Mapping expectations of functional units' line managers against the perceptions of Human Resources Department (HRM)

This paper proposes that performance improvement could be achieved by improving the relationship between HRM and functional units in the form of a relationship between supplier and customer. Accordingly, the paper proposes that differences may be found between functional units expectation of the service delivered and the perception of HRM with respect to that service. The paper also proposes that Gap analysis approach could be used in analysing the performance of those services. The paper points to the possibility of finding perception gaps and expectation gaps. In addition, the paper suggests that those gaps may impact on the performance from the perspectives of quality, cost and speed of delivery of the service. It is envisaged that this research could assist management in controlling cost and avoid wastage and improve organisational performance

Framework for assessing the quality of quality management programs

A model for assessing the quality of quality management programs is presented in this paper. The role of Strategic Gaps and Knowledge Gaps in evaluating the quality of quality management programs is discussed in this paper. In addition, the paper presents a method for identification of any possible Strategic Gaps and Knowledge Gaps which may exist in organisational quality management processes. The existence of such gaps may adversely affect the expected outcome from the implemented quality management programs. Furthermore, the paper explores the relationship between the perception of the developers or implementers of quality management programs and other related organizational attributes. Finally, the study seeks to identify other management characteristics associated with success or otherwise of quality management programs in HR departments. In so doing, the importance of addressing issues arising from Strategic Gaps and Knowledge Gaps is addressed

Email as an Integration Device: A Study of Work Place Information Sharing

Being able to find relevant information is an important task for today’s organisational members, but how is this achieved when there are so many sources and tools to choose amongst? By interviewing thirteen IT professionals about their information seeking activities, we have analysed their needs, their sources, and their tools and made interesting and novel discoveries. Our findings suggest that social issues are important also in such a seemingly individual task as information seeking. Lack of social awareness in search tools made people use email as a way to integrate different information environments and be able to relate to fellow employees. These insights should be used to design future work place information seeking tools to benefit from the social interactions that exist in a corporate setting

Information Behavior of the Malaysian Managers and Their Perceived Needs of Information and Knowledge Managers

This study explored the information behaviour of business executives particularly those in the managerial positions in the services and banking industries in Malaysia. Among the components of information behaviour investigated involved their information use – types, sources, and criteria. The investigation was also extended to understand about effective information management and the need for information and knowledge managers from the managers’ collective perspectives. Using survey questionnaires with open and close-ended questions on one hundred and forty five respondents, the findings provided rich and meaningful information about information requirements of managers and their perceived needs for competent information and knowledge managers in terms of their desired roles and competencies. The findings may assist in the effective provision of services by information or knowledge managers within the organizations and the development of more effective information system for resource sharing and inter/intra organizational collaboration or in other word a knowledge management system (KMS)

Modelling The role of Human Resource Management in the Innovation Chain

Standard learning tools may fall short of achieving desired organisational outcomes. Defective learning means staff learning and competencies may be compromised, hence important organisational activities such as innovation. The primary role of Human Resources Management (HRM) in innovative organisations is to create a climate for innovation. This means HRM and the innovation leaders should be aware of any deficiencies in the learning processes. This is necessary because learning and creativity are essential foundations for innovation. The paper highlights the role of HRM in modern organisations, and that innovation activities are part of the evolutionary chain. The innovation chain begins with transformation into knowledge based, then into a learning organisation and finally into innovative enterprises. The paper also shows that during this evolutionary process, both HRM and transformational leaders have significant and critical roles to ensure that their organisations proceed with innovation by avoiding or addressing two types of organisational defects; namely learning defects (Learning Gaps) and also innovation defects (Innovation Gaps). In addition, the paper highlights the relationship between learning gaps and innovation gaps. Furthermore, the paper also shows that both learning and innovation gaps are also related to knowledge gaps. The learning gaps are shown to comprise of five types of gaps, namely: problem solving gaps, experimentation gaps, learning from past experience gaps, learning from others' experiences gaps, and transferring knowledge gaps. Similarly, innovation gaps are shown to be one or all of the three types of innovation gaps, namely: product innovation gaps, process innovation gaps and organisational innovation gaps. Further work is required to analyse the importance of each type of gap on organisational performance and the process of innovation. The role of an innovation leader is shown to be overlapping with HRM's role in areas such as coaching, motivating and rewarding

Cloud Adoption in the Spotlight - Empirical Insights from German IT Experts

In comparison to traditional IT paradigms, cloud computing enables to obtain desired computing resources on-demand without requiring large, upfront investments and to dynamically adapt and scale these resources to varying business requirements. However, cloud computing is not a panacea. This drives the need to examine the specific reasons and requirements for cloud adoption in practice. In this paper, we take a twofold approach for this purpose. First of all, we follow an analytical approach by conducting a literature survey on existing adoption frameworks in order to analyze the complete life cycle of the adoption process and derive five hypotheses for cloud adoption. In the second step, we identify the major criteria that foster the adoption of cloud computing from the perspective of IT experts within an empirical study

Agile Knowledge Management: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension to Military Applications

This study contributes to the literature by integrating agility in knowledge management (KM) operations, especially in military environments via major findings of (a) introducing a new approach to KM with integration of \u27agility\u27; (b) articulating the application of an enhanced process of Agile Knowledge Management (AKM) across the military. The purpose of the study is to explore the conceptual background of agility in KM, re-conceptualize it and extend it to military applications with a special focus on counterinsurgency (COIN). An initial qualitative exploration of agility in KM was performed. Three different concepts and their interrelationships were analyzed: (a) KM, (b) agility in operations, and (c) military organizations in the COIN environment. Findings from this initial qualitative analysis were used to inductively redefine, re-conceptualize, and extend the concept of AKM, as well as, to compare and adapt the AKM concept to the military environment of COIN. An additional qualitative analysis was performed to validate the extended concept of AKM. While this study is mainly focused on AKM in a dynamic multinational and joint military environment of COIN, conclusions may be applicable in a broader context. The results of this research can be used by engineering managers and KM practitioners and academics with particular focus on the military environment as foundation for (a) further research and development in AKM (b) developing customized AKM education programs and (c) extending the concept of AKM and its application to other environments

Factors affecting decision making effectiveness in Palestinian Banks

This study investigated the influence of information quality on decision-making effectiveness among Palestinian bank managers. Previous studies revealed the importance of information quality on decision-making effectiveness in different fields of management. Organisational structure was found to moderate information quality and decision-making effectiveness in different fields of management. However, the moderating effect of organisational structure on the relationship between information quality on decision-making effectiveness had not been addressed in the banking sector in Palestine. This cross-sectional quantitative study examined the relationship between information quality and decision-making effectiveness as being moderated by organisational structure. A total of 146 managers were surveyed in which they were required to respond to 55 items that elicited the three variables. Information quality was represented by six dimensions, organisational structure three dimensions, and decision-making effectiveness three dimensions. The data were analysed by SPSS and PLS-SEM software. The findings indicated the relevance and importance of information quality dimensions to decision-making effectiveness in the banking sector of Palestine. The result revealed four dimensions of information quality, namely, accuracy, completeness, relevancy and interpretability had a significant relationship with decision-making effectiveness. Two dimensions of organisational structure, namely, formality and centralisation, significantly moderated the relationship between information quality and decision-making effectiveness while complexity did not show a moderating effect. Overall, this study extends the understanding of the decision- making effectiveness. It contributes to building the model of the relationship between information quality and decision-making effectiveness in the banking industry. These findings will benefit bank managers in Palestine to understand the role of information quality better and utilise it towards developing sustainable banking services in Palestine

Establishing Relationships Between Risk Management and Knowledge Transfer

Risk management (RM) and Knowledge management (KM) have mostly been treated as separate management philosophies. Risk management is a widely taught topic in academia and is practiced in industry. Knowledge management is being taught at increasingly more colleges and many companies are discovering a need for managing knowledge. This dissertation shows that some research has been conducted to apply the principles of knowledge management in establishing risk management plans. To a lesser extent there has been research conducted to apply the philosophies of risk management to identifying knowledge gaps and maintaining corporate knowledge. Both risk management and knowledge management are broad fields. The literature review uncovers the planning, identification, analyzing, handling, documenting, and monitoring of risks as key areas of consideration for risk management. It additionally reveals knowledge transfer in the form of lessons learned, best practices and near misses as a focal investigation point for knowledge management. The question answered in this dissertation is Does knowledge transfer have a positive impact on risk management capabilities? A conceptual model of the relationships across knowledge transfer and risk management was built and six hypotheses were identified and statistically tested using data collected from the project environment. A data collection instrument was developed, vetted through peer review, and distributed using the Internet. Ninety complete responses were collected and provided the raw data to statistically test the validity of the measures and the hypotheses. The results support the general hypothesis that an increase in knowledge transfer will have a positive impact on risk management capabilities in projects. Another significant result is the amount, direction, and strengths of the significant statistical correlations found in this research across the measures of inter- and intra-knowledge transfer in projects and project risk management. The results of this research show that of the knowledge transfer methods considered in this study (i.e., best practices, lessons learned, and near misses) best practices have the highest number of significant statistical correlations across the measures used, including the strongest correlation found in this investigation. Additionally, it was also noted in the results that inter-knowledge transfer was significantly correlated with 70% more risk management measures than intra knowledge transfer. These results have implications for academics and engineering managers and suggest areas for future research

Seuraavan sukupolven tietoturvauhat pk-yrityksille : Kohdennetut hyökkäykset, pilvipalvelujen kasvava rooli ja muuttuva tietosuoja

Tietohierarkian teorian mukaan ennen kuin voi olla viisautta, tulee olla dataa, dataa joka koostuu numeroista – numeroista, joille me annamme merkityksen ja tarkoituksen; tehden niistä näin ollen opetettavaa tietoa muille, joka on vielä jalostettavissa viisaudeksi. Suomessa pienten ja keskisuurten yritysten toimintaprosessit ovat murroksessa. Myös halu kasvaa ja kansainvälistyä on varmasti monen pk-yrityksen tähtäimessä. Erilaiset pilvipalvelut ja muuttuneet hankintamallit mahdollistavat pienemmällekin yrittäjälle suurempien yritysten työkalu- ja toimintamallit. Myös julkishallinto on alkanut huomata pilvipalveluiden kiistattomat hintaedut. Entisestään mobilisoituvat työtavat voidaan nähdä muutokselle ominaisena tekijänä. Tutkimusten perusteella vaikuttaa siltä, että nämä ovat muuttaneet yritysten tietoturvan tarvetta ja laatua merkittävästi. Vanhoja uhkia ei voi yksinkertaisesti sivuuttaa ja uusia ilmestyy lisää tasaiseen tahtiin. Tietoturva on entistä enemmän sekä poliittinen että liiketoiminnallinen uhka ja samanaikaisesti mahdollisuus. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin puolistrukturoitua teemahaastattelua ja haastattelukohteina toimi kuusi suomalaista pk-yritystä. Toisilla niistä oli enemmän teknistä taustaa kuin toisilla. Yritykset olivat entuudestaan tuntemattomia ja haastattelut suoritettiin salassapitovelvollisuuden alaisina. Tutkimustulokset ovat myös anonymisoituja eikä haastateltuja yrityksiä voi tunnistaa niistä. Loppupäätelmänä voidaan todeta, että pk-yrityksillä on tarve huomioida tietoturva kriittisenä osana liiketoimintaansa. Uusi tietosuojalaki aiheuttaa toimia myös pienimmille yrityksille. Tutkimukseni mukaan yrityksen koolla on merkitystä sen käsitykseen omasta tietoturvastaan. Yrityksen tietoturvakäsitykselle on tunnistettavissa myös erilaisia tasoja ja vaiheita. Näitä on käsitelty osana pro gradu -työtä