Stadler, Raphaela

English

University of Hertfordshire Research Archive

Abstract 2:  Raphaela Stadler PhD Candidate Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management  Griffith Business School  Business 2 (N72), Room 0.17 Nathan campus, Griffith University 170 Kessels Road, Nathan QLD 4111, Australia Ph: +61 7 3735 5491 Email: r.stadler@griffith.edu.au   Knowledge transfer and the co-creation of new knowledge within the Queens-land Music Festival  Conventional knowledge management approaches have been applied to festival and event management with an emphasis on documenting and storing knowledge in data-bases, checklists and reports after the event (Chappelet, 2000, Katzeff and Ware, 2006, Getz, 2007, Allen et al., 2011). However, knowledge management is a complex ongoing process (Orlikowski, 2002) throughout the entire festival life cycle including both the transfer of existing knowledge among the team as well as the co-creation of new knowledge. The relational process of transferring and co-creating knowledge ef-fectively, though, is difficult to achieve in festival organisations due to their temporary, pulsating nature (Hanlon and Cuskelly, 2002, Stadler et al., forthcoming). Time is lim-ited for building a shared understanding among the entire team (permanent and sea-sonal staff, volunteers, board members, contractors and artists) as most festival mem-bers only join the organisation for a few of weeks/months before and after the festival season (Van der Wagen, 2007, Emery and Radu, 2008). In particular, arts festivals emphasising community cultural development programmes face an additional chal-lenge of establishing long-term relationships with members of the community in order to work together effectively and co-create the performance (Adam and Goldbard, 2001, Phipps and Slater, 2010, Stadler, forthcoming). The long-term planning strategy neces-sary in community cultural development counteracts the short-term nature of events and poses several knowledge management challenges on both permanent and sea-sonal staff members as well as members of the community. For this study, an interpretive, reflexive methodology and ethnographic methods (Denzin, 1997, Alvesson and Skoeldberg, 2000, Davies, 2008) were employed in order to critically examine the transfer and co-creation of knowledge within the Queensland Music Festival (QMF) as a case study. The QMF is a highly successful, biennial festival running a number of community cultural development projects in regional Queensland, Australia, each festival season. The vision – to transform lives through unforgettable musical experiences (QMF, 2011) – and community cultural development ethos of the organisation highlight their way of working with communities rather than imposing ideas upon them. In order for these complex projects to succeed, the transfer and co-creation of knowledge between festival staff and members of the community need to be effec-tive and ongoing throughout the entire festival life cycle. In particular, building relation-ships of trust and respect, including the community in all major decisions and under-standing and honestly representing their stories are crucial knowledge transfer and co-creation practices within the QMF. These practices have been identified and made ex-plicit by the ethnographer in order for the organisation to be able to build on their strengths and further develop them in the future. In addition, a critical reflection by fes-tival staff members on these taken for granted practices can enhance organisational learning and help QMF stay innovative and competitive in the long-run.  References: Adam, D. & Goldbard, A. 2001, Creative Community - The Art of Cultural Development, The Rockefeller Foundation, New York. Allen, J., O'Toole, W., McDonnell, I. & Harris, R. 2011, Festival and Special Event Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Milton, Qld. Alvesson, M. & Skoeldberg, K. 2000, Reflexive Methodology - New Vistas for Qualita-tive Research, SAGE Publications, London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi. Chappelet, J.-L. 2000, “Management of the Olympic Games: The Lessons of Sydney”, OCOG reports, pp. 43-47. Davies, C. A. 2008, Reflexive Ethnography - A Guide To Researching Selves And Oth-ers, Routledge, London and New York. Denzin, N. K. 1997, Interpretive Ethnography - Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century, SAGE Publications, London. Emery, P. & Radu, A. 2008, “Conceptual paper: An exploration of time and its man-agement for sport event managers”, in Robertson, M. & Frew, E. (eds.) Events and Festivals – Current Trends and Issues, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 103-121. Getz, D. 2007, Event Studies - Theory, research and policy for planned events, Butter-worth-Heinemann, Amsterdam et al. Hanlon, C. & Cuskelly, G. 2002, “Pulsating Major Sport Event Organizations: A Framework for Inducting Managerial Personnel”, Event Management, vol. 7, pp. 231-243. Katzeff, C. & Ware, V. 2006, “Video Storytelling as Mediation of Organizational Learn-ing”, NordiCHI2006: Changing Roles, Oslo. Orlikowski, W. J. 2002, “Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Dis-tributed Organizing”, Organization Science, vol. 13 no. 3, pp. 249-273. Phipps, P. & Slater, L. 2010, Indigenous Cultural Festivals - Evaluating Impact on Community Health and Wellbeing, Globalism Research Centre, RMIT Universi-ty, Melbourne. QMF. 2011, Queensland Music Festival, accessed 20 September 2011, http://qmf.org.au/ Stadler, R. (forthcoming), “Power relations and the production of new knowledge within a Queensland Music Festival community cultural development project”, Annals of Leisure Research Stadler, R., Reid, S. & Fullagar, S. (forthcoming), “An ethnographic exploration of knowledge practices within the Queensland Music Festival”, International Jour-nal of Event and Festival Management Van der Wagen, L. 2007, Human Resource Management for Events – Managing the Event Workforce, Elsevier, Amsterdam et al. 

Conceptual paper: An exploration of time and its management for sport event managers”,

Creative Community - The Art of Cultural Development, The Rockefeller Foundation,

Event Studies - Theory, research and policy for planned events, Butterworth-Heinemann,

Festival and Special Event Management,

Indigenous Cultural Festivals - Evaluating Impact on Community Health and Wellbeing, Globalism Research Centre,

Interpretive Ethnography - Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century,

Knowing in Practice: Enacting a Collective Capability in Distributed Organizing”,

Management of the Olympic Games: The Lessons of Sydney”, OCOG reports,

Pulsating Major Sport Event Organizations: A Framework for Inducting Managerial Personnel”,

Queensland Music Festival,

Reflexive Ethnography - A Guide To Researching Selves And Others,

Reflexive Methodology - New Vistas for Qualitative Research,

Video Storytelling as Mediation of Organizational Learning”, NordiCHI2006: Changing Roles,

Knowledge transfer and the co-creation of new knowledge within the Queensland Music Festival

Knowledge transfer and the co-creation of new knowledge within the Queensland Music Festival

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Hertfordshire Research Archive