Dynamic knowledge integration in socio-technical networks: an interpretive study of intranet use for knowledge integration

A major challenge facing firms competing in electronic business markets is the dynamic integration of knowledge within and beyond the firm, enabled by internet-based infrastructure and emergent fluid socio-technical networks. This paper explores how social actors dynamically employ intranets to integrate formal and informal knowledge within evolving socio-technical networks that emerge, permeate and extend beyond the organisational boundary. The paper presents two case studies that illustrate how static intranets can be useful for dynamically integrating knowledge when they are interwoven with other knowledge channels such as e-mail through which flows the informal knowledge needed to make sense of and situate formal organisational knowledge. The findings suggest that businesses should carefully examine how employees integrate intranets with other channels in their work, and the shaping of knowledge outcomes that flows from such use. There are practical implications for the proper skilling of thepeople who share and integrate knowledge in this way. The paper also provides a framework for dynamic knowledge integration in socio-technical networks, which can help underpin future research in this area.<br /

The identification and analysis of making-do waste: insights from two Brazilian construction sites

Making-do has been pointed out as an important category of waste in the construction industry. It refers to a situation in which a task starts or continues without having available all the inputs required for its completion, such as materials, machinery, tools, personnel, external conditions, and information. By contrast, the literature points out that improvisation is a ubiquitous human practice even in highly structured business organizations, and plays an important role when rules and methods fail. The aim of this paper is to provide some insights on the nature of making-do as a type of waste, based on two exploratory case studies carried out on construction sites. The main contributions of this research work are concerned with the identification of different categories of making-do and its main causes. This paper also discusses some strategies for reducing making-do on construction sites

New games, new rules: big data and the changing context of strategy

Big data and the mechanisms by which it is produced and disseminated introduce important changes in the ways information is generated and made relevant for organizations. Big data often represents miscellaneous records of the whereabouts of large and shifting online crowds. It is frequently agnostic, in the sense of being produced for generic purposes or purposes different from those sought by big data crunching. It is based on varying formats and modes of communication (e.g., texts, image and sound), raising severe problems of semiotic translation and meaning compatibility. Crucially, the usefulness of big data rests on their steady updatability, a condition that reduces the time span within which this data is useful or relevant. Jointly, these attributes challenge established rules of strategy making as these are manifested in the canons of procuring structured information of lasting value that addresses specific and long-term organizational objectives. The developments underlying big data thus seem to carry important implications for strategy making, and the data and information practices with which strategy has been associated. We conclude by placing the understanding of these changes within the wider social and institutional context of longstanding data practices and the significance they carry for management and organizations

Information Warfare : A Philosophical Perspective

This paper focuses on Information Warfare – the warfare characterised by the use of information and communication technologies. This is a fast growing phenomenon, which poses a number of issues ranging from the military use of such technologies to its political and ethical implications. The paper presents a conceptual analysis of this phenomenon with the goal of investigating its nature. Such an analysis is deemed to be necessary in order to lay the groundwork for future investigations into this topic, addressing the ethical problems engendered by this kind of warfare. The conceptual analysis is developed in three parts. First, it delineates the relation between Informational Warfare and the Information revolution. It then focuses attention on the effects that the diffusion of this phenomenon has on the concepts of state and war. On the basis of this analysis, a definition of Information Warfare is provided as a phenomenon not necessarily sanguinary and violent, and rather transversal concerning the environment in which it is waged, the way it is waged and the ontological and social status of its agents. The paper concludes by taking into consideration Just War Theory and the problems arising from its application to the case of Informational Warfare.Peer reviewe

Information technology and the modalisation of organisational behaviour: a theoretical framework

Information technologies can transform an organisation's capacity to act effectively and achieve its performance aims. This theoretical paper presents a framework, adapted from the work of the semiotician A.J. Greimas, for qualitatively analysing this shaping of organisational behaviour and effectiveness around the use of IT. This framework permits various forms of capability or constraint in organisational action to be distinguished, in terms of the functional capacities of IT systems or key dimensions of social structure. A multi-faceted consideration of positive and negative outcomes of IT-based activities is thus supported. The use of this framework is demonstrated through brief case examples that illustrate its utility in providing a dynamic perspective on organisational performance and alignment in the use of IT. This theoretical framework equips IS interpretive studies to analyse the shaping of IT-based organisational activity from a standpoint of structures of behaviour or significance in a context of purposeful action