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Knowledge extraction and reuse are critical topics for manufacturing companies willing to strengthen their Product-Service Systems (PSS) offerings. In manufacturing's maintenance processes, effectiveness and efficiency depend on the ability to learn from past field interventions. Dealing with unstructured descriptions of maintenance activities has prevented manufacturing companies from analyzing them, causing the loss of useful information. Natural Language Processing (NLP) demonstrated high potential, allowing simplified text knowledge extraction and summarization. Besides, the literature presents only a few applications of topic modeling for maintenance improvement in the manufacturing domain. Using a case study, the paper demonstrates the potentialities of NLP adoption to improve not only the maintenance management and execution but also the asset design and management, impacting the whole PSS. In other words, implications will have effects on the operational (e.g. maintenance execution), managerial (e.g. maintenance management), and business levels (e.g. PSS offering definition) of manufacturing firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the KM Expo last fall in Chicago, attendees could be heard grumbling about what they felt was the event's conspicuously myopic obsession with technology. “Document management and imaging—that's all I've seen and heard about here,” one man complained. He then amplified his discontent and shared his broader disappointment with knowledge management as a whole: “an idea that amounts to little more than yesterday's information technologies trotted out in today's more fashionable clothes.” Point well taken. Indeed, at the heart of most KM strategies to date can be found data warehousing, groupware, document management, imaging, and data mining. By continuing to promote that kind of narrow, technology-centric brand of thinking, the nascent field of knowledge management places its own credibility at risk. Merely relabeling yesterday's technologies with the sexy new name of today's KM brings nothing new to the table—and customers won't stand for it. As reported above, evidence of the backlash is already apparent. We, the community of KM practitioners, can do much better than that. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on various papers and topics included within the issue related to organizational knowledge management including a paper on organizational culture and another on electronic integration of supply channels and supply networks. The author also discusses management information systems (MIS) centers and their development. He explains that the systems not only include information systems but also the people who work on them.

Information centers (ICs) are taking on an increasingly important role in organizational computing and are being given responsibility for supporting the enhancement of information system technology in the organization. There are primarily three areas of responsibility for the ICs: consultation, distribution, and help service. The information center expert (ICE) project attempts to provide knowledge-based support for ICs. The ICE project has three divisions, corresponding with the three areas of responsibility for information centers. The three divisions are: information center expert for consultation (ICE/C), distribution (ICE/D), and help service (ICE/H). The ICE/C system has been developed using Expert System Environment/Virtual Machine (ESE/VM) on the IBM 4381 mainframe. The system is operational and is being tested in five different ICs. ICE/C is used for consultation with IC users to assist them with the process of software selection. The paper presents the ICE/C architecture and discusses functional extensions to ICE/C, that is, ICE/D and ICE/H, for supporting the other responsibilities of the IC. The design considerations for these extensions are discussed. The development of ICE/C surfaced concerns regarding acquiring knowledge from multiple experts. An alternative approach using a group decision support environment to elicit knowledge from experts is presented. The paper also discusses the use of an object-oriented approach as a representation technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Knowledge Management (KM) and focuses primarily on examining to what degree AI can help companies in their efforts to handle information and manage knowledge effectively. A search was carried out for relevant electronic bibliographic databases and reference lists of relevant review articles. Articles were screened and the eligibility was based on participants, procedures, comparisons, outcomes (PICO) model, and criteria for PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews). The results reveal that knowledge management and AI are interrelated fields as both are intensely connected to knowledge; the difference reflects in how – while AI offers machines the ability to learn, KM offers a platform to better understand knowledge. The research findings further point out that communication, trust, information systems, incentives or rewards, and the structure of an organization; are related to knowledge sharing in organizations. This systematic literature review is the first to throw light on KM practices & the knowledge cycle and how the integration of AI aids knowledge management systems, enterprise performance & distribution of knowledge within the organization. The outcomes offer a better understanding of efficient and effective knowledge resource management for organizational advantage. Future research is necessary on smart assistant systems thus providing social benefits that strengthen competitive advantage. This study indicates that organizations must take note of definite KM leadership traits and organizational arrangements to achieve stable performance through KM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper addresses the understudied issue of how individually held expertise in information systems development (ISD) teams results in creativity at the team level during the development process. We develop the idea that team creativity results primarily from integration of individually held expertise of team members at the team level. We further propose the quality of intrateam relationships and knowledge complementarities that align the work of individual team members at the project level influence creativity primarily through the process of expertise integration. We use data from a field study of 142 participants in 42 ISD projects to test the proposed model. The paper makes three new contributions to the IS literature. Its key contribution lies in developing an expertise integration view of team creativity. We demonstrate the centrality of integrating individually held tacit and explicit knowledge about the problem domain and the technology at the team level in achieving team creativity. The use of a process-focused conceptualization of team creativity is especially noteworthy here. The second contribution of the paper lies in conceptually developing and operationalizing the concept of expertise integration, a mechanism by which individually held knowledge is integratively applied at the project level. Although the importance of knowledge in the ISD process is widely recognized in prior research, this is the first study to develop the concept in a operationally meaningful way. The third key contribution lies in showing that the compositional and relational attributes of ISD project teams--diverse specialized knowledge in a team, the quality of intrateam working relationships, and members' cross-domain absorptive capacity--do not engender creativity by themselves; they do so primarily because they enhance integration of individual knowledge at the project level. We offer empirical evidence for such full mediation. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications, which are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper puts forth a vision and an architecture for a community knowledge evolution system. We propose augmenting a multimedia document repository (digital library) with innovative knowledge evolution support, including computer-mediated communications, community process support, decision support, advanced hypermedia features, and conceptual knowledge structures. These tools, and the techniques developed around them, would enable members of a virtual community to learn from, contribute to, and collectively build upon the community's knowledge and improve many member tasks. The resulting Collaborative Knowledge Evolution Support System (CKESS) would provide an enhanced digital library infrastructure serving as an ever-evolving repository of the community's knowledge, which members would actively use in everyday tasks and regularly update. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents a step toward a theory of knowledge reusability, with emphasis on knowledge management systems and repositories, often called organizational memory systems. Synthesis of evidence from a wide variety of sources suggests four distinct types of knowledge reuse situations according to the knowledge reuser and the purpose of knowledge reuse. The types involve shared work producers, who produce knowledge they later reuse; shared work practitioners, who reuse each other's knowledge contributions; expertise-seeking novices; and secondary knowledge miners. Each type of knowledge reuser has different requirements for knowledge repositories. Owing to how repositories are created, reusers' requirements often remain unmet. Repositories often require considerable rework to be useful for new reusers, but knowledge producers rarely have the resources and incentives to do a good job of repurposing knowledge. Solutions include careful use of incentives and human and technical intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations require ways to efficiently distribute information such as news releases, seminar announcements, and memos. While the machinery for information storage, manipulation, and retrieval exists, research dealing directly with its distribution in an organizational context is scarce. In this paper, we address this need by first examining the pros and cons of the conventional "mailing lists" approach and then proposing new workflow mechanisms that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of information distribution through e-mail. The proposed approach is relevant to other information distribution approaches beyond e-mail. The main contributions of this study include: (1) offering a workflow perspective on organizational information distribution; (2) analysis of workflows in two new information distribution methods based on dynamic mailing lists and profile matching, respectively; and (3) proposing a new way of matching supply and demand of information that extends existing information filtering algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technology (IT) projects can fail for any number of reasons, and can result in considerable financial losses for the organizations that undertake them. One pattern of failure that has been observed but seldom studied is the runaway project that takes on a life of its own. Such projects exhibit characteristics that are consistent with the broader phenomenon known as escalating commitment to a failing course of action. Several theories have been offered to explain this phenomenon, including self-justification theory and the so-called sunk cost effect which can be explained by prospect theory. This paper discusses the results of a series of experiments designed to test whether the phenomenon of escalating commitment could be observed in an IT context. Multiple experiments conducted within and across cultures suggest that a high level of sunk cost may influence decision makers to escalate their commitment to an IT project. In addition to discussing this and other findings from an ongoing stream of research, the paper focuses on the challenges faced in carrying out the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent successes in the design and implementation of expert systems in non-managerial problem domains has spurred interest in the proposition that expert systems may be viable in managerial problem domains as well. Continuing research in the design, implementation, and testing of a prototype managerial expert system is described in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike many archival organisations, the University of Melbourne's eScholarship Research Centre (ESRC) is not a custodial repository or a teaching facility. This allows the centre to collaborate with a wide range of organisations and individuals, bringing archival thinking and practice to a variety of sectors, many of which are not traditionally associated with information professionals. Central to all the ESRC's work is the importance of effectively documenting things and their context. This paper draws on project examples, the author's PhD research and key concepts from archival and knowledge management theory to explore the idea that effective documentation requires more than a focus on items and collections. Instead, it requires working with individuals, organisations and documentary resources (published and unpublished) to reveal explicit connections and capture implicit knowledge in ways which more accurately reflect the complexity of collections and the entities needed to understand them. These ideas are introduced using two examples: a series of projects carried out over many years with the Victorian Government's Department of Primary Industries and its successors and The Australian Ballet. The paper then uses key concepts from this work to explore the nature of museum documentation and some of the limitations of current practice in museums, including the specific example of the Nordström mining models held by Museum Victoria. Thinking about these issues in the digital world, and applying archival thinking, the author argues for better connections between collection materials, not through convergence but by expanding our concept of collection documentation to include the relationships between things as things in their own right. Arguing for the practical benefits of such a change, the paper concludes by suggesting that testing these ideas in a museum context has the potential to further develop the ideas of the ESRC in ways which will benefit society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I pay tribute to Don Lamberton in this paper by exploring the importance of generosity in knowledge systems. The purpose of this paper is to show that a range of important dynamics in knowledge systems are enhanced by generosity. I also argue that generosity is one of the meeting points between knowledge and wisdom, and that it should become an important consideration in the knowledge policy development process. It is important that we move knowledge systems closer to wisdom if we are to respond in the best ways to such major global challenges as climate change, a fragile global financial system, the emergence of new technologies, poverty, endemic military and paramilitary conflict, and global food and water security. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Due to its growing economic power, creative industries have climbed scholars' and policy-makers' agendas in recent years. However, in comparison with a high number of cluster studies on rather traditional industries, systematic research on knowledge production, innovation processes and competitiveness in creative industry clusters is still underrepresented. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating the video game development industry in Hamburg, Germany, from a knowledge base perspective. The paper concludes that both the symbolic and the synthetic knowledge are the dominant elements that contribute to video game development in Hamburg. On a more critical note, it doubts whether the currently discussed knowledge base perspective is sufficient to explain the competitiveness of creative industries and proposes to analyse procedural knowledge in future research in order to be able to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on decision support systems (DSS) and knowledge-based systems (KBS). In the author's view neither has yet to fulfill its promise. DSS, he believes, has been marked by both literature of a self-congratulatory nature, and systems that do little to address practical problems. Similar could be said for KBS. Going forward, however, he believes both can be valuable and mutually sustaining avenues of inquiry. He sees the two as complementary, with KBS informed and given direction by DSS.

The aim of this paper is to suggest that the concept of the dependence effect and of the consumer sovereignty, developed by Galbraith, has to be reexamined in a knowledge-based economy. We reconsider these concepts in the light of the consumption routine. In this perspective, the main result of this paper is that the question of market power must be analyzed in terms of interaction between producers and consumers. The limited knowledge role of consumer and producer implies that the power is shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article raises the question of the character of Bernstein's theory. It draws upon a set of key concepts elaborated in some of his later papers, although we suggest that it is possible to discern the origins of these ideas in much earlier work. In the first section, Bernstein's diagnosis of the sociology of education as a horizontal knowledge structure with a weak grammar is discussed and an apparent paradox identified: if the sociology of education has this form, how can we account for Bernstein's own theory? The remainder of the paper uses the case of Bernstein's own work as a way of exploring the conditions for knowledge growth in sociology as a vertical knowledge structure with a strong grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the question of knowledge needs to be reconceptualised if sociology is to make its potential contribution to current debates about the curriculum. It begins with a review of the dominant assumptions underlying contemporary curriculum policy: neo-conservative traditionalism and technical-instrumentalism. It then examines the relativist position on knowledge that follows from the postmodernist critiques that have recently come to dominate social theory, particularly in the sociology of education. The paper argues that, in different ways, each of these approaches avoids the question of knowledge and hence leaves unresolved epistemological and educational dilemmas. In the final section, the paper draws on recent research in the sociology of science to develop what is referred to as a social realist approach to knowledge and explores its implications both for the curriculum and the claims that we are entering a 'knowledge society'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge represents a critical resource in the modern enterprise. But it is dynamic and distributed unevenly. Capitalizing on this dynamic resource for enterprise performance depends upon its rapid and reliable flows across people, organizations, locations, and times of application. From a technological perspective, this points immediately to the design of information systems to enhance knowledge flows. The problem is, the design of information systems to enhance knowledge flows requires new understanding. The research described in this paper concentrates on understanding the dynamics of knowledge phenomenologically and on developing and applying techniques for modeling and visualizing dynamic knowledge flows and stocks. We draw key, theoretical concepts from multiple literatures, and we build upon integrative modeling work that composes a parsimonious, multidimensional, analytical framework for representing and visualizing dynamic knowledge. We then conduct field research to learn how this theoretical framework may be used to model knowledge flows in practice. By focusing this empirical work on an extreme organization and processes that involve and rely upon tacit knowledge, we illustrate how dynamic knowledge patterns can inform design in new ways. New chunks of kernel theory deriving from this fieldwork are articulated in terms of a propositional model, which provides a basis for the development of testable design theory hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge management to facilitate the creation, storage, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations has received wide attention in practice and research in the past several years. Often cited as a significant challenge in knowledge management practices is the issue of organizational culture. Although many studies raise the issue of organizational culture's influence on knowledge management success, few investigate the way in which this influence manifests itself. This paper aims to explore how organizational culture influences knowledge management practices. Using a case study method, we examine the cultural values and knowledge management approaches within a large global information services company and one of its knowledge communities. The findings highlight the influence of culture on the use of knowledge management technologies and the outcomes of such use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge is recognized as an important weapon for sustaining competitive advantage and many companies are beginning to manage organizational knowledge. Researchers have investigated knowledge management factors such as enablers, processes, and performance. However, most current empirical research has explored the relationships between these factors in isolation. To fill this gap, this paper develops a research model that interconnects knowledge management factors. The model includes seven enablers: collaboration, trust, learning, centralization, formalization, T-shaped skills, and information technology support. The emphasis is on knowledge creation processes such as socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. To establish credibility between knowledge creation and performance, organizational creativity is incorporated into the model. Surveys collected from 58 firms were analyzed to test the model. The results confirmed the impact of trust on knowledge creation. The information technology support had a positive impact on knowledge combination only. Organizational creativity was found to be critical for improving performance; neglecting ideas can undermine a business. The results may be used as a stepping stone for further empirical research and can help formulate robust strategies that involve trade-offs between knowledge management enablers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The volume of qualitative data (QD) available via the Internet is growing at an increasing pace and firms are anxious to extract and understand users' thought processes, wants and needs, attitudes, and purchase intentions contained therein. An information systems (IS) methodology to meaningfully analyze this vast resource of QD could provide useful information, knowledge, or wisdom firms could use for a number of purposes including new product development and quality improvement, target marketing, accurate 'user-focused' profiling, and future sales prediction. In this paper, we present an IS methodology for analysis of Internet-based QD consisting of three steps: elicitation, reduction through IS-facilitated selection, coding, and clustering; and visualization to provide at-a-glance understanding. Outcomes include information (relationships), knowledge (patterns), and wisdom (principles) explained through visualizations and drill-down capabilities. First we present the generic methodology and then discuss an example employing it to analyze free-form comments from potential consumers who viewed soon-to-be-released film trailers provided that illustrates how the methodology and tools can provide rich and meaningful affective, cognitive, contextual, and evaluative information, knowledge, and wisdom. The example revealed that qualitative data analysis (QDA) accurately reflected film popularity. A finding is that QDA also provided a predictive measure of relative magnitude of film popularity between the most popular film and the least popular one, based on actual first week box office sales. The methodology and tools used in this preliminary study illustrate that value can be derived from analysis of Internet-based QD and suggest that further research in this area is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of group support systems (GSS) and content facilitation on individual knowledge acquisition in general, and on changes in an individual's knowledge structures in particular as indicated through concept mapping development. We present a model explaining the enabling effects of GSS and content facilitation on group processes (group participation, quality of feedback, domination, and communication barrier), cooperation in learning, and individual knowledge structures (knowledge complexity, integration, and commonality). An experiment that employed a 2X2 factorial design was used to explore the main and interaction effects of GSS and content facilitation on knowledge acquisition. Experimental subjects were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups; that is, nonfacilitation and non-GSS, nonfacilitation and GSS, facilitation and non-GSS, facilitation and GSS. Results of the experiment indicated that both GSS and content facilitation positively affect certain aspects of individual knowledge acquisition. Content facilitation particularly enhanced learners' knowledge commonality, whereas GSS enhanced the quality of feedback and cooperation in learning, and reduced domination and communication barrier. However, the results also indicated that GSS and content facilitation have crossover interaction effects on group participation and knowledge commonality. The effects of combining GSS and content facilitation were not additive in this study. Explanations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a comparative case study of 13 industrial firms that implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. It compares firms based on their dialectic learning process. All firms had to overcome knowledge barriers of two types: those associated with the configuration of the ERP package, and those associated with the assimilation of new work processes. We found that both strong core teams and carefully managed consulting relationships addressed configuration knowledge barriers. User training that included both technical and business processes, along with a phased implementation approach, helped firms to overcome assimilation knowledge barriers. However, all firms in this study experienced ongoing concerns with assimilation knowledge barriers, and we observed two different approaches to address them. In a piecemeal approach, firms concentrated on the technology first and deferred consideration of process changes. In a concerted approach, both the technology and process changes were undertaken together. Although most respondents clearly stated a preference for either piecemeal or concerted change, all firms engaged in practices that reflected a combination of these approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on primary and secondary data to propose a taxonomy of strategies, or "schools," for knowledge management. The primary purpose of this framework is to guide executives on choices to initiate knowledge management projects according to goals, organizational character, and technological, behavioral, or economic biases. It may also be useful to teachers in demonstrating the scope of knowledge management and to researchers in generating propositions for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beliefs of organizational ownership relate to whether information and knowledge created by an individual knowledge worker are believed to be owned by the organization. Beliefs about property rights affect information and knowledge sharing. This study explored factors that help determine an individual's beliefs about the organizational ownership of information and expertise that he or she has created. Four different situations of organizational ownership (information vs. expertise/internal vs. external sharing) were considered. The study found that a belief in self-owner-ship was positively associated with organizational ownership-suggesting a collaborative type of ownership situation for both information and expertise and for both internal (intraorganizational) and external (interorganizational) sharing situations. Organizational culture and the type of employee also influenced the beliefs of organizational ownership in all four scenarios. We conclude the paper with implications for practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We trace in pragmatic terms some of what we know about knowledge, information technology, knowledge management practice and research, and provide two complementary frameworks that highlight potential opportunities for building a research agenda in this area. The papers in this special issue are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the ever increasing importance of information technology (IT) in firms, the extent to which IT management practices are applied creatively to critical tasks varies widely across firms. For over a decade, firms have employed IT steering committees to manage their IT resources. However, the impacts of such committees on the IT management function have not been examined in depth. This paper hypothesized relationships between the level of sophistication of IT steering committees and level of IT sophistication of management within firms, and tested those relationships empirically via a field survey of 213 IT managers in the financial services industry. Results of the study suggest that presence and roles of IT steering committees are significantly related to the level and nature of IT management sophistication within firms. Firms interested in achieving the most benefit from their steering committees should carefully select their preferred roles depending on the type and the level of IT management sophistication desired. The article concludes with discussion and implications for IT researchers and firms' executives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in genetic testing and data mining technologies have increased the availability of genetic information to insurance companies and insureds (applicants and policy holders) in the individual health insurance market (IHIM). Regulators, concerned that insurance companies will use this information to discriminate against applicants who have a genetic risk factor but who are still healthy, have implemented genetic privacy legislation in at least 18 states. However, in previous work we have demonstrated that such legislation will have unintended consequences--it will reduce consumer participation in the market without making those remaining better off. This paper identifies a mechanism, a pure bundling strategy, that insurance companies may implement in this regulatory environment to restore (or maximize) consumer participation in the market and to discourage such discrimination among insureds. This problem is examined through System Dynamics, a simulation-based modeling technique. The results will have significant implications for policy designs implemented by insurance companies, and for legislation implemented by industry regulators, and therefore, for the insurability of the individuals that rely on this market for health insurance coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights key principles that the eScholarship Research Centre (ESRC) shares with the Linked Open Data (LOD) community, primarily relationship-centric contextualisation of information resources, and a commitment to producing and publishing sustainable, standards-based data outputs suitable for machine-based interchange. This paper illustrates how these principles have enabled the ESRC, without pursuing LOD as a specific end, to hold a path close to the Linked Data road. We also note that, by extension, this has positioned the ESRC ready to translate many of its resources into LOD formats in exchanges where complementary technologies and ontology mappings are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge management literature often points out the importance of distinguishing among data, information, and knowledge. The generally accepted view sees data as simple facts that become information as data are combined into meaningful structures, which subsequently become knowledge as meaningful information is put into a context and when it can be used to make predictions. According to this view, data are a prerequisite for information, and information is a prerequisite for knowledge. This paper explores the conceptual hierarchy of data, information, and knowledge, showing that data emerge only after we have information, and that information emerges only after we already have knowledge. The reversed hierarchy of knowledge is shown to lead to a different approach in developing information systems that support knowledge management and organizational memory. It is also argued that this difference may have major implications for organizational flexibility and renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most executive information systems (EIS) are focusing on the delivery of information to executives on line. Clicking on icons or command buttons, executives can browse through a series of screens of tabular or graphical information organized in a hierarchical structure. There is, however, no underlying model to guide the navigation of the diverse data and applications used by executives. A repository-based and model-driven EIS that captures integrated organization and information system (IOIS) models of an enterprise is therefore needed. A prototype system, called Repository-based Executive Information System (R-EIS), designed to integrate instead of replacing various existing application systems to support managerial information delivery is presented in this paper. This integrated IOIS model can be used directly by executives to assist them in navigating a model from a business perspective in order to gain access to applications and information to support their decision making. The navigation paths become contexts for the information delivered. Executives who can use an explicit organization model in their navigation of large information bases may learn more about their businesses and therefore facilitate organizational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intelligent behavior requires being able to acquire information and to use it to make and implement effective decisions. In exploring ways to help organizations function intelligently in crisis situations, a group decision support environment has been developed and a set of crisis planning tools designed. Intended to complement strategic planning systems, these tools are expected to help planners develop and communicate an understanding of high-priority issues so that intelligent decisions can be made and implemented during crises. The paper characterizes intelligent organizations, defines organizational crises, discusses the consequences of crises, and presents a crisis-management framework. Finally, the use of the tools is illustrated with a crisis planning case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade there have been several efforts at building knowledge-based "expert systems," mostly in the scientific and medical arenas. Despite the fact that almost all such systems are in their experimental stages, designers are optimistic about their eventual success. In the last few years, there have been many references to the possibility of expert systems in the management literature. However, what is lacking is a clear theoretical perspective on how various management problems differ in nature from problems in other domains and the implications of these differences for knowledge-based decision support systems for management. In this paper, I examine some of these differences, what they suggest in terms of the functionality that a computer-based system must have in order to support organizational decision making, and the scope of such a system as a decision aid. The discussion is grounded in the context of a computer-based system called PLANET that exhibits some of the desired functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has suggested that trust and relationship-building contribute to the effectiveness of salespeople. This paper reviews the literature on the cognitive selling paradigm and the influence of knowledge structures on the relationship-building process. Next, two recent studies (Anglin 1990; Szymanski 1987) which investigated knowledge, relationship development, and sales performance are reviewed. The findings from these studies imply that a fundamental difference may exist in the manner in which higher and lower performing salespeople perceive the selling process. Higher performers placed greater emphasis on establishing "trust" and also preferred to find out information about the prospect before reciprocating with information about themselves. Lower performers, on the other hand, preferred to disclose information about themselves before obtaining personal information about the prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of the article "Special Issue: Dual Organisational Capabilities: The Next Challenge for Continuous Innovation" that was published in a 2008 issue of the "International Journal of Technology Management" is presented. The papers in the special issue attempt to explore one of the frontiers of innovation management and at the same time, produce actionable knowledge that is needed by firms in order to continuously innovate. The first four papers focus on the development of continuous innovation (CI) capacity, and the next two address learning and unlearning, and the remaining papers deal with specific issues of human resource management, knowledge transfer and information technology.

The transfer and uptake of research-based knowledge by end users is a measure of the utility of research, and, from a funder's perspective, a measure of an effective investment. What constitutes uptake to social scientists and whether such practice is a routine or novel outcome of New Zealand social science research is largely unexplored. In the 2006 National Survey of Social Scientists respondents were asked to report recent experiences of knowledge transfer and research uptake, including the organization to which information had been conveyed. This paper presents an analysis of these responses. Forty-two percent of respondents reported at least one example of research transfer or uptake in their main research field in the previous 12 months. Accounts ranged from passive forms of information transfer such as making journal articles or reports available to potential end users to instances of organizational, programme, curriculum or policy change that the researcher attributed, at least in part, to the uptake of research-based knowledge. Government agencies were the target of 31% of reported examples, across sectors as diverse as agriculture, fisheries and conservation as well as those in the social, health, justice and welfare areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OVERVIEW: Only a few companies have mastered the design-driven approach to innovation. This paper examines what it means to make design a central part of the business process, able to add value to products and create new markets. More specifically, it focuses on the interplay between the functional and semantic dimensions of a product. Case studies of two leading Italian companies in the furniture industry--Kartell and Luceplan--illustrate two principal interpretations of the role of technology in radical design-driven innovation: technology as an enabler of new product meanings for the customer, and the importance of supply networks that allow manufacturers to change product technologies quickly and experiment with new technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the different ways that primary school teachers in Uganda navigate the boundary between school science and everyday knowledge in the context of a centrally mandated curriculum innovation. The paper is based on a study of the pedagogic practices of 16 teachers in eight Ugandan primary schools that were selected on the basis of having a track record of either high or low academic achievement in the public primary school-leaving examination. The official primary school curriculum in Uganda prescribes that science be taught in an integrated form, including integration between science subject knowledge and everyday knowledge. The strategies that teachers in the study adopted in relating science to everyday knowledge was a key feature that differentiated between pedagogic practices in the high-performing and low-performing schools. In high-performing schools, teachers recruited everyday knowledge as a resource for learning science as a specialised discourse; whereas in the low-performing schools, acquiring everyday knowledge was viewed as an end in itself. The paper, then, considers the implications of differences in teachers' pedagogic strategies for the kinds of knowledge to which learners are given access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on different research streams about the nature of knowledge transfers, this paper proposes a conceptual model for understanding knowledge transfer success among recipient companies in a sourcing relationship. Specifically, the role of potential and realized absorptive capacity is emphasized. These two learning components are discussed from two levels of analysis—potential absorptive capacity is discussed at the interorganizational level, and realized absorptive capacity at the intraorganizational level. Antecedents to potential absorptive capacity include three types of interorganizational contexts—knowledge, relational, and institutional. At the intraorganizational level, knowledge-based views of the firm stress how patterns of interaction and relationships among individuals facilitate knowledge integration within the organization. Two types of social context are emphasized—the extent of social embeddedness and closeness of interfunctional coupling. Implications for managerial practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge-intensive services are seen to have an increased importance for learning and innovation activity in a more knowledge-based economy. This paper compares the relevance of two complementary approaches as analytical tools in studying the exchange of knowledge-intensive services in innovation processes. The first approach focuses on the importance of expert knowledge from companies in the KIBS (knowledge-intensive business services) sector as input in innovation processes. The other approach focuses on the role of knowledge-intensive service activities (KISA) in innovation processes. The latter approach regards a wider set of players as potentially important knowledge-intensive service providers than just KIBS firms, it focuses on knowledge exchange beyond market relations, and it emphasizes the mix and match of internal and external knowledge-intensive services. This paper analyses the relevance of the two approaches by studying the use of knowledge-intensive services in two Norwegian industries dominated by different knowledge bases, that is, the aquaculture and the software industry, respectively. Empirical studies in the two industries demonstrate that the KISA approach certainly brings new elements into the investigation of the role of knowledge-intensive services in innovation activity. The approach focuses on how knowledge exchange occurs (in static or dynamic ways), and how it relates to firms' own innovation processes. However, innovation studies can also benefit from differentiating more between different types of firms, for example, firms in different phases of their life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores whether a professional development weblog could support work-based learning in a TAFE Library. The paper includes both a literature review of material dealing with work-based learning in the VET sector, weblogs and their possible use as a professional development tool and an evaluation of a weblog project devised to support professional development in the Library at Box Hill Institute. Analysis of the literature suggested that there were educational aspects of the practices of weblogging that supported some of the trends and learning outcomes of work-based learning in the VET sector. These included team learning and reflective and deep learning. Review of the literature also showed that concepts of knowledge management and information literacy have aspects in common with the educational practices of weblogging. During the weblog project, staff were actively involved in contributing to the weblog and evaluated their experience through a questionnaire. Staff reported that they had developed professionally from participating in the project, particularly in the areas of sharing knowledge and team learning and that there was potential for further professional development in the areas of archiving and reflective practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is frequently asserted that schools and local authorities should become ‘learning organisations’ as a pre‐condition for school improvement, but there is very little evidence about the specific processes and activities involved in such a transformation. This paper analyses the initial stages of the implementation by a Scottish local authority Education Department of an organisational learning strategy, whose ultimate purpose was to improve pupils’ attainment and achievement by developing the Authority’s collective capacity to learn new ways of meeting their needs. The analysis focuses on some of the processes that, despite a huge literature on the subject of organisational learning and change, have hitherto remained somewhat mysterious. Adopting an analytical framework derived from activity and actor network theory, we explore empirical evidence of the key stages in ‘vision building’, showing how sense‐making was structured and highlighting the processes and activities which constituted the initial stages in learning to learn as an organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the complex web of interrelationships that is emerging as the library and information professions come to terms with the growing phenomenon of knowledge management. This is manifest at one level in the wider organisational and business context, and at another in the professional and employment spheres. Two of the authors are doctoral students at RMIT University, researching the issues arising from the developing relationship between the library and information professions and the knowledge management phenomenon. This includes the potential threats and opportunities, the synergies and the potential for radically new visions and responses. The paper sets these developments in the context of the new knowledge-based economy, the subsequent emergence of knowledge management, and its implications for the library and information professions as manifest both in professional practice and in educational preparation for such practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asserts that the environmental profession does not exist but remains a commonly accepted myth. The human ability to create semantic categories is open to capricious behaviour, even though some of the results are openly acknowledged as subject to constant assessment and revision. Often, some categories become vestigial; yet others, such as 'futurist', 'knowledge manager' or 'environmental professional', express a chameleon quality, changing subtly to take on the flavour of the moment. Drawing evidence from the professional literature and the Internet, the paper argues that, although accurate definitions of terminology used between insiders can have great value, terms that want for clarity as they reach for inclusivity often border on the problematic. Citing case histories and drawing parallels with other disciplines, this paper proves that the 'Environmental Profession' is one such creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores one component of Basil Bernstein's complex theoretical framework dealing with the conversion or translation of knowledge into pedagogic communication. The pedagogic device is described by Bernstein as the ensemble of rules or procedures via which knowledge is converted into classroom talk, curricula and online communication. It is argued that Bernstein's theory of the pedagogic device provides researchers with explicit criteria/rules to describe the macro and micro structuring of knowledge, and in particular the generative relations of power and control constituting knowledge. The paper elaborates on the components of the pedagogic device and provides examples of empirical studies utilising this theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge management (KM) has matured to the point that many organisations either believe they have such practices in place or at least understand they are relevant to the knowledge work commonly undertaken in many industries. What is lacking from the literature, however, is a solid foundation for the philosophies underpinning KM and particularly for how tacit knowledge informs the KM space. Research over decades shows tacit knowledge underpins all other forms of knowledge, enabling the interpretation and judicious application of knowledge, leading (at its highest levels) to the concept of wisdom. As an academic discipline, artificial intelligence (AI) was established before KM, has been grounded in the computing discipline for many decades, and is applied broadly in many domains. This paper explores how AI can inform the KM debate. Rather than simply provide examples of AI success stories as applied to KM in practice, it explores the theoretical and practical limitations of AI and KM in unison, providing at the same time a strong epistemological understanding of both disciplines as a means of furthering the knowledge debate, with particular emphasis on the role of tacit knowledge within this jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dissent and assent contribute to new information and knowledge in that they foster ideas, avert errors and counter misplaced beliefs. Although intended to facilitate progress, innovation and creativity, dissent may be opposed by the closed mind and defensive mindset. Don Lamberton encountered a specific mindset in his own duties to scholarship in economics. Thus, the perspective of dissent is a fitting way to pay homage to his scholarship. However, this paper is also a lament. It gives an interpretation ofAntigonefrom political philosophy which depicts Antigone rocking an ideological boat harboured by thepolis. The silencing of Antigone’s voice results in unexpected losses in theoikos. This is the sort of tragedy threatening critical and innovative scholarship in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We use an economic learning model to examine how knowledge parameters characterizing a sourcing relationship between a vendor and a client interact with production costs and coordination costs to affect the business value of alternative outsourcing strategies. This information is then used to determine a firm's optimal rate of information technology (IT) outsourcing. We find that the optimal outsourcing rate is dependent on the ability of the outsourcing client to acquire production knowledge from its outsourcing vendor and to retain its internal coordination knowledge despite losses of fundamental production skills due to outsourcing. Specifically, when the client is unable to acquire sufficient production knowledge from the external vendor, the client's optimal outsourcing decision is to engage in either one of two extreme strategies--total insourcing or total outsourcing--depending on the rate at which the client's coordination knowledge depreciates. On the other hand, when the client is able to acquire a substantial amount of production knowledge from the external vendor, the firm's optimal decision is to outsource only a portion of its IT services, where the proportion depends on the rate at which the client's coordination knowledge depreciates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]