Introduction, Concepts and Definitions

Author(s):  
Raphaela Stadler

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the belief in a knowledge-based economy has grown; not just amongst academics, but also policy makers, consultants and managers. Nonaka and Takeuchi’s (1995) work The Knowledge Creating Company was among the first to recognise that organisations that manage their knowledge efficiently, have a competitive advantage over organisations that do not succeed in doing so. Based on this understanding, a number of knowledge management frameworks and models have emerged which highlight how to improve the identification, creation, transfer, and documentation of knowledge. These will be discussed further in Chapter 3. This introductory chapter starts with a definition of key concepts and terms, including data, information and knowledge; explicit and tacit knowledge; and the three levels of where knowledge resides (the individual, group, and organisational level). It also briefly explains how processes of managing knowledge at an organisational level can help organisations learn over time, create an organisational memory, and build on what has or has not worked in the past. The concept of knowledge management is thus linked to organisational learning and innovation (Argyris & Schoen, 1978; Gorelick et al., 2004; Senge, 2006). The final section of the chapter provides a range of knowledge management definitions and an overview of the ‘three generations’ of knowledge management.

Author(s):  
Atreyi Kankanhalli ◽  
Bernard C.Y. Tan ◽  
Kwok-Kee Wei

In a knowledge-based economy, organizations find it difficult to compete based upon the individual knowledge of a few organizational members. This provides the rationale for knowledge management wherein organizational knowledge must be shared, combined, and reused in order to enable organizations to compete more effectively. Hence, knowledge sharing is considered an essential process in knowledge management. Unfortunately, sharing is often unnatural for the parties involved in it, that is, knowledge contributors or producers and knowledge seekers or consumers. Hoarding knowledge and not accepting knowledge from others are natural tendencies that are difficult to change (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Knowledge contributors may be inhibited from sharing their knowledge due to perceptions of loss of power, lack of time or incentives, and other barriers. Knowledge seekers may find it laborious to seek advice from others and desire to discover solutions for themselves. Therefore, it is vital to understand and foster the motivations of knowledge contributors and seekers toward participating in knowledge sharing.


Author(s):  
Atreyi Kankanhalli ◽  
Bernard C.Y. Tan ◽  
Kwok-Kee Wei

In a knowledge-based economy, organizations find it difficult to compete based upon the individual knowledge of a few organizational members. This provides the rationale for knowledge management wherein organizational knowledge must be shared, combined, and reused in order to enable organizations to compete more effectively. Hence, knowledge sharing is considered an essential process in knowledge management. Unfortunately, sharing is often unnatural for the parties involved in it, that is, knowledge contributors or producers and knowledge seekers or consumers. Hoarding knowledge and not accepting knowledge from others are natural tendencies that are difficult to change (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Knowledge contributors may be inhibited from sharing their knowledge due to perceptions of loss of power, lack of time or incentives, and other barriers. Knowledge seekers may find it laborious to seek advice from others and desire to discover solutions for themselves. Therefore, it is vital to understand and foster the motivations of knowledge contributors and seekers toward participating in knowledge sharing.


2011 ◽  
pp. 2788-2797
Author(s):  
Atreyi Kankanhalli ◽  
Kwok-Kee Wei

In a knowledge-based economy, organizations find it difficult to compete based upon the individual knowledge of a few organizational members. This provides the rationale for knowledge management wherein organizational knowledge must be shared, combined, and reused in order to enable organizations to compete more effectively. Hence, knowledge sharing is considered an essential process in knowledge management. Unfortunately, sharing is often unnatural for the parties involved in it, that is, knowledge contributors or producers and knowledge seekers or consumers. Hoarding knowledge and not accepting knowledge from others are natural tendencies that are difficult to change (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Knowledge contributors may be inhibited from sharing their knowledge due to perceptions of loss of power, lack of time or incentives, and other barriers. Knowledge seekers may find it laborious to seek advice from others and desire to discover solutions for themselves. Therefore, it is vital to understand and foster the motivations of knowledge contributors and seekers toward participating in knowledge sharing.


Author(s):  
Liudmyla Maliuta ◽  
◽  
Roman Sherstiuk ◽  
Halyna Ostrovska ◽  
◽  
...  

In a knowledge-based economy, the most important issues of modernity areas development – event management become especially relevant. Current trends in the development of such socio-economic activity areas as event management is directly represented in the practice of event tourism, within which the creation, planning, conduction and event management. In order to manage a modern system of event tourism, event management is called to summarize the existing experience, give practical recommendations taking into account the specifics of various events, as well as improving this system of relations. Event management becomes an innovative tool for achieving the goals of the organization at its all operation stages. It is also worthily to note the importance of using event management technologies in the formation of a positive organization image, corporate culture and increase its competitiveness in the market. The article highlights the scientific approaches to the interpretation of the category "event management" according to certain criteria and characteristics. The author's definition of the categories essences "tourism industry" and "event management" is given. It is proved that event tourism is a fast-growing industry, which in recent years occupies a dominant position in the general classification of tourism. The potential of event management in the tourism industry is revealed. The system of organization and event-management carrying out in the world practice is investigated and recommendations concerning its application in Ukrainian realities are substantiated. The state of event management in Ukraine is analyzed and perspective directions of its development within the tourist business are outlined. The practical significance of the obtained results is manifested in their usefulness for optimizing the event managers’ work in the process of creating, planning, organizing and conducting events, as well as for improving and increasing the efficiency of existing technologies in the event organization field. In addition, they contribute to the clarification of "event management" concept in Ukrainian scientific community. Prospects for further research are to develop the basic processes of event management, which form its essence.


Author(s):  
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III

This introductory chapter provides a definition of magic. One of the most useful adjustments in the recent scholarship on magic has been the turn to considering magic as a dynamic social construct, instead of some particular reality. Magic is not a thing, but a way of talking. Thus, magic is a discourse pertaining to non-normative ritualized activity, in which the deviation from the norm is most often marked in terms of the perceived efficacy of the act, the familiarity of the performance within the cultural tradition, the ends for which the act is performed, or the social location of the performer. Such a discourse always has a history, since such a way of talking about things shifts over time as different people do the talking. When one speaks of “magic,” therefore, one should always explain: “magic for whom?” Any specific piece of evidence from the ancient Greco-Roman world provides an example of magic for that particular person, from one particular perspective. To speak of “magic in the ancient Greco-Roman world” is thus to refer to the whole range of things that various people in those cultures during those times could label as “magic.” The chapter then considers the act of drawing down the moon.


Author(s):  
Fotini Voulgaris ◽  
Christos Lemonakis ◽  
Konstantinos Vassakis

The globalization and the increasing competition especially during the latest years of crisis provide a new environment for SMEs. In the “knowledge-based economy”, firms’ competitiveness is strongly related to technical know-how and skills. The important keys for the survival, growth and development of SMEs are related to technological and scientific improvements, cooperation, innovation capacity and knowledge management. This is the first study which attempts to present the above characteristics of Greek manufacturing SMEs at the post-crisis era.


Author(s):  
Andrea Bencsik ◽  
Tímea Juhász

This chapter shows how SMEs can compete with multinational companies. This chapter was written on the basis of practical research results. In this research, Hungarian and Slovakian SMEs were investigated from the view of a knowledge-based economy. The question was how they can face future challenges. The researchers wanted to know how SMEs handle their chance which is hidden in their way of thinking about a knowledge strategy. As a result, these companies seem to be afraid, uncertain, and think their success is only luck or a current incident. They live a “fly by night” existence, and they do not feel the importance of development, of studying, of knowledge; they run after work and money. These enterprises feel that they have to survive, and to this, they need money and financial capital. Therefore, knowledge and studying fall behind.


Author(s):  
Patrick S.W. Fong ◽  
Ka-chi Wong

Knowledge is regarded as the most important asset for sustainable success in today’s knowledge-based economy, and it has become the main competitive tool for many businesses. Proper capture and reuse of knowledge reduces the risk of “reinventing the wheel.” Building surveyors play a major role in building maintenance. Owing to the unique nature of building maintenance, building surveyors need sufficient knowledge and experience to facilitate their decision-making process. Apart from gaining this knowledge and experience by direct participation, learning from others is a sound alternative. However, insufficiencies have been found in the current practice on this aspect, and thus the aim of this chapter is to study whether a proposed Web-based prototype knowledge management system would be a feasible solution for capturing and reusing knowledge and experience in building maintenance. A questionnaire survey was conducted in this research to study the opinions of professional building surveyors on the capture and reuse of knowledge and experience in building maintenance, as well as the requirements of a proposed Web-based prototype system.


2011 ◽  
pp. 272-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilmini Wickramasinghe

In today’s knowledge-based economy, sustainable strategic advantages are gained more from an organization’s knowledge assets than from its more traditional types of assets, namely, land, labor, and capital. Knowledge, however, is a compound construct, exhibiting many manifestations of the phenomenon of duality such as subjectivity and objectivity as well as having tacit and explicit forms. Overlooking this phenomenon of duality in the knowledge construct has not only led many knowledge management initiatives to stumble but has also resulted in the discussion of the apparent contradictions associated with knowledge management in the IS literature as well as numerous discussions and debates regarding the “nonsense of knowledge management.” It is the thesis of this chapter that a full appreciation of the phenomenon of duality is indeed necessary to enable inquiring organizations to reach the state of wisdom and enlightenment.


2011 ◽  
pp. 3159-3174
Author(s):  
Nilmini Wickramasinghe

In today’s knowledge-based economy, sustainable strategic advantages are gained more from an organization’s knowledge assets than from its more traditional types of assets, namely, land, labor, and capital. Knowledge, however, is a compound construct, exhibiting many manifestations of the phenomenon of duality such as subjectivity and objectivity as well as having tacit and explicit forms. Overlooking this phenomenon of duality in the knowledge construct has not only led many knowledge management initiatives to stumble but has also resulted in the discussion of the apparent contradictions associated with knowledge management in the IS literature as well as numerous discussions and debates regarding the “nonsense of knowledge management.” It is the thesis of this chapter that a full appreciation of the phenomenon of duality is indeed necessary to enable inquiring organizations to reach the state of wisdom and enlightenment.


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