Representations of Practice- Distributed Sensemaking Using Boundary Objects

Aim/Purpose: This article examines how learning activities draw on resources in the work context to learn. Background The background is that if knowledge no longer is seen mainly as objects, but processes, how then to understand boundary objects? Our field study of learning activities reveals the use of pictures, documents and emotions for learning in the geographically distributed Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority Methodology: The study is a qualitative study consisting of interview data, observation data, and documents. Contribution: Contribute to practice based theorizing. Findings: Three ideal types of representing practices have been identified, i.e., ‘Visualizing’, ‘Documenting’ and ‘Testing’. All three are combined with storytelling, sensing, reflections and sensemaking, which point at the importance of processes in learning. The article also add insights about how emotions can be an important resource for boundary spanning – and sensemaking – by creating the capability of reflecting upon and integrating different knowledge areas in the in- practice context. Recommendations for Practitioners: Look for boundary objects within your field to promote online learning. Recommendation for Researchers: Study boundary objects in work context to understand learning. Impact on Society Role of objects in human learning. Future Research: Focus on how emotions can be used for online learning

Representations of Practice – Distributed Sensemaking Using Boundary Objects

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Creating a lean mind-set: Change of practice towards early treatment

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study on lean implementation viewed as an organisational learning process. By using a scaffolding framework, we investigate the ways in which human resource development facilitates learning among clinicians. This study contributes to the temporary role of human resource development in learning processes within multi-disciplinary professional groups. We identify scaffolding activities from which we have identified three human resource development practices: phase 1 – cognitive scaffolding, in which human resource development acts as a ‘mindsetter’ that aims to motivate the learning of lean in relation to the clinicians’ practices; phase 2 – peer-to-peer scaffolding through ‘doing’ lean, in which human resource development performs the role of an ‘experience creator’ who creates knowledge engagement between peers – in order to put lean into practice; and phase 3 – fading of the scaffolding, in which human resource development performs the role of a ‘delegator’ who transfers the responsibility to the clinicians to promote learning. This contributes to our understanding of how knowledge is negotiated in a multidisciplinary context. We contribute to the learning literature by emphasising how learning trajectories are initiated by learning initiatives, highlighting the role limitations of human resource development in this context, and demonstrating how a new learning tension arises between different versions of ‘lean’ in the organisation.Creating a lean mind-set: Change of practice towards early treatmentpublishedVersio

Managed Networks of Competence in Distributed Organizations - The role of ICT and Identity Construction in Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge is seen as a main driving force for current public organizations to fulfill their mission in changing environments, and for some organizations the response is to design managed networks for knowledge sharing and learning. Distributed organizations, which this study examines, are particularly challenged to develop knowledge sharing and learning across distance to strengthen their operative units. Communities of practice have become a central notion for the management of knowledge in organizations. However, the elaboration of communities of practice seems to assume that the members regularly work together or at least meet during lunchtimes and at meetings in which they share their work experiences. Some, though, do not have the opportunity to work together or meet directly face-to-face, since they are spread around large geographical areas. The purpose of the present work is to elaborate on this issue. This dissertation addresses gaps in existing literature regarding the role of managed networks and communities for knowledge sharing in distributed organizations. In particular the role of collaborative ICT and identity construction is discussed. The overarching research question for this dissertation is: What are the main factors hampering and facilitating knowledge sharing through managed networks of competence? The two sub- questions are: 1) What is the role of the GoToMeeting™ tool, when sharing knowledge in managed networks of competence? 2) What is the role of identity construction for knowledge sharing in managed networks of competence? The overarching theoretical idea that this dissertation extends is structuration theory. ICTs are from this perspective seen as structural resources that shape the social practices of the participants using them while being influenced by this use. Through this duality of technology comes the shape of the community and the identities of those participating in it. This approach combines Giddens structuration theory with Wengers theory on communities of practice, and emphasizes the social, technological and contextual factors that contribute to the dynamics of networks and communities of practice. The empirical context includes the following networks: The Fishery Network in the Norwegian Taxation Authority and two accident networks, two networks for psychological well-being and the network for occupational hygiene in the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority (main research site). This research is aligned with the social constructivist approach to grounded theory where categories and concepts emerge from my interactions with the field and questions about the data. The strength of this approach is twofold: 1. The social constructionist view has the ability to uncover some of the complexity of human sense making. It views knowledge as socially constructed through interactions in particular contexts. This perspective goes beyond the deterministic perspectives of ICT and organizational structure (network structure), where both are thought to have embedded features influencing people. 2. Grounded theory analysis is particularly useful for the explorative nature of this research project. Data consist of interview data and observational data collected from 2008 to 2012. This thesis contains five papers, contributing to different perspectives and the perspectives are: Paper 1: Media use, social networking and knowledge sharing, Paper 2: Work role identities and their barriers to online knowledge sharing, Paper 3: The sharing of work practice across distance, Paper 4: The use narration to overcome learning barriers when sharing complex practices, and, finally, Paper 5: Focusing on how the construction of identity influences the transfer of knowledge in a managed and online context. This study offers deep insights into the role of the collaborative ICT tool GoToMeeting™ for knowledge sharing. Findings underline that the tool has limitations regarding knowledge sharing, in particular for communities with a more interpretative knowledge orientation. However, closeness to actual work practice is also accomplished by the participants’ use of actual documents, stories and pictures when sharing online. Yet, the participants find it hard to interact socially, to get to know each other and to discover who knows what, which is very important for knowledge sharing. Technology is not the only problem here. Other contextual factors – individualism, group size, mixed signals from management, managerial control and overload of top-down issues create problems for the networks. The main theoretical contribution of this work is the enlargement of structuration theory into knowledge sharing through online managed networks of competence. The dissertation develops a perspective that views technology (ICT) as a medium for identity construction. The findings underline that some work identities are more difficult to signify online than other identities, hence influencing the trajectories of the communities in the organization. There is an emphasis in this dissertation that knowledge sharing is hard to enact in traditional ways online. Though, to some extent the participants establish new ways to share knowledge by means of storytelling and the use of work documents and pictures from an inspected site. Grounded on this, the study contributes to the practice based idea that ICTs can facilitate knowledge sharing by facilitating the observation of the work practices of others. Furthermore, this study extended the emergent perspective on ICT use, and in particular the negative impact of ICT mediated multitasking from work activities to online networks of competence meetings. This study contributes to the communities of practice literature, by changing the focus from identity construction as a facilitator for knowledge sharing, as described in the literature on communities of practice, to the role of identity as a barrier which hamper knowledge sharing. The findings demonstrate that multiple and contradictory identities create barriers linked to knowledge interests and commitment. In particular, my study emphasizes the identity problems in the relationship between old-timers and the newcomers which may hamper the sharing of experiences from old-timers to newcomers. This dissertation contributes also to the study of organizational and social identity by extending the fragmented view of social identities and identity in organizations to managed networks of competence. Findings contributes to our understanding of the tensions between organizational knowledge and professional knowledge that is nurtured by the networks of competence, and the more tacit work-based knowledge which is usually constructed in a master–apprentice relationship during work, which creates unclear learning trajectories for the newcomers participating in the networks of competence. To nurture formal networks of competence, this study highlight that there is a need for managers to; 1) better understand the participants traditional ways of sharing knowledge to support interaction, 2) take on an leadership role to clarify the purpose of the formal networks, but not control what network members are discussing, and finally 3) give the networks concrete tasks to develop their competencies, social network and in particular the know-who. Finally, I suggest that it is necessary to look more deeply into how ICT mediated knowledge sharing, personnel turnover and organizational change in current organizations can change communities in organizations and how organizations add to the differences between the generations as important areas which should be prioritized in future knowledge management research

From Narration to a Conclusion in Online Competence Network Meetings

Konferansebidrag ved Proceedings of the 13th European conference on knowledge management.Engelsk sammendrag (abstract): Abstract: Information technology (IT) is no longer regarded only as a repository within knowledge management, but also as a collaborative tool where work-related artifacts, like documents, can be shared accompanied by stories for knowledge sharing. This article examines knowledge sharing in two different settings – online and face-to-face discussions – and in particular how these settings structure the knowledge processes. This paper extends our understanding of knowledge sharing and the use of narratives and collaborative technology in combination. My empirical context is a distributed public organization in Norway. The competence networks in the study are an opportunity to explore how the participants use narratives to overcome learning barriers when sharing complex practices and experiences situated in their local context across distance in an online environment. In particular I explore how health and safety inspectors share stories, arguments, documents, and emotions, when constructing and interpreting knowledge regarding how to conduct inspections. I find that the use of narratives helps the participants to overcome barriers related to different interpretations of the same by a `narrative add on approach’ in the online meetings observed. This is useful for the participants when trying to develop a consistent proposition regarding how to conduct health and safety inspections among the participants in the online GoToMeeting™ meeting. By the `narrative add on approach` - the participants share how they perceive their clients, what they should look for when inspecting, and who they are as inspectors (identity). They also address contradictions in their practice and share how to conduct discretion. Interview data on the other hand reveals a very interesting ‘testing discretion by a narrative approach’. This approach is seen as more effective done face-to-face, since they have to capture complex experiences and in particular share what the inspector felt (emotions) when conducting the inspection

Digital veiledning og den digitale aktivitetsplanen i NAV - Digital Guidance and the Digital Activity Plan at NAV

Digitalisering i NAV har i de senere årene endret veiledernes kommunikasjonsmuligheter med brukerne. I artikkelen diskuterer jeg funn basert på kvalitative intervjuer med NAV-veiledere. Studien avgrenser seg til og fokuserer på erfaringer med den digitale aktivitetsplanen NAV innførte i 2017. I artikkelen setter jeg søkelys på veiledernes aktiviteter ved hjelp av begrepet «scaffolding». Dette skal belyse hvordan veiledere igangsetter en prosess med brukeren – bygger relasjon, arbeider med kognitive rammer og har dialog med brukeren. Veiledning sett som «scaffolding» får oss til å oppdage hvordan veilederen mobiliserer relasjonelle, kognitive og materielle ressurser i veildingsarbeidet for å komme nær brukeren. Forskningsbidraget i denne artikkelen knytter seg til at brukeren ikke bare har tilgang til informasjon om seg selv og sin sak, men også er aktiv i «kunnskapingen» om seg selv gjennom sin egen skriving i den digitale aktivitetsplanen og tilgang til veilederens vurderinger i sin egen sak. Dette gir brukeren en ny og mer aktiv rolle i medvirkning sammenlignet med tidligere, da veilederen skrev sakspapirene aleneDigital veiledning og den digitale aktivitetsplanen i NAV - Digital Guidance and the Digital Activity Plan at NAVpublishedVersio

The transfer of knowledge and the problems of identity in a managed and online context

Fagfellevurdert artikkel. Publisert første gang i Nordic Journal of Social Research, volum 3, 2012. Dette er forlagets PDF.The purpose of this article is to look into the social aspect of learning, and in particular how the construction of identity influences the transfer of knowledge in a managed and online context. The relationship between the ‘old-timer’ and the ‘newcomer’ is given special consideration through a qualitative study of the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. The study shows that inspectors construct their identity and categorize others in a way that creates barriers to the transfer of knowledge, constructions that are influenced by managerial participation. This article contributes to our understanding of how social aspects influence the transfer of knowledge between old-timers and newcomers in a managed and online context

Informasjons- og kommunikasjons-teknologiens betydning i organisasjoner

Organisasjonsteori kaller vi det. Det får en til å tenke på at det finnes én teori om organisasjoner, men slik er det ikke. Det finnes mange. Man kan finne gode argumenterer for at et slikt flerperspektiv er en stor styrke for organisasjonsfaget. Med flere «briller» fanger vi opp ulike dimensjoner ved organisasjoner. Organisasjonsteorien er også i stadig endring. Begreper som struktur, kultur og institusjoner ses på av noen som for abstrakte og lite dynamiske i forhold til å gripe organisasjonsvirkeligheten. Et perspektiv som søker å løse denne utfordringen, er praksisperspektivet. Det tar utgangspunkt i at ulike praksiser former alle prosesser i organisasjoner, som kommunikasjon, læring, beslutninger og strategiske prosesser. Styrken til praksisperspektivet er at det får frem hvordan oppgaver er hektet sammen, hvordan samspillet er mellom materielle forhold og menneskelig atferd, og hvordan aktiviteter og individers, gruppers og organisasjonens identitet påvirkes gjensidig. I denne artikkelen gis en innføring i Wanda Orlikowskis versjon av praksisperspektivet i studiet av organisasjoner med eksempler fra hennes forskning. Den amerikanske forskeren Orlikowski har de siste 30 årene bidratt til organisasjonstenkningen og særlig informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologiens (IKT) betydning i organisasjoner. Først med utgangspunkt i Giddens struktureringsteori og videreutvikling av denne, senere inspireres hun av aktør-nettverksteoretikere som Bruno Latour og Michel Callon. Hennes forskningstematikk har strukket seg fra koordinering og læring til IKT-bruk i organisasjoner. Tross spredning i tematikk, så har IKT alltid vært med som en variabel

Professional networks and knowledge sharing : the role of ICT use : a comparative study

This study of media use and knowledge sharing within distributed organizations addresses two questions: (1) How do people combine different ICTs (information and communication technologies) when they engage in a professional knowledge-sharing network? (2) How are combinations of ICTs used when people engage in frequent as opposed to infrequent relations? Existing research exploring the role of ICTs in distributed organizational settings has tended to focus on single media use and the importance of social capital. As a result, the characteristics and consequences of multiple media use have been largely ignored. Our study reveals that people combine different ICTs all the time, but they do so relatively less often in the knowledge-sharing network, where they rely more on official channels. We also found that frequent and successful knowledge sharing correlates with each individual’s willingness, and ability, to communicate their knowledge assets freely