In our work a new approach, the Distributed Knowledge Management (DKM) approach, is used and organizations are seen as constellations of communities, which \own" local knowledge and exchange it through meaning negotiation coordination processes. In order to reify communities within a DKM system, the concept of Knowledge Node (KN) is used and then applied in a case study: a complex Italian national firm, the Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. All communities of practices are un-veiled and rei ed as KNs within a high level architecture of a DKM system. In this paper it is argued that, even if knowledge has to be organized and made useful to the whole organization, there are types of knowledge that must be managed in an autonomous way, and the DKM approach is a good system which to deal with coordination/negotiation processes

Bonifacio, Matteo

Cuel, Roberta

Grossele, Mirko

English

University of Trento : UNITN-eprints

  
 
 
 
 
 
UNIVERSITY 
OF TRENTO 
 DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY 
  
38050 Povo – Trento (Italy), Via Sommarive 14 
http://www.dit.unitn.it 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KNOWLEDGE NODES: THE REIFICATION OF 
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNITIES. 
A CASE STUDY 
 
 
Roberta Cuel, Matteo Bonifacio and Mirko Grossele  
  
 
 
 
 
2003 
 
Technical Report # DIT-03-031 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
. 
Knowledge Nodes: the reification of organizational
communities. A case study
Roberta Cuel
(Department of Computer and Management Sciences
University of Trento, Italy
rcuel@cs.unitn.it)
Matteo Bonifacio
(University of Trento, Italy
bonifacio@science.unitn.it)
Mirko Grosselle
(Department of Computer and Management Sciences
University of Trento, Italy
mirkgros@cs.unitn.it)
Abstract: In our work a new approach, the Distributed Knowledge Management
(DKM) approach, is used and organizations are seen as constellations of communities,
which “own” local knowledge and exchange it through meaning negotiation coordina-
tion processes. In order to reify communities within a DKM system, the concept of
Knowledge Node (KN) is used and then applied in a case study: a complex Italian
national firm, the Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. All communities of practices are un-
veiled and reified as KNs within a high level architecture of a DKM system. In this
paper it is argued that, even if knowledge has to be organized and made useful to
the whole organization, there are types of knowledge that must be managed in an
autonomous way, and the DKM approach is a good system which to deal with coordi-
nation/negotiation processes.
Key Words: Distributed Knowledge Management, Organizational Units, Communi-
ties, Knowledge Nodes, Case Study
1 Introduction
Most KM systems aim at creating large, homogeneous knowledge repositories, in
which corporate knowledge is made explicit, unified, represented and organized
according to a unique – supposedly shared – conceptual schema (e.g. an ontology,
a classification system) [Davenport et al., 1998], [Borghoff and Pareschi, 1998].
In this work it used the DKM approach [Bonifacio et al., 2002d] in which it is
argued that traditional KM systems, and in particular the unique and objective
conceptualization of corporate knowledge, are incompatible with the very nature
of knowledge, and consequently are often deserted by users. The DKM approach
is based on two main principles: the principle of autonomy, which grants or-
ganizational units a high degree of semantic autonomy in managing their local
knowledge (perspective making [Boland and R.V.Tenkasi, 1995], or single loop
learning [Argyris, 1999]), and the principle of coordination, which allows each
organizational unit to exchange knowledge with other units through processes
of perspective taking [Boland and R.V.Tenkasi, 1995] or double loop learning
[Argyris, 1999]. Therefore, complex knowledge-based organizations can be seen
as ”constellations” of local ”knowledges”, that is to say organizational units
either formal (e.g. divisions, market sectors) or informal (e.g. interest groups,
teams) exhibiting some degree of semantic autonomy, namely the ability to
manage knowledge locally and to develop a specialized perspective on the world
through social interaction, participation and reification processes [Wenger, 1998].
A KM system, which supports both the principles of autonomy and coor-
dination, and is based on the DKM approach, is called DKM system, which
considers local heterogeneity, and negotiation/coordintation of different concep-
tual schemas [Bouquet et al., 2002], as potential sources of new insights/ideas
and innovations which are the basis of organizational learning and adaptability.
2 Knowledge Nodes as organizational units
In order to develop a DKM system within a firm, the new concept of Knowledge
Node [Bonifacio et al., 2002a] is adopted to reify organizational units (figure
1(a)) considering:
– the knowledge owner: an individual (e.g. the worker, the manager) or a col-
lective entity (e.g. team, community, division, office) that has the capability
of managing its own knowledge;
– the system of artifacts: procedures, activities, documents, archives, tech-
nologies, languages, and so on, used by the knowledge owner to manage
local knowledge in a way that best suits its environmental condition and its
needs;
– the context: an explicit representation of a knowledge owner’s perspective
(or personal conceptual schema).
The DKM system is composed by a ”constellation of KNs” (see figure 1(b)),
each one managing knowledge in an autonomous way, and exchanging knowledge
through negotiation/coordination processes1.
3 The case study: Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A.
To analyze a complex Italian building industry: Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A.
we made 36 ethnographic interviews with workers of 16 different roles, and we
1 One of the most suitable technological solutions for a DKM system is the cre-
ation of a peer to peer system, in which each peer has the characteristics of a KN
[Bonifacio et al., 2002e]. This architecture is under development as part of EDAMOK
(http://edamok.itc.it/), a joint project carried out by the Institute for Scientific and
Technological Research (IRST, Trento) and by the University of Trento (Italy).
(a) Knowledge Node 1 (b) DKM system 2
Figure 1: A DKM system composed by KN
visited 3 building yards. This analysis allowed us to unveil KNs looking at knowl-
edge owners, the systems of artifacts, the contexts and more important the kind
of knowledge that is exchanged within a community and the way in which people
negotiate/coordinate knowledge across the whole organization.
The organizational model of the firm is complex because the production areas
are spread out over the country and in Europe, and the center is composed by
service offices which support the production (e.g. the HR office, the quality office,
the administration office). Each building yard is managed in an autonomous
way, in fact, it must solve specific problems – which are connected with the
kind of production, and other environmental factors (e.g. the weather, local
costumers and suppliers) – developing a specialized system of artifacts, and
managing knowledge in the way that best suits its needs.
Within each organizational unit (e.g. offices in the central building, and build-
ing yards), people, through their work, exhibit some degree of semantic auton-
omy (e.g. by developing their system of artifacts, different working and problems
solving practices, using specialized and personalized languages), therefore the
Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. might be seen as a constellation of communities
of practices (CoPs)2
In our analysis, we focused the attention on knowledge exchanging processes,
often represented by formalized workflows based on shared artifacts, and in-
stitutionalized practices within the firm (e.g. software procedures, modules for
requests, periodic meetings). From a KM perspective, such a view has histor-
ically originated standardized and shared knowledge repositories that should
2 We observed that concepts as quality, security and so on, are perceived – and re-
lated processes are developed– in different ways. For example, on one hand, in the
”Barilla” building yard, the quality control process is not a daily activity managed
by dedicated resources and it has no specific schedules. On the other hand, in the
”Fontanellato” building yard, the quality control is one of the most important pro-
cesses. In particular, every days workers have to control the quality of products and
activities and periodically they meet all together to discuss new quality procedures.
knowledge
owner
context
applications
local
centralized
applications
knowledge
owner
negotiation/coordination
processes
applications
local
knowledge
owner
context
applications
centralized processes
local
meaning
KN
KNKN
context
Figure 2: DKM system of Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A.
allow Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A. to manage a unique version of data, and to
coordinate all the organizational processes, developing a set of common and sup-
posedly shared conceptual schemas. These schemas include, for example, shared
taxonomies to classify suppliers, project documentation or quality procedures
developed and managed by the Electronic Data Processes (EDP) office3.
We discovered that the centralized KM system has been developed according
to the need, expressed by the management, to coordinate each organizational
unit creating a common and shared knowledge system, and developing stan-
dardized knowledge exchanging processes. Such approach, that was reified in
the design of collaborative repositories and workflow applications, revealed some
weaknesses which are basically rooted into the distributed nature of knowledge
introduced above. As observed during an interview with a manager, if in a build-
ing yard a new type of stone-mason’s hammer is needed, workers have to draw up
a buying request form, then send it (through a document management system,
which will store all the information into the enterprize knowledge repository) to
the purchasing office which will provide the requested tool. The buying request
process is a centralized workflow, developed to deal with the centralized reposi-
tory and to coordinate all the buying processes of the whole organization. From
a KM point of view we can say that the buying request successfully reflected
a unique conceptualization schema according to which knowledge is stored and
organized within the enterprize knowledge repository.
In our analysis we discovered that quite often the buying request process,
although technically correct, is not enough to obtain a good result. In par-
ticular, every time the tool requires specific characteristics, the requester and
3 During an interview, the responsible of EDP office said that his work consists in con-
trolling data and information workflows developed within the organization. Workers
ask to develop personalized systems which support some specific processes, but the
management and the EDP office are worried about the coherence and the trans-
parency of information. For this reason centralized procedure are developed and
used across the whole organization but offices and building yards are still asking to
use specialized procedures which suit local needs . . .
the company buyer need to exchange additional contextual information using
informal communication channels which are not officially considered in the col-
laborative system4. Phone calls, meetings or emails are necessary to establish
a coordination process based on meaning negotiation through which workers
attempt to make clear “what they mean by what”. These communication pro-
cesses between company peers (who are part of different offices or CoPs) are
not formalized by the buying work-flow, and are developed according to the per-
sonal perspectives of the parts. In other words, formalized processes of knowledge
exchange are constantly supported by informal and personalized meaning nego-
tiation/coordination processes which allow people to understand each other, and
to effectively achieve their goals. As shown in this example, and as depicted in
our analysis, most of the knowledge exchange processes, developed within the
Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A., are not able to create a unique understanding on
the meaning of what is communicated. Therefore the KM system has to take into
account the need expressed by organizational entities to manage knowledge with
some degree of autonomy while enabling coordination processes across different
KNs. As described in figure 2, a DKM system for Impresa Pizzarotti & C. S.p.A.
is suggested that is composed by an enterprize knowledge repository (centralized
applications) organized according to the firm’s conceptual schema, and a con-
stellation of KNs which autonomously manage local knowledge, and exchange
it, through personalized processes of meaning negotiation/coordination.
According to this view, the company has recently started to accept that
current knowledge exchange practices and artifacts are, as a matter of fact,
characterized by a strong need of autonomy that must be sustained and com-
pensated focusing on coordination rather than standardization. For example,
in terms of artifacts, Groupware tools are being customized and used in a way
that clearly mirrors how work and knowledge is actually organized within and
across different KNs. In fact each yard, office and team is now able to instantiate
and maintain its own local repository and work-flow processes. Organizational
procedures are gradually being redesigned accordingly, allowing each yard, for
example, to autonomously manage some core processes, such as purchase of spe-
cific materials, or the recruitment of specialized workers5. As a consequence, the
EDP office and IT consultants will now focus their efforts in designing coordi-
nation/translation processes across heterogeneous nodes of content, document
work-flows and categorization taxonomies rather than developing shared and
standardized procedures6.
4 In the analysis it has been emerged that most of the time the buying request refers
to a non standard forniture (such as a special hummer, a new mechanism, . . . ), and
in the major part of this cases the purchasing office is not able to understand the
real needs of requesters.
5 For example in the Modena SCARL different views are used on a common DB, such
as general notes, services, production, visits, security, quality, and so on.
6 The EDP office is now developing two different systems in which information about
4 Conclusions
Through our interviews, we focused the attention on different kind of knowledge
which is needed and exchanged within the firm. In particular, we proved that
even if some kind of knowledge has to be centralized, organized, and managed
by EDP office according to a common and shared conceptual schema, there are
other types of knowledge that must be managed in an autonomous way and
have to be negotiated and coordinated every time. Finally the DKM system
we proposed in figure 2, seems to be more effective than other traditional and
centralized systems, because it allows people to manage knowledge according
to personal views, and it seems to be more consistent with how knowledge is
actually managed by people. In conclusion the Impresa Pizzarotti & C S.p.A.
is developing both new personalized and local procedures which allow CoPs
to manage knowledge in the way they prefer; and new centralized procedures,
which enable workers to contribute to the common and shared organizational
knowledge.
References
[Argyris, 1999] Argyris, C. (1999). Teaching Smart People How to Learn. Harvard
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[Boland and R.V.Tenkasi, 1995] Boland, J., and Tenkasi, R.V. (1995). Perspective
Making and Perspective Taking in Communities of Knowing. Organization Sci-
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[Bonifacio et al., 2002a] Bonifacio, M., Bouquet, P., and Cuel, R. (2002a). Knowledge
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[Bonifacio et al., 2002d] Bonifacio, M., Bouquet, P., and Traverso, P. (2002d). En-
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human resources, dedicated to administrative function, are managed in the central
offices and in the building yards. These two applications refers to the same domain
of data but manage them through different schemas.


Knowledge Nodes: the reification of organizational communities. A case study

In our work a new approach, the Distributed Knowledge Management (DKM) approach, is used and organizations are seen as constellations of communities, which &quot;own&quot; local knowledge and exchange it through meaning negotiation coordination processes. In order to reify communities within a DKM system, the concept of Knowledge Node (KN) is used and then applied in a case study: a complex Italian national firm, the Impresa Pizzarotti &amp; C. S.p.A. All communities of practices are unveiled and reified as KNs within a high level architecture of a DKM system. In this paper it is argued that, even if knowledge has to be organized and made useful to the whole organization, there are types of knowledge that must be managed in an autonomous way, and the DKM approach is a good system which to deal with coordination /negotiation processes

Roberta Cuel

Matteo Bonifacio

Mirko Grosselle

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Knowledge Nodes: The Reification of Organizational Communities. A Case Study

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Knowledge Nodes: the reification of organizational communities. A case study

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