Organizational Knowledge

Purpose -The research study involved an exploration of the thoughts and perspectives of Generation X aerospace engineers regarding strategies, processes, and methods to enhance the transfer of knowledge from baby boomers to Generation X aerospace engineers.

Both in theory and in practice insight is limited about how firms in dynamic environments could organize to manage concurrently the strategic processes of exploring new knowledge and exploiting existing knowledge. To contribute to this issue, a conceptual framework is developed which considers the ability to exchange knowledge across organization-units within a firm as a prerequisite to achieve both the goals of exploring and exploiting organizational knowledge. This framework shows how awareness and interest towards exchanging knowledge across units, internal knowledge transfer mechanisms, prior knowledge of the organization units and their organization form, influence the processes of exploration and exploitation within the firm. The conceptual framework and the propositions are illustrated by two case studies of Novartis, one of the leading European life-science companies. The first case is about exchanging knowledge between Novartis’ divisions in the actual organization context....

Organizational knowledge and discourse of diversity in employment Abstract Purpose Evidence suggests that the notion of diversity in employment has failed to meet expectations of increased inclusion and organizational competitiveness in an ever-changing and globalizing economic context. In this paper we consider the use of language of diversity in an organizational context. Methodology/Approach Using discourse analysis, we examine data obtained from semi-structured interviews conducted with Human Resources Managers and Personnel Managers. Participants' descriptions of diversity in relation to one particular group of (potential) employees, namely older jobseekers, are analysed for their function and effects in relation to organizational knowledge and practices.

Prevailing views about what constitutes organisational knowledge need to be systematically evaluated at deep epistemological levels. We argue there is a need is to establish a new paradigm comprising of both a theoretical and an ontological foundation for thinking about knowledge epistemologies. We think, along with Bill McKelvey, (1997, 2002) that the “science of management” as it relates to organisations seems to be greatly wanting.Our approach is based on an evolutionary theory of knowledge contained within Karl Popper’s later epistemological works beginning with his 1972 “Objective Knowledge – an evolutionary approach” and a framework of organisational theory based on Maturana and Varela's concept of self-producing complex systems ("autopoiesis"). We have drawn upon this combined approach in order to understand how best to integrate understandings of personal and objective knowledge and the notion of “living organisations” into a new paradigm of organisational know...

This paper arises out of our extended conversations on the philosophical, historical, theoretical and practice dimensions of replication, conducted during Baden-Fuller's visits to Winter at Wharton in 2003 and 2004. We acknowledge the valuable contributions of Henk Volberda, the co-author of an earlier, very different version of this paper that examined the motivations behind the replication process. We are also grateful for the assistance and inspiration provided by seminar participants in several settings, particularly those at our London workshop held in June 2005, including

Researchers have developed various knowledge management approaches that only focus on managing organizational knowledge. These approaches are developed in accordance with organizational KM strategies and business requirements without the concern of system interoperation. The lack of interoperability means that heterogeneous Knowledge Management Systems from different organizations are unable to communicate and integrate with one another, this results in limitation to reuse inter-organizational knowledge. Here, inter-organizational knowledge is defined as a set of explicit knowledge formalized and created by other organizations. In this research, a collaborative inter-organizational KM network is proposed to provide a platform for organizations to access and retrieve inter-organizational knowledge in a similar domain. Furthermore, ontology and its related mediation methods are incorporated in the network. The concept of ontology enables organizations to explicitly represent their knowledge of a specific domain with representational vocabulary in terms of objects and their interrelated describable relationships. Although different organizations may possess their own set of ontologies, the mediation methods that include mapping, merging and integration are capable of reconciling the underlying heterogeneities of ontologies. In this way, it is possible for the participant organizations to reuse inter-organizational knowledge within the network even though there are fundamental differences among organizations in terms of KMS structures and knowledge formats. The retrieved inter-organizational knowledge could then be used to support knowledge creating, storing, dissemination, using and evaluation of the organizational KM process. In additional, a selection framework is also proposed to assist organizations in choosing suitable ontology mediation approaches, ranging from mapping approaches. levels of automation, mediation methods to matching techniques. While knowledge engineers could reuse inter-organizational knowledge to create and evaluate organizational knowledge, general users are benefit from the effectiveness and efficiency in searching for relevant interorganizational knowledge within the network.

Any organization that wishes to excel at KM needs to improve its knowledge creation processes, both at the individual and at the group level. In this way, the theory of organizational knowledge creation has developed rapidly in academic world and been broadly scattered in management science over the last 19 years. This paper conducts a general study about the theory's

The paper argues that existing techniques for retail site evaluation ignore the useful 'soft' insights of retail executives. It outlines a technique for constructing a composite map of retail decision makers' insights into the location in uences affecting store performance. It has two objectives: to show how the method can be used to construct a basic knowledge base by helping to elicit decision makers' spatial knowledge; and to clarify the status of the maps in terms of the process of group decision making. Illustrations are given from current work drawn from interviews with executives of a major multiple superstore retailer in the UK. The paper shows how composite mapping provides a means to reduce the ideas of a group without any loss of detail, using key cognitive constructs as a 'glue' to provide a template against which individual maps can be compared and better understood. The interpretative method provides a exible and expedient means for constructing an organizational knowledge base for site location -the value of which can then be tested for modelling purposes -and as an effective counterweight to normative procedures.

Society is becoming a great source of knowledge and innovation, the synergy of all the ideas that are coming from all the countries across the world is fostering the rise of a new kind of society where knowledge plays an important role, nevertheless today’s society needs a global strategy to improve knowledge management in order to ensure its accessibility. This paper introduces a global strategy supported on the one hand, by a methodological framework that proposes a transactive memory system to allow encoding, storing, and retrieving knowledge collectively in a smart manner, on the other hand, it is supported by a technological framework based on Web 2.0 technologies aimed to implement the methods and strategies defined in the transactive memory system. Moreover, this global strategy must ensure the maturity of the generated knowledge in order to foster innovation; also knowledge use must be tracked and measured in order to allow knowledge to become intellectual capital,whichis on...

T his study investigates the effects of information technology (IT) on exploration and exploitation in organizational learning (OL). We use qualitative evidence from previously published case studies of a single organization to extend an earlier computational model of organizational learning (March 1991) by introducing IT-enabled learning mechanisms: communication technology (e-mail), knowledge repositories of best practices, and groupware. We find that each of these IT-enabled learning mechanisms enable capabilities that have a distinct effect on the exploration and exploitation learning dynamics in the organization. We also find that this effect is dependent on organizational and environmental conditions, as well as on the interaction effects between the various mechanisms when used in combination with one another. We explore the implications of our results for the use of IT to support organizational learning.

This paper outlines an ongoing research project on training, education and sharing of experiences among mobile people. The importance for professionals to continuously learn is widely recognized. Organizations in the new economy are dependent on organizational knowledge and competence. Mobile workers need alternative educational and knowledge development opportunities that are not restrained by time and space.

Knowledge management is an emerging area which is gaining interest by both industry and government. As we move toward building knowledge organizations, knowledge management will play a fundamental role towards the success of transforming individual knowledge into organizational knowledge. One of the key building blocks for developing and advancing this ®eld of knowledge management is arti®cial intelligence, which many knowledge management practitioners and theorists are overlooking. This paper will discuss the emergence and future of knowledge management, and its link to arti®cial intelligence. q

This paper provides an introduction to the process of of creating a knowledge management system for a small to medium organisation. It looks at a range of strategies and policies which can be used to help capture, transfer, share and create knowledge.

This paper accepts the contingency view of knowledge management and recognises that different approaches to knowledge management are not mutually exclusive and no one approach is instinctively preferable to another. When improving KM or implementing a new system, one must consider the characteristics of the existing KM infrastructure and establish policies and strategies aimed at addressing current, and sustaining future knowledge needs of the organisation necessary to achieve its strategic vision.

On the basis of Appreciative Inquiry , we offer an interview protocol termed Feedforward Interview (FFI). FFI is designed to reveal new organizational knowledge both for managers and subordinates, which can lead to better alignment between employees' needs and organizational practices, and to improved relationships by enabling both parties to feel more positive about themselves and about each other. Following a detailed description of the FFI protocol and its rationale, we demonstrate how FFI may be used as a complement, or even as a replacement, for performance appraisal reviews, job selection interviews, and customer satisfaction surveys. The benefits of FFI appear to include eliciting positive emotions, fostering bonding, building psychological safety for sharing information, and creating internal transformations of both interviewer and interviewee. We conclude with a call for research to evaluate FFI's effectiveness and the conditions under which it will be most useful.

This paper proposes a relational capability framework to investigate the main organisational patterns in managing international sourcing activities by multinational companies (MNCs). Specifically, this framework will be adopted in order to examine the current understandingdeveloped in the academic literature -of intra-organisational mechanisms supporting international sourcing activities concerning products, technologies and knowledge. The literature review is based on the analysis -for the period 1995-2007 -of 31 leading journals in management studies. The results of the review show that limited research has been conducted on the development of relational capabilities by MNCs in the area of international sourcing. While the concept of "relational capability" is increasingly debated in the literature, contributions in the international management field have neglected the organisational dimension of the MNCs' external relations. The relational capability framework adopted in this paper -whose components are functions, control and management processes, tools and external parties -has proven an effective tool to highlight the main elements of the "institutionalized" organizational knowledge in the management of external relations.

Purpose -This article aims to examine international studies of knowledge management (KM) and organizational learning (OL). Design/methodology/approach -The approach takes the form of a literature review of KM and OL research that focuses on a business or businesses located outside traditional Western economies. Findings -There is a need to increase research that examines KM and OL existing in different and multiple countries. Additionally, cultural factors should be included in KM and OL research analysis.

We assessed the model of knowledge strategy and IT support proposed by Hansen, Nohria and Tierney. Their main argument is that, in order to enable effective use of knowledge, organizations should select an 80/20 knowledge strategy mix of codification and personalization with one of these strategies dominant. We examined the knowledge strategy emphasis (codification or personalization) in each of four case organizations. These organizations represented different combinations of the codification and personalization knowledge strategy mix. Our cases indicate some support for Hansen et al.'s main argument, but also highlight the need for refinements to their model. Based on our assessment, we conclude that the advice of Hansen et al. is useful for deciding upon an initial strategic direction and setting suitable priorities. We propose the following refinements to the model. First, organizations may find it necessary to evolve their knowledge strategy mix over time, augmenting the alternate strategy as a result of the intertwined nature of knowledge processes. Second, we propose two strategic pathways that organizations could adopt on their journey towards effective use of organizational knowledge. Lastly, we identify additional considerations for deciding upon a particular knowledge strategy direction. q

This research, conducted by the author when a Senior Researcher at Newcastle University, UK, was funded by a UK governance organisation to help them assess, integrate and improve their understanding of the governed population.

ABSTRACT: Governance organisations have been urged to develop more holistic evidence-based approaches with partners to better deal with issues affecting the governed population. This presupposes an understanding of the population, yet there has been little research work addressing how governance organisations come to understand their governed population, nor how this understanding can be improved upon within such organisations.

This case study examined in-depth how understanding of a governed population was developed within one UK local governance organisation and it explored how such understanding might be developed and improved through more holistic and evidence-based organisational learning within the organisation and its governance partnerships.

The research methodology involved placement within the governance organisation, participant observations on several projects and innovative initiatives, observations within, across, and outside the organisation, and also interviews with varied key stakeholders.

The study examined:

- stakeholder engagement and networks
- current and varied understandings of the population
- mechanisms actually used for developing understandings
- the influence of context on organisational learning

and analysed these to arrive at a recommendations to improve organisational understanding of the governed population.

In the case studied, significant strengths were found: including innovative past learning trials for development, extensive ongoing networking activities, and many varied and accumulating quantitative datasets available across partnerships.

However, entrenched organisational approaches and practices constrained the development of holistic evidence-based understanding, for instance: the absence of systematic maintained collective learning processes; weak recording and forgetting of understandings; methodological exclusion of stakeholders from the development of understanding; the relative neglect of qualitative data, explanations, investigations, interpretations, and reflexivity; and also implicit organisational acceptance of such limitations and low aspirations.

Nonetheless, untapped opportunities existed to enable change including: latent practitioner knowledge and innovative management champions, the desire for improvement and raised aspirations within learning networks, and the development potential of alterative learning approaches.

It was concluded that more holistic evidence-based understanding was possible, but required new learning approaches beyond those then in use in both local government or academia.   

Recommendations are made to utilise and develop improved organisational learning approaches trialed and reported in the case study.

It is argued that the case study findings, conclusions, and recommendations may be applicable to other similar local governance organisations and partnerships that seek to better understand local populations, services and interventions.

The work was also submitted for, and awarded, an MPhil (at Newcastle University, supervised by Prof. Patsy Healy)

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the state-ofthe- art in organizational knowledge creation, a field of research that is expanding almost exponentially. Knowledge creation is a dynamic capability that enables firms to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage on the market. Our purpose is to critically analyze the most significant ideas published in this field, and

Facing a fierce worldwide competition in the high tech era, companies are adopting virtual teams as a strategic tool to improve coordination efficiency and to expand organizational knowledge. As the organization knowledge becomes a more important resources than the traditional labor and capital in the new information economy, businesses today advocate knowledge management as a competitive necessity. Among various knowledge

Purpose -To propose and evaluate a novel management structure that encourages knowledge sharing across an organization. Design/methodology/approach -The extant literature on the impact of organizational culture and its link to management structure is examined and used to develop a new knowledge sharing management structure. Roadblocks to implementing a new management structure and methods for overcoming these impediments are discussed. The efficacy of the proposed management structure is evaluated empirically by examining its effect on organizations that have implemented portions of the proposed structure. Findings -The foundational ideas behind the proposed knowledge management organizational structure and the structure itself have been implemented in parts at various organizations located both in the USA and internationally. While the full management structure model has not been evaluated, the portions implemented in various organizations have enabled these organizations to assume leading roles in their respective industries.

literature on organizational learning tends to be theoretically fragmented, drawing on analogies to individual learning theory or simply using organizational learning as an umbrella concept for many different kinds of organizational change or adaptation. This paper introduces a framework for the analysis of organizations as knowledge systems composed of a collection of knowledge processes: constructing, organizing, storing, distributing, and applying. The knowledge system framework draws heavily on the sociology of knowledge and emphasizes the social nature of each of these constitutive processes. The paper uses the framework to analyze the case of a small engineering consulting company that implemented a new information system to automate one of its core business activities: energy audits of commercial buildings. Traditional approaches to organizational learning have emphasized the ways in which information systems can lower the costs and increase capacity for search, storage, and retrieval of information. The knowledge system framework suggests a deeper level of influence, whereby information systems can also affect the objects of knowledge and the criteria for knowledge construction.

In the knowledge economy, caracterized by complex and dynamic competitive environments, knowledge-based resources represent the true source of sustained competitive advantage for the firm. However, most of these intangible resources are not reported on the traditional annual report. As "what is measured is managed", firms increasingly need to measure and report these resources. Thus, the intellectual capital report offers a holistic view of the organization's roots of value. There are three main parts to this paper. First, the growing importance of organizational knowledge-based resources is addressed. Second, a concise review of the most significant on intellectual capital is summarized. Third, an image is shown of what Spanish firms are doing in terms of knowledge management and intellectual capital measuring and reporting. This situation is compared with intellectual capital reports of firms from Asia, the Middle East and other European countries.

There is a paucity of theory for the effective management of knowledge transfer within large organizations. Practitioners continue to rely upon 'experimental' approaches to address the problem. This research attempts to reduce the gap between theory and application, thereby improving conceptual clarity for the transfer of knowledge. The paper, through an in-depth case analysis conducted within Schlumberger, studies the adoption of an intranet-based knowledge management (KM) system (called InTouch) to support, strategically align and transfer knowledge resources. The investigation was undertaken through the adoption of a robust empirically based qualitative research methodology incorporating the role of technology as an enabler of KM application. Consequently, the study addressed the important question of translating theoretical benefits of KM into practical reality. The research formulates a set of theoretical propositions that are seen as key to the development of an effective knowledge-based infrastructure. The findings identify 30 generic attributes that are essential to the creation, mobilization and diffusion of organizational knowledge. The research makes a significant contribution to identifying a theoretical and empirically based agenda for successful intranetbased KM, which will be of benefit to both the academic and practitioner communities. The paper also highlights and proposes important areas for further research.

This paper develops four categories of knowledge management strategies used by multinational corporations (MNCs). Codification strategies involve the transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge in order to facilitate flows of organizational knowledge. Tacitness strategies keep organizational knowledge tacit in order to prevent flows of knowledge to competitors. Focused knowledge management strategies regulate knowledge flows by controlling the degree to which knowledge is encoded in forms which match the information intensity and ambiguity of their knowledge. Unfocused knowledge management strategies attempt to regulate knowledge flows by controlling the overall level of codification of knowledge without special consideration of the capabilities of specific forms of codification. Empirical analyses of the effects of these strategies on subunit performance in a sample of U.S. and Danish subsidiaries suggest that the focused strategies are superior to the other strategies. Our results also indicate that different kinds of organizational knowledge require matching forms of codification in order to increase performance. The results give rise to a nested contingency model of knowledge management.

Once discovered, each archaeological find starts a sort of new "life-cycle", throughout which it will cross several events, sometime repeatedly. Each find brings with it a lot of information (about its nature and history). Also each event it will cross (restoration, study, exhibition…) generates a lot of additional information. All these information are useful, and often decisive, in order to deepen the scientific contribution received by the find, to make every time the best decision about its management, and in the end to give a proper sense to its discovery and overall to its expensive conservation. Despite the fundamental role of information in such domain, they are often under estimated, not specifically managed, almost always not filed in digital archives, and then not available to persons different from the ones implied in each single event. The problem of the use and sharing of the knowledge potentially brought by an archaeological find is further increased by the presence throughout the life-cycle of several diverse figures (archaeologists, restorers...), that usually work separately.

In the context of a sustainable economy, knowledge has gained more and more ground, becoming an invaluable resource, the competence to generate and apply new knowledge giving the company a source of competitive advantage. Thus, the understanding and managing of knowledge dynamics become vital for the company. The main purpose of this article is to critically analyze the state-of-the-art in the field of knowledge creation, and to present the main characteristics of the most significant models designed to reflect organizational knowledge creation processes. The paper presents the impressive work done by Nonaka and his co-workers and the complementary contributions brought by the Spanish team coordinated by Gregorio Martin de Castro.

The substitution of knowledge to information as the entity that organizations process and deliver raises a number of questions concerning the nature of knowledge. The dispute on the codifiability of tacit knowledge and that juxtaposing the epistemology of practice vs. the epistemology of possession can be better faced by revisiting two crucial debates. One concerns the nature of cognition and the other the famous mind-body problem. Cognition can be associated with the capability of manipulating symbols, like in the traditional computational view of organizations, interpreting facts or symbols, like in the narrative approach to organization theory, or developing mental states (events), like argued by the growing field of organizational cognition. Applied to the study of organizations, the mind-body problem concerns the possibility (if any) and the forms in which organizational mental events, like trust, identity, cultures, etc., can be derived from the structural aspects (technological, cognitive or communication networks) of organizations. By siding in extreme opposite positions, the two epistemologies appear irreducible one another and pay its own inner consistency with remarkable difficulties in describing and explaining some empirical phenomena. Conversely, by legitimating the existence of both tacit and explicit knowledge, by emphasizing the space of human interactions, and by assuming that mental events can be explained with the structural aspects of organizations, Nonaka’s SECI model seems an interesting middle way between the two rival epistemologies.

Managing organizational knowledge and employee's competency is observed as key towards success. However, significance of intellectual capital for strategic management of knowledge and organizational competency has got limited attention in the literature. The aim of present study is to examine the impact of intellectual capital on strategic management of knowledge and competency from the context of Indonesia. A sample of 242 respondents is collected through developed questionnaire. From methodological context, study has followed descriptive and regression analysis. It is observed that significant association exists between various items of Intellectual capital and strategic management of knowledge and competency. Findings are significantly suggested to policy makers and strategic decision takers in the business and relevant industry. Key limitations includes limited sample and non-application of cross-sectional analysis.

This paper develops four categories of knowledge management strategies used by multinational corporations (MNCs). Codification strategies involve the transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge in order to facilitate flows of organizational knowledge. Tacitness strategies keep organizational knowledge tacit in order to prevent flows of knowledge to competitors. Focused knowledge management strategies regulate knowledge flows by controlling the degree to which knowledge is encoded in forms that match the information intensity and ambiguity of their knowledge. Unfocused knowledge management strategies attempt to regulate knowledge flows by controlling the overall level of codification of knowledge without special consideration of the capabilities of specific forms of codification. Empirical analyses of the effects of these strategies on subunit performance in a sample of US and Danish subsidiaries suggest that the focused strategies are superior to the other strategies. Our results also indicate that different kinds of organizational knowledge require matching forms of codification in order to increase performance. The results give rise to a nested contingency model of knowledge management. D

This chapter focuses on e-learning and its relationship with organizational knowledge dissemination. We argue this requires a holistic approach that involves business processes, people and systems to deliver knowledge required by organizaitions and its workforce in a timely and cost-effective manner. Organizations need to be adaptable and flexible to stay competitive, which is a challenge they face everyday. Our holistic approach to online learning, as presented in this chapter, was motivated by this challenge. For this, ...

In recent years the concepts of practice and activity have attracted the attention of academics and practitioners working on learning and knowledge in organizational and work settings. These scholars and practitioners have all begun to explore the implications for research and intervention of the notion that knowledge and learning are mainly social and cultural phenomena. The result is increasing interest in the thesis that organizational knowledge and learning cannot be conceived as mental processes residing in members' heads; rather, they must be viewed as forms of social expertise, that is, as knowledge in action situated in the historical, social, and cultural context in which it arises and is embodied in a variety of forms and media.

Scholars have called repeatedly for more nuanced understandings of power and organizational knowledge, but researchers have yet to integrate available critical frameworks that could link these concepts. Moreover, existing analyses of power in organizational knowledge tend to focus on role differences but do not yet consider how social differences – including gender, race and sexuality – shape knowledge. Working from a practice-based approach, I draw upon standpoint theory and intersectionality to show how whiteness, masculinity and heteronormativity are embedded in organizational knowledge. I construct this argument using a case study at a US university known for having some of the best systems for building organizational knowledge about sexual violence on campus. I argue that the university's practices – specifically those related to interpretation and definition – mask heterogeneity in knowledge across the university. I also show how practices give the university's knowledge the appearance of neutrality and, subsequently, can unintentionally defer important organizational actions.

This paper combines ideas from disciplines ranging from physics, epistemology and philosophy of science to military affairs, to sketch a scientific framework for studying organizational learning, knowledge and memory. Threads are woven from this background into a generic analytical framework that reveals the biological nature of knowledge in learning organizations. There are many epistemological and conceptual difficulties surrounding the concept of autopoiesis, so most of the present work focuses on explaining it in generic terms, establishing an epistemological framework in which the autopoietic status of any kind of complex system can be evaluated, and then deriving generic concepts of memory, learning and knowledge within the autopoietic framework. The autopoietic status of human organizations is then tested in relation to this framework, and some of the direct implications regarding organizational learning and adaptation are highlighted.