Knowledge Management: Are We Missing Something?

As commercial organisations face up to modern pressures to downsize and outsource they have begun to realise that they have lost knowledge as people leave and take with them what they know. This knowledge is increasingly being recognised as an important resource and organisations are now taking steps to manage it. In addition, as the pressures for globalisation increase, collaboration and co-operation is becoming more distributed and international. Knowledge sharing in a distributed international environment is becoming an essential part of Knowledge Management (KM), although this area does not yet appear to be given much attention. In this paper we make a distinction between hard and soft knowledge within an organisation and argue that much of what is called KM deals with hard knowledge and emphasises capture-codify-store. This is a major weakness of the current approach to KM, equating more with Information Management than Knowledge Management. Soft knowledge is concerned more with the social and cultural aspects of knowledge, its construction and the processes through which it is sustained and shared. This paper addresses this weakness by exploring the sharing of 'soft' knowledge using the concept of communities of practice.Knowledge Management, Lost Knowledge, Distributed Working, Communities of Practice

Supporting Knowledge Management and Organisational Learning in Multinational Coorporations

Management of Organisational Learning and Knowledge is a complex and difficult task. Doing so within the context of a multinational corporation presents even more difficulties. Like many large organisations, most multinational organisations are highly distributed. This presents problems in terms of the inability to get groups of people together for group activities concerning knowledge management and organisational learning. The highly distributed organisation also presents difficulties in disseminating knowledge from one part of an organisation to other parts. Multinational organisations also commonly contain a variety of different cultures. The cultural differences can occur at a number of different levels, between individuals, between the individual and the organisational unit, between different organisational units, and between countries. In this paper, we propose a number of ways of addressing these difficulties for facilitating knowledge management and organisational learning in the multinational organisation, including the use of adaptable systems thinking approaches, group support systems, and digital library technologies. In particular, we propose using these technologies in combination as a way of addressing the twin difficulties of the highly distributed and culturally differentiated organisations that multinational organisations often are

Email as co-habitat in distributed organisations

Email has now become so ubiquitous that it has surpassed its early role as an asynchronous communication tool. Having contributed to the rise of the distributed organisation, email is being used in diverse ways and for purposes for which it was not intended. It is no longer a technology of individual habitats, but one where members of distributed organisations co-habit. This paper charts the study of email management, from early investigations of personal approaches to handling email overload, through to a review of software applications designed to ameliorate this. It suggests that while email has been appropriated for information and knowledge management, there has been minimal analysis of this beyond the individual. Therefore, it presents a case study of a distributed organisation, detailing the process by which email was leveraged for organisational knowledge through the design of an application that enabled visualisation of email data

Knowledge Management and Sustainable Agriculture:the Italian Case

The contemporary knowledge-based economy requires global usage of information in all aspects of modern society. Pertinent information is an important asset for successful business, therefore an application of knowledge management in organisational practice has become a crucial factor for the viability and sustainable development of enterprises. This is particularly relevant for the agricultural context, which needs modern practices for enhancement and development. However, information and knowledge, due to their intangible character, seem difficult to manage and organize. Therefore the paper targeted at developing sustainable organizational model of knowledge management for small and medium enterprises. Italian agriculture is considered as a context for this study, and knowledge management was offered as a tool for facilitating agricultural performance and increasing competitiveness of agricultural sector. A wide concept of knowledge management and specified agricultural context require a theory-based approach to research and a survey. Thus, the research methodology includes the next four parts. The first one contains literature review and examines definitions, strategies, approaches and models of sustainable knowledge management. The second part includes content analysis of 105 scientific publications. The third part of methodology is based on the results of the two previous parts and includes creating the model of knowledge management. Verification of this model is the last part of the research. Verification was executed through on-line questionnaire distributed to Italian agricultural enterprises throughout the country on their intentions and awareness towards knowledge management and developed model of knowledge management. The results of the survey have demonstrated farmer’s incentives to implement the developed knowledge management model with flexible approach in its organisation

Industry dimensions of knowledge management: Insights from an industry study

Strong forces of competition and globalisation have created awareness and an urgency to focus how an organisation controls and nurtures its intellectual capital. The knowledge concept and its management have gained currency and momentum as technology has enabled thoughts and ideas to be more easily produced and distributed. With the increased application of recent technologies such as the Internet, CRM and advanced software capabilities, it has been suggested that the time has come for a debate on a new paradigm for knowledge management. As a contribution to this debate, this paper will examine exploratory research conducted in the Australian private hospital industry with a view to better understand issues related to knowledge management from an industry perspective

Knowledge Management and Semantics in Global Grid User Support

The organisation and management of the user support in a global escience computing infrastructure such as EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE), a series of EU projects, is one of the challenges of the Grid. Given the widely distributed nature of the organisation, and the spread of expertise for installing, configuring, managing and troubleshooting the Grid middleware services, a standard centralised model could not be deployed in EGEE. This paper presents the model used in EGEE for building a reliable infrastructure for user, virtual organisation and operations support. A short overview of EGEE is given. The model for supporting a production quality infrastructure for scientific applications will be described in detail. The advantages of the chosen model will be presented and the possible difficulties will be discussed. In this paper we will also describe a scheme of how knowledge management can be used in Grid user support and first steps towards a realisation in the framework of the EGEE user support infrastructure

Global Grid User Support Building a worldwide distributed user support infrastructure

The organisation and management of the user support in a global escience computing infrastructure such as EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE), a series of EU projects, is one of the challenges of the Grid. Given the widely distributed nature of the organisation, and the spread of expertise for installing, configuring, managing and troubleshooting the Grid middleware services, a standard centralised model could not be deployed in EGEE. This paper presents the model used in EGEE for building a reliable infrastructure for user, virtual organisation and operations support. A short overview of EGEE is given. The model for supporting a production quality infrastructure for scientific applications will be described in detail. The advantages of the chosen model will be presented and the possible difficulties will be discussed. In this paper we will also describe a scheme of how knowledge management can be used in Grid user support and first steps towards a realisation in the framework of the EGEE user support infrastructure

Quality management system for knowledge management inventory

This research is initiated to investigate the existence of Quality Management System (QMS) for Knowledge Management Inventory (KMI) in stakeholder organisations in Malaysia and the level of its implementation. This research test nine quality elements selected based on overall Knowledge Quality models. Besides, the purpose of this research is to identify the element of inventory related to Knowledge Management System in organisation and to prioritize it according to the most important. A set of survey’s questionnaires were distributed to a total of 100 respondents to several government offices and private sectors related to construction. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. The analysis was done based on Organisation-Resources model developed by Maier, 2007 by using Pareto Chart quality tool. The findings indicate that ISO 9000 model is mostly adopted by the organisations and the level of implementation is rated good for the nine elements tested even the workers are not aware of quality model existed. Recommendation was also given inclusion of other aspects such as human needs and type of work environment for improvement

An advanced systemic lesson learned knowledge model for project organisations

The research study described in this thesis was inspired by many years as a project manager, watching the failure of organisation projects, and the lessons learned. This led to the research idea of how can the lessons learned enable organisations to learn from past project experiences to drive continuous improvement. The thesis is based on five published publications that collectively make a significant contribution to knowledge of the development of the Systemic Lessons Learned Knowledge (Syllk) model (Paper One) and application of the Syllk model (Papers Two, Three and Four) and the research methodology (Paper Five). I have applied an action research study which addressed the dual imperatives of both the research and problem solving by using a series of action research cycles on three separate projects. The research method consisted of multiple spiral action research cycles. I have demonstrated how to apply the Syllk model to enable the organisations to disseminate and apply knowledge/lessons learned. The initial planning stage consisted of interviews, followed by focus groups, to identify the facilitators and barriers that impact upon the initial design of the Syllk model within the organisation. Established knowledge management practices were aligned with each of the Syllk elements to address the identified barriers and facilitate learning as the action cycles progressed. Initiatives were implemented, and actions were observed, monitored, and then evaluated after a period of reflection using an after-action review process. The results from this research showed how knowledge capability can be wired (distributed) across organisational systems (capability networked) and how the Syllk model can be used to conceptually facilitate this. The research study described in this thesis provides insights into how an organisation learns and how it can be effectively wired to acquire and accumulate knowledge, including from lessons learned. The thesis highlights that the variables of the Syllk model (learning, culture, social, technology, process and infrastructure) were found to be the most dynamic and influential for the organisation participating in the action research. The action research outcomes showed that an organisation is not a simple structure, but rather, a complex interweaving and coupling (capability network) of the Syllk elements of people and systems. Processes in the organisation need to align with the elements of the Syllk model. Using action research is one possible way forward. One needs to understand how the organisation is wired for knowledge and lessons learned. The findings from this research form a sound structure for future research studies based on the application of the Syllk model. This research supports the premise that to successfully manage projects and day-to-day business activities, the learning process is challenged by many barriers. The thesis demonstrates that action research can benefit project management and knowledge management researchers and practitioners