DECODING THE SECRET CODE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF BLUE PRINTS FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
YEONG-LONG CHEN
Office of Research and Development, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
IB9F, NO.43 Sec.4, Keelung Rd. Taipei, 106, Taiwan
chen@office.com.tw
CHIAO-HAN WANG
Graduate Institution of Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
MA403, No.43 Sec.4, Keelung Rd. Taipei, 106, Taiwan
isis0718@gmail.com
It has been more than 10 years since the launching of the knowledge-economy. Knowledge management has become a crucial issue for entering the era of knowledge economy for business development. Response to the importance of intellectual property rights for knowledge business has gradually enhanced the capability of enterprises to develop innovative thinking, integration of virtual and real resources, circulation and application of knowledge. This study proposes the development of the first generation of knowledge management KM 1.0, the second generation KM 2.0, and the third generation KM 3.0, which evolves from Web 2.0. We also discuss detailed changes corresponding to environmental changes, and the development of knowledge management, its confines, contents, values and the measuring of differences of various phases. This study dismantles the abbreviation “KM” to discover that the successful codes for knowledge management promoting successful business should include: information, information technology, sharing, integration, virtual team work, innovation, knowledge, management, financial performance and a mobile knowledge repository. We also propose the implementation blue prints for knowledge management which include the aspects of strategy, organization, process, content, technology, culture, and innovation. The above 7 aspects are used to discuss the procedures of 29 businesses, providing referential directions for implementation of business strategies to lead into the stages of knowledge management.
1. The background and motives
The author of The world is flat, Mr. Friedman has mentioned the concept of “Globalization 3.0”, that the world is no controlled by big enterprises, but determined by individuals and freelancers (Friedman, 2005). In the Web 2.0 situation (O’Reilly, 2005) it has also been pointed out that the web-based wisdom of the masses has been increasing rapidly, from social networking through community web sites through access to such sites as Wikipedia. For the latter, two full-time workers can handle seven times the amount of data as included in the British Encyclopedia in a very short period of time, with a professional level just a little bit lower than that of the British Encyclopedia with its thousands of professional writers (Lin, 2006).
The concept of third generation KM appeared as early as 2002 in relation to the emergence of Snowden’s Knowledge-Ecology-Approach to third generation knowledge management (Snowden, 2002). This study proposes a somewhat different concept of the third generation knowledge management. The so-called third generation simply means that “experts of hiding will be eliminated soon, and replaced by experts of sharing, thinking and understanding, or by crowds of sharing, collaboration and integration”. For enterprises attempting to find knowledge in unrelated fields, they cannot solely rely on an internal manpower/knowledge base. This is because we are now entering the era of shared global manpower. Information technology is what moves the knowledge economy. The sharp rise of Web 2.0 has also advance the growth of knowledge management from the first generation to the third generation. In today’s third generation, innovative capability and thinking skills is replacing information tech and manpower, becoming the new focus of knowledge applications. Also the confines of knowledge are shifting from real, internal knowledge to synchronized management of virtual and real knowledge resources. Knowledge property is shifting to integration, which should be combined with intellectual capital and innovative thought.
Firstly, this study will propose the idea we call KM 3.0, then dismantle the term “KM” to discover the successful code hidden behind it, and ultimately suggest the implementation of blue prints in order to provide the small and medium enterprises with referential directions.
2. The third generation of knowledge management
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued a report on the knowledge economy in 1996. They contended that an economy based on knowledge will change the patterns of global economic development. Knowledge has become the main motive of promotion of productivity and economic growth. Following the fast development and heavy application of information communication technology, output, employment and investment will obviously turn to the more knowledge-intensive industries (OECD, 1996; Davenport & Prusak, 2000). The selection of the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) was first launched in 1998 (Chase, 2004). This has been going on for ten years. According to a KPMG survey report (2003), knowledge management was in the exploratory stages in 1998. Most enterprises were still carrying out feasibility studies. The participation of senior managements were not aggressive. The effectiveness of implementation of knowledge management has gradually become apparent since 2000, leading to better decision making by managers, faster response to external changes, better handling of customers, improved worker skills, etc. Enterprises have started to endeavor to discover and manage tacit knowledge (KPMG, 2000). The survey from 2002 to 2003 exhibited that knowledge management has entered a more mature stage. The focus has shifted from internal employees to external customers and suppliers, partners and so on, and steps forward to the development of future business opportunities (KPMG, 2003).
According to Dave Snowden (2002) the first age in which the word knowledge itself was not problematic, The focus was on distributing information to decision-makers through information technology and business process re-engineering. The second age was initiated by the SECI model of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). Its focus was on the transfer of knowledge between tacit and explicit states. In the third age the focus is on studying the paradoxical nature of knowledge in complex systems and understanding knowledge flows and transformations between complex, knowable, known and chaos domains (Snowden, 2002). Mark McElroy (2003) distinguished two, not three KM generations. First-generation supply-side KM was focused on capturing, codifying and sharing valuable knowledge and on getting the right information to the right people at the right time. Second-generation demand-side KM enhanced the capacity of the organization to produce new knowledge.
With respect of the development phases of knowledge management, this study proposes the first generation of knowledge management KM 1.0, the second generation KM 2.0, and the third generation KM 3.0, which is an evolution in response to the appearance of Web 2.0, and detailed changes corresponding to environmental changes, and the development of knowledge management, its confines, contents, values and the measuring on differences of various phases (Chen and Yeh, 2007).
2.1 The first generation of knowledge management, KM 1.0
KM 1.0 focused on information tech, which became the main carrier of knowledge. Knowledge management was confined within enterprises and concentrated in the internal knowledge of the workers. The key concern of many enterprises was measuring the amount of stored knowledge and the frequency of viewing of knowledge documents. Document management became the core item of knowledge management, and consequently, made up the main modules of the knowledge management system. Value was added to enterprise knowledge by the amount of knowledge sored in the knowledge management system, and how that knowledge was extracted and applied. The value of knowledge was expressed as follows “Possessing knowledge represents owning power and competiveness”, In the sharing culture this stage will be enhanced more.
2.2 The second generation of knowledge management, KM 2.0
The era of KM 2.0 refers to the second generation of knowledge management, which is based on human beings (Chen, 2003). Problems resulting from knowledge differences and mistaken expectations are adjusted. It was discovered that carriers of knowledge were not solely on the information tech system, Intellectual capital is more important. The emphasis of enterprises promoting knowledge management gradually shifted from internal employees to collaborative external sharing paths related to customers, partners and suppliers. Knowledge evaluation was not only narrowly concerned with the amount of documents, but also included the possibilities of combinations with finance, customer, process and growth, as highlighted with a more balanced scorecard. Knowledge document management was not the sole source of knowledge content. The knowledge-map-frame came to include knowledge repositories, knowledge communities and expert yellow pages. They became the fundamentals of knowledge management. Enterprises gradually recognized how to combine virtual and real knowledge into an information system which would maximize the effectiveness of the knowledge spiral. Enterprises started to build up totally new more transparent knowledge value, because of mutual sharing, and being relatively easier to obtain.
2.3 The third generation of knowledge management, KM 3.0
Following the sharp rise of Globalization 3.0 (Friedman, 2005) and Web 2.0 (O’Reilly, 2005), individual power has increased and the wisdom of the multitudes more developed. Thus the trend of KM 3.0 has led to the upgrading of the level of knowledge management.
Innovative capability and thinking skill are beginning to replace information tech and intellectual capital as the new focus of knowledge applications. The boundaries of knowledge are also shifting from real, internal enterprise knowledge to the synchronized management between virtual and physical knowledge resources. The so-called virtual knowledge resources include: virtual teamwork management, virtual relationship management, or new concepts, new processes and so on. Physical knowledge resources include: new tech, new tool, knowledge base, expert base, etc. As knowledge becomes more transparent, a society with multiple value systems also forms quickly. Thus, enterprises should set multiple goals and build up multiple value systems, in order integrate a knowledge value chain between internal and external facets of knowledge. Knowledge content should target integration. KM and EC, CRM, SCM, and ERP should be combined with intellectual capital and innovative thought, for further application. Knowledge does not solely highlight sharing and value adding, but also aggressively absorbs new knowledge from other-fields. Systematic thinking is taken advantage of to discover more innovative ideas and create more potential opportunities. Hence, the capabilities of understanding and comprehending knowledge will bring more competitiveness.
As new knowledge is generated constantly, a certain point is reached in the sharing culture where everyone could be a knowledge creator. The knowledge expert would just be one of a group who possess on knowledge or experience. Furthermore, accumulated knowledge bases are easy to access, experts at hiding will gradually be eliminated and be replaced by experts at sharing, thinking and understanding, or groups for sharing, learning and collaboration.
The evolutionary process is illustrated in Table 1. The features from KM 1.0 through KM 3.0, in terms of knowledge carriers, knowledge confines, knowledge measuring, knowledge content, knowledge activity and knowledge value are outlined.
Table 1 The evolution of KM 3.0
KM 1.0 KM 2.0 KM 3.0
Knowledge carrier Focus on IT Gradual focus on people Innovative ability and thinking skills become the new focus of knowledge application
Knowledge confine Internal knowledge of workers for enterprises Collaborative sharing between internal and external customers, partners Synchronized management between virtual and real knowledge resources
Knowledge measuring Amount of stored knowledge documents and viewing frequency Combined with the four aspects for a balanced scorecard and integrating of the effects of KM with organization performance To form multiple goals and multiple value system, build up the knowledge value chain of internal and external enterprise knowledge.
Knowledge content Storage of knowledge documents Establishments and links between knowledge repositories, building a knowledge community, setting up expert yellow pages Integration of KM and EC, CRM, SCM, ERP, intellectual capital, innovative thoughts
Knowledge activity Focus on storage, extraction and re-use in KMS Shifting of focus to the combination of real activities and information systems, and proceeding with the value adding knowledge spiral The new focus is on cross-field training, system thinking, understanding of knowledge
Knowledge value Stored knowledge, possession of knowledge represents possessing power KM enters a highly mature state, knowledge becomes more abundant, transparent and easy to obtain Everyone can be a knowledge creator, the knowledge expert will just be the one among many
3. The secret code for successful knowledge management
3.1 The secret code for successful KM
KM is an abbreviation for knowledge management. This study discovers that there are some notable secret-codes hidden within the letters K and M; see figure 1. In following sections, we will discuss these codes point by point, providing new referential directions for those enterprises encountering bottlenecks or under considering the next step in knowledge management.
Figure 1 Secret for successful KM
3.2 The key of codes hidden in KM
Currently, some enterprises encounter problems when undertaking KM. This study dismantles “K” into “I” and ”＜”. “M” into “I”, “V” and “I”, in an attempt to discover the core factors of KM.
3.2.1 “I”: Information
Huseman and Goodman (1999) suggested that data mean objective descriptions without any judgment, viewpoint or condition; whereas information represents relative or purposeful data; and knowledge is the mix of information, individual experience, truth, judgment, intuition and value. The accumulation of knowledge comes from the daily collection of data, which can generate useful information. Information is the input end of knowledge, namely, knowledge must based on information. Information can be transformed into knowledge through learning and value acknowledgement. If useful information contributes to the individual or organization, it becomes valuable knowledge.
3.2.2 “I”: IT (Information technology)
Thanks to information technology (IT), KM can be developed more effectively, to spread valuable information among employees at various levels. The key to running a business is speed. No matter whether discussion upward, bulletin downward, cross-section advice and so on, the fast delivery of information in an enterprise increase its competitivity. In the 21th century, due to the considerable improvement in the development of IT, the storage of knowledge combined with IT helps widen the information base, and building up the flow patterns of digital information to enhance transmission efficiency, allowing the employees to access information easily, which flows fast into the organization. Gu (2000) contended that, from a broad point of view, overall flowing information and knowledge are both within the confines of an enterprise’s knowledge management system. IT is the tool for digitizing KM, to establish information systems for KM, search engines, statistical and analytical mechanisms for a data base. The combinations of tech, not only increase the speed of information flow, but also the spped of response to commercial changes in the outer environment.
3.2.3 “<”: Sharing
This symbol “<” implies that the knowledge worker should have a “smaller me” mind. Within an organization, everyone is a member of a successful team. As the organization becomes broader, a mobile work team will replace the traditional, functional organization patterns. Under a collaborative framework, individual members share knowledge with the group, and group knowledge is shared with individuals in return. The organization will offer feed-back after knowledge integration. This type of circulation pattern is the physical realization of knowledge spiral (Nonaka, 1991, 1995). Dyer (2004) described the concepts of collaborative cooperation and extended-enterprise in the book Collaborative Advantage. He suggested that “Extended enterprise is a group of suppliers in the value chain, who form a team by collaborative cooperation, to achieve the virtual integration.” Hence, not only the members of an organization, but also big organizations, should have a “smaller me” mind, to undertake cross-border, cross-field, cross-industry, and cross-section cooperation. The application of knowledge will not merely highlight sharing and value adding, but also absorb knowledge from different fields, leading to mutual learning.
3.2.4 “I”: Integration
This is a new era tool for new process, new resources, new thought and new action. Knowledge requires not only sharing, but also intensive integration, including the integration between internal employees and external customers, real resources and virtual resources, individuals and groups and organizations. The channels of value adding and innovation must be opened after these integrations, so as to form a knowledge value chain. In the course of promoting knowledge management, it requires the integration of digital mechanisms (like EIP, EC, ERP, CRM, SCM, etc.), organizational learning resources (like e-learning, HRD, etc.), and knowledge mapping (like document management, knowledge community, expert yellow pages, etc.), in order to facilitate the comprehensive effects of knowledge management.
3.2.5 “V”: Virtual teamwork
In recent years, virtualization of organizations and manpower has become an irresistible trends (Lipnack and Stamps, 2000; Nemiro, 2004). The so-called virtual teamwork means the work team has identical goals and benefits, communicates by means of advanced tools (like mobile phone, computer, internet, video) to complete pre-set missions or jobs following a sharing approach. This is a new working pattern. After digitalization, many enterprise resources can be re-allocated taking advantage of new long distance communication (synchronized, unsynchronized) and collaborative tools (video, audio, groupware software). The development of such tools facilitates global and borderless work patterns.
3.2.6 “I”: Innovation
Chesbrough (2003) mentioned in the book Open Business Model, that open-innovation-trend is sweeping across the world. Knowledge is gradually becoming more expressible and more concrete. Knowledge innovation occurs taking advanced approaches and achieves practical applications. That is, no matter what sort of innovation in terms of product, process, skill, organization or strategy, as long as it is developed by knowledge, causing further changes of application, it can operate effectively. When workers can obtain knowledge equally, and understand it, this can lead to cross-filed innovation, the key for future knowledge innovation. Following Globalization 3.0 and the rapid rise of Web 2.0, the power of the individual is getting stronger and crowd wisdom more developed. Innovative capability and thinking skill are replacing IT and manpower capital, becoming the new focus of knowledge applications. Hence, enterprises make effort to open the channels of knowledge and innovation more aggressively.
3.2.7 ”K”: Knowledge
The more people use conventional or tangible properties, the less the value of the properties; however, knowledge itself does not depreciate or wear out. Moreover, the more people use it, the more value it provides. The most remarkable change in the 20th century has been the appearance of blue-collar workers, followed by the replacement of knowledge workers for blue-collar ones. The biggest difference between them is that the knowledge workers can handle the production of tool-knowledge. The value of knowledge flow is the right knowledge worker, at the right time, by the right channel. Hence, the opening the knowledge channels (via the building of information systems, facilitating a sharing culture, activating experience exchange, etc.), and promoting the value of knowledge (transforming tacit to explicit knowledge, spreading individual knowledge among group members), are the keys to increasing the flow of knowledge.
3.2.8 “M”: Management
KM is an issue in cross-field management involving organization, processes and tech integration, as well as knowledge repository, knowledge community and knowledge/expert integration (Chen, Wang and Huang, 2008). To efficiently and properly control and apply knowledge, except for internal data collection, filtration and selection of useful information are necessary. To build the knowledge base we need to take advantage of virtual resources to set up virtual community in order to satisfy employee interests, relationships, fantasies and transactions. There are 4 main demands overall (Armstrong and Hage, 1997), along with collaboration from the internal information unit, R&D unit, planning unit, manpower unit, and outside knowledge workers needed to promote internal and external knowledge learning ability, so as to form an enterprise culture and acquire values helpful for knowledge innovation.
3.2.9 “M”: Money
KM can increase investment and administrative potential. The purpose of potential knowledge resources is to promote knowledge properties and intellectual capital. Chase (2004) proposed MAKE as a way to prove the theory that “Managing enterprise knowledge can effectively bring remarkable rewards for shareholders.” Based on his research and survey of the MAKE enterprises, the TRS of those going public in the NYSE and NASDAQ, from 1992 through 2002, was 19.6%, 2.2 times as much as the average rate of the Fortune 500 companies. Furthermore, the average ROCE of the MAKE enterprises in 2003 was 30.4%, while for the Fortune 500 this value was only 18.5%. For another index, return of property, the average MAKE rate was more than five times as much as that of the Fortune 500 companies (Yeh, 2006). Financial experts evaluate an enterprise’s market value, by examining not only the profitability of tangible properties, but also intangible knowledge properties, and management ability. All these are assessed altogether. The figures above show us that the implementation of KM can promote an enterprise’s core value, and contribute positively to its financial performance.
3.2.10 “M”:Mobile
The world is entering the era of ubiquitous trends (Digital Taiwan Biyearly, 2007), where the PDA, cell phone, laptop computer and smart mobile phone help generate a virtual, personalized mobile office. The coming of mobile communication enhance the application of knowledge management, the main factor of concern to the KM-knowledge worker, to ensure that they can manage knowledge and learning anytime, anywhere, by any device. In other words, the establishment of the mobile-knowledge-base or mobile-think-tank will be a trend for future development. The establishment of a mobile-office able to apply knowledge at a distance, exchange documents and share resources, will be in the mainstream of future KM.
4. Implementation blue-prints for KM
This study sorts the parameters of KM implementation by the dimensions of strategy, organization, process, content, technology, culture and innovation. The steps for execution are divided into 29 key points, as outlined below (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Implementation of the blue print for knowledge management
(i) Strategy aspect
a) Interview and diagnosis: Interview top managers, the chief knowledge officers by the team implementing KM. This involves designing various interview forms, in order to know the strategies and goals of KM projects.
b) Knowledge auditing: Utilize a systematic questionnaire, including the categories and sources of enterprise knowledge, to classify and compile knowledge documents, community knowledge, and expert/yellow page lists.
c) Linking the enterprise strategy: Use a strategy map and balanced scorecard approach to link the vision, mission and strategy goals of an enterprise, so as to discover its plan of action and key KM performance index.
d) Generate white papers: Before implementing the KM plan, determine short, medium and long term plans, as well as concrete descriptions of the execution organizations, project schedule, and implementation of expected goals.
(ii) Organizational aspect
a) Determine the project team: The top management acts as the chief of knowledge, and the KM team as core members, along with the representatives selected by each unit, to move the KM altogether.
b) Determine the participants: In addition to the core members, as the plan starts, consider the involvement of overall employees, or select groups for the leading or pilot operations.
c) Training system: Enhance the fundamental concept of KM by undertaking various training courses for top management, all employees and owners of knowledge communities.
d) Certification of knowledge workers: Certification of knowledge experts encourages active KM. Realize the sharing of experience and knowledge.
(iii) Process aspect
a) Determine the action scheme: Map the strategy for deploy KM with strategy goals, and set a concrete action scheme.
b) Value adding activity: Through analysis of knowledge spiral, set the activities of knowledge sharing, in terms of face to face, team to team, group to group, and on site practice.
c) Activity of knowledge promotion: Issue e-news and announcements of meetings for knowledge application or community knowledge activities, within the organization; and publish writings and achievement, outside the organization. Both are helpful for knowledge promotion.
d) Index of achievement assessment: The index can be determined in terms of IT, non-IT, quantitative and qualitative matrixes.
(iv) Content aspect
a) Valuable knowledge base: Set evaluation criteria, process and committee of knowledge documents for the selection of valuable knowledge. Allow activities for knowledge document sharing and value adding to take palce at regular intervals.
b) Knowledge community: Establish a knowledge community that can perform the knowledge sharing, explore tacit knowledge, encourage creativity, speed up project communication, offer prompt trouble shooting, open new communication channels for knowledge workers.
c) Expert yellow pages: File lists comprised of internal and external experts, along with relative data and experience, for easier access and inquiries by coworkers.
d) Organizational learning centers: Found both cyber and real learning centers to realize the best transit of practices, allowing for mutual assistance, learning, and growth among coworkers.
e) Virtual teamwork: Create a new mind in relation to using virtual resources and digitalized tools, breaking the traditional habit of face to face meetings, and face to face communications, allowing for the development of a collaborative team pattern over distance to form a new working environment.
(v) Technology aspect
a) Assessment of outsourcing developers: Shall the development of information system be done itself, or by outsourcing? If by outsourcing, develop a set of criteria to evaluate suitable developers.
b) Specification of the information system: The system can be divided into three layers, seven layers or nine layers, by such tools as the knowledge portal, document management, groupware platform, search engine, and so on. All of these should meet the development specifications.
c) Infrastructure assessment: First completely understand the infrastructure and web frame work, then analyze the current conditions of the hardware and software available to the enterprise.
d) Inspection and testing: Whether developed by themselves or outsourced, inspection and testing are need before completion, with modifications based on the results. These are crucial jobs before formal application of the system.
(vi) Culture aspect
a) Sense of knowledge value: Knowledge enterprise should establish a new sense of knowledge value in compliance with knowledge-transparency, and respecting multiple-values. In this particular, Buckman’s the “Code of Ethics” (2004) is a most worthwhile standard to refer to.
b) Sharing culture: Knowledge enterprises should eliminate the sense that hiding knowledge may retain power or competiveness. Rather they should build up the enterprise culture of encouraging and motivating by sharing among employees.
c) Advantageous transformation: Discover the core strengths and competitive advantages of units and workers, along with developing links with outside trends, to achieve a successful transformation through knowledge.
d) Motivation activities: Discover the motives that can encourage knowledge workers to share. Design a system to realize these motives, so as to activate the sharing culture of the enterprise.
(vii) Innovation aspect
a) Intersectional innovation: Encourage coworkers to properly use the three driving forces of intersectional innovation, that is the movement of people, the convergence of science, and the leap of computation (Johansson, 2004).
b) Integral application of knowledge: Combination of KM, digitalization and e-trend projects as well as the integration of knowledge documents, knowledge community, and listing of expert yellow pages for integration of KM and working process.
c) Collaborative sharing of knowledge: The focus of KM shifts from the sharing of internal knowledge to the one of outer knowledge. The confines of the application of KM will expand to customers, suppliers and partners.
d) Knowledge-value-chain: Input knowledge comes from several sources and will converge toward an enterprise-information portal (EIP). Value-added knowledge activities are based on socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization of knowledge (Chen, Yang and Lin, 2004).
5. Summary and suggestions
KM 1.0 focused on document-storage, quantitative-index-measuring and information-system-development. KM 2.0 was “based on people”, “sharing and value adding of knowledge”. In this study we further arrange and summarize the important aspects of these concepts and take a look at the evolution of KM. We propose the features of KM 3.0, and highlight that from the standpoint of innovative thinking, everyone could be a knowledge creator.
We dismantle the concept of “KM” to discover the codes for a successful business. Promoting knowledge management should include: information, information technology, sharing, integration, virtual team work, innovation, knowledge, management, financial performance and a mobile knowledge repository.
This also outlines blue-prints of implementation of knowledge management which includes the seven aspects of strategy, organization, process, content, technology, culture, and innovation. The above 7 aspects include 29 procedures leading to the stages of knowledge management.
This paper is only a summary of KM and the underpinning tools and techniques. In future research, we can apply the concept of KM 3.0 to the organizations that will start a KM-project. Besides, the application of implementation of the blue-prints for knowledge management can be further discussed in the future.
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2009年12月10日 星期四
SOCIAL TIES, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER MEDIATORS
SOCIAL TIES, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER MEDIATORS AND THE QUALITY OF TRANSFERRED KNOWLEDGE: A RELATIONAL VIEW
SHIHAO ZHOU
Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
shihao.zhou@gmail.com
MINHONG WANG
Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
magwang@hku.hk
The aim of the study is to explore the effect of social tie on knowledge transfer. Two frameworks have been proposed. The first framework focuses on how social ties influence knowledge transfer performance by influencing a variety of knowledge transfer mediators. The second framework focuses on how social ties influence the quality of transferred knowledge. Based on the two frameworks, an empirical study was conducted to examine the relation of social tie to knowledge transfer mediators and quality of transferred knowledge. The study has shown that different social ties play different roles in trust construction and tacit knowledge transfer. The findings inform scholars of more attention to the content of social ties in knowledge transfer research. Besides strength and structure, social ties may differ in content, and this difference will significantly affect individual’s knowledge searching behavior and the outcome of knowledge transfer.
1. Background
Knowledge transfer has been regarded as one of the biggest challenges of knowledge management (Zander and Kogut, 1995). The inherent complexity of work requires knowledge workers rely on each other, share knowledge and ideas so that they can gain high performance. Social tie has been proved as an important factor in interpersonal knowledge transfer. Burt (1992) advocated that networks across structural holes can connect actors who are themselves unconnected, thus achieve more novel information. Granovetter (1973), in his pioneering paper, argued that weak tie is of greater importance in encouraging information exchange to avoid redundancy, while in the continued studies, Hansen (1999) proved that although weak tie facilitates knowledge transfer in low-tacit environment, strong tie is more likely to lead to tacit knowledge transfer because it loads more trustworthiness.
However, recent studies indicated that people will call for different relations to provide different benefits (Cross, Borgatti and Parker, 2001). That is, besides structure and strength, social networks may be different in content. A common way to describe the content of personal relationships is to distinguish it from instrumental and expressive ties (Podolny and Baron, 1997). Instrumental networks are links arising in the process of performing formal work roles (Ibarra and Andrews, 1993). For instance, the relationship between department manager and department secretary or between upstream process engineer and downstream process engineer is instrumental. However, expressive tie, which is informal, attaches more emotional matters and mainly provides friendship and social supports (Ibarra, 1992). Tie content also influences knowledge transfer activities. For example, Podolny and Baron (1997) claimed that individual’s networks related to his/her formal position are important to transfer task advice and workflow output/input, whereas his/her informal network and friendships are more important to transfer other information and social support such as job satisfaction and political intelligence. Therefore, scholars have explicitly called for new research to pay attention to the effects of social tie content on knowledge transfer (Cross and Cummings, 2001).
The aim of our study is to explore the role of tie content in knowledge transfer process. In the present study, two conceptual frameworks were proposed. The first framework focuses on the relations of social ties, knowledge transfer mediators (factors influence individual’s knowledge transfer behavior) and knowledge transfer performance (volume and quality of transferred knowledge). We contend that when knowledge transfer occurs via different channels, knowledge seeker’s (hereafter “ego”) behavior will be different. The second framework focuses on the relations of social ties and quality of transferred knowledge. Knowledge transferred via different social ties may have different characters and qualities. As few researches link tie content and interpersonal knowledge transfer directly, this research attempts to fill this gap.
2. Framework 1: Social Ties and Knowledge Transfer Mediators
2.1. The cognition- and affect-based trust
Trust is indeed important in knowledge transfer, and in knowledge transfer and social network mixed research, trust is believed to mediate the link between social network and knowledge transfer (Levin and Cross, 2004; Lin, 2007). It should be noted that trust is not a unitary concept, instead, there are two functions of trust: one based on cognition, the other based on affect (McAllister, 1995). Cognition-based trust is based on the trustor’s rational evolution of the trustee's skills, knowledge, and competencies to solve related problems. Actually, at some extent, cognition-based trust on a knowledge source is associated with the perceived expertise on this person. Given that a trustor has a high cognition-based trust on a trustee, the trustor will certainly perceive the trustee as an expert. Affect-based trust is composed by emotional bonds between trustor and trustee (McAllister, 1995). Affect-based trust, also called benevolence-based trust, is the trustor’s faith toward a trustee that the trustee is honest, benevolent, warm-hearted and, most importantly, harmless to the trustor himself (Mayer, Davis and Schoorman, 1995).
Previous studies have indicated that both instrumental and expressive relationships will enhance trust (Lin, 2007). Cognition-based trust is built on trustee’s prior work performance (McAllister, 1995). Normally, people will view track records of work performance as evidence of professional reliability. Instrumental link, which focuses on work and task related issues, can effectively convey these records. And friendship, although may be developed out of workplace, can release work-related information as well. On this basis, enhancing both instrumental and expressive ties is positively associated with cognition-based trust construction. The relation between expressive tie and affect-based trust is clear: expressive tie, which always accompanies emotional intensity and involves reciprocal affection (Aguilar, 1984) no doubtly attaches much affect-based trust. Work-oriented instrumental tie is positively associated with affect-based trust as well since individuals linked by work-relationships will have more interaction and cooperation experience, when knowledge seeking is needed, compared with other sources, ego will have much more “evidence” to ensure a close co-worker is benevolent. Stated formally:
P1a. Cognition--based trust is positively related to knowledge transfer performance.
P1b. Both instrumental and expressive ties are positively related to the cognition -based trust between ego and the knowledge source.
P2a. Affect-based trust is positively related to knowledge transfer performance.
P2b. Both instrumental and expressive ties are positively related to the affect-based trust between ego and the knowledge source.
2.2. Accessibility
Borgatti and Cross (2003) stated that “knowing that someone else has valuable expertise is important, but their knowledge is really helpful only if they are accessible” (p435). Thus, accessibility is also an important mediator of effective knowledge transfer. It is reasonable to assume that both instrumental and expressive ties will facilitate the accessibility of a knowledge source to ego. An instrumental tie between ego and a knowledge source indicates the existence of some formal communication mechanisms between ego and that source. For example, co-work relationship is a typical instrumental relationship. Co-workers are normally assigned in a same office and meet regularly, and that makes an ego’s co-worker more accessible to ego than to other knowledge seekers in different organization. Expressive tie also promote a knowledge source’s accessibility. In addition to workplace/working time, people linked by expressive ties may have opportunities to exchange knowledge via various private channels. Stated formally:
P3a. The accessibility of a knowledge source is positively related to ego’s knowledge transfer performance.
P3b. Both instrumental and expressive ties are positively related to the accessibility of a knowledge source.
2.3. Relationship diversity
Recent academic papers have shed light on the relations of power, social network and knowledge transfer. Relationships with powerful organizational members are positive related to knowledge transfer. Burt (1992) argued that senior managers are more likely to have larger social network, and that will consequently increase their social capital and information richness. Those organizational members in higher hierarchical level than ego can access information and resource that ego cannot access himself/herself. Thus connections with those members are important for ego’s knowledge searching effectiveness (Cross and Cummings, 2004). Pervious social tie content research showed that ego is more likely to employ instrumental tie to connect high-status organization members (Ibarra and Andrews, 1993), and Manev and Stevenson (2001) argued that people will form expressive tie with peers of similar gender, culture as well as organizational status. These findings indicated that ego is more likely to employ instrumental ties to touch those more powerful organizational members. Stated formally:
P4. Ego is more likely to employ instrumental ties to contact organizational members of different backgrounds.
We propose our first framework based on above discussion (Figure 1). In this framework, we focus on the relations of social tie content, knowledge transfer mediators and knowledge transfer performance.
Figure 1: framework 1, social ties, knowledge transfer mediators and knowledge transfer performance
3. Framework 2: Social Ties and Quality of Transferred Knowledge
3.1. Knowledge tacitness
One often found distinction of knowledge is whether it is tacit or explicit (Nonaka, 1994). Tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge which is hard to articulate and transfer, and always relates to “complexity”, “uncertainty”, “non-codify” or “ambiguity” (Zander and Kogut, 1995). Explicit knowledge is just on the opposite, this sort of knowledge is always documented, easy to express and associated with fact and “know-that” (Polanyi, 1967). Hansen (1999) argued that strong tie is more effective than weak ties in the case that the transferred knowledge is tacit, because strong tie tends to load more trustworthiness; weak tie, on the other hand, is more effective when transfer low-tacit knowledge, because weak ties lead to a heterogamous and non-redundant network which will promote actor’s knowledge searching ability. According to Marsden (1988), expressive tie is stronger and more intimate than instrumental tie. Therefore, according to Hansen’s framework, expressive tie will be a better channel for tacit knowledge transfer while instrumental tie, which is weaker in general, will be more effective when transfer general, low-tacit knowledge. Stated formally:
P4. Instrumental tie is more effective in low-tacit knowledge transfer and expressive tie is more effective in tacit knowledge transfer.
3.2. Knowledge diversity
Knowledge diversity is important because it is believed that knowledge with a large extent of diversity is more useful than redundant knowledge (Wong, 2008). Knowledge transferred via different social ties also differs in the degree of diversity. Expressive networks always link persons with similar background, status and knowledge (Manev and Stevenson, 2001) thereby leads to a similar view or attitude toward their job and organization (Gibbons, 2004) and result in a homogenous network. In this kind of network, actors’ perspectives, skills, and knowledge are likely to be overlapping and redundant (Burt, 1992; Regans and Zuckerman, 2001). Thus, expressive ties tend to restrict diverse knowledge. On the contrary, instrumental network tends to consist of peoples of different gender, race, nationality, culture, and expatriate status (Ibarra, 1992; Manev and Stevenson, 2001), thus result in a heterogeneous network. The network heterogeneity will increase information non-redundancy and variety (Regans and Zuckerman, 2001), and will accordingly increase ego’s the capability to absorb diverse knowledge (Wong, 2008). Stated formally:
P5. Instrumental tie is positively associated with knowledge diversity and expressive tie is negatively associated with knowledge diversity.
3.3. Knowledge reliability
In many cases, acquiring knowledge takes risk, because it implies incompetence and dependence. Consequently, when acting knowledge seeking behavior, ego is vulnerable to the knowledge source (Levin et al., 2004). Therefore, the reliability of receipt knowledge is important to successful knowledge transfer. Compared with instrumental tie, expressive tie loads more trustworthiness (Marsden, 1988). As Aguilar (1984) stated, an important character of friendship is reciprocal, people will less likely to choose cheat in the reciprocal situations. That also explains why expressive tie is more trusted in general and why knowledge from expressive tie is more credible, more easily available and more relevant to ego (Brass, 1992). Thereby, the reliability of knowledge from expressive tie may be higher than that of knowledge from instrumental tie. Stated formally:
P6. Knowledge transferred via instrumental tie tends to be less reliable than those transferred via expressive tie.
We propose our second framework based on above discussion (Figure 2). In this framework, we focus on the relations between social ties and the quality of transferred knowledge.
Figure 2: Framework 2, social ties and the quality of transferred knowledge
4. An Empirical Study
According to the two frameworks, we conducted an empirical study in 2009. The theoretical model of the study is based on the above two frameworks, shedding light on the relations of social ties to knowledge transfer mediators and the quality of transferred knowledge. But because of the limited sample size, we didn’t involve all the above factors in the study, only cognition- and affect-based trust, as mediators, and knowledge tacitness, as outcome variable, were utilized. Figure 3 is the theoretical model of the empirical study. This study showed that pay more attention to the role of social tie content in knowledge transfer research is essential since the result of the study proved that when ego transfer knowledge via different social ties, his/her behaviors are different.
Figure 3: the theoretical model of the empirical study
4.1. Methods
A survey was conducted for data collection. The survey subjects came from part-time MBA students of a university in east China (N=152). The MBA students all have a full-time job in workday and go to the university in the weekend for further study. The majority of these students work in manufacturing and service industry, and most of them have at least three years work experience. Using MBA students with full-time work experience ensured all the subjects can report “real” relationships in their workplaces, therefore kept the validity of the survey. All the six latent variables in this research were measured using existing and tested scales. Instrumental tie and expressive tie were measured using Manev and Stevenson’s (2001) scale. As for trust, we chose four top-loading items to measure cognition-based trust from the work of McAllister (1995), and scale measuring affect-based trust was mainly based on the work of Levin et al., (2004). Cummings’s (2004) scale was employed to measure general, low-tacit knowledge transfer. This scale measured all kinds of knowledge in workplace, including report, techniques and data. Tacit knowledge transfer scale was adopted from the work of Lin (2007), focusing on only tacit knowledge such as experience, opinion and personal tips. Each indicator loading was equal to or greater than 0.6. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of each scale was greater than 0.7.
4.2. Data analysis and results
The statistic analysis software used was AMOS 7.0.The first step was confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which examines validity and reliability of the scales from a measurement model. To confirm the measurement model, we first compared the hypothesized model (M0) with some alternative nest models. In view of instrumental tie and expressive tie both focus on the relationship between ego and the knowledge source, we first combined them into one factor, formed a five-factor model (M1). Then, because affect-based trust and cognition-based trust were highly correlated, it is also reasonable to merge these two factors and create the second nest model (M2). Finally, we merged the instrumental and expressive tie and cognition- and affect-based trust to be one antecedent, formed a three-factor model (M3). Compared with every nest models, M0 obtain a Δχ2 greater than 3.84, indicating the hypothesized model has the best fit for the data. The measurement model yields a chi-square value of 412.8 with 248 degrees of freedom (χ2/df=1.66). All fit indices of the model is satisfactory (CFI=0.95, TLI=0.94, RMSEA=0.06). Then, structural model was estimated for hypothesis testing. The structural model yields a chi-square value of 400.835 with 249 degrees of freedom (χ2/df=1.61). All fit indices of this structural model is satisfactory (CFI=0.95, TLI=0.94, RMSEA=0.06).
The result of data analysis was reported in table 1. According to the result, both expressive and instrumental tie significantly influence the mediators (cognition- and affect-based trust) (ET -> AT: β=.71, t=8.51; ET -> CT: β =.43, t=5.28; IT -> AT: β =.39, t=5.16; IT -> CT: β =.42, t=4.69). As for the mediators affect knowledge transfer: affect-based trust has a significant impact on both low-tacit knowledge transfer (β =.88, t=3.07) and tacit knowledge transfer (β =.69, t=1.99), however, cognition-based trust only significantly influences tacit knowledge transfer (β =.16, t=2.14), its impact on low-tacit knowledge transfer is not significant (β =.08, t=1.88). Based on visual inspection, we found that in low-tacit knowledge transfer, instrumental tie has a distinct larger effect than expressive tie; total effect of instrumental tie and expressive tie on low-tacit knowledge transfer equals to 0.60 and 0.26 respectively, implying instrumental tie is more important than expressive tie in low-tacit knowledge transfer process. However, in transferring tacit knowledge, the total effect of expressive tie (ET -> TK=0.50) is not significantly larger than that of instrumental tie (IT -> TK=0.45). Table 2 shows the relations of social ties to knowledge transfer mediators and quality of transferred knowledge.
Table 1. Results of Structural Modeling
Predictor Cognition-based
trust Affect-based
trust Low-tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge
Direct effects
Expressive tie 0.43 0.71
Instrumental tie 0.42 0.39
Cognition-based trust n.s 0.16
Affect-based trust 0.88 0.69
Total effects
Expressive tie 0.43 0.71 0.26 0.50
Instrumental tie 0.42 0.39 0.60 0.45
n.s=non-significant
Table 2. The relation of social tie to knowledge transfer mediators and quality of transferred knowledge
Effects of social tie on knowledge transfer mediators Effects of social tie on quality of transferred knowledge
Expressive tie -> Cognition-based trust significant Low-tacit knowledge transfer: effect of instrumental tie larger than effect of expressive tie
Expressive tie -> Affect-based trust significant
Instrumental tie -> Cognition-based trust significant Tacit knowledge transfer: effect of instrumental tie not significantly larger than effect of expressive tie
Instrumental tie -> Affect-based trust significant
This study confirmed the mediator role of cognition- and affect-based trust in the course of knowledge transfer, and proved that the effects of instrumental tie and expressive tie on trust construction are different. Especially, expressive tie imposes a larger influence on affect-based trust construction than instrumental tie do. These results offer additional support to previous studies that expressive tie loads more trustworthiness than instrumental tie (Gibbons, 2004). The results also proved that instrumental tie is more efficient than expressive tie in low-tacit knowledge transfer. An unexpected finding is that the effect of expressive tie is not significantly larger than that of instrumental tie when transfer tacit knowledge. One explanation is that neither informal nor formal network can be the best fit for sharing tacit knowledge (Willem et al., 2006). However, the effect of social tie on knowledge tacitness is still tested for proving the dominance of instrumental tie in low-tacit knowledge transfer.
5. Conclusion
Considering the relations of social tie to knowledge transfer mediators and the quality of transferred knowledge, this study informs scholars of more attention to the role of tie content in knowledge transfer research. Besides strength and structure, social ties could differ in content, and this difference will significantly affect individual’s knowledge searching behavior and the outcome of knowledge transfer. The two frameworks proposed in this paper can contribute to the following knowledge transfer research for providing a tie content perspective of studying individual’s knowledge transfer behavior.
The result of our empirical study supported the validity of the frameworks, proving that the effects of instrumental tie on trust construction and tacit knowledge transfer may differ to the effects of expressive tie. Managers may benefit from the findings of the empirical study, knowing how to increase knowledge transfer through promoting intra-organizational networking. For example, we found that instrumental tie is more effective in low-tacit knowledge transfer than expressive tie. This implies that for those organizations which mainly require low-tacit knowledge transfer, developing intra-organizational instrumental ties should be their first choice. However, the empirical study only tested a part of the frameworks. Deeper research may be conducted based on the entire proposed frameworks.
References
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SHIHAO ZHOU
Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
shihao.zhou@gmail.com
MINHONG WANG
Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
magwang@hku.hk
The aim of the study is to explore the effect of social tie on knowledge transfer. Two frameworks have been proposed. The first framework focuses on how social ties influence knowledge transfer performance by influencing a variety of knowledge transfer mediators. The second framework focuses on how social ties influence the quality of transferred knowledge. Based on the two frameworks, an empirical study was conducted to examine the relation of social tie to knowledge transfer mediators and quality of transferred knowledge. The study has shown that different social ties play different roles in trust construction and tacit knowledge transfer. The findings inform scholars of more attention to the content of social ties in knowledge transfer research. Besides strength and structure, social ties may differ in content, and this difference will significantly affect individual’s knowledge searching behavior and the outcome of knowledge transfer.
1. Background
Knowledge transfer has been regarded as one of the biggest challenges of knowledge management (Zander and Kogut, 1995). The inherent complexity of work requires knowledge workers rely on each other, share knowledge and ideas so that they can gain high performance. Social tie has been proved as an important factor in interpersonal knowledge transfer. Burt (1992) advocated that networks across structural holes can connect actors who are themselves unconnected, thus achieve more novel information. Granovetter (1973), in his pioneering paper, argued that weak tie is of greater importance in encouraging information exchange to avoid redundancy, while in the continued studies, Hansen (1999) proved that although weak tie facilitates knowledge transfer in low-tacit environment, strong tie is more likely to lead to tacit knowledge transfer because it loads more trustworthiness.
However, recent studies indicated that people will call for different relations to provide different benefits (Cross, Borgatti and Parker, 2001). That is, besides structure and strength, social networks may be different in content. A common way to describe the content of personal relationships is to distinguish it from instrumental and expressive ties (Podolny and Baron, 1997). Instrumental networks are links arising in the process of performing formal work roles (Ibarra and Andrews, 1993). For instance, the relationship between department manager and department secretary or between upstream process engineer and downstream process engineer is instrumental. However, expressive tie, which is informal, attaches more emotional matters and mainly provides friendship and social supports (Ibarra, 1992). Tie content also influences knowledge transfer activities. For example, Podolny and Baron (1997) claimed that individual’s networks related to his/her formal position are important to transfer task advice and workflow output/input, whereas his/her informal network and friendships are more important to transfer other information and social support such as job satisfaction and political intelligence. Therefore, scholars have explicitly called for new research to pay attention to the effects of social tie content on knowledge transfer (Cross and Cummings, 2001).
The aim of our study is to explore the role of tie content in knowledge transfer process. In the present study, two conceptual frameworks were proposed. The first framework focuses on the relations of social ties, knowledge transfer mediators (factors influence individual’s knowledge transfer behavior) and knowledge transfer performance (volume and quality of transferred knowledge). We contend that when knowledge transfer occurs via different channels, knowledge seeker’s (hereafter “ego”) behavior will be different. The second framework focuses on the relations of social ties and quality of transferred knowledge. Knowledge transferred via different social ties may have different characters and qualities. As few researches link tie content and interpersonal knowledge transfer directly, this research attempts to fill this gap.
2. Framework 1: Social Ties and Knowledge Transfer Mediators
2.1. The cognition- and affect-based trust
Trust is indeed important in knowledge transfer, and in knowledge transfer and social network mixed research, trust is believed to mediate the link between social network and knowledge transfer (Levin and Cross, 2004; Lin, 2007). It should be noted that trust is not a unitary concept, instead, there are two functions of trust: one based on cognition, the other based on affect (McAllister, 1995). Cognition-based trust is based on the trustor’s rational evolution of the trustee's skills, knowledge, and competencies to solve related problems. Actually, at some extent, cognition-based trust on a knowledge source is associated with the perceived expertise on this person. Given that a trustor has a high cognition-based trust on a trustee, the trustor will certainly perceive the trustee as an expert. Affect-based trust is composed by emotional bonds between trustor and trustee (McAllister, 1995). Affect-based trust, also called benevolence-based trust, is the trustor’s faith toward a trustee that the trustee is honest, benevolent, warm-hearted and, most importantly, harmless to the trustor himself (Mayer, Davis and Schoorman, 1995).
Previous studies have indicated that both instrumental and expressive relationships will enhance trust (Lin, 2007). Cognition-based trust is built on trustee’s prior work performance (McAllister, 1995). Normally, people will view track records of work performance as evidence of professional reliability. Instrumental link, which focuses on work and task related issues, can effectively convey these records. And friendship, although may be developed out of workplace, can release work-related information as well. On this basis, enhancing both instrumental and expressive ties is positively associated with cognition-based trust construction. The relation between expressive tie and affect-based trust is clear: expressive tie, which always accompanies emotional intensity and involves reciprocal affection (Aguilar, 1984) no doubtly attaches much affect-based trust. Work-oriented instrumental tie is positively associated with affect-based trust as well since individuals linked by work-relationships will have more interaction and cooperation experience, when knowledge seeking is needed, compared with other sources, ego will have much more “evidence” to ensure a close co-worker is benevolent. Stated formally:
P1a. Cognition--based trust is positively related to knowledge transfer performance.
P1b. Both instrumental and expressive ties are positively related to the cognition -based trust between ego and the knowledge source.
P2a. Affect-based trust is positively related to knowledge transfer performance.
P2b. Both instrumental and expressive ties are positively related to the affect-based trust between ego and the knowledge source.
2.2. Accessibility
Borgatti and Cross (2003) stated that “knowing that someone else has valuable expertise is important, but their knowledge is really helpful only if they are accessible” (p435). Thus, accessibility is also an important mediator of effective knowledge transfer. It is reasonable to assume that both instrumental and expressive ties will facilitate the accessibility of a knowledge source to ego. An instrumental tie between ego and a knowledge source indicates the existence of some formal communication mechanisms between ego and that source. For example, co-work relationship is a typical instrumental relationship. Co-workers are normally assigned in a same office and meet regularly, and that makes an ego’s co-worker more accessible to ego than to other knowledge seekers in different organization. Expressive tie also promote a knowledge source’s accessibility. In addition to workplace/working time, people linked by expressive ties may have opportunities to exchange knowledge via various private channels. Stated formally:
P3a. The accessibility of a knowledge source is positively related to ego’s knowledge transfer performance.
P3b. Both instrumental and expressive ties are positively related to the accessibility of a knowledge source.
2.3. Relationship diversity
Recent academic papers have shed light on the relations of power, social network and knowledge transfer. Relationships with powerful organizational members are positive related to knowledge transfer. Burt (1992) argued that senior managers are more likely to have larger social network, and that will consequently increase their social capital and information richness. Those organizational members in higher hierarchical level than ego can access information and resource that ego cannot access himself/herself. Thus connections with those members are important for ego’s knowledge searching effectiveness (Cross and Cummings, 2004). Pervious social tie content research showed that ego is more likely to employ instrumental tie to connect high-status organization members (Ibarra and Andrews, 1993), and Manev and Stevenson (2001) argued that people will form expressive tie with peers of similar gender, culture as well as organizational status. These findings indicated that ego is more likely to employ instrumental ties to touch those more powerful organizational members. Stated formally:
P4. Ego is more likely to employ instrumental ties to contact organizational members of different backgrounds.
We propose our first framework based on above discussion (Figure 1). In this framework, we focus on the relations of social tie content, knowledge transfer mediators and knowledge transfer performance.
Figure 1: framework 1, social ties, knowledge transfer mediators and knowledge transfer performance
3. Framework 2: Social Ties and Quality of Transferred Knowledge
3.1. Knowledge tacitness
One often found distinction of knowledge is whether it is tacit or explicit (Nonaka, 1994). Tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge which is hard to articulate and transfer, and always relates to “complexity”, “uncertainty”, “non-codify” or “ambiguity” (Zander and Kogut, 1995). Explicit knowledge is just on the opposite, this sort of knowledge is always documented, easy to express and associated with fact and “know-that” (Polanyi, 1967). Hansen (1999) argued that strong tie is more effective than weak ties in the case that the transferred knowledge is tacit, because strong tie tends to load more trustworthiness; weak tie, on the other hand, is more effective when transfer low-tacit knowledge, because weak ties lead to a heterogamous and non-redundant network which will promote actor’s knowledge searching ability. According to Marsden (1988), expressive tie is stronger and more intimate than instrumental tie. Therefore, according to Hansen’s framework, expressive tie will be a better channel for tacit knowledge transfer while instrumental tie, which is weaker in general, will be more effective when transfer general, low-tacit knowledge. Stated formally:
P4. Instrumental tie is more effective in low-tacit knowledge transfer and expressive tie is more effective in tacit knowledge transfer.
3.2. Knowledge diversity
Knowledge diversity is important because it is believed that knowledge with a large extent of diversity is more useful than redundant knowledge (Wong, 2008). Knowledge transferred via different social ties also differs in the degree of diversity. Expressive networks always link persons with similar background, status and knowledge (Manev and Stevenson, 2001) thereby leads to a similar view or attitude toward their job and organization (Gibbons, 2004) and result in a homogenous network. In this kind of network, actors’ perspectives, skills, and knowledge are likely to be overlapping and redundant (Burt, 1992; Regans and Zuckerman, 2001). Thus, expressive ties tend to restrict diverse knowledge. On the contrary, instrumental network tends to consist of peoples of different gender, race, nationality, culture, and expatriate status (Ibarra, 1992; Manev and Stevenson, 2001), thus result in a heterogeneous network. The network heterogeneity will increase information non-redundancy and variety (Regans and Zuckerman, 2001), and will accordingly increase ego’s the capability to absorb diverse knowledge (Wong, 2008). Stated formally:
P5. Instrumental tie is positively associated with knowledge diversity and expressive tie is negatively associated with knowledge diversity.
3.3. Knowledge reliability
In many cases, acquiring knowledge takes risk, because it implies incompetence and dependence. Consequently, when acting knowledge seeking behavior, ego is vulnerable to the knowledge source (Levin et al., 2004). Therefore, the reliability of receipt knowledge is important to successful knowledge transfer. Compared with instrumental tie, expressive tie loads more trustworthiness (Marsden, 1988). As Aguilar (1984) stated, an important character of friendship is reciprocal, people will less likely to choose cheat in the reciprocal situations. That also explains why expressive tie is more trusted in general and why knowledge from expressive tie is more credible, more easily available and more relevant to ego (Brass, 1992). Thereby, the reliability of knowledge from expressive tie may be higher than that of knowledge from instrumental tie. Stated formally:
P6. Knowledge transferred via instrumental tie tends to be less reliable than those transferred via expressive tie.
We propose our second framework based on above discussion (Figure 2). In this framework, we focus on the relations between social ties and the quality of transferred knowledge.
Figure 2: Framework 2, social ties and the quality of transferred knowledge
4. An Empirical Study
According to the two frameworks, we conducted an empirical study in 2009. The theoretical model of the study is based on the above two frameworks, shedding light on the relations of social ties to knowledge transfer mediators and the quality of transferred knowledge. But because of the limited sample size, we didn’t involve all the above factors in the study, only cognition- and affect-based trust, as mediators, and knowledge tacitness, as outcome variable, were utilized. Figure 3 is the theoretical model of the empirical study. This study showed that pay more attention to the role of social tie content in knowledge transfer research is essential since the result of the study proved that when ego transfer knowledge via different social ties, his/her behaviors are different.
Figure 3: the theoretical model of the empirical study
4.1. Methods
A survey was conducted for data collection. The survey subjects came from part-time MBA students of a university in east China (N=152). The MBA students all have a full-time job in workday and go to the university in the weekend for further study. The majority of these students work in manufacturing and service industry, and most of them have at least three years work experience. Using MBA students with full-time work experience ensured all the subjects can report “real” relationships in their workplaces, therefore kept the validity of the survey. All the six latent variables in this research were measured using existing and tested scales. Instrumental tie and expressive tie were measured using Manev and Stevenson’s (2001) scale. As for trust, we chose four top-loading items to measure cognition-based trust from the work of McAllister (1995), and scale measuring affect-based trust was mainly based on the work of Levin et al., (2004). Cummings’s (2004) scale was employed to measure general, low-tacit knowledge transfer. This scale measured all kinds of knowledge in workplace, including report, techniques and data. Tacit knowledge transfer scale was adopted from the work of Lin (2007), focusing on only tacit knowledge such as experience, opinion and personal tips. Each indicator loading was equal to or greater than 0.6. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of each scale was greater than 0.7.
4.2. Data analysis and results
The statistic analysis software used was AMOS 7.0.The first step was confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which examines validity and reliability of the scales from a measurement model. To confirm the measurement model, we first compared the hypothesized model (M0) with some alternative nest models. In view of instrumental tie and expressive tie both focus on the relationship between ego and the knowledge source, we first combined them into one factor, formed a five-factor model (M1). Then, because affect-based trust and cognition-based trust were highly correlated, it is also reasonable to merge these two factors and create the second nest model (M2). Finally, we merged the instrumental and expressive tie and cognition- and affect-based trust to be one antecedent, formed a three-factor model (M3). Compared with every nest models, M0 obtain a Δχ2 greater than 3.84, indicating the hypothesized model has the best fit for the data. The measurement model yields a chi-square value of 412.8 with 248 degrees of freedom (χ2/df=1.66). All fit indices of the model is satisfactory (CFI=0.95, TLI=0.94, RMSEA=0.06). Then, structural model was estimated for hypothesis testing. The structural model yields a chi-square value of 400.835 with 249 degrees of freedom (χ2/df=1.61). All fit indices of this structural model is satisfactory (CFI=0.95, TLI=0.94, RMSEA=0.06).
The result of data analysis was reported in table 1. According to the result, both expressive and instrumental tie significantly influence the mediators (cognition- and affect-based trust) (ET -> AT: β=.71, t=8.51; ET -> CT: β =.43, t=5.28; IT -> AT: β =.39, t=5.16; IT -> CT: β =.42, t=4.69). As for the mediators affect knowledge transfer: affect-based trust has a significant impact on both low-tacit knowledge transfer (β =.88, t=3.07) and tacit knowledge transfer (β =.69, t=1.99), however, cognition-based trust only significantly influences tacit knowledge transfer (β =.16, t=2.14), its impact on low-tacit knowledge transfer is not significant (β =.08, t=1.88). Based on visual inspection, we found that in low-tacit knowledge transfer, instrumental tie has a distinct larger effect than expressive tie; total effect of instrumental tie and expressive tie on low-tacit knowledge transfer equals to 0.60 and 0.26 respectively, implying instrumental tie is more important than expressive tie in low-tacit knowledge transfer process. However, in transferring tacit knowledge, the total effect of expressive tie (ET -> TK=0.50) is not significantly larger than that of instrumental tie (IT -> TK=0.45). Table 2 shows the relations of social ties to knowledge transfer mediators and quality of transferred knowledge.
Table 1. Results of Structural Modeling
Predictor Cognition-based
trust Affect-based
trust Low-tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge
Direct effects
Expressive tie 0.43 0.71
Instrumental tie 0.42 0.39
Cognition-based trust n.s 0.16
Affect-based trust 0.88 0.69
Total effects
Expressive tie 0.43 0.71 0.26 0.50
Instrumental tie 0.42 0.39 0.60 0.45
n.s=non-significant
Table 2. The relation of social tie to knowledge transfer mediators and quality of transferred knowledge
Effects of social tie on knowledge transfer mediators Effects of social tie on quality of transferred knowledge
Expressive tie -> Cognition-based trust significant Low-tacit knowledge transfer: effect of instrumental tie larger than effect of expressive tie
Expressive tie -> Affect-based trust significant
Instrumental tie -> Cognition-based trust significant Tacit knowledge transfer: effect of instrumental tie not significantly larger than effect of expressive tie
Instrumental tie -> Affect-based trust significant
This study confirmed the mediator role of cognition- and affect-based trust in the course of knowledge transfer, and proved that the effects of instrumental tie and expressive tie on trust construction are different. Especially, expressive tie imposes a larger influence on affect-based trust construction than instrumental tie do. These results offer additional support to previous studies that expressive tie loads more trustworthiness than instrumental tie (Gibbons, 2004). The results also proved that instrumental tie is more efficient than expressive tie in low-tacit knowledge transfer. An unexpected finding is that the effect of expressive tie is not significantly larger than that of instrumental tie when transfer tacit knowledge. One explanation is that neither informal nor formal network can be the best fit for sharing tacit knowledge (Willem et al., 2006). However, the effect of social tie on knowledge tacitness is still tested for proving the dominance of instrumental tie in low-tacit knowledge transfer.
5. Conclusion
Considering the relations of social tie to knowledge transfer mediators and the quality of transferred knowledge, this study informs scholars of more attention to the role of tie content in knowledge transfer research. Besides strength and structure, social ties could differ in content, and this difference will significantly affect individual’s knowledge searching behavior and the outcome of knowledge transfer. The two frameworks proposed in this paper can contribute to the following knowledge transfer research for providing a tie content perspective of studying individual’s knowledge transfer behavior.
The result of our empirical study supported the validity of the frameworks, proving that the effects of instrumental tie on trust construction and tacit knowledge transfer may differ to the effects of expressive tie. Managers may benefit from the findings of the empirical study, knowing how to increase knowledge transfer through promoting intra-organizational networking. For example, we found that instrumental tie is more effective in low-tacit knowledge transfer than expressive tie. This implies that for those organizations which mainly require low-tacit knowledge transfer, developing intra-organizational instrumental ties should be their first choice. However, the empirical study only tested a part of the frameworks. Deeper research may be conducted based on the entire proposed frameworks.
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COMPETENCIES SOUGHT BY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
COMPETENCIES SOUGHT BY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT EMPLOYERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ONLINE JOB ADVERTISEMENTS
Shaheen Majid
School of Communication & Information,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
asmajid@ntu.edu.sg
Rianto Mulia
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
riantomulia@gmail.com
Content analysis of job advertisements is considered a reliable method for determining the demands of job market. The aim of this study was to identify competencies required by knowledge management (KM) employers through analyzing job advertisements appeared in selected job portals. The study used 110 English language job advertisements from China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. It was found that a majority of the advertisements did not ask for knowledge management qualifications rather a general degree or a qualification in computing, business or library and information studies was preferred. It was also noted that almost all job advertisements put more emphasis on personality traits than other competencies, namely KM core processes, KM technologies, and human capital management. The highly sought after personality-related competencies were communication skills, analytical thinking skills, and leadership skills. The top three competencies related to KM core processes were knowledge transfer and sharing, knowledge discovery and acquisition, and knowledge organization. The top three IT and infrastructure related competencies were familiarity with content management systems, knowledge portals, and development and maintenance of knowledge repositories. This paper suggests that KM academic programs should regularly review their curricula to incorporate new trends and competencies required by the KM job market.
1. Introduction
Organizations need well-educated and competent knowledge professionals for successfully implementing their knowledge management (KM) initiatives and strategies. Inadvertently, it is causing an upsurge in demand for knowledge professionals possessing a desired set of knowledge, skills and attitudes. As knowledge management is an emerging discipline, currently no standard and widely accepted competency framework for KM professionals is available (Luthra, 2008). However, KM academic programs have been trying to design such curricula which can provide a wide range of desired competencies to their graduates. Some KM professional associations, such as Information and Knowledge Management Society (iKMS), have proposed a competency framework for knowledge professionals (iKMS, 2008). Based on two web surveys, Hazeri, Sarrafzadeh and Martin (2007) reported that communication and networking skills were the most desired competencies for information and knowledge professionals, closely followed by teamwork skills, creative thinking skills, decision-making skills, and document management skills.
Gutsche (2009) argued that across industries, competencies provide a foundation for building coherent efforts to improve knowledge, skills and attitudes of employees. Recently, WebJunction (http://www.webjunction.org/1) with help from OCLC (http://www.oclc.org/asiapacific/en/ global/default.htm) have compiled a competency index for library and information professionals. In this index competencies are presented in three broad categories of library and information management, information technology, and personal/interpersonal competencies.
Due to multi-disciplinarily nature and diversity in knowledge management activities, recruitment of KM professionals with an appropriate set of competencies is becoming a challenge for employers. They use a variety of techniques such as job application forms, curricula vitae, individual and panel interviews, psychometric testing, assessment centres, motivation testing, job trials, graphology, job-specific aptitude tests, group-based activities and references for selecting suitable individuals (El-Kot and Leat, 2008). Each of these methods tries to measure different aspects of applicants to ensure that the selected individuals possess appropriate qualifications, personality traits, and professional competencies. That is why, nowadays the competency-based approach to recruitment is considered crucial in achieving organizational excellence (Hogg, 2008).
Various techniques, such as questionnaires, observations, case studies, interviews, job analysis, and competency profiling can be used to understand the needs of job market. The content analysis of job advertisements is considered part of the competency profiling technique and has been used by many studies. Majid and Bee (2003) noted that job advertisements can be used to identify gaps between knowledge and skills provided by academic programs and the competencies sought by potential employers. Thompson, Martens & Hawamdeh (2008) studied the roles and responsibilities of knowledge management professionals outlined by hiring organizations through content analysis of their job advertisements. The data was collected from 1200 job postings containing information about the recruiting organizations, the location of position, the main requirements and skills desired in the applicant, the qualifications needed, and the offered salary. The content analysis of the job postings were used to identify major areas and trends in the information and knowledge profession.
Kennan, et al. (2007) used job advertisements to compare market expectations of information professionals in Australia and the USA. They found a higher emphasis on behavioural and interpersonal skills in both countries. Promis (2008) used job advertisements to study soft skills sought by library and information employers and concluded that creative thinking, critical and analytical thinking, data manipulation skills and decision-making skills were required by all levels of professionals. Ferguson, Hider, and Lloyd (2008) analyzed KM job advertisements and found some overlap between competencies required by KM and Library and Information Studies (LIS) employers.
Several recent studies have used online job portals for profiling competencies sought by employers from different industries. Online job advertisements are becoming popular as many employers feel advertising through such portals is more effective, economical, and less time consuming, with the additional advantage of reaching out to a higher number of potential applicants. This approach was proven effective for Dell which recruited 50 per cent of its employees through online applications (Ismail, 2008). The popularity of online job portals can be seen from a substantial increase in the number of visitors to these websites (Pathak, 2005). As a result, job portals are becoming more efficient, using sophisticated recruitment systems.
As it is obvious from the above discussion that knowledge management is an emerging discipline, it is desirable to identify a standard competency set for KM professionals. Different methods can be used to identify competencies sought by employers and content analysis of job advertisements is one of the reliable techniques for this purpose. Although this method has been widely used in other disciplines, it is not extensively used in knowledge management sector. The purpose of this study was to identify competencies sought by employers through analyzing KM job advertisements, appearing in different job websites. The findings of this study will help understand demands of the KM job market and academic programs can utilize this knowledge to reorient their curricula for meeting the needs of KM employers.
2. Method
For this study job advertisements appearing in different online job websites were identified, collected and analyzed. As knowledge management is a multi-disciplinary domain, its professionals are expected to performance a wide range of tasks. Certain common tasks undertaken in many organizations, such as developing organizational repositories, the Internet applications and technologies, content management, infra-structure development and maintenance, and human resource management might be performed by other individuals not directly involved in knowledge management activities. It was, therefore, decided to only include those English language advertisements that exclusively deal with knowledge management operations. The criterion used for the selection of online advertisements was that either the word ‘knowledge management’ should appear in the job title or at least one of the job descriptions should mention it. In addition, those job advertisements which listed ‘knowledge management’ as one of the desired qualifications were also included in this analysis. In total, 110 job advertisements from China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, were retrieved from 20 job portals (Table 1). The data was collected during the first half of the year 2008.
Table 1. List of Online Job Portals (N=110)
Job Portal No. of Advertisements %
Naukri.com 31 28.2%
JobStreet.com 26 23.6%
51Job.com 8 7.3%
Recruit.net 7 6.4%
Monster.com 6 5.5%
ChinaHR.com 5 4.6%
JobsDB.com 4 3.6%
ZhaoPin.com 4 3.6%
JobsAhead.com 3 2.7%
FundooDataJobs.com 2 1.8%
JobsViewer.com 2 1.8%
KMTalk.net 2 1.8%
Other job portals 10 9.1%
Data cleaning was considered desirable as some job advertisements appeared on multiple job portals or advertised through independent job recruitment agencies which may hide the identity of the advertising company. Advertisements with similar job titles, job descriptions, qualifications and work experiences were identified and carefully examined to remove duplication. Job advertisements with very brief job descriptions were removed as it was difficult to determine their suitability for this analysis.
The collected job advertisements were analysed to derive a list of required competencies as well as other job requirements. The collected data was grouped under four major categories: Core KM processes – 22 competencies were identified related to certain specific KM operations and processes; ICT applications and infrastructure – 21 ICT related competencies were identified; Personality traits - 65 qualities related to behaviour, attitude and personality traits were collected; and finally Qualification – academic and professional qualifications mentioned in job advertisements.
3. Findings
3.1 Job Advertisements from Different Countries
It was found that India had the highest number of job advertisements posted on online job portals compared to rest of the countries in Asia (Table 2). Since the job advertisements were extracted from those online job portals which only supported the English language, this could be one of the reasons why China, Malaysia and Hong Kong - which have a fairly vibrant knowledge management sectors - did not appear to post many knowledge management jobs. These countries might have posted more advertisements in non-English job portals or preferred advertising in local newspapers and magazines.
Table 2: Job Advertisements by Country
Country No. of Jobs %
India 46 41.8
Singapore 22 20.0
China 16 14.6
Malaysia 12 10.9
Hong Kong 9 8.2
Philippines 5 4.5
Total 110 100
3.2 Number of Positions by Job Level
The collected job advertisements, based on the length of required work expereince, were grouped under entry-, middle- and senior-level positions. Jobs requiring up to two years’ of work experience were categorized as entry-level jobs, jobs requiring 2 to 5 years’ of experience as middle-level positions while advertisements asking for more than 5 years’ of experience were categorized as senior-level positions. Many of the entry-level positions, using different job titles, were lumped together under the title Executive or Knowledge Officer. Moreover, in order to avoid redundancy, the word knowledge management was removed from all job titles. For example, the job title ‘Manager (Knowledge Management)’ was replaced with ‘Manager’.
It was found that one-half of the advertised jobs were for entry-level positions (Table 3). Forty-one (37.3%) of the advertisements were for middle-level positions while only 14 (12.7%) were for senior-level knowledge management positions.
Table 3: Breakdown of Advertisements by Job Positions
Job Level Job Titles No. of Jobs %
Entry-level Positions Executive/ Knowledge Officer 50 45.5%
Assistant Manager 5 4.5%
Middle-level Positions Manager 24 21.8%
Assistant Director 8 7.3%
Senior Manager 8 7.3%
Assistant Vice President 1 0.9%
Senior-level Positions Head 5 4.5%
Chief 2 1.8%
Director 2 1.8%
General Manager 1 0.9%
Team Leader 3 2.7%
Vice President 1 0.9%
Further data analysis revealed that out of 46 advertisements from India, 63.1% were for the entry-level jobs, 23.9% for middle-level and 13% for senior-level positions (Table 4). A majority (54.6%) of the KM job advertisements from Singapore was for middle-level positions, followed by entry-level positions (40.9%). A somewhat similar pattern was observed for China and Hong Kong where a majority of the KM advertisements was for middle- and entry-level positions. It was, however, interesting to note that one-third of the advertisements from Malaysia and 60% from the Philippines were for senior-level positions.
Table 4: Level of KM Job Advertisements form Different Countries
Job Level
India Singapore China Malaysia Hong Kong Philippines
Entry level 29
(63.1%) 9
(40.9%) 5
(31.3%) 6
(50.0%) 4
(44.4%) 2
(40.0%)
Middle level 11
(23.9%) 12
(54.6%) 11
(68.7%) 2
(16.7%) 5
(55.6%) -
Senior level 6
(13.0% 1
(4.5%) - 4
(33.3%) - 3
(60.0%)
Total 46
(100%) 22
(100%) 16
(100%) 12
(100%) 9
(100%) 5
(100%)
3.3 Competencies Sought by Employers
For the purpose of data analysis, the competencies desired by KM employers were divided into three major categories: KM core processes, KM technologies, and personality-related competencies. The KM core processes included those competencies that were required for identifying, capturing, organizing, disseminating and using knowledge in an organization. The technology competencies included those KM technologies and tools that could help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of KM operations and processes. Finally, the personality competencies included personality-related skills, attitudes, traits, and other characteristics of potential KM professionals.
3.3.1 KM Core Processes Competencies
Competencies related to KM core processes were edited and categorized under 22 broad categories, with some degree of overlap. The top five competencies in this group (Table 5) were knowledge transfer, dissemination and sharing (40.9% advertisements); knowledge creation, sourcing and discovery (37.3%); knowledge organization and classification (25.5%); knowledge access and retrieval (23.6%); and knowledge capturing and retention (21.8%). The most frequently mentioned KM core competency from India, Hong Kong and China was knowledge transfer, dissemination and sharing. The competency related to knowledge creation, sourcing and discovery was most frequently sought by employers from Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. The ability to champion, drive and manage knowledge management initiatives was indicated by a majority of advertisements from the Philippines.
Table 5: Top Five Competencies Related to KM Core Processes
(Multiple responses)
Rank Competency
Understanding of: No. of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 Knowledge transfer, dissemination and sharing 45 (40.9%)
2 Knowledge creation, sourcing and discovery 41 (37.3%)
3 Knowledge organization and classification, including metadata and taxonomies 28 (25.5%)
4 Knowledge access and retrieval 26 (23.6%)
5 Knowledge capturing and retention (i.e. codification) 24 (21.8%)
It was worth noting that certain other important KM competencies such as understanding of Return-on-Investment (ROI), knowledge measurement, and knowledge audit were not mentioned by many advertisements.
3.3.2 KM Technologies Competencies
The KM technologies related competencies were also edited and categorized under 21 broad categories. The top ICT related competencies (Table 6) included: the knowledge of content and document management systems (25.5%), and knowledge portal and knowledge flow systems (18.2%). The next top three technology-related competencies, mentioned by 13.6% of the advertisements each, were development and/or maintenance of KM infrastructure and applications; development and/or maintenance of knowledge-bases and KM repositories; and the knowledge of Microsoft Office application suite.
Table 6: Top Five KM Technologies Related Competencies
(Multiple responses)
Rank Competency
Knowledge of: No. of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 Content and document management systems 28 (25.5%)
2 Knowledge portal and knowledge flow systems 20 (18.2%)
3 Development and/ or maintenance of KM infrastructure and applications 15 (13.6%)
4 Knowledge-base and KM repositories 15 (13.6%)
5 Microsoft Office application suite 15 (13.6%)
3.3.2 Personality-related Competencies
A big diversity was observed for personality-related competencies. Altogether 65 such competencies were sought by KM employers. These competencies were edited and grouped under their broader categories. Among the top five personality-related competencies were (Table 7): ability to communicate effectively (63.9%); analytical and decision-making ability (47.2%); writing skills (38.0%); leadership skills (30.6%); and instructional skills (27.8%).
Table 7: Top Five Personality Related Competencies
(Multiple responses)
Rank Competency
Percentage of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 Ability to communicate effectively 63.9%
2 Analytical and decision-making ability 47.2%
3 Effective writing skills 38.0%
4 Leadership skills 30.6%
5 Training and presentation skills 27.8%
3.4 Qualifications Sought by Employers
Once again a considerable diversity was observed in the type of qualifications sought by knowledge management employers. As shown in Table 8, a general bachelor’s degree was the most frequently sought after qualification (38.0% advertisements). A bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in computing was the next most frequently required qualification (26.9% advertisements), while a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in information management was the third most frequently mentioned qualification (14.8%).
Altogether 95 (86.4%) advertisements asked for a bachelor’s degree, 41 (37.3%) a master’s degree, 11 (10.0%) a diploma or a higher diploma, and 5 (4.5%) of the job advertisements asked for a professional certificate in knowledge management.
Table 8: Top Five Qualification Sought by Employers
(Multiple responses)
Rank Qualification Percentage of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 General bachelor’s degree 38.0%
2 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in computing 26.9%
3 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in information management 14.8%
4 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in business and commerce 11.1%
5 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in library 9.3%
Some variations were also observed for the types of quantifications preferred by employers from different countries. Over two-thirds of the advertisements from India asked for a general degree, whereas 50% of the advertisements from Singapore and China preferred a degree in computing. Similarly, 60% of the job advertisements from the Philippines asked for a degree in business and commerce. It was, however, interesting to note that only job advertisements from Singapore (32% advertisements), Malaysia (25%) and Hong Kong (22%) asked for qualifications in knowledge management.
4. Conclusion
Knowledge management is still an evolving discipline and efforts are being made to understand the types of competencies required by its professionals. In recent years many academic programs have emerged, preparing KM professionals at different levels. However, gap between the academic curricula and the skill-set required by employers has always been one of the hot topics of discussion. One way to overcome this problem is to understand KM job market as well as the types of competencies sought by potential employers. The KM academic programs can use this knowledge to re-align their curricula to effectively meet expectations of the job market.
A noteworthy pattern observed in this study was that only a few advertisements asked for Knowledge management qualifications. One possible reason could be that in some of the surveyed countries the Knowledge Management discipline is still in its infancy and qualified KM professionals are not readily available. Another possible explanation could be that as knowledge management is a multi-disciplinary subject, many employers might be looking for those individuals who possess more generic qualifications. Nevertheless, the KM academic programs need to closely watch developments in this discipline and continue evolving their curricula.
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Shaheen Majid
School of Communication & Information,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
asmajid@ntu.edu.sg
Rianto Mulia
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
riantomulia@gmail.com
Content analysis of job advertisements is considered a reliable method for determining the demands of job market. The aim of this study was to identify competencies required by knowledge management (KM) employers through analyzing job advertisements appeared in selected job portals. The study used 110 English language job advertisements from China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. It was found that a majority of the advertisements did not ask for knowledge management qualifications rather a general degree or a qualification in computing, business or library and information studies was preferred. It was also noted that almost all job advertisements put more emphasis on personality traits than other competencies, namely KM core processes, KM technologies, and human capital management. The highly sought after personality-related competencies were communication skills, analytical thinking skills, and leadership skills. The top three competencies related to KM core processes were knowledge transfer and sharing, knowledge discovery and acquisition, and knowledge organization. The top three IT and infrastructure related competencies were familiarity with content management systems, knowledge portals, and development and maintenance of knowledge repositories. This paper suggests that KM academic programs should regularly review their curricula to incorporate new trends and competencies required by the KM job market.
1. Introduction
Organizations need well-educated and competent knowledge professionals for successfully implementing their knowledge management (KM) initiatives and strategies. Inadvertently, it is causing an upsurge in demand for knowledge professionals possessing a desired set of knowledge, skills and attitudes. As knowledge management is an emerging discipline, currently no standard and widely accepted competency framework for KM professionals is available (Luthra, 2008). However, KM academic programs have been trying to design such curricula which can provide a wide range of desired competencies to their graduates. Some KM professional associations, such as Information and Knowledge Management Society (iKMS), have proposed a competency framework for knowledge professionals (iKMS, 2008). Based on two web surveys, Hazeri, Sarrafzadeh and Martin (2007) reported that communication and networking skills were the most desired competencies for information and knowledge professionals, closely followed by teamwork skills, creative thinking skills, decision-making skills, and document management skills.
Gutsche (2009) argued that across industries, competencies provide a foundation for building coherent efforts to improve knowledge, skills and attitudes of employees. Recently, WebJunction (http://www.webjunction.org/1) with help from OCLC (http://www.oclc.org/asiapacific/en/ global/default.htm) have compiled a competency index for library and information professionals. In this index competencies are presented in three broad categories of library and information management, information technology, and personal/interpersonal competencies.
Due to multi-disciplinarily nature and diversity in knowledge management activities, recruitment of KM professionals with an appropriate set of competencies is becoming a challenge for employers. They use a variety of techniques such as job application forms, curricula vitae, individual and panel interviews, psychometric testing, assessment centres, motivation testing, job trials, graphology, job-specific aptitude tests, group-based activities and references for selecting suitable individuals (El-Kot and Leat, 2008). Each of these methods tries to measure different aspects of applicants to ensure that the selected individuals possess appropriate qualifications, personality traits, and professional competencies. That is why, nowadays the competency-based approach to recruitment is considered crucial in achieving organizational excellence (Hogg, 2008).
Various techniques, such as questionnaires, observations, case studies, interviews, job analysis, and competency profiling can be used to understand the needs of job market. The content analysis of job advertisements is considered part of the competency profiling technique and has been used by many studies. Majid and Bee (2003) noted that job advertisements can be used to identify gaps between knowledge and skills provided by academic programs and the competencies sought by potential employers. Thompson, Martens & Hawamdeh (2008) studied the roles and responsibilities of knowledge management professionals outlined by hiring organizations through content analysis of their job advertisements. The data was collected from 1200 job postings containing information about the recruiting organizations, the location of position, the main requirements and skills desired in the applicant, the qualifications needed, and the offered salary. The content analysis of the job postings were used to identify major areas and trends in the information and knowledge profession.
Kennan, et al. (2007) used job advertisements to compare market expectations of information professionals in Australia and the USA. They found a higher emphasis on behavioural and interpersonal skills in both countries. Promis (2008) used job advertisements to study soft skills sought by library and information employers and concluded that creative thinking, critical and analytical thinking, data manipulation skills and decision-making skills were required by all levels of professionals. Ferguson, Hider, and Lloyd (2008) analyzed KM job advertisements and found some overlap between competencies required by KM and Library and Information Studies (LIS) employers.
Several recent studies have used online job portals for profiling competencies sought by employers from different industries. Online job advertisements are becoming popular as many employers feel advertising through such portals is more effective, economical, and less time consuming, with the additional advantage of reaching out to a higher number of potential applicants. This approach was proven effective for Dell which recruited 50 per cent of its employees through online applications (Ismail, 2008). The popularity of online job portals can be seen from a substantial increase in the number of visitors to these websites (Pathak, 2005). As a result, job portals are becoming more efficient, using sophisticated recruitment systems.
As it is obvious from the above discussion that knowledge management is an emerging discipline, it is desirable to identify a standard competency set for KM professionals. Different methods can be used to identify competencies sought by employers and content analysis of job advertisements is one of the reliable techniques for this purpose. Although this method has been widely used in other disciplines, it is not extensively used in knowledge management sector. The purpose of this study was to identify competencies sought by employers through analyzing KM job advertisements, appearing in different job websites. The findings of this study will help understand demands of the KM job market and academic programs can utilize this knowledge to reorient their curricula for meeting the needs of KM employers.
2. Method
For this study job advertisements appearing in different online job websites were identified, collected and analyzed. As knowledge management is a multi-disciplinary domain, its professionals are expected to performance a wide range of tasks. Certain common tasks undertaken in many organizations, such as developing organizational repositories, the Internet applications and technologies, content management, infra-structure development and maintenance, and human resource management might be performed by other individuals not directly involved in knowledge management activities. It was, therefore, decided to only include those English language advertisements that exclusively deal with knowledge management operations. The criterion used for the selection of online advertisements was that either the word ‘knowledge management’ should appear in the job title or at least one of the job descriptions should mention it. In addition, those job advertisements which listed ‘knowledge management’ as one of the desired qualifications were also included in this analysis. In total, 110 job advertisements from China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, were retrieved from 20 job portals (Table 1). The data was collected during the first half of the year 2008.
Table 1. List of Online Job Portals (N=110)
Job Portal No. of Advertisements %
Naukri.com 31 28.2%
JobStreet.com 26 23.6%
51Job.com 8 7.3%
Recruit.net 7 6.4%
Monster.com 6 5.5%
ChinaHR.com 5 4.6%
JobsDB.com 4 3.6%
ZhaoPin.com 4 3.6%
JobsAhead.com 3 2.7%
FundooDataJobs.com 2 1.8%
JobsViewer.com 2 1.8%
KMTalk.net 2 1.8%
Other job portals 10 9.1%
Data cleaning was considered desirable as some job advertisements appeared on multiple job portals or advertised through independent job recruitment agencies which may hide the identity of the advertising company. Advertisements with similar job titles, job descriptions, qualifications and work experiences were identified and carefully examined to remove duplication. Job advertisements with very brief job descriptions were removed as it was difficult to determine their suitability for this analysis.
The collected job advertisements were analysed to derive a list of required competencies as well as other job requirements. The collected data was grouped under four major categories: Core KM processes – 22 competencies were identified related to certain specific KM operations and processes; ICT applications and infrastructure – 21 ICT related competencies were identified; Personality traits - 65 qualities related to behaviour, attitude and personality traits were collected; and finally Qualification – academic and professional qualifications mentioned in job advertisements.
3. Findings
3.1 Job Advertisements from Different Countries
It was found that India had the highest number of job advertisements posted on online job portals compared to rest of the countries in Asia (Table 2). Since the job advertisements were extracted from those online job portals which only supported the English language, this could be one of the reasons why China, Malaysia and Hong Kong - which have a fairly vibrant knowledge management sectors - did not appear to post many knowledge management jobs. These countries might have posted more advertisements in non-English job portals or preferred advertising in local newspapers and magazines.
Table 2: Job Advertisements by Country
Country No. of Jobs %
India 46 41.8
Singapore 22 20.0
China 16 14.6
Malaysia 12 10.9
Hong Kong 9 8.2
Philippines 5 4.5
Total 110 100
3.2 Number of Positions by Job Level
The collected job advertisements, based on the length of required work expereince, were grouped under entry-, middle- and senior-level positions. Jobs requiring up to two years’ of work experience were categorized as entry-level jobs, jobs requiring 2 to 5 years’ of experience as middle-level positions while advertisements asking for more than 5 years’ of experience were categorized as senior-level positions. Many of the entry-level positions, using different job titles, were lumped together under the title Executive or Knowledge Officer. Moreover, in order to avoid redundancy, the word knowledge management was removed from all job titles. For example, the job title ‘Manager (Knowledge Management)’ was replaced with ‘Manager’.
It was found that one-half of the advertised jobs were for entry-level positions (Table 3). Forty-one (37.3%) of the advertisements were for middle-level positions while only 14 (12.7%) were for senior-level knowledge management positions.
Table 3: Breakdown of Advertisements by Job Positions
Job Level Job Titles No. of Jobs %
Entry-level Positions Executive/ Knowledge Officer 50 45.5%
Assistant Manager 5 4.5%
Middle-level Positions Manager 24 21.8%
Assistant Director 8 7.3%
Senior Manager 8 7.3%
Assistant Vice President 1 0.9%
Senior-level Positions Head 5 4.5%
Chief 2 1.8%
Director 2 1.8%
General Manager 1 0.9%
Team Leader 3 2.7%
Vice President 1 0.9%
Further data analysis revealed that out of 46 advertisements from India, 63.1% were for the entry-level jobs, 23.9% for middle-level and 13% for senior-level positions (Table 4). A majority (54.6%) of the KM job advertisements from Singapore was for middle-level positions, followed by entry-level positions (40.9%). A somewhat similar pattern was observed for China and Hong Kong where a majority of the KM advertisements was for middle- and entry-level positions. It was, however, interesting to note that one-third of the advertisements from Malaysia and 60% from the Philippines were for senior-level positions.
Table 4: Level of KM Job Advertisements form Different Countries
Job Level
India Singapore China Malaysia Hong Kong Philippines
Entry level 29
(63.1%) 9
(40.9%) 5
(31.3%) 6
(50.0%) 4
(44.4%) 2
(40.0%)
Middle level 11
(23.9%) 12
(54.6%) 11
(68.7%) 2
(16.7%) 5
(55.6%) -
Senior level 6
(13.0% 1
(4.5%) - 4
(33.3%) - 3
(60.0%)
Total 46
(100%) 22
(100%) 16
(100%) 12
(100%) 9
(100%) 5
(100%)
3.3 Competencies Sought by Employers
For the purpose of data analysis, the competencies desired by KM employers were divided into three major categories: KM core processes, KM technologies, and personality-related competencies. The KM core processes included those competencies that were required for identifying, capturing, organizing, disseminating and using knowledge in an organization. The technology competencies included those KM technologies and tools that could help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of KM operations and processes. Finally, the personality competencies included personality-related skills, attitudes, traits, and other characteristics of potential KM professionals.
3.3.1 KM Core Processes Competencies
Competencies related to KM core processes were edited and categorized under 22 broad categories, with some degree of overlap. The top five competencies in this group (Table 5) were knowledge transfer, dissemination and sharing (40.9% advertisements); knowledge creation, sourcing and discovery (37.3%); knowledge organization and classification (25.5%); knowledge access and retrieval (23.6%); and knowledge capturing and retention (21.8%). The most frequently mentioned KM core competency from India, Hong Kong and China was knowledge transfer, dissemination and sharing. The competency related to knowledge creation, sourcing and discovery was most frequently sought by employers from Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. The ability to champion, drive and manage knowledge management initiatives was indicated by a majority of advertisements from the Philippines.
Table 5: Top Five Competencies Related to KM Core Processes
(Multiple responses)
Rank Competency
Understanding of: No. of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 Knowledge transfer, dissemination and sharing 45 (40.9%)
2 Knowledge creation, sourcing and discovery 41 (37.3%)
3 Knowledge organization and classification, including metadata and taxonomies 28 (25.5%)
4 Knowledge access and retrieval 26 (23.6%)
5 Knowledge capturing and retention (i.e. codification) 24 (21.8%)
It was worth noting that certain other important KM competencies such as understanding of Return-on-Investment (ROI), knowledge measurement, and knowledge audit were not mentioned by many advertisements.
3.3.2 KM Technologies Competencies
The KM technologies related competencies were also edited and categorized under 21 broad categories. The top ICT related competencies (Table 6) included: the knowledge of content and document management systems (25.5%), and knowledge portal and knowledge flow systems (18.2%). The next top three technology-related competencies, mentioned by 13.6% of the advertisements each, were development and/or maintenance of KM infrastructure and applications; development and/or maintenance of knowledge-bases and KM repositories; and the knowledge of Microsoft Office application suite.
Table 6: Top Five KM Technologies Related Competencies
(Multiple responses)
Rank Competency
Knowledge of: No. of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 Content and document management systems 28 (25.5%)
2 Knowledge portal and knowledge flow systems 20 (18.2%)
3 Development and/ or maintenance of KM infrastructure and applications 15 (13.6%)
4 Knowledge-base and KM repositories 15 (13.6%)
5 Microsoft Office application suite 15 (13.6%)
3.3.2 Personality-related Competencies
A big diversity was observed for personality-related competencies. Altogether 65 such competencies were sought by KM employers. These competencies were edited and grouped under their broader categories. Among the top five personality-related competencies were (Table 7): ability to communicate effectively (63.9%); analytical and decision-making ability (47.2%); writing skills (38.0%); leadership skills (30.6%); and instructional skills (27.8%).
Table 7: Top Five Personality Related Competencies
(Multiple responses)
Rank Competency
Percentage of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 Ability to communicate effectively 63.9%
2 Analytical and decision-making ability 47.2%
3 Effective writing skills 38.0%
4 Leadership skills 30.6%
5 Training and presentation skills 27.8%
3.4 Qualifications Sought by Employers
Once again a considerable diversity was observed in the type of qualifications sought by knowledge management employers. As shown in Table 8, a general bachelor’s degree was the most frequently sought after qualification (38.0% advertisements). A bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in computing was the next most frequently required qualification (26.9% advertisements), while a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in information management was the third most frequently mentioned qualification (14.8%).
Altogether 95 (86.4%) advertisements asked for a bachelor’s degree, 41 (37.3%) a master’s degree, 11 (10.0%) a diploma or a higher diploma, and 5 (4.5%) of the job advertisements asked for a professional certificate in knowledge management.
Table 8: Top Five Qualification Sought by Employers
(Multiple responses)
Rank Qualification Percentage of Advertisements
(N=110)
1 General bachelor’s degree 38.0%
2 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in computing 26.9%
3 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in information management 14.8%
4 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in business and commerce 11.1%
5 Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in library 9.3%
Some variations were also observed for the types of quantifications preferred by employers from different countries. Over two-thirds of the advertisements from India asked for a general degree, whereas 50% of the advertisements from Singapore and China preferred a degree in computing. Similarly, 60% of the job advertisements from the Philippines asked for a degree in business and commerce. It was, however, interesting to note that only job advertisements from Singapore (32% advertisements), Malaysia (25%) and Hong Kong (22%) asked for qualifications in knowledge management.
4. Conclusion
Knowledge management is still an evolving discipline and efforts are being made to understand the types of competencies required by its professionals. In recent years many academic programs have emerged, preparing KM professionals at different levels. However, gap between the academic curricula and the skill-set required by employers has always been one of the hot topics of discussion. One way to overcome this problem is to understand KM job market as well as the types of competencies sought by potential employers. The KM academic programs can use this knowledge to re-align their curricula to effectively meet expectations of the job market.
A noteworthy pattern observed in this study was that only a few advertisements asked for Knowledge management qualifications. One possible reason could be that in some of the surveyed countries the Knowledge Management discipline is still in its infancy and qualified KM professionals are not readily available. Another possible explanation could be that as knowledge management is a multi-disciplinary subject, many employers might be looking for those individuals who possess more generic qualifications. Nevertheless, the KM academic programs need to closely watch developments in this discipline and continue evolving their curricula.
References
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PLANNING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
PLANNING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN A NETWORKED WORLD
JAN AIDEMARK
The School of Mathematics and Systems Engineering, Växjö University
Unviersitetsplatsen 6, 352 95, Växjö, Sweden
E-mail: jan.aidemark@vxu.se
The paper presents a strategic planning approach for knowledge management systems. This research approaches the problem of failing KMS’s by focusing on the planning phase. The result can be summarized as a set of frameworks for the strategic planning of knowledge management systems, i.e. information systems for the support of organizational knowledge processes. The approach is built on a broad set of theory, which has been used to discuss issues in KM/KMS from very broad perspectives. We approach the problem area from a strategic point of view, assuming that the problems of the area are based on a socio-technical dimension and that a multiple-paradigm approach is necessary for dealing with the problems of the various KM areas.
1. Introduction
The paper presents a strategic planning approach for knowledge management systems. There is an uncertainty in the academic study of KM about how to understand what it really is about (Spender and Scherer, 2007). Spender and Scherer talk about foundations and epistemologies, i.e. that there are several ways of understanding KM. This research approaches the problem of failing KM systems by focusing on the planning phase. We argue that it is in the planning phase, i.e. the process of generating ideas of information systems to develop, that the problems starts. A general assumption of the research is that different planning frameworks are needed when different organizational processes and activities are targeted. The frameworks, consisting of sets of models and methods, of this current research are directed towards the early stages of a KM systems planning process.
The goal is the support of a problem exploration phase that directs the further development process. This process is often identified as a strategic aspect of information systems planning (Lederer and Sethi, 1988). In focus are the problems of how to plan the integrated efforts to support knowledge creation and distribution processes in an organization.
The intended outcome of the planning process is a portfolio of support systems and other initiatives or activities. A KMS portfolio is a structured set of information systems that could be developed for a planning unit (organization /department /work group/work process). A central part of the strategic planning process is the generation of ideas, in this case suggestions for possible systems, the goal being to arrive at a more effective and efficient handling of the knowledge-related work of that unit by suggesting the right set of systems. The proposed approach aims at tackling the problem of suggesting a set of knowledge management systems for a particular organizational process or activity. The aim is to suggest knowledge management systems that reflect the complexity of the organizational situation, systems between which the internal relationship creates a balanced support in the particular organizational situation at hand.
2. Theoretical Framework of the Approach
Figure 1 provides an overview of the approach, displaying the five frameworks, their internal perspectives, and the central activity of balancing a KMS portfolio. The approach is built on three levels of analysis. First, analyses on a perspectives level within each of the frameworks (for example, cognitive / social or critical in Frame 1, knowledge processes, fig. 1). Analysis on this level is the core part of the approach, asking questions or raising issues from each perspective (or concept of the framework) that might provide ideas about the needs of support systems and how the use of that system might affect the organization. On the next level, the frameworks level, we consolidate the findings of KMS on the perspectives levels. In this process a better and deeper understanding of needs and consequences is developed.
The frameworks draw on theories from a diverse set of academic fields. Short overviews are given here, but for the full picture refer back to the original authors.
Framework 1: Knowledge process: Knowledge processes are viewed from three perspectives, a cognitive (Piaget, 2001), a social (Berger and Luckmann, 1966), and a critical (Foucault, 1979) perspective (c.f. Aidemark 2003, for argument around the selection of these authors as sources for the three perspectives). All three are continuous, human perception taking place within a social discourse that is controlled by a set of powers. Knowledge is what we see, what we talk about and it is also a way of limiting what we may think of. An information system directly contributes to the cognitive perspective, but operates in a field of social interactions and power struggles.
Framework 2: Flexibility approach to work process support: This perspective investigates the usefulness of the concept of strategic flexibility (Evans, 1991) for the planning of information systems as support for knowledge work. Flexibility is an ability that organizations in fast moving environments are in great need of. The concept of strategic flexibility describes a set of manoeuvres that an organization should be able to perform in order to deal with changes and emerging developments. The strategic flexibility concept has been used for planning information systems (Eardley et al., 1997) and understanding the role of information systems for organizational flexibility (Levy and Powell, 1998).
Framework 3: Strategic perspectives, linking strategy to KM support systems. The four perspectives of the balanced scorecard model are used, including economy, customers, internal processes and earning and growth (Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1996). A balanced scorecard provides top managers with a fast but comprehensive view of critical business factors, expressed in terms of objectives, measures and targets. Traditionally, performance measurement systems have been concerned with financial and operational objectives, often with emphasis towards one of the categories. Reflecting recent management trends of customer orientation, quality, organizational learning and innovation, the balanced scorecard approach is suggested as a basis for the design of more effective performance measurement systems. Framework 4: Organizational contexts, ie. political, rational, garbage can and programme (March and Olsen, 1976).
In this context, the knowledge focus is on gathering experience as openly as possible. In a political environment, decisions are made in order to reach the goals of the group or of the individual decision-maker. The central knowledge issue is to understand one’s own values and the values of others. The knowledge needed here is about under-standing why and for whom. In a rational environment, the aim is to make a rational choice among possible solutions to a problem. This implies gathering information, forming alternatives and making a choice among the alternatives that satisfy the preferences in the best way. The effort is put into the task of proving and refining the current paradigm. This means to put knowledge to work, which includes externalizing the knowledge and making it useful in the decision-making process. Creativity is difficult in this environment. In a program environment, decisions are made according to clearly stated rules. The explicit knowledge of solutions will be formed into pro-grams and then given to people in the organization in the form of instructions or rules. These will be used to make organizational processes more effective
Framework 5: A networked world. Castells (1996), knowledge acting on knowledge is the source of productivity in a networked world, and a number of aspects can be concluded:
1. Information systems must be understood in the context of culture and identities. The use of symbol-manipulating machines change the ways of symbolic interactions between people that produce cultures and identities.
2. A network perspective on how enterprises organize production, using information technology, is needed. This leads to flexible production and globalized markets; with changes in both where and by whom products are produced and consumed. The network logic is not new per se, but developments in information technology lead the way for a change towards a society where the network logic dominates.
3. Knowledge is the source of productivity and by extension, knowledge management is becoming the key activity for organizations.
4. There is no absolute technological determinism, but society cannot be understood without its technology. The outcome of the use of information technology depends on the choices made by owners, planners, developers and users. However, society does not determine its technologies in an absolute sense either, because there is a dialectic interaction between the two, technology embodying society and society using technology.
The outcome of these processes is a balanced set of KMS’s (represented by the central circle in Fig. 1), balanced in the meaning that the interactions of the different types of KMS are investigated (which made sense in their respective perspectives) as well as what the joint outcome might be.
3. A Process View of the Approach
The approach can be illustrated with a process model (fig. 2). The process model of an organization is based on a simple and generic organization. In figure 2 the different organizational levels of analysis are laid out and how they connect to the frameworks. Figure 2 can be seen as a process description for the work with the approach, in a generic case, moving from the details and then towards the more general conditions of the situation. From the particular KM process, (Step 1) on to the work process (Step 2) that it supports, and then to the context (Step 3) in which the work group resides. Then moving
on to the strategic step (Step 4) and then to considering the problem on a more general and organizational level, including the network dimension (Step 5). Other ways of configuring a working method are of course possible. A more top-down-inspired approach might begin with Step five, understanding the broader context using Frame 5, then a strategic analysis (Framework 4), then looking at the particular problems using Frames 1 and 2, and, finally, checking the feasibility of the suggested KMS, up to this point using the context/culture Frame 3.
4. Working with the Approach: Interviews and Portfolios
As with any planning approach there are some basic outlines, including creating ideas about the future, making decisions, and doing this in a structured way. An approach should support the process of gathering information about possible information systems and providing tools for handling and balancing these suggestions in an effort of suggesting a consistent set of information systems for further development.
As background a generic definition of planning approach, can be looked at. The concept of a “system approach” developed for some specific purpose was discussed as a: “… way of going about tackling a problem. ” (Checkland, 1981, p. 5) while using a: “… broad view, which tries to take all aspects into account, which concentrates on interactions between the different parts of the problem” (Checkland, 1981, p. 5).
4.1. Gathering Knowledge and Formulating Suggestions
One of the difficulties with such an approach is making large quantities of theories into some kind of planning support that actually makes things easier. The goal is to make complexity manageable. At the same time, there is a need for letting contradicting ideas contribute to a multi-faceted whole. For all practical reasons the work, with the approach and its frameworks, in essence consists of deducing questions to be asked or issues to be raised with people in the organization. The basic set of issues could be summarized as in table 1.
Table 1 presents theoretical knowledge interests, and can be used as pathways into a situation in general. These questions/issues could, in interaction with an early insight into the situation, be “translated” to fit the problem situation at hand, making the investigation richer and more oriented towards organizational goals. The answers, in turn, should be understood in the context that they were asked, but should also be brought back to the theoretical field and understood there. An example of this is provided in table 2 (based on material, Aidemark, 2005, where a full case is to be found).
Furthermore, during the first encounter with the organization, an even more simplified questionnaire could be used. A short list of introductory questions that lead the way, but avoiding that the theoretical background takes too much control, hiding what might turn out to be important factors.
The practical application of these instruments can be broken down into a number of work steps. As a first step, perform initiating interviews with the central project people. The purpose is to get a first impression on how the approach works in practice, and more concretely to form a useful interview guide. Building on the lists presented above (table 2), a handful of open questions were put to the project leader (table 3).
The questions should work as doorways into the situation. The more detailed questionnaires, as shown above, could in the best case be used as a checklist to see if all aspects are covered during the following conversation. The reflexive conversation around these general perspectives is hoped to lead to an insight into the central issues of the problem situation. For each conversation, with the same person or other people, the list should be reworked using the full list and the background articles. The difficulty here is the sensitive balance between direction from the frameworks and a necessary openness to the current situation. There is always a possibility that theory hides what is important rather than puts the focus on it. Therefore, it is the diversity of the framework, rather then the details, that is the important feature of the planning approach and its planning frameworks.
5. Two perspectives on people/technology: work vs. managerial
The planning approach integrates people and technology dimensions of KMS. Also the dimension looks different depending on the perspective used, work or managerial. There are connections that become visible when comparing the items in the two tables (table 4 and 5). Issues that are raised by such an analysis include a number of problematic dimensions:
* Control vs. creativity. The portfolio has a leaning towards management activities like control and measuring. These efforts are probably necessary to obtain effectiveness from a KMS effort. However, this might hamper spontaneous problem-solving by creative staff. The initiative with the incentives could counterbalance this. Creativity might also be encouraged by the use of the best practice system, i.e. that an insight into previous solutions inspires to new and deeper practical knowledge. For all of these possible systems there is one central precondition, the motivating forces of learning and problem-solving must be well understood and the systems that are implemented must not interfere with these forces.
* Formal vs. informal. Here we find the contradiction between formalization of knowledge and informal knowledge. The formalization of knowledge, by using templates for knowledge elicitation is one approach. However, the informal aspects of knowledge creation are personal and individual and are not easily supported by any kind of system. The approach to this balance is rather to limit the impact and intrusiveness of the systems that are built.
* Strategic vs. operational. The strategic dimension is taken care of in the suggestion of a value creation model. By this approach we gain a better understanding of the overall impact of knowledge on the organization, providing facts of decision for the founding of these projects. However, we should also see this from a work practice point of view. This could imply investigating the workers’ view of these systems and knowledge management processes. This could include surveys, work-manager meetings or focus groups. The material from such KM-related activities could be supported by HRM-styled systems.
As soon as technical solutions (for example a best practice database) are provided, the systems become clearer and the IT aspect begins to dominate the field of vision for the planner. It is very crucial to keep the organization-people-technology triangle alive and working as long as possible, the KMS portfolio being one way of doing this.
6. Final Comments
As discussed in the introduction section and in several of the literature sections, many traditional planning models have problems in dealing with a complex and multi-faceted world. Information systems are motivated by the complexity of the world today. Our planning approach will direct the possibilities to deal with information systems and subsequently our daily activities.
Here we try to conclude a number of aspects on what seem to be the success factors that might characterize a viable planning approach.
1. Individual and organizational knowledge. The interconnection between the individual with a subjective and situated knowledge (e.g. personal knowledge, Polanyi, 1958) and the organizational use of knowledge as a key resource is a central theme in knowledge management. This raises the complexity of the planning situation and makes it necessary to be even more sensitive to the situation and the implications for the usefulness of information systems for the achievement of organizational goals. These connections are made in several places in the approach. On the higher level, this is reflected in the general portfolio, where an individual and an organizational dimension are included. This can also be found in the frameworks, for example, the “Knowledge process framework”. Suggestions about IS from a cognitive perspective are discussed in the context of IS that makes sense in the social constructivist view of knowledge.
2. Interaction of perspectives. The working mechanism of the approach is the interaction between perspectives. The idea is not to find the exactly right set of perspectives or frameworks. It is the connections between rather general and, for that matter, rather contrasting concepts that create the pluralism and breadth of the analysis.
3. A Singerian learning style (Churchman, 1971; Mason and Mitroff, 1973). This means a simplification of the perspectives rather than making them more complicated and specific. This is done in order to make the approach easier to work with and get the large lines of the picture to emerge more clearly. Critique against socio-technical approaches often points at the abundance of volumes of descriptive and ethnographic analysis. This problem is connected to research by Newkirk et al. (2003) stating that planning should be performed in the right amount; both too much and too little can lead to an unfavourable result.
4. Easy of use vs. complexity of the problem. Although the framework draws on a substantial body of theory, the “front end” material used by the analyst can be expressed in rather simple terms. The translating process is a central step in the planning process. However, the guidelines for doing this are harder to discern, since the planning situation must be the most influential factor, and for all practical purposes it must be an interactive, trial-and-error-styled process.
References
Aidemark, J. (2003) “Cognitive, Social and Critical Perspectives on Planning a Knowledge Support Portfolio”, Database and Expert Systems Applications, 2003, Proceedings of the 14th International Workshop, DEXA 2003, IEEE Computer Society.
Aidemark, J. (2005) ”Implementing Intranet for Social and Cognitive Knowledge Processes”, Int. J. Healthcare Technology Management, Vol. 6, Nos. 4/5/6, pp. 357–367.
Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality, Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday.
Castells, M. (1996) The Rise of the Network Society, Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Checkland, P. (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, John Wiley & Sons.
Churchman, C.W. (1971) The Design of Inquiring Systems, Basic Books Inc., New York.
Eardley, A., Avison, D. and Powell, P. (1997) “Developing Information Systems to Support Flexible Strategy”, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 55-77.
Evans, J.S. (1991) “Strategic Flexibility for High Technology Maneuvers: A Conceptual Framework”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 28, No. 1, January, pp. 69-89.
Kaplan, R.S. and Norton, D.P. (1992) “The Balanced Scorecard – Measures That Drive Performance”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 70, No. 1, Jan-Feb, pp. 71-80.
Kaplan, R.S. and Norton, D.P. (1996) “Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System”, Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb.
Foucault, M. (1979) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, New York: Vintage Books, Random House.
Lederer, A.L. and Sethi, V. (1988) “The Implementation of Strategic Information Systems Planning Methodologies”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 12, No.3, September, pp. 445-461.
Levy, M. and Powell, P. (1998) “SME Flexibility and the Role of Information Systems”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 183-196.
March, J.G. and Olsen, J.P. (1976) Ambiguity and Choice in Organizations, Bergen, Norway, Universitetsforlaget.
Mason, R.O. and Mitroff, I.I. (1973) “A Program for Research on Management Information Systems”, Management Science, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 475-487.
Newkirk, H.E., Lederer, A.L. and Srinivasan, C. (2003) “Strategic Information Systems Planning: Too Little or Too Much?”, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 201-228.
Piaget, J. (2001) The Psychology of Intelligence, Ruthledge, London.
Polanyi, M. (1958) Personal Knowledge, Chicago : Routledge & K. Paul.
Spender, J.-C. and Scherer A.G. (2007) “The Philosophical Foundations of Knowledge Management”, Organization, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 5-28.
JAN AIDEMARK
The School of Mathematics and Systems Engineering, Växjö University
Unviersitetsplatsen 6, 352 95, Växjö, Sweden
E-mail: jan.aidemark@vxu.se
The paper presents a strategic planning approach for knowledge management systems. This research approaches the problem of failing KMS’s by focusing on the planning phase. The result can be summarized as a set of frameworks for the strategic planning of knowledge management systems, i.e. information systems for the support of organizational knowledge processes. The approach is built on a broad set of theory, which has been used to discuss issues in KM/KMS from very broad perspectives. We approach the problem area from a strategic point of view, assuming that the problems of the area are based on a socio-technical dimension and that a multiple-paradigm approach is necessary for dealing with the problems of the various KM areas.
1. Introduction
The paper presents a strategic planning approach for knowledge management systems. There is an uncertainty in the academic study of KM about how to understand what it really is about (Spender and Scherer, 2007). Spender and Scherer talk about foundations and epistemologies, i.e. that there are several ways of understanding KM. This research approaches the problem of failing KM systems by focusing on the planning phase. We argue that it is in the planning phase, i.e. the process of generating ideas of information systems to develop, that the problems starts. A general assumption of the research is that different planning frameworks are needed when different organizational processes and activities are targeted. The frameworks, consisting of sets of models and methods, of this current research are directed towards the early stages of a KM systems planning process.
The goal is the support of a problem exploration phase that directs the further development process. This process is often identified as a strategic aspect of information systems planning (Lederer and Sethi, 1988). In focus are the problems of how to plan the integrated efforts to support knowledge creation and distribution processes in an organization.
The intended outcome of the planning process is a portfolio of support systems and other initiatives or activities. A KMS portfolio is a structured set of information systems that could be developed for a planning unit (organization /department /work group/work process). A central part of the strategic planning process is the generation of ideas, in this case suggestions for possible systems, the goal being to arrive at a more effective and efficient handling of the knowledge-related work of that unit by suggesting the right set of systems. The proposed approach aims at tackling the problem of suggesting a set of knowledge management systems for a particular organizational process or activity. The aim is to suggest knowledge management systems that reflect the complexity of the organizational situation, systems between which the internal relationship creates a balanced support in the particular organizational situation at hand.
2. Theoretical Framework of the Approach
Figure 1 provides an overview of the approach, displaying the five frameworks, their internal perspectives, and the central activity of balancing a KMS portfolio. The approach is built on three levels of analysis. First, analyses on a perspectives level within each of the frameworks (for example, cognitive / social or critical in Frame 1, knowledge processes, fig. 1). Analysis on this level is the core part of the approach, asking questions or raising issues from each perspective (or concept of the framework) that might provide ideas about the needs of support systems and how the use of that system might affect the organization. On the next level, the frameworks level, we consolidate the findings of KMS on the perspectives levels. In this process a better and deeper understanding of needs and consequences is developed.
The frameworks draw on theories from a diverse set of academic fields. Short overviews are given here, but for the full picture refer back to the original authors.
Framework 1: Knowledge process: Knowledge processes are viewed from three perspectives, a cognitive (Piaget, 2001), a social (Berger and Luckmann, 1966), and a critical (Foucault, 1979) perspective (c.f. Aidemark 2003, for argument around the selection of these authors as sources for the three perspectives). All three are continuous, human perception taking place within a social discourse that is controlled by a set of powers. Knowledge is what we see, what we talk about and it is also a way of limiting what we may think of. An information system directly contributes to the cognitive perspective, but operates in a field of social interactions and power struggles.
Framework 2: Flexibility approach to work process support: This perspective investigates the usefulness of the concept of strategic flexibility (Evans, 1991) for the planning of information systems as support for knowledge work. Flexibility is an ability that organizations in fast moving environments are in great need of. The concept of strategic flexibility describes a set of manoeuvres that an organization should be able to perform in order to deal with changes and emerging developments. The strategic flexibility concept has been used for planning information systems (Eardley et al., 1997) and understanding the role of information systems for organizational flexibility (Levy and Powell, 1998).
Framework 3: Strategic perspectives, linking strategy to KM support systems. The four perspectives of the balanced scorecard model are used, including economy, customers, internal processes and earning and growth (Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1996). A balanced scorecard provides top managers with a fast but comprehensive view of critical business factors, expressed in terms of objectives, measures and targets. Traditionally, performance measurement systems have been concerned with financial and operational objectives, often with emphasis towards one of the categories. Reflecting recent management trends of customer orientation, quality, organizational learning and innovation, the balanced scorecard approach is suggested as a basis for the design of more effective performance measurement systems. Framework 4: Organizational contexts, ie. political, rational, garbage can and programme (March and Olsen, 1976).
In this context, the knowledge focus is on gathering experience as openly as possible. In a political environment, decisions are made in order to reach the goals of the group or of the individual decision-maker. The central knowledge issue is to understand one’s own values and the values of others. The knowledge needed here is about under-standing why and for whom. In a rational environment, the aim is to make a rational choice among possible solutions to a problem. This implies gathering information, forming alternatives and making a choice among the alternatives that satisfy the preferences in the best way. The effort is put into the task of proving and refining the current paradigm. This means to put knowledge to work, which includes externalizing the knowledge and making it useful in the decision-making process. Creativity is difficult in this environment. In a program environment, decisions are made according to clearly stated rules. The explicit knowledge of solutions will be formed into pro-grams and then given to people in the organization in the form of instructions or rules. These will be used to make organizational processes more effective
Framework 5: A networked world. Castells (1996), knowledge acting on knowledge is the source of productivity in a networked world, and a number of aspects can be concluded:
1. Information systems must be understood in the context of culture and identities. The use of symbol-manipulating machines change the ways of symbolic interactions between people that produce cultures and identities.
2. A network perspective on how enterprises organize production, using information technology, is needed. This leads to flexible production and globalized markets; with changes in both where and by whom products are produced and consumed. The network logic is not new per se, but developments in information technology lead the way for a change towards a society where the network logic dominates.
3. Knowledge is the source of productivity and by extension, knowledge management is becoming the key activity for organizations.
4. There is no absolute technological determinism, but society cannot be understood without its technology. The outcome of the use of information technology depends on the choices made by owners, planners, developers and users. However, society does not determine its technologies in an absolute sense either, because there is a dialectic interaction between the two, technology embodying society and society using technology.
The outcome of these processes is a balanced set of KMS’s (represented by the central circle in Fig. 1), balanced in the meaning that the interactions of the different types of KMS are investigated (which made sense in their respective perspectives) as well as what the joint outcome might be.
3. A Process View of the Approach
The approach can be illustrated with a process model (fig. 2). The process model of an organization is based on a simple and generic organization. In figure 2 the different organizational levels of analysis are laid out and how they connect to the frameworks. Figure 2 can be seen as a process description for the work with the approach, in a generic case, moving from the details and then towards the more general conditions of the situation. From the particular KM process, (Step 1) on to the work process (Step 2) that it supports, and then to the context (Step 3) in which the work group resides. Then moving
on to the strategic step (Step 4) and then to considering the problem on a more general and organizational level, including the network dimension (Step 5). Other ways of configuring a working method are of course possible. A more top-down-inspired approach might begin with Step five, understanding the broader context using Frame 5, then a strategic analysis (Framework 4), then looking at the particular problems using Frames 1 and 2, and, finally, checking the feasibility of the suggested KMS, up to this point using the context/culture Frame 3.
4. Working with the Approach: Interviews and Portfolios
As with any planning approach there are some basic outlines, including creating ideas about the future, making decisions, and doing this in a structured way. An approach should support the process of gathering information about possible information systems and providing tools for handling and balancing these suggestions in an effort of suggesting a consistent set of information systems for further development.
As background a generic definition of planning approach, can be looked at. The concept of a “system approach” developed for some specific purpose was discussed as a: “… way of going about tackling a problem. ” (Checkland, 1981, p. 5) while using a: “… broad view, which tries to take all aspects into account, which concentrates on interactions between the different parts of the problem” (Checkland, 1981, p. 5).
4.1. Gathering Knowledge and Formulating Suggestions
One of the difficulties with such an approach is making large quantities of theories into some kind of planning support that actually makes things easier. The goal is to make complexity manageable. At the same time, there is a need for letting contradicting ideas contribute to a multi-faceted whole. For all practical reasons the work, with the approach and its frameworks, in essence consists of deducing questions to be asked or issues to be raised with people in the organization. The basic set of issues could be summarized as in table 1.
Table 1 presents theoretical knowledge interests, and can be used as pathways into a situation in general. These questions/issues could, in interaction with an early insight into the situation, be “translated” to fit the problem situation at hand, making the investigation richer and more oriented towards organizational goals. The answers, in turn, should be understood in the context that they were asked, but should also be brought back to the theoretical field and understood there. An example of this is provided in table 2 (based on material, Aidemark, 2005, where a full case is to be found).
Furthermore, during the first encounter with the organization, an even more simplified questionnaire could be used. A short list of introductory questions that lead the way, but avoiding that the theoretical background takes too much control, hiding what might turn out to be important factors.
The practical application of these instruments can be broken down into a number of work steps. As a first step, perform initiating interviews with the central project people. The purpose is to get a first impression on how the approach works in practice, and more concretely to form a useful interview guide. Building on the lists presented above (table 2), a handful of open questions were put to the project leader (table 3).
The questions should work as doorways into the situation. The more detailed questionnaires, as shown above, could in the best case be used as a checklist to see if all aspects are covered during the following conversation. The reflexive conversation around these general perspectives is hoped to lead to an insight into the central issues of the problem situation. For each conversation, with the same person or other people, the list should be reworked using the full list and the background articles. The difficulty here is the sensitive balance between direction from the frameworks and a necessary openness to the current situation. There is always a possibility that theory hides what is important rather than puts the focus on it. Therefore, it is the diversity of the framework, rather then the details, that is the important feature of the planning approach and its planning frameworks.
5. Two perspectives on people/technology: work vs. managerial
The planning approach integrates people and technology dimensions of KMS. Also the dimension looks different depending on the perspective used, work or managerial. There are connections that become visible when comparing the items in the two tables (table 4 and 5). Issues that are raised by such an analysis include a number of problematic dimensions:
* Control vs. creativity. The portfolio has a leaning towards management activities like control and measuring. These efforts are probably necessary to obtain effectiveness from a KMS effort. However, this might hamper spontaneous problem-solving by creative staff. The initiative with the incentives could counterbalance this. Creativity might also be encouraged by the use of the best practice system, i.e. that an insight into previous solutions inspires to new and deeper practical knowledge. For all of these possible systems there is one central precondition, the motivating forces of learning and problem-solving must be well understood and the systems that are implemented must not interfere with these forces.
* Formal vs. informal. Here we find the contradiction between formalization of knowledge and informal knowledge. The formalization of knowledge, by using templates for knowledge elicitation is one approach. However, the informal aspects of knowledge creation are personal and individual and are not easily supported by any kind of system. The approach to this balance is rather to limit the impact and intrusiveness of the systems that are built.
* Strategic vs. operational. The strategic dimension is taken care of in the suggestion of a value creation model. By this approach we gain a better understanding of the overall impact of knowledge on the organization, providing facts of decision for the founding of these projects. However, we should also see this from a work practice point of view. This could imply investigating the workers’ view of these systems and knowledge management processes. This could include surveys, work-manager meetings or focus groups. The material from such KM-related activities could be supported by HRM-styled systems.
As soon as technical solutions (for example a best practice database) are provided, the systems become clearer and the IT aspect begins to dominate the field of vision for the planner. It is very crucial to keep the organization-people-technology triangle alive and working as long as possible, the KMS portfolio being one way of doing this.
6. Final Comments
As discussed in the introduction section and in several of the literature sections, many traditional planning models have problems in dealing with a complex and multi-faceted world. Information systems are motivated by the complexity of the world today. Our planning approach will direct the possibilities to deal with information systems and subsequently our daily activities.
Here we try to conclude a number of aspects on what seem to be the success factors that might characterize a viable planning approach.
1. Individual and organizational knowledge. The interconnection between the individual with a subjective and situated knowledge (e.g. personal knowledge, Polanyi, 1958) and the organizational use of knowledge as a key resource is a central theme in knowledge management. This raises the complexity of the planning situation and makes it necessary to be even more sensitive to the situation and the implications for the usefulness of information systems for the achievement of organizational goals. These connections are made in several places in the approach. On the higher level, this is reflected in the general portfolio, where an individual and an organizational dimension are included. This can also be found in the frameworks, for example, the “Knowledge process framework”. Suggestions about IS from a cognitive perspective are discussed in the context of IS that makes sense in the social constructivist view of knowledge.
2. Interaction of perspectives. The working mechanism of the approach is the interaction between perspectives. The idea is not to find the exactly right set of perspectives or frameworks. It is the connections between rather general and, for that matter, rather contrasting concepts that create the pluralism and breadth of the analysis.
3. A Singerian learning style (Churchman, 1971; Mason and Mitroff, 1973). This means a simplification of the perspectives rather than making them more complicated and specific. This is done in order to make the approach easier to work with and get the large lines of the picture to emerge more clearly. Critique against socio-technical approaches often points at the abundance of volumes of descriptive and ethnographic analysis. This problem is connected to research by Newkirk et al. (2003) stating that planning should be performed in the right amount; both too much and too little can lead to an unfavourable result.
4. Easy of use vs. complexity of the problem. Although the framework draws on a substantial body of theory, the “front end” material used by the analyst can be expressed in rather simple terms. The translating process is a central step in the planning process. However, the guidelines for doing this are harder to discern, since the planning situation must be the most influential factor, and for all practical purposes it must be an interactive, trial-and-error-styled process.
References
Aidemark, J. (2003) “Cognitive, Social and Critical Perspectives on Planning a Knowledge Support Portfolio”, Database and Expert Systems Applications, 2003, Proceedings of the 14th International Workshop, DEXA 2003, IEEE Computer Society.
Aidemark, J. (2005) ”Implementing Intranet for Social and Cognitive Knowledge Processes”, Int. J. Healthcare Technology Management, Vol. 6, Nos. 4/5/6, pp. 357–367.
Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality, Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday.
Castells, M. (1996) The Rise of the Network Society, Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Checkland, P. (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, John Wiley & Sons.
Churchman, C.W. (1971) The Design of Inquiring Systems, Basic Books Inc., New York.
Eardley, A., Avison, D. and Powell, P. (1997) “Developing Information Systems to Support Flexible Strategy”, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 55-77.
Evans, J.S. (1991) “Strategic Flexibility for High Technology Maneuvers: A Conceptual Framework”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 28, No. 1, January, pp. 69-89.
Kaplan, R.S. and Norton, D.P. (1992) “The Balanced Scorecard – Measures That Drive Performance”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 70, No. 1, Jan-Feb, pp. 71-80.
Kaplan, R.S. and Norton, D.P. (1996) “Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System”, Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb.
Foucault, M. (1979) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, New York: Vintage Books, Random House.
Lederer, A.L. and Sethi, V. (1988) “The Implementation of Strategic Information Systems Planning Methodologies”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 12, No.3, September, pp. 445-461.
Levy, M. and Powell, P. (1998) “SME Flexibility and the Role of Information Systems”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 183-196.
March, J.G. and Olsen, J.P. (1976) Ambiguity and Choice in Organizations, Bergen, Norway, Universitetsforlaget.
Mason, R.O. and Mitroff, I.I. (1973) “A Program for Research on Management Information Systems”, Management Science, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 475-487.
Newkirk, H.E., Lederer, A.L. and Srinivasan, C. (2003) “Strategic Information Systems Planning: Too Little or Too Much?”, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 201-228.
Piaget, J. (2001) The Psychology of Intelligence, Ruthledge, London.
Polanyi, M. (1958) Personal Knowledge, Chicago : Routledge & K. Paul.
Spender, J.-C. and Scherer A.G. (2007) “The Philosophical Foundations of Knowledge Management”, Organization, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 5-28.
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