School-level organizational routines for learning: supporting data use

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne M. Kallemeyn

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use an extreme case to identify and describe the nature of routines that might support processes and outcomes of data use, drawing from a framework developed by Coburn and Turner (2012a). Design/methodology/approach – The author conducted a four-month case study (Stake, 1995) of an elementary school in a large urban school district that had implemented balanced score cards. The author identified a school that had strong qualities to support data use, including leadership and information systems. Findings – Two school-level organizational routines facilitated teachers’ data use: collaborative teams and processes of inquiry. These routines stored knowledge about the types of data teachers ought to notice, and to a lesser extent, how they ought to interpret data and construct implications for practice. These routines also provided opportunities for single and double-loop learning (Argyris and Schön, 1996) and might contribute to improvements in student learning. This case provides an example of how a school negotiated external performance management pressures, and maintained their professional autonomy, focussing on internally initiated assessments. Originality/value – Relatively little research has described what organizational routines support data use among practitioners. In addition to describing two routines, this case also demonstrated the need to frame these routines as organizational routines for learning. To further develop these routines, the author drew on the notion of the knowledge-creating company (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) to explain how the school used their organizational routines to share tacit knowledge (socialization), and to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge (externalization), which supported instructional innovations.

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Huguet ◽  
Caitlin C. Farrell ◽  
Julie A. Marsh

Purpose The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a comparative case study of two low-income, low-performing schools in one district. The data set included interview and focus group transcripts, observation field notes and documents, and was iteratively coded. Findings The two principals in the study employed tools and routines differently to influence ways that teachers interacted with data in their PLCs. Teachers who were given leeway to co-construct data-use tools found them to be more beneficial to their work. Findings also suggest that teachers’ data use may benefit from more flexibility in their day-to-day PLC routines. Research limitations/implications Closer examination of how tools are designed and time is spent in data-use PLCs may help the authors further understand the influence of the principal’s role. Originality/value Previous research has demonstrated that data use can improve teacher instruction, yet the varied implementation of data-use PLCs in this district illustrates that not all students have an equal opportunity to learn from teachers who meaningfully engage with data.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ihuoma Oluikpe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the knowledge processes that interplay in the social construction and appropriation of knowledge and to test these constructs empirically in project teams. Design/methodology/approach – Literature research and quantitative survey were used. The research identified project success, faster completion times, operational efficiency, innovation and generation of new knowledge as dominating project management expectations in the past ten years. It studied how these projects construct and appropriate knowledge within project teams to achieve these five objectives. Using a quantitative approach, data were sought from 1,000 respondents out of a population of 10,000 from 11 project management areas in eight world regions to test the conceptual model in real-world scenarios. The data gathered were analyzed using quantitative analysis tools and techniques such as reliability, correlation and regression. Findings – There is a lingering difficulty within organizations on how to translate tacit knowledge into action. The transfer and utilization of tacit knowledge was shown to be embedded and nested within relationships. Innovation in projects was found to be mostly linked to replication and codification of knowledge (explicit dimension) as opposed to interpretation and assimilation (tacit dimension). Arriving at a mutual interpretation of project details and requirements does not depend on canonical (formal documentation) methods but mostly on non-canonical (informal) and relational processes embedded within the team. Originality/value – This work studies, in empirical and geographical detail, the social interplay of knowledge and provided evidence relative to the appropriation of knowledge in the project organizational form, which can be extrapolated to wider contexts. The work scoped the inter-relational nature of knowledge and provided further evidence on the nebulous nature of tacit/intangible knowledge. It also proved further that organizations mostly rely on explicit knowledge to drive organizational results, as it is easily actionable and measurable.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 2-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixian Yi

Purpose – In the digital age, constant changes in libraries inform contemporary building design. An innovative library building design is a complicated process and can be viewed as a continuous process of the use of tacit and explicit knowledge and innovative tools and approaches. Knowledge management (KM) can bring about the much needed innovation, and transform tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. For the design of a library to be successful, it is necessary to apply KM to library building design. The purpose of this paper is to look at key change impacts, to explore how to manage knowledge in building design and to identify key design principles. Design/methodology/approach – This paper looks at key change impacts, explores how to manage knowledge in library building design and pinpoints design principles. Findings – This paper finds that KM can be vital to library building design, and it can be used in all stages: to examine the internal and external environments, transform tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge by using portals, and analyze existing and future issues and trends. When effectively used, KM will result in innovative design strategies and also will reduce the time and costs of the building design and plan processes. The main principles of library building design are flexibility, accessibility, safety and security, applicability, adaptability, efficiency, and sustainability. Practical implications – This paper provides a useful overview of how to manage knowledge in library building design and design principles. Originality/value – The views, discussions, and suggestions will be of value to improve the effectiveness of library building design.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guodong Ni ◽  
Ziyao Zhang ◽  
Zhenmin Yuan ◽  
Haitao Huang ◽  
Na Xu ◽  
...  

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to figure out the paths about transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, i.e. tacit knowledge explicating (TKE) in real estate companies, and determine the influencing factors of TKE in Chinese real estate companies to enable enterprises make better use of their knowledge resources.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted an exploratory design method using thematic analysis and grounded theory, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data. The interviewees consisted of employees in different positions, who come from Chinese real estate companies with different ranking ranges and different knowledge management levels. Data collection was divided into two rounds for the identification of transformation paths and influencing factors.FindingsThis study has shown that 11 paths about TKE divided into solidified organization process and construction of organizational infrastructure go into effect within the real estate companies. Factors influencing TKE in real estate companies concern three main categories: organizational distal factors, contextual proximal factors and individual factors, including 21 subordinates in total. Furthermore, correlation between TKE paths and influencing factors is established.Research limitations/implicationsResearch results may lack generalizability due to the method adopted. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to verify the outcomes of this research.Practical implicationsThis research provides a new idea and solutions for the tacit knowledge management in real estate companies.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically identify paths and the influencing factors of TKE in real estate companies, contribute to the incipient but growing understanding of achievement of “tacit to explicit” and enrich the corporate tacit knowledge management literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chansoo Park

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess how the transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge is affected by the knowledge disseminative capacity of a foreign parent firm, with an emphasis on the moderating role of psychic distance, by developing and testing a theoretical model of international joint venture (IJV) learning. Design/methodology/approach The author tested the hypotheses with survey data collected from 199 IJVs in South Korea, estimating a structural equation model using AMOS 23.0. Findings The authors found that the capacity of the foreign parent to disseminate knowledge to the IJV has a greater impact on explicit knowledge transfer than tacit knowledge transfer. He also found that the relationship between disseminative capacity and explicit knowledge transfer is significantly moderated by psychic distance, but the relationship between disseminative capacity and tacit knowledge transfer is not. Originality/value The results are critical for IJVs and parent firms seeking to improve knowledge transfer, as they establish the importance of parent firms’ disseminative capacities and the moderating role of psychic distance in the process of both tacit and explicit knowledge transfer. This research addresses the research gap regarding disseminative capacity by providing empirical evidence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 994-1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Navidi ◽  
Mohammad Hassanzadeh ◽  
Ali Zolghadr Shojai

Purpose Employees, as the most important assets of an organization, acquire a great deal of experience, skills and knowledge throughout the time period they work for the organization. If their skills and technical knowledge are not documented properly, these will be lost once the employees leave the organization. Therefore, documentation is necessary for preserving this invaluable knowledge, avoiding duplication and preventing repeated mistakes that occurred in the past and, providing the junior staff with experiences gained by their predecessors. Thus, this research aims to elaborate on the role of organizational knowledge management (KM) as an essential tool for turning tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and sharing the gained experiences with others. Design/methodology/approach This research is developmental applied research with qualitative approach and it was conducted using thematic analysis method. This method includes a semi-structured interview with 18 researchers conducting research projects at the Satellite Research Institute under the supervision of the Iran Space Agency. Findings The projects contain knowledge that is a combination of “know why”, “know what”, “know who” and “know how”. A large amount of this knowledge is, indeed, the tacit knowledge. Most of this tacit knowledge is not reflected in the project documents. Generally, the documents contain results only and they do not include experience, technical details, methodology, analysis and mistakes that were made during research activities. Documentation challenges fall into three major types: technical, human resources and administrative. Originality value Considering the necessity of documentation within the knowledge transfer process and its important role in KM; and, with respect to the lack of technical knowledge and experience transfer observed in the documents of Satellite Research Institute, this research proposes some steps that need to be taken to turn the knowledge sharing into an organizational culture.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Delio Ignacio Castaneda ◽  
Paul Toulson

Purpose This study aims to determine whether it is possible to use information and communication technology (ICT) tools to share tacit knowledge. Few studies have considered this subject, and they have reported both the ineffectiveness and effectiveness of ICT tools for sharing tacit knowledge. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the participants comprised 217 knowledge workers from New Zealand and researchers who attended a knowledge management conference in the UK. In all, 59% of the sample was men and 41% women. The research model compared the scores of knowledge workers in two categories of ICT, those that allow dialogue and those that do not, in relation to knowledge sharing in organizations. The instrument used a Likert scale with five levels of response. Findings It was found that not all ICT technologies let tacit knowledge to be shared, but those ICT that facilitate dialogue, for example, text messaging and video conferences. Emails did not facilitate the exchange of tacit knowledge. Research limitations/implications It is suggested to replicate the study with different countries to evaluate the role of culture in the communication of tacit knowledge. Practical implications An implication for practitioners based on this study is that email should not be the preferred mode for transferring knowledge between an organization and their workers. This mode is adequate for the exchange of explicit knowledge, but it has a limited capacity for transferring tacit knowledge. Thus, organizations may increase the use of audio and video tools to transfer electronically tacit knowledge. Interaction or socialization may facilitate the understanding and internalization of tacit knowledge by workers. Originality/value This study contributed to understand the reason for contradictory results from previous research. ICT tools are effective to share tacit knowledge when they facilitate dialogue. Results also support practitioners about how to obtain more effective exchange of tacit knowledge in organizations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Wang ◽  
Jielin Yin ◽  
Zhenzhong Ma ◽  
Maolin Liao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of organizational rewards on two forms of knowledge sharing – explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities, and further to explore the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on the effect of virtual community rewards on implicit knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach Based on relevant knowledge sharing theories, this study develops an integrated framework to explore virtual community rewards and tacit and explicit knowledge sharing in a virtual context. This study then collected data from 429 virtual community users in four virtual communities via an online survey. Hierarchical regression analyzes were used to test the proposed research model. Findings The results of this study show that virtual rewards have a significantly positive linear relationship with explicit knowledge sharing but have an inverse U-shape relationship with tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities. In addition, intrinsic motivations including enjoyment and self-efficacy mediate the relationship between rewards and tacit knowledge sharing. Practical implications This study suggests more virtual community rewards may not always lead to more tacit knowledge sharing. Instead, too many rewards may weaken the motivation for tacit knowledge sharing. Knowledge management practitioners should make full use of the positive impact of self-efficacy and enjoyment to set up appropriate reward incentives to encourage knowledge-sharing, in particular, tacit knowledge sharing and to better manage virtual communities. Originality/value This study explores knowledge-sharing behavior in virtual communities, an important step toward more integrated knowledge-sharing theories. While online communities have become increasingly important for today’s knowledge economy, few studies have explored knowledge and knowledge sharing in a virtual context and this study helps to bridge the gap. In addition, this study develops an integrated framework to explore the mechanism through which virtual community rewards affect knowledge sharing with intrinsic motivation mediating this relationship in online communities, which further enriches the understanding on how to use virtual rewards to motivate knowledge sharing behaviors in the virtual context.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Khallaf ◽  
Nader Naderpajouh ◽  
Makarand Hastak

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to build upon the extensive application of risk registries in the construction literature and establish a systematic methodology to develop risk registries. Risk registries channel judgment of experts as a basis for risk analysis and should be tailored for each project to be more effective. Given their prevalence, there is a need for systematic integration of tacit and explicit knowledge to develop practical risk registries. Design/methodology/approach A combined approach is proposed using the systematic literature review (SLR) technique to integrate explicit knowledge and Delphi technique to integrate tacit knowledge in the development of risk registries. This two-step approach further increases the robustness of the registries by validating them through integrating and contrasting multiple forms of knowledge for a tailored risk registry. Findings The application of the proposed approach indicates that the use of multiple forms of knowledge can increase the robustness and practicality of risk registries. It also showcased its potential in the development of risk registries for complex projects. Examples include modification of risk factors obtained from the explicit sources of knowledge based on contextual tacit knowledge. Originality/value The proposed approach is an imperative step to standardize the development of risk registries. With its inherent validation process through integrating and contrasting tacit and explicit knowledge, practitioners can use this approach to develop practical risk registries for different categories of projects. Integrating different forms of knowledge can increase the impact of registries beyond risk assessment and in contexts such as decision making and performance assessment.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 496-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Rahmatullah Shah ◽  
Khalid Mahmood

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study stated effects of independent variables of trust, social networks, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) on explicit and tacit knowledge. Further, it explained contributions of explicit and tacit knowledge to performance in academic environment. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on research model of hypothetical relationships of various criterion and predictor variables. Structural equation model was used in which research model was analyzed by using confirmatory factor analysis. Findings Some criterion variables were observed for predictor variables of explicit and tacit knowledge. It was observed that explicit knowledge contributed indirectly and tacit knowledge contributed directly to overall performance. Current research explained explicit and tacit knowledge as contributors for performance. It also explained effects and patterns of explicit and tacit knowledge toward performance. Originality/value This research highlighted that the effects of contributing factors for explicit and tacit knowledge have variations in response to socio-economic and geo-political circumstances. These variations can be expected from other issues like use and access of ICTs. But contributing pattern of knowledge for performance remains same.


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