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Article
Publication date: 26 October 2010

Yue Wu, Dai Senoo and Rémy Magnier‐Watanabe

This paper intends to propose an “ontological shift SECI model” as a tool to diagnose organizations in the context of knowledge creation, and thereby support the management of

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper intends to propose an “ontological shift SECI model” as a tool to diagnose organizations in the context of knowledge creation, and thereby support the management of knowledge creation‐related projects.

Design/methodology/approach

This research's hypothesis is based on existing knowledge creation theories and is tested using a case study methodology. The authors first examine the model in a completed project in order to test its validity and second, apply it in Company A's software project to demonstrate its feasibility and usefulness.

Findings

In any given project, knowledge creation activities occur in various ontological entities – individual, group, organization or social‐network. The diagnosis tool, which proved to be useful in this paper, traces such ontological shifts and makes visible all key activities of a knowledge creation project. These activities form an “ontological shift model” and trace an “activity map” which exposes underlying enablers and barriers, and provides viable solutions for improvement.

Research limitations/implications

To carry out the analysis, the key activities identified in the knowledge creation‐related project have to be described in detail according to their ontological and epistemological dimensions. However, such description is complex and requires specialized expertise in knowledge creation and rich knowledge of the ongoing project.

Practical implications

The tool proved useful for supporting project managers in diagnosing their project's knowledge creation shortcomings. When knowledge creation breakdowns occur in a project, the tool can act as a navigator and uncover alternatives to continue the knowledge‐creating spiral.

Originality/value

Knowledge creation process is difficult to manage because of its cause ambiguity and intangibility. What is a knowledge creation activity? And why? This model makes explicit experienced managers' tacit solutions to knowledge creation problems. It can make organizational knowledge creation activities visible and therefore manageable for junior staff, outside consultants and even future software modeling.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 14 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2020

Susu Nousala, Kim Blanca Galindo, David Romero, Xin Feng and Pedro Aibeo

This research presents an ontological model, to communicate the impact of dynamic preconditions for peri-urban communities. As such, this paper approaches perturbation communities…

Abstract

Purpose

This research presents an ontological model, to communicate the impact of dynamic preconditions for peri-urban communities. As such, this paper approaches perturbation communities as social-complex-adaptive-systems.

Design/methodology/approach

Previous assessment of dynamic preconditions have typically been based on top-down approaches. Through the lens of social-complex-adaptive and systemic design approaches (requiring a range of different disciplines), this work focuses on providing a broader view towards periurban research. The methodological approach involved academic literature, fieldwork observations, in-depth discussions with community, government, experts and research groups, focusing on a region called “Xochimilco” on the outskirts of Mexico City, a unique pre-Hispanic, Aztec ecosystem. This evolving man made agricultural/ecological structure of island plots, still provides environmental services to Mexico City. This region provides the basis of the research and subsequent ontological model. Ontology, in this instance, refers to the nature of being within a range of constraining dynamic forces relating to resilient behaviors of the current Xochimilco perturbation ecosystem.

Findings

Xochimilco can be considered as a longitudinal phenomenon that contributed to the understanding of observable resilient and precondition elements between the past and present of a living complex-adaptive-system.

Practical implications

The research has provided a better understanding of community resilience through preconditions, contributing towards preparation of environmental change and future urbanization. To this end, the research focused on visualizing key dynamics elements for communities attempting to absorb new urban conditions (being continuously pushed into it).

Originality/value

The outcomes of this research have provided specific systemic, bottom up approaches with ontological modeling to assist with visualizing and understanding intangible dynamic conditions that impact high complex areas of perturbation regions.

Article
Publication date: 26 August 2014

Florian Johannsen, Susanne Leist and Reinhold Tausch

The purpose of this paper is to specify the decomposition conditions of Wand and Weber for the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Therefore, an interpretation of the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to specify the decomposition conditions of Wand and Weber for the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Therefore, an interpretation of the conditions for BPMN is derived and compared to a specification of the conditions for enhanced Event-Driven Process Chains (eEPCs). Based on these results, guidelines for a conformance check of BPMN and eEPC models with the decomposition conditions are shown. Further, guidelines for decomposition are formulated for BPMN models. The usability of the decomposition guidelines is tested with modelling experts.

Design/methodology/approach

An approach building on a representational mapping is used for specifying the decomposition conditions. Therefore, ontological constructs of the Bunge-Wand-Weber ontology are mapped to corresponding modelling constructs and an interpretation of the decomposition conditions for BPMN is derived. Guidelines for a conformance check are then defined. Based on these results, decomposition guidelines are formulated. Their usability is tested in interviews.

Findings

The research shows that the decomposition conditions stemming from the information systems discipline can be transferred to business process modelling. However, the interpretation of the decomposition conditions depends on specific characteristics of a modelling language. Based on a thorough specification of the conditions, it is possible to derive guidelines for a conformance check of process models with the conditions. In addition, guidelines for decomposition are developed and tested. In the study, these are perceived as understandable and helpful by experts.

Research limitations/implications

Research approaches based on representational mappings are subjected to subjectivity. However, by having three researchers performing the approach independently, subjectivity can be mitigated. Further, only ten experts participated in the usability test, which is therefore to be considered as a first step in a more comprising evaluation.

Practical implications

This paper provides the process modeller with guidelines enabling a conformance check of BPMN and eEPC process models with the decomposition conditions. Further, guidelines for decomposing BPMN models are introduced.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to specify Wand and Weber's decomposition conditions for process modelling with BPMN. A comparison to eEPCs shows, that the ontological expressiveness influences the interpretation of the conditions. Further, guidelines for decomposing BPMN models as well as for checking their adherence to the decomposition conditions are presented.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 20 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2009

Liming Chen and Chris Nugent

This paper aims to serve two main purposes. In the first instance it aims to it provide an overview addressing the state‐of‐the‐art in the area of activity recognition, in…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to serve two main purposes. In the first instance it aims to it provide an overview addressing the state‐of‐the‐art in the area of activity recognition, in particular, in the area of object‐based activity recognition. This will provide the necessary material to inform relevant research communities of the latest developments in this area in addition to providing a reference for researchers and system developers who ware working towards the design and development of activity‐based context aware applications. In the second instance this paper introduces a novel approach to activity recognition based on the use of ontological modeling, representation and reasoning, aiming to consolidate and improve existing approaches in terms of scalability, applicability and easy‐of‐use.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper initially reviews the existing approaches and algorithms, which have been used for activity recognition in a number of related areas. From each of these, their strengths and weaknesses are discussed with particular emphasis being placed on the application domain of sensor enabled intelligent pervasive environments. Based on an analysis of existing solutions, the paper then proposes an integrated ontology‐based approach to activity recognition. The proposed approach adopts ontologies for modeling sensors, objects and activities, and exploits logical semantic reasoning for the purposes of activity recognition. This enables incremental progressive activity recognition at both coarse‐grained and fine‐grained levels. The approach has been considered within the realms of a real world activity recognition scenario in the context of assisted living within Smart Home environments.

Findings

Existing activity recognition methods are mainly based on probabilistic reasoning, which inherently suffer from a number of limitations such as ad hoc static models, data scarcity and scalability. Analysis of the state‐of‐the‐art has helped to identify a major gap between existing approaches and the need for novel recognition approaches posed by the emerging multimodal sensor technologies and context‐aware personalised activity‐based applications in intelligent pervasive environments. The proposed ontology based approach to activity recognition is believed to be the first of its kind, which provides an integrated framework‐based on the unified conceptual backbone, i.e. activity ontologies, addressing the lifecycle of activity recognition. The approach allows easy incorporation of domain knowledge and machine understandability, which facilitates interoperability, reusability and intelligent processing at a higher level of automation.

Originality/value

The comprehensive overview and critiques on existing work on activity recognition provide a valuable reference for researchers and system developers in related research communities. The proposed ontology‐based approach to activity recognition, in particular the recognition algorithm has been built on description logic based semantic reasoning and offers a promising alternative to traditional probabilistic methods. In addition, activities of daily living (ADL) activity ontologies in the context of smart homes have not been, to the best of one's knowledge, been produced elsewhere.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2009

Sidi Mohamed Benslimane, Mimoun Malki and Djelloul Bouchiha

Web applications are subject to continuous changes and rapid evolution triggered by increasing competition, especially in commercial domains such as electronic commerce…

Abstract

Purpose

Web applications are subject to continuous changes and rapid evolution triggered by increasing competition, especially in commercial domains such as electronic commerce. Unfortunately, usually they are implemented without producing any useful documentation for subsequent maintenance and evolution. Thereof, the maintenance of such systems becomes a challenging problem as the complexity of the web application grows. Reverse engineering has been heralded as one of the most promising technologies to support effective web application maintenance. This paper aims to present a reverse engineering approach that helps understanding existing undocumented web applications to be maintained or evolved.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed approach provides reverse engineering rules to generate a conceptual schema from a given domain ontology by using a set of transformation rules. The reverse engineering process consists of four phases: extracting useful information; identifying a set of ontological constructs representing the concepts of interest; enriching the identified set by additional constructs; and finally deriving a conceptual schema.

Findings

The advantage of using ontology for conceptual data modeling is the reusability of domain knowledge. As a result, the conceptual data model will be made faster, easier and with fewer errors than creating it in usual way. Designers can use the extracted conceptual schema to gain a better understanding of web applications and to assist in their maintenance.

Originality/value

The strong point of this approach is that it relies on a very rich semantic reference that is domain ontology. However, it is not possible to make a straightforward transformation of all elements from a domain ontology into a conceptual data model because ontology is semantically richer than data conceptual models.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2005

Anton Naumenko, Sergiy Nikitin, Vagan Terziyan and Andriy Zharko

To identify cases related to design of ICT platforms for industrial alliances, where the use of Ontology‐driven architectures based on Semantic web standards is more advantageous…

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Abstract

Purpose

To identify cases related to design of ICT platforms for industrial alliances, where the use of Ontology‐driven architectures based on Semantic web standards is more advantageous than application of conventional modeling together with XML standards.

Design/methodology/approach

A comparative analysis of the two latest and the most obvious use cases (NASA and Nordic Process Industry Data Exchange Alliance) concerned with development of an environment for integration and collaboration of industrial partners, has been used as a basis for the research results. Additionally, dynamics of changes in a domain data model and their consequences have been analyzed on a couple of typical use cases.

Findings

Ontology‐driven architectures of a collaboration and integration ICT platforms have been recognized as more appropriate for a technical support of industrial alliances around a supply‐chains with a long life cycles.

Research limitations/implications

More typical cases related to changes in domain data/knowledge models and to necessity of their integration, have to be considered and analyzed in search of advantageous of ontological modeling over conventional modeling approaches. Ways of a gradual change from conventional domain models to ontological ones in ICT systems have to be studied. The significance of existing XML‐based tools and the popularity of XML has to be estimated for the wide adoption of Semantic web principles.

Practical implications

The modeling approach which will be used as a core for building a collaboration and integration ICT platforms has to be carefully selected. Incorrect choice (e.g. UML together with XML) can cause consequences that will be hard to reform. The paper is anticipated to facilitate faster adoption of the Semantic web approach by industry.

Originality/value

The serious revision of existing and emerging domain modeling approaches has been undertaken. More unique arguments in favor of ontological modeling have been discovered. The paper is intended for serious consideration by emerging industrial alliances with regard to their choice in a core technology that will technically enable integration and collaboration between partners.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 12 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 November 2023

Shadrack Katuu

This paper aims to examine the concept of standardization beyond its traditional use in generating and implementing standards and good practice guidelines (S&GPG) by looking at…

1177

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the concept of standardization beyond its traditional use in generating and implementing standards and good practice guidelines (S&GPG) by looking at existing and emerging trends.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper utilizes two primary approaches to categorizing S&GPG for better comprehension: categorization based on provenance as well as based on subject matter.

Findings

A significant concern related to categorizing S&GPG based on provenance or subject is the constant proliferation of standards being developed and introduced every year. This rapid growth in standards requires frequent re-categorization to keep up with the dynamic nature of this field. To tackle this problem, this paper explores emerging concepts such as ontological representation and frameworks that offer archives and records management (ARM) professionals.

Practical implications

Standardization refers to establishing uniform rules through mutual agreement to ensure consistency. The study of standardization goes beyond the development of individual S&GPG, encompassing their practical application in work settings. Categorizing standards alone may not fully capture their actual use. However, abstraction mechanisms like ontological representations, models and frameworks can demonstrate how these standards have been leveraged. This paper provides illustrative examples rather than an exhaustive list to showcase how these mechanisms have been applied in research projects or as practical tools.

Originality/value

This paper explores the emerging topic of standardization from the perspective of ontological representations and models or frameworks. In addition, it also contributes to the discussion of the 2022 version of ARMA International’s Information Governance Implementation Model and the 2020 version of the World Bank Group's Records Management Roadmap, providing unique insights into these topics.

Article
Publication date: 4 November 2013

Yun Zhong Hu, Botao Zhong, Hanbin Luo and Hai Meng Hu

The purpose of this paper is to explore the feasibility that an ontological approach can be applied to formalize the construction regulation constraint knowledge in a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the feasibility that an ontological approach can be applied to formalize the construction regulation constraint knowledge in a computer-interpretable way, for construction quality checking, during construction stage.

Design/methodology/approach

The ontological and semantic web technologies are used to model the construction quality constraints knowledge into Axioms/OWL and SWRL rules. Protégé platform is selected to illustrate how the construction quality checking, based on the Axioms/OWL and SWRL rules, is achieved.

Findings

The ontology and semantic web technologies can be an alternative way for modeling the construction regulation constraints in a computer-interpretable way, and can be implemented for the regulation-based construction quality checking.

Research limitations/implications

The approach is illustrated only with given specific technical constraints examples, the generality and practicality of the approach need further investigation.

Originality/value

The paper introduces an ontological and semantic approach to model and formalize the construction regulation constraints for construction quality checking, and proves the feasibility by the case studies. The proposed approach enables the regulations can be understood and retrieved semantically by computers, which facilitates the using of regulation codes.

Details

Structural Survey, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-080X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2016

Monica Anastassiu, Flavia Maria Santoro, Jan Recker and Michael Rosemann

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for identifying business process-relevant contextual information that is likely to impact on the process goal. The ORGANON method…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for identifying business process-relevant contextual information that is likely to impact on the process goal. The ORGANON method describes a semi-structured procedural guide alongside with a set of criteria and a matrix for analyzing ontological transactions, which can be used to identify which context information can be considered relevant to a business process.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors report on an evaluation of the ORGANON method through a case study conducted in an organization that works in the social security domain.

Findings

The results provide evidences of the feasibility of the method application in this scenario.

Originality/value

Our research contributes to the literature on business processes flexibility, specifically through a proposal for context identification that can be extended to current techniques for business process modeling and in turn forms the basis for existing approaches for making business processes more flexible. The work has implications for the strategic management of organizations, by suggesting a method that provides informational support to decision makers about when, where and why business processes need to be adapted.

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2008

Karen Staib Duffy

This paper aims to focus on an ontological approach to executive coaching and transformational learning.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on an ontological approach to executive coaching and transformational learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is largely drawn from the methodology for ontological coaching designed by Newfield Network. Concepts are applied in actual coaching examples.

Findings

The paper finds that through a transformational process of reflection and deliberate change, we can create a new coherence of self to meet and transcend challenging circumstances. This is consistent with double‐loop learning.

Originality/value

This work explains in concrete terms and examples how the ontological approach can be applied to expand knowledge and engage in transformational learning.

Details

VINE, vol. 38 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-5728

Keywords

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