An Analysis of Key Factors for the Success of the Communal Management of Knowledge.

This paper explores the links between Knowledge Management and new community-based models of the organization from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. From a theoretical standpoint, we look at Communities of Practice (CoPs) and Knowledge Management (KM) and explore the links between the two as they relate to the use of information systems to manage knowledge. We begin by reviewing technologically supported approaches to KM and introduce the idea of Systèmes d'Aide à la Gestion des Connaissances SAGC (Systems to aid the Management of Knowledge). Following this we examine the contribution that communal structures such as CoPs can make to intraorganizational KM and highlight some of 'success factors' for this approach to KM that are found in the literature. From an empirical standpoint, we present the results of a survey involving the Chief Knowledge Officers (CKOs) of twelve large French businesses; the objective of this study was to identify the factors that might influence the success of such approaches. The survey was analysed using thematic content analysis and the results are presented here with some short illustrative quotes from the CKOs. Finally, the paper concludes with some brief reflections on what can be learnt from looking at this problem from these two perspectives.Knowledge Management; Community-based; Communities of Practice; Gestion des Connaissances; Chief Knowledge Officers; Success Factors; KM

IT and Strategic Breakthroughs: How High Does High-Tech Need To Be?

This paper explores the role of Information Systems in breakthrough strategies and offers an alternative perspective to that found in most of the literature on this topic, which tends to be dominated by large organizations that deploy novel and specialized Information Systems. It presents a longitudinal case study of a comparatively small French based company that has crafted a breakthrough strategy using relatively modest \u27off the shelf\u27 Information Technology. It indicates that, firstly, breakthrough strategies are based more upon innovations in business models than innovations in technology and secondly, that breakthrough strategies may actually reduce a company\u27s reliance on high-tech solutions as a means of maintaining their competitive advantage. The nature of breakthrough strategies is discussed and the paper examines how well they fit into Henderson and Venkatraman\u27s model of strategic alignment. The study highlights some areas of similarity, such as the iterative and interactive nature of strategic alignment; it also highlights some the difficulties of representing this particular strategy using this model

Towards an Understanding of Knowledge Management Systems - UTAUT Revisited

User acceptance is one of the key fundamentals for the development of knowledge management systems (KMS). We propose a model of the factors that influence the contribution to KMS repositories in organizations. We use both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to validate a revised unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). We describe a theoretical framework that incorporates the specific facilitating conditions for knowledge management to enhance our understanding of KMS in France. An on line survey conducted with 200 potential contributors showed that performance expectancy and social influence have a significant impact on intentions. Moreover, facilitating conditions such as organizing structure, available time, time allocated, and incentives directly influenced contribution to the KMS. We found no significant effect for socio-demographic variables

Diversity and Plurality in the Study of Knowledge Sharing in Geographically Distributed Communities

The sharing of knowledge between geographically distributed communities is an activity that is routinely undertaken in almost all large organizations but one that poses several problems for the researcher. This paper examines some of the key issues that need to be taken into account when undertaking research in this area. Its focus is knowledge sharing in the type of geographically distributed communities found in large multi-site and multi-national organizations. It highlights some of the conceptual problems associated with this type of knowledge sharing and presents a case study of an on-line knowledge sharing community in a large multi-national organization. It reflects on the issues raised by the literature and the case study and concludes by arguing that the search for generic solutions for these issues risks underplaying the importance of the diversity and plurality of viewpoints that are found in such group

Business Meta-models and the Saga of Business-ITStrategic Alignment

This paper argues that applying the idea of a meta-model, derived from modeling in computer science, to the more informal notions of business models found in the management literature provides researchers with a useful lens through which to view the relationship between IT and business strategy. It provides a brief description of the concepts of a business model and a meta-model and presents four case studies using a particular meta-model for organizations that have achieved strategic innovations. Three of the cases, Amazon, Dell and eBay are well known and are based on secondary sources; the fourth case, a wedding list service called \u271001 Listes\u27, is less widely known and is based on both literature and primary research. The paper concludes with some observations on the role played by IT in business strategy and some suggestions about how the approach of using meta-models could be developed further

Persistent Paradoxes in Pluralistic Organizations: A Case Study of Continued Use of Shadow-IT in a French Hospital

In times when employees increasingly use private IS in their workplaces, organizations need to bring into balance use of authorized with non-authorized systems. We entered the field with the aim to understand how this is possible but ended up seeing a paradox: Doctors in a French hospital continued to use WhatsApp and other technologies to share sensitive patient data and management let them proceed despite the fact that this practice violated the law and numerous organizational policies. Using grounded theory methodology, we increasingly understood that the underlying problem was one where over-arching institutional logics informed agency of different groups within the organization whose pragmatic decisions to go about their work let the paradox that we saw persist. We thus build theory around why paradoxes persist in organizations and contribute to research on paradoxes and institutional logics, respectively

Telemedicine in Dentistry, Lessons to be Learned: A Case Study

Most of the telemedicine projects do not pass the pilot stage. A comprehensive evaluation of telemedicine pilot projects is needed in order to improve their success rate and to create a knowledge base for future projects. In this paper we address this issue through the study case on a pilot teledentistry project with 5 different implementation sites. A literature review of teledentistry and telemedicine in general, points towards a rather one sided approach when evaluating these projects. The organizational aspect does not seem to be a priority in these evaluations while we consider its crucial impact on project’s continuity and adoption. To support this assumption we use a healthcare information systems implementation perspective which allowed us to assess the adoption barriers for the teledentistry pilot. We make assumptions on how it could be used for telemedicine pilots and for telemedicine projects in general. We have collected data using qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews and non participant observation of teledentistry activities and meetings related to the project. After drawing the dental teleconsultation process and observing that most of it turns around electronic medical records(EMR) we focused to identify all potential adoption barriers and linking them with the list of EMR adoption barriers by Paré et al. (2014). We have identified 23 adoption barriers for teledentristry: 4 in 5/5 implementation sites, 1 in 4/5 sites, 6 in 3/5 sites, 2 in 2/5 sites and 10 in 1/5 sites. Out of the 23 teledentistry adoption barriers, 17 have been linked with EMR adoption barriers. By adding the remaining 6 items to the EMR adoption barriers list and adapting the items to the telemedicine context we propose a telemedicine pilot project adoption barriers list

Digital service innovation enabled by the blockchain use in healthcare: the case of the allergic patients ledger

International audienceBy combining the institutional approach and the rational model of digital innovation, there is increasingly a great interest in the implementation of blockchain solutions in healthcare but, until then concrete evidence for this type of project is missing. At the same time the healthcare sector, allergology in particular seems to face security (confidentiality, availability and integrity) issues and information audit trail weaknesses. For these reasons, our study focuses on the co-construction of a distributed ledger for patients allergies with healthcare professionals. The aim is to design and implement a reliable tool to deal with the availability , integrity and confidentiality of information about new allergies and distinguish between validated allergies and declarative allergies for the purpose of mitigating negative effects of unavailability of reliable information about patients allergies. This article defers the first step of our methodological cycle by explaining how collaboration is organized between Pikcio (blockchain technology provider) and allergists. As a result, we have first versions of some deliverables such as formal specifications, risk matrix document and a UML design (class diagram, use case diagram and sequence diagram) as the research project is iterative

Ecologie & Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC) : une étude exploratoire sur les éco-TIC

International audienceThe issue of negative consequences of ICT on the environment has drawn the interest of many researchers in ecology, philosophy and computer science. However, few works in information systems deal with this problem, hence the interest of this research. This paper presents firstly a literature review on the ecological impact of ICT and then an empirical study on practices adopted by companies to reduce the environmental impact of ICT.La question des conséquences négatives des TIC sur l’environnement a suscité l’intérêt de nombreux chercheurs en écologie, en philosophie et en informatique. Cependant, il existe peu de travaux en systèmes d’information traitant cette problématique, d’où l’intérêt de cette recherche. Ce papier expose dans un premier temps une revue de la littérature sur l’impact écologique des TIC et ensuite une étude empirique sur les pratiques mises en place par les entreprises pour réduire l’impact écologique des TIC

Shoot differentiation from protocorm callus cultures of Vanilla planifolia (Orchidaceae): proteomic and metabolic responses at early stage

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Vanilla planifolia </it>is an important Orchid commercially cultivated for the production of natural vanilla flavour. Vanilla plants are conventionally propagated by stem cuttings and thus causing injury to the mother plants. Regeneration and <it>in vitro </it>mass multiplication are proposed as an alternative to minimize damage to mother plants. Because mass production of <it>V. planifolia </it>through indirect shoot differentiation from callus culture is rare and may be a successful use of in <it>vitro </it>techniques for producing somaclonal variants, we have established a novel protocol for the regeneration of vanilla plants and investigated the initial biochemical and molecular mechanisms that trigger shoot organogenesis from embryogenic/organogenic callus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For embryogenic callus induction, seeds obtained from 7-month-old green pods of <it>V. planifolia </it>were inoculated on MS basal medium (BM) containing TDZ (0.5 mg l^-1). Germination of unorganized mass callus such as protocorm -like structure (PLS) arising from each seed has been observed. The primary embryogenic calli have been formed after transferring on BM containing IAA (0.5 mg l^-1) and TDZ (0.5 mg l^-1). These calli were maintained by subculturing on BM containing IAA (0.5 mg l^-1) and TDZ (0.3 mg l^-1) during 6 months and formed embryogenic/organogenic calli. Histological analysis showed that shoot organogenesis was induced between 15 and 20 days after embryogenic/organogenic calli were transferred onto MS basal medium with NAA (0.5 mg l^-1). By associating proteomics and metabolomics analyses, the biochemical and molecular markers responsible for shoot induction have been studied in 15-day-old calli at the stage where no differentiating part was visible on organogenic calli. Two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight-tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS) analysis revealed that 15 protein spots are significantly expressed (<it>P </it>< 0.05) at earlier stages of shoot differentiation. The majority of these proteins are involved in amino acid-protein metabolism and photosynthetic activity. In accordance with proteomic analysis, metabolic profiling using 1D and 2D NMR techniques showed the importance of numerous compounds related with sugar mobilization and nitrogen metabolism. NMR analysis techniques also allowed the identification of some secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds whose accumulation was enhanced during shoot differentiation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The subculture of embryogenic/organogenic calli onto shoot differentiation medium triggers the stimulation of cell metabolism principally at three levels namely (i) initiation of photosynthesis, glycolysis and phenolic compounds synthesis; (ii) amino acid - protein synthesis, and protein stabilization; (iii) sugar degradation. These biochemical mechanisms associated with the initiation of shoot formation during protocorm - like body (PLB) organogenesis could be coordinated by the removal of TDZ in callus maintenance medium. These results might contribute to elucidate the complex mechanism that leads to vanilla callus differentiation and subsequent shoot formation into PLB organogenesis. Moreover, our results highlight an early intermediate metabolic event in vanillin biosynthetic pathway with respect to secondary metabolism. Indeed, for the first time in vanilla tissue culture, phenolic compounds such as glucoside A and glucoside B were identified. The degradation of these compounds in specialized tissue (i.e. young green beans) probably contributes to the biosynthesis of glucovanillin, the parent compound of vanillin.</p