Lost in Translation: Why Organizations Should Facilitate Knowledge Transfer

Even if knowledge transfer has been extensively studied both in theory and in practice in the last few years, little analysis has been made regarding rhetoric. With very few exceptions (Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996; Gherardi and Nicolini, 2000) organizational knowledge transfer - defined as the process through which one unit (eg. group, department or division) is affected by the experience of another (Argote and Ingram, 2000: 151) - has been mainly represented as a communication process. Complementary to this view, I propose to interpret the circulation of knowledge in organizations as a process of translation: knowledge is not only transferred between two entities but is transformed during that process.To support my view, I look at the different theoretical views on knowledge transfer in the organizational context. Four pieces of analysis can be found: the cognitive approach, the economic approach, the situated approach and the translation approach. First, knowledge transfer can be seen as a dyadic process between a sender and a receiver. In this cognitive approach, knowledge transfer is seen as a way to change the knowing activity. In the second analysis, knowledge is considered as a commodity built on routines. Transferring knowledge means choosing and re-using the right routines to ensure the evolution of the organization. The situated approach tries to make a synthesis of both of the previous approaches by analysing knowledge in the context in which it is created, used and transferred. Finally, the translation approach focuses on the modifications of knowledge that take place when it is translated. It involves creating convergences and homologies by relating things that were previously different (Gherardi and Nicolini, 2000). Because the process involves very different communities and social actors, both geographically and functionally it is one of the most frequent ways in which knowledge crosses organisational and geographical boundaries to move into other areas (Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996).To illustrate my view, I examine a story of knowledge transfer in a multinational company. The story is about the re-use of a new device called the “lump-breaker” which improves the manufacture in a gypsum plant. I examine the story before and after the implementation of a knowledge management structure. Before, the knowledge is “lost in translation” because of lack of support from the central organization (ie. knowledge management) that creates confusion of different meanings: when the sender has made little effort to translate the best practice into simple terms, the receiver has more difficulty to re-use the device. After having put in place a knowledge management structure, the device is subsequently adopted by different factory managers who have read the database which contains the best practice. At this point, the role of the knowledge management team (ie. the “translator”) is to ease the re-use of the knowledge by “packaging” the best practice. If the effort is not made by the sender, the knowledge management team acts as a “translator” for the receiver. One implication is to minimize the role of technological mechanisms (databases and information portals) if the sender does not play his role: the practice has to be described in such a way that others can implement it. If not, the practice is lost.Knowledge Management, Best Practice Transfer, Translation

Modernization and unification: Strategic goals for NASA STI program

Information is increasingly becoming a strategic resource in all societies and economies. The NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program has initiated a modernization program to address the strategic importance and changing characteristics of information. This modernization effort applies new technology to current processes to provide near-term benefits to the user. At the same time, we are developing a long-term modernization strategy designed to transition the program to a multimedia, global 'library without walls.' Notwithstanding this modernization program, it is recognized that no one information center can hope to collect all the relevant data. We see information and information systems changing and becoming more international in scope. We are finding that many nations are expending resources on national systems which duplicate each other. At the same time that this duplication exists, many useful sources of aerospace information are not being collected because of resource limitations. If nations cooperate to develop an international aerospace information system, resources can be used efficiently to cover expanded sources of information. We must consider forming a coalition to collect and provide access to disparate, multidisciplinary sources of information, and to develop standardized tools for documenting and manipulating this data and information. In view of recent technological developments in information science and technology, as well as the reality of scarce resources in all nations, it is time to explore the mutually beneficial possibilities offered by cooperation and international resource sharing. International resources need to be mobilized in a coordinated manner to move us towards this goal. This paper reviews the NASA modernization program and raises for consideration new possibilities for unification of the various aerospace database efforts toward a cooperative international aerospace database initiative that can optimize the cost/benefit equation for all participants

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

The Virtual Block Interface: A Flexible Alternative to the Conventional Virtual Memory Framework

Computers continue to diversify with respect to system designs, emerging memory technologies, and application memory demands. Unfortunately, continually adapting the conventional virtual memory framework to each possible system configuration is challenging, and often results in performance loss or requires non-trivial workarounds. To address these challenges, we propose a new virtual memory framework, the Virtual Block Interface (VBI). We design VBI based on the key idea that delegating memory management duties to hardware can reduce the overheads and software complexity associated with virtual memory. VBI introduces a set of variable-sized virtual blocks (VBs) to applications. Each VB is a contiguous region of the globally-visible VBI address space, and an application can allocate each semantically meaningful unit of information (e.g., a data structure) in a separate VB. VBI decouples access protection from memory allocation and address translation. While the OS controls which programs have access to which VBs, dedicated hardware in the memory controller manages the physical memory allocation and address translation of the VBs. This approach enables several architectural optimizations to (1) efficiently and flexibly cater to different and increasingly diverse system configurations, and (2) eliminate key inefficiencies of conventional virtual memory. We demonstrate the benefits of VBI with two important use cases: (1) reducing the overheads of address translation (for both native execution and virtual machine environments), as VBI reduces the number of translation requests and associated memory accesses; and (2) two heterogeneous main memory architectures, where VBI increases the effectiveness of managing fast memory regions. For both cases, VBI significanttly improves performance over conventional virtual memory

Special Libraries, Winter 1986

Volume 77, Issue 1https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1986/1000/thumbnail.jp

Integrating Distributed Sources of Information for Construction Cost Estimating using Semantic Web and Semantic Web Service technologies

A construction project requires collaboration of several organizations such as owner, designer, contractor, and material supplier organizations. These organizations need to exchange information to enhance their teamwork. Understanding the information received from other organizations requires specialized human resources. Construction cost estimating is one of the processes that requires information from several sources including a building information model (BIM) created by designers, estimating assembly and work item information maintained by contractors, and construction material cost data provided by material suppliers. Currently, it is not easy to integrate the information necessary for cost estimating over the Internet. This paper discusses a new approach to construction cost estimating that uses Semantic Web technology. Semantic Web technology provides an infrastructure and a data modeling format that enables accessing, combining, and sharing information over the Internet in a machine processable format. The estimating approach presented in this paper relies on BIM, estimating knowledge, and construction material cost data expressed in a web ontology language. The approach presented in this paper makes the various sources of estimating data accessible as Simple Protocol and Resource Description Framework Query Language (SPARQL) endpoints or Semantic Web Services. We present an estimating application that integrates distributed information provided by project designers, contractors, and material suppliers for preparing cost estimates. The purpose of this paper is not to fully automate the estimating process but to streamline it by reducing human involvement in repetitive cost estimating activities

A Modular Logic Approach for Expressing Web Services in XML Applying Dynamic Rules in XML

RuleML is considered to be a markup language for the semantic web. It allows the enrichment of web ontologies by adding definitions of derived concepts and it enhances interoperability among different systems and tools by publishing rules in an XML format. Moreover the in-creasing demand for interfaces that enhance information sharing has given rise to XML doc-uments that include embedded calls to web services. In this paper we propose a variation of RuleML that is based on modular logic programming. Our approach is based in a two level architecture. In the first level a modular logic language, called M-log, is presented. This lan-guage encompasses several mechanisms for invoking web services. In the second level we ex-ploit the semantics of M-log to present a variation of RuleML with rich modeling capabilities. Formal foundations for this variation are given through direct translation to M-log semantics.Knowledge Management, XML, Modular Logic Programming, E-Services

Evaluability Assessment: A Systematic Approach to Deciding Whether and How to Evaluate Programmes and Policies

Evaluability assessment (EA) is a systematic approach to planning evaluation projects. It involves structured engagement by researchers with stakeholders to clarify intervention goals and how they are expected to be achieved, the development and evaluation of a logic model or theory of change, and provision of advice on whether or not an evaluation can be carried out at reasonable cost, and what methods should be used. To date, EA has been relatively little used in the UK, but it has begun to attract attention as a way of balancing the growing demand for evaluation with the limited resource available. As well as providing a sound basis for making decisions about whether and how to evaluate before resources are committed, EA can improve the translation of research into practice by ensuring that policy-makers and practitioners are involved from the beginning in developing and appraising evaluation options. Two EAs have recently been conducted in Scotland, which provide a model that can be applied to a wide range of interventions, programmes and policies at national, regional and local levels. What Works Scotland is keen to work with Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) to identify opportunities for EA