Innovation in a Geographically Distributed Environment: Interrelationship of Organisational Learning and Knowledge Management

2016 ◽  
pp. 135-151
Author(s):  
Kesavan Preethi
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Organisational Learning ◽  
Distributed Environment ◽  
Geographically Distributed

A Knowledge Management Tool for the Interconnection of Communities of Practice

2013 ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Élise Lavoué ◽  
Sébastien George ◽  
Patrick Prévôt
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Geographically Distributed

In their daily practice, practitioners belong to local communities of practice (CoPs) within their organisation. This knowledge is rarely capitalised upon because discussions are mainly verbal. Practitioners can also belong to general CoPs online. Within these general CoPs, discussions are rarely linked to the context in which they appeared, since the members are from different companies or institutions. This paper (1) connects these two levels of CoPs by contacting practitioners belonging to CoPs centred on the same general activity but who are geographically distributed and (2) capitalises on the produced knowledge by contextualising, allowing it to be accessible and reusable by all the members. The authors detail the main results of the research: (1) a model of the interconnection of CoPs (ICP) to support knowledge sharing and dissemination; and (2) a specific knowledge management tool for the ICP knowledge base. The authors apply the model and platform to university tutors by: (1) developing a use case, which links the model and the TE-Cap 2 platform and highlights the new possibilities offered by the knowledge management tool; and (2) conducting a descriptive investigation lasting for five months.

Evaluating an Organisation's Learning Culture Using Learning Histories

2011 ◽  
pp. 185-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus C. Jefferies ◽  
Chen Swee Eng ◽  
Ralf Zenke
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Organisational Learning ◽  
Learning Culture ◽  
Learning History ◽  
Learning Capabilities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Practical Tool

This research describes a recently developed approach to organisational learning known as “learning history”. Learning history involves the analysis and reflection on project experiences and business processes. The learning history of a construction industry organisation is documented and the outcomes of the learning history are used to evaluate the organisation’s methods of acquiring and managing knowledge. This learning history technique is applied in a practical setting to a case study of the Tasmanian State Public Health Sector, Australia. The findings of the learning history are used to evaluate the organisation’s knowledge management in order to evaluate its “learning culture”. The organisation developed new learning capabilities and learning history is a practical tool for organisational learning which can be widely used for knowledge transfer. Fostering knowledge management leads, indirectly, to more efficient and effective processes. In order to sustain the organisation’s learning culture then, improvement of its organisational learning style, the learning process (knowledge management), and its organic learning style is necessary.

A Framework and Protocols for Service Contract Agreements Based on International Contract Law

2013 ◽  
pp. 216-231
Author(s):  
Michael Parkin ◽  
Dean Kuo ◽  
John Brooke
Keyword(s):  
Service Oriented Architecture ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Distributed Environment ◽  
Service Usage ◽  
Negotiated Agreements ◽  
Negotiation Protocol ◽  
Loosely Coupled ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Geographically Distributed ◽  
Domain Independent

Current protocols to agree to Web/Grid service usage do not have the capability to form negotiated agreements, nor do they take into account the legal requirements of the agreement process. This article presents a framework and a domain-independent negotiation protocol for creating legally binding contracts for service usage in a distributed, asynchronous service-oriented architecture. The negotiation protocol, which builds on a simple agreement protocol to form a multiround “symmetric” negotiation protocol, is based on an internationally recognized contract law convention. By basing our protocol on this convention and taking into account the limitations of an asynchronous messaging environment, we can form contracts between autonomous services across national and juridical boundaries, necessary in a loosely coupled, widely geographically distributed environment such as the Grid.

Facilitating and Improving Organisational Community Life

2011 ◽  
pp. 2991-2996
Author(s):  
Angela Lacerda Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Organisational Learning ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Organisational Level ◽  
The Way

The growth in importance of communities within organisational settings is a sign of a change in paradigm. When management and organisational theory introduce the critical notion of communities, in parallel to the concepts of collaborative work and of knowledge sharing, there is an internal revolution going on. Therefore, communities of practice theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1999; Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002; Brown & Duguid, 1991) has a critical role to play in today’s development of management and organisation theory. At a broader level, there is an ongoing metamorphosis that is highly visible through the vertiginous development of technology, the globalisation of markets, and the acceleration of the increase in complexity. Equally important are the less visible, and thus harder to acknowledge, changes in the way we think, reason, communicate, and construct our image of ourselves and of the world. The changes brought by the knowledge society of the information age (Kearmally, 1999) triggered the development of theoretical approaches to management. Among these, knowledge management and organisational learning have developed. These theories have acknowledged the importance of information and communication technology within organisations, and have explored alternative insights into mainstream management approaches. The knowledge management and organisational learning sub-disciplines represent an innovation effort that affect areas of organisational life which had been marginalised or ignored under traditional management theory. Communities of practice is the single most important example. Therefore, communities of practice represent a critical aspect of the present understanding of the complexity of organisational life. Within the broad and varied development of organisational theories, semiotic learning emerges as a particular approach to organisational learning. Semiotic learning may be described as a dynamic practice. It incorporates theoretical contributions from social philosophy and adapts them to a specific approach to facilitate learning at the organisational level. It is a learning and development tool for action at the organisational level. The central aspect of the semiotic learning approach is the focus on the quality of community life at the organisational level. Through a semiotic learning approach to organisational learning and development, it is possible to intensify and to unleash the true potential of current challenges at personal, organisational, and societal levels. By focusing on the social practices, structures, and processes which underlay human interaction, and by calling attention to the way we construct ourselves and our image of the world through those interactions, it enables the development of a rationale that supports collaborative as well as transformative forms of work and learning.

Bridging the Gap from the General to the Specific by Linking Knowledge Management to Business Processes

2011 ◽  
pp. 2572-2586
Author(s):  
John S. Edwards ◽  
John B. Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Organisational Learning ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Management Problems ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Different Cultures

A phenomenon common to almost all fields is that there is a gap between theory and practical implementation. However, this is a particular problem in knowledge management, where much of the literature consists of general principles written in the context of a ‘knowledge world’ that has few, if any, references to how to carry out knowledge management in organisations. In this chapter, we put forward the view that the best way to bridge this gap between general principles and the specific issues facing a given organisation is to link knowledge management to the organisation’s business processes. After briefly reviewing, and rejecting alternative ways in which this gap might be bridged, the chapter goes on to explain the justification for, and the potential benefits and snags of, linking knowledge management to business processes. Successful and unsuccessful examples are presented. We concentrate especially on the issues of establishing what knowledge is relevant to an organisation at present, the need for organisational learning to cope with the inevitable change, and the additional problems posed by the growing internationalisation of operations. We conclude that linking knowledge management in terms of business processes is the best route for organisations to follow, but that it is not the answer to all knowledge management problems, especially where different cultures and/or cultural change are involved.

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