Search results

The purpose of this paper is to present a holistic interpretation of the scope of knowledge management processes whose intent is to enhance the effectiveness of new product development (NPD).

The paper reviews key concepts in NPD and knowledge management (KM), leading to propositions about the effective management of NPD‐relevant knowledge. It develops a structured, holistic model of organizational KM including practical mechanisms and processes for managing knowledge transfer.

Effective knowledge management needs to: acknowledge the multiple organizational levels at which knowledge is deployed; support the production, elicitation and exchange of tacit knowledge as well as explicit, codified information; hence accommodate and enable both informal and formal, typically IS/IT enabled knowledge processes.

KM is work‐in‐progress, not a one‐time search for an idealised state. Computer‐enabled information systems are necessary but not sufficient elements of a comprehensive approach to KM. Holistic KM should be integral to the organization, working with not against the grain of its technical, social and cultural processes. Senior managers with titles such as “chief knowledge officer” may be crucial in establishing strategic priorities and change programmes, but all NPD personnel bear responsibility for effective KM.

The paper combines propositions about the effective conduct of KM for NPD with a model of holistic KM that involves multi‐level flux and constructive knowledge transition. It identifies practical mechanisms, IS/IT enabled and otherwise, in this context. It suggests that new research to identify effective KM practices in NPD is a priority for KM researchers.

Members' knowledge is the most important resource in NGOs and it is important to stimulate its exchange. Knowledge that is needed to act in complex situations is hard to exchange, but Web 2.0 technologies provide a toolbox to develop a knowledge management strategy. The paper aims to specify optimal conditions and necessary measures that NGOs should take in order to successfully use Web 2.0 technologies for knowledge exchange.

NGOs and Web 2.0 technologies have specific characteristics in common. It is suggested that these characteristics require certain prerequisites in order to make the use of Web 2.0 technologies successful. Using an iterative and participative design method, a case study is presented that investigated prior boundary conditions and implemented a Web 2.0‐based platform as knowledge management strategy in a large NGO.

NGOs and Web 2.0 are based on strong voluntariness, they are democratic, contribution and personality are strongly tied to each other, and education is rarely formal. Therefore, there is a strong need for contact between members, internal motivation and organizational identification, for quality criteria, for protected spaces and pattern‐structures, if Web 2.0 technologies shall lead to successful knowledge management. The case study demonstrates that considering these circumstances enabled the successful implementation in a large NGO.

The current research helps NGOs to successfully implement Web 2.0 technologies as a means to support knowledge management. A figure with the crucial questions and the means that have to be taken in dependence of the answers is provided.

NGOs do not have the same means to develop formal management strategies as other organizations. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the circumstances that enable knowledge exchange with Web 2.0 technologies is needed. The current research provides information about optimal circumstances and about possibilities to improve less promising circumstances.

This paper seeks to identify the instances of informal knowledge sharing at the “backstage” of the clinical environment and to demonstrate their contribution to organisational learning and patient safety.

The approach takes the form of an ethnographic study in two Day Surgery Units in the UK National Health Service undertaken over three months in various clinical and non‐clinical settings. The observations recorded the instances of communication and knowledge sharing, as well as taking into account the wider socio‐cultural and organisational context.

The study identified situations of informal knowledge sharing. These were characterised by degrees of homogeneity/heterogeneity and patency/privacy. Focusing on three sites – staff lounge, storeroom, and theatre corridor, the paper elaborates the context and content of knowledge sharing, and the contributions to clinical practice, service function and learning.

Backstage knowledge sharing is premised on shared understanding, trust and mutuality and situational opportunity. This contrasts with more formal models of learning advocated in policy. Services managers might embrace, rather than replace, these relationships, whilst emphasising the need for knowledge to be shared more widely amongst peers and service leaders.

To date, little research in the area of patient safety has considered the contribution of informal learning at the “backstage”. This is an important, if taken‐for‐granted, part of everyday practice and makes a “hidden” contribution to organisational learning.

Till now no study has been undertaken which test the knowledge management processes for creating dynamic capabilities on the basis of organization structures with interpersonal trust as an important variable. This paper serves as a preliminary study proposing an integrated conceptual model that unmistakably unifies the notions of knowledge management and dynamic capability.

Through an exhaustive literature review, the study explores the role of knowledge management in building dynamic capabilities within the organizations. Through the available literature, authors have attempted to study the relevance of knowledge management against the backdrop of Structuration theory.

Through their proposed framework, authors posit that the structural elements of an organization set the tone for knowledge management within the organization. Organizations face dynamic challenges from the external environment, and in absence of interpersonal trust the creation of dynamic capabilities becomes difficult.

First, the current study enriches the growing research interest in Knowledge management. Second, the study connects Knowledge management and interpersonal trust within the organizations, which in turn is influenced by the structure of the organization. Structures created in the organization decide the direction, quality and quantity of knowledge sharing within the organizations both through social systems and through formal reporting systems. Thus, this paper serves as a preliminary study proposing an integrated conceptual model that unmistakably unifies the notions of knowledge management and dynamic capability.

This survey of senior managers at 25 international organizations tackles the key question: “Where does knowledge management add value?” The findings indicate that only a very limited number of organizations have a mechanism to track the return on investment in knowledge‐based competencies or related intangible assets. The majority were not able to determine the business value of their investment in this area. Most respondents agreed though that they had lost business opportunities as a result of poor knowledge practice. The results of this survey have led to the requirements of a conceptual model for the assessment of the return on investment in core knowledge‐based competencies.

This paper investigates the extent to which six factors drawn from the theory and practice of knowledge management can be applied in small organisations. The factors are: balance between need and cost of knowledge acquisition; the extent to which knowledge originates in the external environment; internal knowledge processing; internal knowledge storage; use and deployment of knowledge within the organisation; and attention to human resources. Three cases demonstrate that the fundamental concepts and principles of knowledge management are similar for small and large organisations. Differences include the value placed on systematic knowledge management practices such as formalised environmental scanning and computer‐based knowledge sharing systems. Consultants, and library and information professionals, are advised to understand the organisation’s management and communication culture; emphasise simple and inexpensive systems integrated into everyday practice; and establish and monitor adherence to tools such as records management schedules. Information professionals can contribute much by managing systems which use vocabularies to enhance information retrieval for knowledge sharing.

Innovation processes within a company are increasingly important to its strategic management. In generating a greater variety of options for innovation, knowledge management practices (KMPs) are key enablers; mapping them within a unit can pinpoint the most beneficial innovation options. Case study research in five UK companies has developed a set of generic ‘attributes’ for that purpose.