self-efficacy namely religion and nation culture. The human resource development's current practices has not placed much emphasis on informal ways of learning and formal policy for knowledge sharing practices is not yet developed. Theoretical contributions from the research include the development of a theoretical model of human resource development and knowledge sharing framework of Malaysian academicians. Methodologically, the research illustrates the effectiveness use of a mixed method approach within the positivist research paradigm. The research highlights the central importance sharing practices among academicians in Malaysian public universities

Information technology as boundary object for transformational learning

Collaborative work is considered as a way to improve productivity and value generation in construction. However, recent research demonstrates that socio-cognitive factors related to fragmentation of specialized knowledge may hinder team performance. New methods based on theories of practice are emerging in Computer Supported Collaborative Work and organisational learning to break these knowledge boundaries, facilitating knowledge sharing and the generation of new knowledge through transformational learning. According to these theories, objects used in professional practice play a key role in mediating interactions. Rules and methods related to these practices are also embedded in these objects. Therefore changing collaborative patterns demand reconfiguring objects that are at the boundary between specialized practices, namely boundary objects. This research is unique in presenting an IT strategy in which technology is used as a boundary object to facilitate transformational learning in collaborative design work