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Collaborative knowledge building (CKB) is seen as a means for achieving desired learning outcomes as well as facilitating sharing and distribution of knowledge among community members. However existing CKB studies do not appear to identify and account for the tools used by groups (at individual and group level) as part of the CKB process. The paper aims to address this issue.

The paper describes a group knowledge building exercise within an educational context using activity theory as a descriptive data analysis tool. Data analysis involved conceptualising the CKB process as an activity system in which the group worked towards a shared object and identifying the ensuing contradictions in the CKB activity system.

Results from the analysis illustrate participants' use of reflective thinking processes for resolving contradictions and as a tool for articulating knowledge and developing a shared understanding. Two types of contradictions are identified from the analysis resolving which helped the group to achieve their objective. The efficacy of using activity systems as a holistic and flexible unit of analysis for studying CKB is illustrated through discussion of the results.

The results have educational research implications in terms of developing research tools for analysing CKB, collecting data from a group context, and developing tools for improving group‐work.

The results have practical implications in terms of building knowledge from experience within knowledge communities.

One of the outcomes of the study is the identification of developmental and reflective contradictions which highlight the issues that when addressed allow for successful achievement of the object (or to some degree of success), as well as a richer deeper experience for the participants.

The aim of this paper is to provide a solid theoretical base to the study of paradox in organized activity. It draws upon activity theory to show the managerial and analytical potential of the activity systems model (ASM) as a systematic tool to analyze paradox in organizational practice.

The methodology employed in the study can be described as a longitudinal multiple case study approach. The focal organization was followed over a period of three years. About 25 interviews and 50 participatory observations were made. Text documents were analysed using an analytical tool developed from theory – the “Analysis Readiness Review (ARR)” – to structure and categorize data.

This study shows that the locus of paradox can be empirically identified within and between the constituent elements of an ASM, and that the consequence of such paradox is the emergence of a new genetically more evolved ASM. Hence, paradox in organized activity will eventually usher in change, such as the rearrangement of the elements of organized activity, and the replacement of one or many of those elements.

This research is limited in that it models only two principal types of contradictions in activity systems, both of which are inner contradictions intrinsic to the activity system in question. The case study is merely indicative and more empirical research is needed to further extend our knowledge of paradox in various types of organized activity.

Managers can utilize the ARR‐tool as a systematic checklist to identify the elements of the organizational practice and to locate paradoxes. In doing so, they can actively take part in shaping the dialectical processes of change that the paradoxes create, by paying attention to the contradictions present in the activity system. This is the challenge to management that paradoxical organizational practice poses, and this paper provides one tool to help managers and researchers to better face this challenge.

Presents a methodology useful when analysing the efficiency of order picking systems. The main feature of the analysis is the ability to compare different system designs. The methodology has earlier been applied mainly to assembly production systems, and has in these cases proved to be an effective management tool in discussions concerning the choice of production system.

Much educational practice taught at teaching colleges regarding the process of teaching and learning is derived from a theoretical base. Less is based on lessons learned from the observation of the actual process of teaching and learning. Undergraduate teachers and mature practitioners are left with unstructured and unsystematic personal reflections of the process of teaching and learning for meeting any deficiencies they may have perceived. Soft systems methodology is an approach that can fill this lacuna. It provides a structured and systematic as well as systemic, approach for analysing actual practices in organized human activities, or human activity systems, such as the institution of education. The methodology is of particular benefit for analysing the process of teaching and learning because it does not require starting the process as an identified and precisely defined problem requiring a commensurate solution, yet it is still capable of generating recommendations for improving the process. The methodology is applied to this process to discover whether it can reveal hitherto unrecognized teaching and learning activities which can be used to improve the process in question.

The purpose of this paper is to explore factors contributing to the dynamics in healthcare work practices and how health workers cope with the emerging dynamics. By focusing on these aspects, the study seeks to inform the design and implementation of health management information systems (HMIS).

An ethnographic study of HMIS work practices in Tanzania was conducted. The collected data were analysed using concepts from Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT).

The complex and dynamic demands placed upon static healthcare information systems cause unregulated and inconsistent changes to off‐systems work practices. CHAT is a useful framework for identifying emerging gaps within existing information systems (IS).

This study builds upon a research and development project known as the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP). HISP aims at addressing the problems of fragmentation, multiple data standards and lack of tools for data management in HMIS in low‐income countries. The findings from this study have practical implications for the design and implementation of IT‐based IS within the healthcare industry in general and within the HISP initiatives in particular.

The paper offers a new perspective for conceptualizing the dynamics in healthcare work practices by looking at the means and solutions that health workers produce, not only as products of dynamics but as factors that inform and shape the design and implementation of new IT and IS.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries can migrate their physical administrative work environment to a virtual platform to improve information management.

The paper employs an interpretive case study approach and a combined lens of activity and agency theories to understand how a developing country HEI attempted to improve its information management by migrating from a physical to a virtual administrative work environment.

The findings show how contradictions caused by role conflicts, administrative staff’s fear of elimination and external consultants’ limited understanding of administrative rules and procedures can hamper work environment virtualisation. Such challenges should be resolved in order to achieve a successful virtual work environment that supports timely and accurate information management.

The study is limited by its single case perspective in one developing country. However, future studies can compare the experiences of HEIs from developed and developing countries in order to account for contextual differences.

The study provides practitioners with insight into how to address conflicts between employees (as potential users) and external consultants during virtual system development and implementation. In particular, role conflict, fear of eliminating some administrative staff and consultants’ limited understanding of administrative work procedures should be resolved for successful work environment virtualisation.

The study is the first attempt to offer rich insight into the challenges associated with administrative work environment virtualisation for improved information management in HEIs, through the principal-agent relationship.

Porter's activity‐based view of the firm is a comprehensive strategic framework which analyzes firm‐level competitive advantage. Although Porter's activity‐based view is widely cited by academics, taught to students, and applied by practitioners, little is known about its intellectual roots. Given that a framework's intellectual antecedents not only determine its current content, but also its future development, this paper aims to examine the intellectual roots of Porter's activity‐based view and the value chain.

The paper examines Porter's writings in an effort to document his influences while developing the activity‐based view and value chain. Porter's and other scholars' explanations are found to be lacking, so the paper ventures further down paths first suggested by Porter and others.

Whereas Porter's five forces framework built on the existing industrial organization paradigm, the activity‐based view is not derived from any existing paradigms. While consultants of the 1970s impacted Porter's development of the value chain and the activity‐based view, its deeper roots lay in operations research, particularly activity analysis; and the work of Arch Shaw, who was the first to teach a business policy course at Harvard Business School. Porter's contribution is to bring the diverse threads together into a coherent whole which managers can apply to analyze and improve their competitive positions.

Following Porter, the authors argue that activities are a key link between resource holdings and strategic positions. Therefore, it is only when the activity‐based and resource‐based views are integrated that they provide a comprehensive explanation of firm value creation.

The paper is the first to critically examine the intellectual antecedents of the activity‐based view.

Although systems analysis for designing information systems shares much in common with business process mapping there are critical differences. Systems analysis methodology produces a logical model, which omits all extraneous detail (in a somewhat similar spirit to business process re‐engineering). The approach is based on two views: entity‐relationships for data modelling and data flow diagramming for representing functions (which is used in a similar context to process in BPR terminology). A third view using an event driven process network, which serves as a macro representation complementing the other two views, is advocated.

The purpose of this paper is to examine current practices of logistics cost management (LCM) in Mainland China and identify factors impacting on the effectiveness of LCM.

The questionnaire‐based survey is conducted in Mainland China. To analyze the status quo of LCM in Mainland China, the paper takes two nonparametric tests, Mann‐Whitney U‐test and Kruskal‐Wallis one‐way analysis of variance to compare the difference between firms with and without attaching importance to LCM.

The difficulties of LCM in China is as follows: first, there is a lack of effective cost measurement tools and analyses as well as reporting systems, especially in terms of distributors. Second, it is very critical to organize intra‐organizational cross‐functional teams and inter‐organizational collaboration based on business processes to promote information integrating instead of blindly investing on information technology application. Third, professional logistics managers are in short supply, even among logistics service providers.

First, although the sample covers some industries, the generalization of the conclusion is still limited due to sample size. In future research, more industries should be covered to test the hypotheses proposed. Second, this paper just analyzes the status quo of Chinese company LCM. Future studies are encouraged to deeply explore internal and external operational management factors impacting on LCM.

This paper is a very insightful source of information about LCM in Mainland China for logistics managers and policy makers. This paper provides logistics managers with insight so as to improve their performance. There are also suggestions for government and educational institutions to provide more resources to develop and offer more logistics courses and training programs to fulfill the needs of the logistics industry. The paper sets up a basis for research on LCM in China.

Despite the importance of LCM in Mainland China, the extant literatures scarcely have a sound analysis. Theoretically, this paper extends theories of LCM in China and identifies main issues concerning LCM. This paper is an exploratory study to figure out an effective LCM approach in China.