Relevance of Adult Higher Education on Knowledge Management in the Healthcare Sector

Organizations, including the healthcare sector, are subject to changes in market, technology and regulations. This requires enhanced and different types of knowledge and has led to an increased demand for adult higher education. However, the competencies required need to be met by the providers of higher education. This article presents a qualitative case study investigating the work relevance of an adult education study bachelor program for middle managers of the public health sector in Norway. The paper explores how the education has shaped the interplay between the student/practitioner and his/her surroundings. The data in the study have been collected using in-depth interviews. The case study showcases the potential impacts of higher education within public healthcare management in the workplace, also highlighting the factors that are predominant regarding the application and dissemination of formal knowledge in the workplace. The primary findings of this study are that there is an interplay between the form and content of the education, personal capabilities, and individual characteristics of the student (employee/health manager), as well as an organizational maturity pertaining to knowledge-management and the exposure to organizational innovation in the broader healthcare system. The case study contributes to the field of knowledge management issues by showing how a study program can support the development of knowledge management practices in an organization, through focusing on the relevance pronounced through the management practices.publishedVersio

On Work Relevance of Adult Education: A Case Study Narrative

There is an increased focus on relevance of higher education. Mostly it is about enhanced job opportunities or job advancements for the individual. However, relevance of higher education may also be towards solving important issues or problems at a workplace. There are some necessary preconditions as to how an educational activity becomes relevant. Firstly, the student must be capable to discover how generic knowledge and acquired skills may or may not apply to concrete situations at work. This requires experience, understanding of the norms and culture of the organisation and a certain form of practical intelligence. Secondly, the conditions at work place must be conducive to innovation and change in various ways. In this article, we present a case study where employee turnover and lack of effective training routines were a major efficiency constraint in a Norwegian firm. With constant competition, changes in markets and other factors that influence the sustainability of an organization, cutting costs, such as high turnover and the time from being newcomer to being fully operative in the job. The responsible for training activities in the firm realized that additional formal education at the higher education level was needed, and he decided to enrol in a Knowledge Management study program at The Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences in order to learn how he could improve knowledge management and learning processes of new employees at his workplace. The case study ultimately demonstrates how crucial the interplay between content and form of education on one hand and specific conditions facilitating changes and improvements at work on the other is for the relevance in formal higher education narrative.publishedVersio

The Importance of Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Transfer in an Onboarding Programme

Abstract: “Onboarding” is one way of facilitating training for newcomers to get them socialized and trained for the job in question. Getting newcomers “up to speed” and reducing turnover is cost saving for a company. In this paper, we showcase how this has been done in a company in Norway. This organization suffered from high turnover and a lengthy training period for newcomers. Theory on socio-cultural learning, organizational culture, and knowledge management has enlightened our study. To display the interplay between organizational socialization and learning at work, we will present our findings on the development of an onboarding initiative. We dive into the subtleties of the border between formal structures of the onboarding and the informal best practices. Tacit knowledge conveyed through the informal best practices can be transferred and adapted through conversation and behavior. The data material is collected through qualitative in-depth interviews over a period of three years. The onboarding is not only contributing towards higher effectiveness and less turnover, but also developing, and continuously improving, learning structures in the organization.publishedVersio

Knowledge management in action: A case study from Norway

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Kahooting for Learning

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Academic Development Through Course Enhancements: Becoming Reflective Practitioners

Working in Communities of Practice (CoP) when developing student support in courses, may also have an impact on the academic learning. In CoP’s scholars can meet up to discuss, solve issues and develop new solutions. It is an arena for reflection on action, retrospective reflection and for meta-learning. In this paper we will present how two lecturers have co-developed knowledge through knowledge sharing, discussions and projects with students. The two lecturers have different background regarding education teaches within the same main area; organizational theory and development, and Knowledge Management. By sharing tacit and explicit knowledge when co-developing support for students learning, their own reflections support our learning process. Through reflection before action when developing the initiatives that we want to test out on students, reflecting in action when we deploy the initiatives, reflect on action when we evaluate the initiatives and reflect retrospectively together longer after deploying the initiative, we learn and develop not only as academics but also as reflective practitioners. This is also what we want for our students. Through several years we have developed the courses in the study programme of Knowledge Management at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway. The development has exclusively been to support students learning outcome and work relevance of the different courses. The latest initiative is about video-feedback and how this can support the students enhanced learning outcome. We are investigating what the students claim will provide them with yet another tool for learning and that will improve their academic skills. Through the process of working with this project and utilizing our knowledge of the different ways of reflection, knowledge sharing, cooperation and collaboration, we have learned from the project and our process. Hence, our meta-learning may also benefit our students as we as reflective practitioners can help our students become reflective practitioners, too.publishedVersio

"Face-to-Face" or Sim-to-Sim: Pros and cons regarding groupwork using a games based environment

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Invisible work, making visible differences. Facilitating transformative learning circles.

The paper addresses the facilitation of experience based knowledge sharing through inter-organizational networking and dialog across the Nordic countries. Organizations nowadays look for ways to facilitate new thinking and innovation to develop their organizations. To stay competitive they need leaders and employees who assimilate, develop and share knowledge (Senge, 2006, Filstad & Gottschalk, 2011). Strategies on Knowledge Management therefore seem more important than ever. The Nordic Council of Ministers has initiated several development programs to meet both global, Nordic and national challenges concerning sustainability, citizenship, inclusion, togetherness and democracy. One of the Projects connected to these programs is “Transformative learning circles”. This paper focuses on the role of the facilitator in transformative learning processes in this network. Facilitators can apply different roles to activate groups of people to learn through dialogue. This include elaborating existing frames of reference to learning new frames and moreover transforming habits of mind and transforming points of view (Mezirow, 2000, Kitchenham, 2008). We examine how facilitators understand their roles as facilitators and what competences they consider as important for facilitating. A facilitator’s role includes both attitudes, knowledge and skills. Our empirical investigation uncovers that there is a delicate balance between leading the discussions and letting the participants run the discussions. The facilitator’s work is a kind of invisible when things work out well, but it becomes more obvious if they fail. Research methods were individual interviews, focus group interviews, observation of physical meetings and net meetings. By triangulating different qualitative methods, we consider the validity of the data to be satisfactory (Lincoln & Guba, 1994).publishedVersio

Educating Managers in Knowledge Intensive Organizations

Education boosts leaders’ confidence and competence level. A survey undertaken at Hedmark University of Applied Science shows that managers that enroll in studies in Organization and Management claim that studying has been a support in their development as managers, and has contributed to their confidence and competence level. In an increasingly more competitive marked, strategies on Knowledge Management (KM) seem more important than ever. By being able to assimilate, develop and share knowledge, organizations are able to stay competitive. The organizations thus need managers that accept, understand and can work with KM principles and strategies. KM is defined by Davenport(1994) as being about capturing, distributing and making sense and use of knowledge. In all the courses in the year program, there are elements from KM. However, it is not enough “knowing what”, this needs to be supported by “knowing how”, terms coined by Gilbert Ryle (1949). Supporting the process of going from declarative knowledge to procedural knowledge can be undertaken by e.g. features from Senge’s five disciplines(Senge, 1992), in particular team learning, systems thinking and shared visions. Underlying team learning, systems thinking and sharing visions, are reflection and how to utilize reflective methods. Student active methods embrace activities that facilitate reflection and reflective thinking, and experiencing. This paper presents how KM principles and strategies are supported in the education of leaders using the different student active methods. The data are mainly retrieved from a survey, and are supported by data from interviews and observations. The data from interviews are “member checked” to secure validity and credibility issues

Voice Behavior in Creative Teams: A Case Study of Music Production

Putting people together with distinct roles on a team often seems effective for creative work, as group work can share diverse ideas based on roles and expertise. However, to refine and build on one another's suggestions, members must proactively engage in voice behavior without fear of being criticized or negatively evaluated. Voice or challenging the status quo and expressing suggestions for change are critical in enhancing the final team outcome. However, not all the team members engage in voice behavior. What is often ignored is the effect of variation in members' role centrality on voice behavior. A member's role in a team is highly related to the member's perception of his or her status on a team and perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy motivates members to engage in voice behavior and express their diverging ideas that could eventually improve the creativity of the joint team outcome. The present research aims to examine the dynamics of voice behavior focusing on creative teams considering two contextual factors: variation in team members' role centrality and time pressure. The results from pilot qualitative field interviews and observations indicate that members with a less central role on a team are less likely to be proactive in voice behavior, and time pressure is likely to strengthen such a tendency. In particular, our preliminary findings suggest that dampened self-efficacy might be one underlying mechanism that explains the negative effect of low member role centrality on voice behavior, in particular, for teams that work under time pressure.publishedVersio