Showing papers on "Knowledge sharing published in 2000"

Creating and managing a high‐performance knowledge‐sharing network: the Toyota case

Abstract: Previous research suggests that knowledge diffusion occurs more quickly within Toyota’s production network than in competing automaker networks. In this paper we examine the ‘black box’ of knowledge sharing within Toyota’s network and demonstrate that Toyota’s ability to effectively create and manage network-level knowledge-sharing processes at least partially explains the relative productivity advantages enjoyed by Toyota and its suppliers. We provide evidence that suppliers do learn more quickly after participating in Toyota’s knowledge-sharing network. Toyota’s network has solved three fundamental dilemmas with regard to knowledge sharing by devising methods to (1) motivate members to participate and openly share valuable knowledge (while preventing undesirable spillovers to competitors), (2) prevent free riders, and (3) reduce the costs associated with finding and accessing different types of valuable knowledge. Toyota has done this by creating a strong network identity with rules for participation and entry into the network. Most importantly, production knowledge is viewed as the property of the network. Toyota’s highly interconnected, strong tie network has established a variety of institutionalized routines that facilitate multidirectional knowledge flows among suppliers. Our study suggests that the notion of a dynamic learning capability that creates competitive advantage needs to be extended beyond firm boundaries. Indeed, if the network can create a strong identity and coordinating rules, then it will be superior to a firm as an organizational form at creating and recombining knowledge due to the diversity of knowledge that resides within a network. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Difficulties in diffusion of tacit knowledge in organizations

Abstract: To manage intangible assets such as knowledge is perceived as an important capability for competition. One of the main matters for managing knowledge resources is diffusion of knowledge within organizations. Knowledge management needs different forms according to the possibility to code knowledge. Internal individual processes like experience and talent obtain tacit knowledge that is difficult to code. Therefore it cannot be managed and shared as explicit knowledge. To rely on personal tacit knowledge is risky. Conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit or at least ability to share it offers greater value to an organization. But what are the difficulties related to sharing tacit knowledge? Different difficulties are to be found related to perception, language, time, value and distance.

Influences On Knowledge processes In Organizational Learning: The Psychosocial Filter

Abstract: This paper reports a segment of broader theory-building case study research exploring organizational learning and knowledge processes in a bio-medical consortium. Its focus is the individual-level factors that influence knowledge processes associated with organizational learning. As we explored how rganizational learning occurred, the underlying knowledge processes came forward as complex and idiosyncratic. In an unanticipated finding, micro-processes emerged as highly influential, with individual perceptions of approachability, credibility and trustworthiness mediating knowledge importing and knowledge sharing activities. We introduce a model –the psychosocial filter– to describe the cluster of micro-processes that were brought forward in the study. Firstly, scientists filtered knowledge porting by deciding whom they would approach for information and from whom they would accept input. The individual’s confidence to initiate information requests (which we termed social confidence) and the perceived credibility of knowledge suppliers both mediated knowledge importing. Secondly, scientists mediated knowledge sharing by actively deciding with whom they would share their own knowledge. Perceived trustworthiness – based on perceptions of what olleagues were likely to do with sensitive information – was the factor that influenced knowledge-sharing decisions. Significantly, the psychosocial filter seemed to constitute a heedful process with high functionality. Its effect was not to block knowledge circulation, but instead to ensure that nowledge-sharing decisions were made in a thoughtful and deliberate way. The psychosocial filter suggests an initial framework for conceptualizing the role that individual-level processes play in organizational knowledge sharing. Building on this, the model provides a platform for more focused exploration of knowledge processes and social relationships in organizational learning.

Knowledge management in small and medium‐sized companies: knowledge management for entrepreneurs

Abstract: This article deals with a field which gets little or no attention in the research done into knowledge management: small and medium‐sized companies. In the first part of this article a conceptual model will be developed. This model can be used to analyse the most important knowledge management processes in companies. In the second part of the article our model is used to analyse 12 innovative companies from the industrial and business service sector. Knowledge management appears in small and medium‐sized companies to get its form especially at an operational level. A total of 79 instruments were found with which knowledge is organised in practice: 18 instruments for determining the knowledge gap and for evaluating knowledge; 41 instruments for acquiring and developing knowledge; 20 instruments for knowledge sharing. On a strategic and tactical level there are provisions for knowledge management but they have not been developed as such.

The Openness of Knowledge Sharing within Organizations: A Comparative Study of the United States and the People's Republic of China

Abstract: This study examines empirically the interaction effects of national culture and contextual factors (nature of the knowledge and the relationship between the knowledge sharer and recipient) on employees' tendency to share knowledge with co‐workers. Quantitative and open‐ended responses to two scenarios were collected from 142 managers (104 from the U.S. and 38 from the People's Republic of China). These two nations were selected due to their divergence on salient aspects of national culture, as well as their global political and economic importance. The focus on interaction effects was aimed at providing a more powerful test of culture's effects than simple comparisons of means typical of prior related research. Consistent with culture‐based expectation, the quantitative results indicated that Chinese vs. U.S. nationals' openness of knowledge sharing was related to their different degrees of collectivism—the relative emphasis on self vs. collective interests—as well as whether knowledge sharing involved a ...

Communities of practice in the distributed international environment

Abstract: Modern commercial organisations are facing pressures which have caused them to lose personnel. When they lose people, they also lose their knowledge. Organisations also have to cope with the internationalisation of business forcing collaboration and knowledge sharing across time and distance. Knowledge management (KM) claims to tackle these issues. This paper looks at an area where KM does not offer sufficient support, that is, the sharing of knowledge that is not easy to articulate. The focus in this paper is on communities of practice in commercial organisations. We do this by exploring knowledge sharing in Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of communities of practice and investigating how communities of practice may translate to a distributed international environment. The paper reports on two case studies that explore the functioning of communities of practice across international boundaries.

Barriers and facilitators to the use of knowledge management systems

Abstract: This paper reports a post-implementation review of usage and user experiences of an electronic information management system (EIM) in a multinational company. The implementation of this system was the first step in the company's programme to achieve effective knowledge management leading to innovative and integrated business solutions. In the context of low levels of usage, users were asked to identify barriers and facilitators to the use of EIM. The resultant list relates to a considerable array of human and organizational issues that the current implementation methodology has failed to address. This failure impedes progress towards effective knowledge management and realization of the associated business advantages. The findings suggest that a 'technology push' approach to knowledge management has serious limitations. The identification of the critical success factors for EIM provides the basis for a change management process that includes development of the knowledge sharing culture needed to enable ef...

Knowledge Management and Virtual Organizations

Abstract: From the Publisher: Based on the compilation of latest knowledge, research and practices being defined by world leading scholars, practitioners and experts, this is the first work that synthesizes the latest thinking in knowledge management with the design of information technology and Internet enabled new organization forms. Emphasis of most articles is on Knowledge Management, Virtual Organizations and Virtual Teams and Success Factors for Knowledge Management and Virtual Organizations. The scholarly and practitioner contributions to this work represent the first attempt to answer the issues about applying knowledge management for enabling 'anytime, anywhere, anyhow' organizations. These issues will be of relevance to all researchers, scholars, managers, executives and entrepreneurs interested in understanding how information technologies and knowledge management can enable effective design and emergence of virtual organizations, virtual teams and communities of practice. Within this perspective, the focus is on understanding how knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition, knowledge exchange, knowledge transfer and management of related risks can be understood and applied in the case of new organization forms including virtual web, virtual corporation, Net broker and business networks.

WonderTools? A comparative study of ontological engineering tools

Abstract: Ontologies are becoming increasingly important in a variety of different fields, such as intelligent searching on the web, knowledge sharing and reuse, knowledge management, etc. Therefore, we expect that the need for tools to support the construction of ontologies will increase significantly in the coming years. In this paper, we investigate several of these tools. We evaluate the tools using two different ontologies: a simple one about university employees, and a second, more complex one, about the structure of a university study. The evaluation was conducted using a framework, which incorporates aspects of ontology buildings and testing, as well as cooperation with other users. Our conclusions are that the usefulness of the tools depends on the level of the users and the stage of development of the ontology.

Avoiding Competence Substitution Through Knowledge Sharing

Abstract: Causal ambiguity protects distinctive competencies from imitation but might increase a firm's vulnerability to substitution. The authors suggest that firms can manage this tension by identifying the causes of superior performance and using this knowledge to make their commitments to key stakeholders more credible. Credible commitment allows a firm to influence its stakeholders and thereby simultaneously delay substitution and control the threat of imitation.

Computer-mediated inter-organizational knowledge-sharing: Insights from a virtual team innovating using a collaborative tool

Abstract: How does a team use a computer-mediated technology to share and reuse knowledge when the team is inter-organizational and virtual, when the team must compete for the attention of team members with collocated teams, and when the task is the creation of a completely new innovation? From a review of the literature on knowledge sharing and reuse using collaborative tools, three propositions are generated about the likely behavior of the team in using the collaborative tool and reusing the knowledge put in the knowledge repository. A multi-method longitudinal research study of this design team was conducted over their ten-month design effort. Both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained. Results indicated that the propositions from the literature were insufficient to explain the behavior of the team. We found that ambiguity of the task does not determine use of a collaborative tool; that tool use does not increase with experience; and that knowledge that is perceived as transient whether it really is transient or not is unlikely to be referenced properly for later search and retrieval. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.

Knowledge management in small enterprises

Abstract: This paper investigates the extent to which six factors drawn from the theory and practice of knowledge management can be applied in small organisations. The factors are: balance between need and cost of knowledge acquisition; the extent to which knowledge originates in the external environment; internal knowledge processing; internal knowledge storage; use and deployment of knowledge within the organisation; and attention to human resources. Three cases demonstrate that the fundamental concepts and principles of knowledge management are similar for small and large organisations. Differences include the value placed on systematic knowledge management practices such as formalised environmental scanning and computer‐based knowledge sharing systems. Consultants, and library and information professionals, are advised to understand the organisation’s management and communication culture; emphasise simple and inexpensive systems integrated into everyday practice; and establish and monitor adherence to tools suc...

Limits of IT-driven knowledge management initiatives for interactive innovation processes: towards a community-based approach

Abstract: This paper begins with a critical review of the literature on Knowledge Management (KM), arguing that its focus on IT-based tools limits its potential for encouraging the knowledge sharing that is crucial to interactive innovation processes. Interactive innovation processes depend on the integration of knowledge across disparate social communities and require the exploration (creation) of knowledge, rather than simply the improved exploration of knowledge. Knowledge exploration depends on shared understanding, which is difficult where those involved are from different cultural and disciplinary bad grounds. In these situations, knowledge has to be continuously negotiated through interactive social networking processes. These processes are under-emphasised in most of the KM literature. Two cases of interactive innovation processes are presented. The contrast between these two cases leads to the development of two alternative approaches to KM: the community approach emphasises dialogue occurring through networks (which may be IT-enabled) while the cognitive approach emphasises linear information flows. It is argued that, at least in terms of encouraging interactive innovation processes, the community model is superior.

Predictors of learning organizations: a human resource development practitioner’s perspective

Abstract: Seeks to find predictors of learning organizations as determined by Marquardt’s Learning Organization Profile (1996). For this study, male and female professionals were asked to rate their perceptions about their organizations. They were asked to rate their organizational perceptions on rewards and recognition, training and education, information flow, vision and strategy, and individual team development. Finds that appropriate rewards and recognition are an undergirding structure to the learning organization and that an environment of knowledge sharing and learning systems is an indication of a learning organization. Results support the notion that interventions intended to aid in the metamorphose from a current organization state to that of a learning organization may wish to focus initially on these aspects.

Inter- and Intra-Organisational Barriers to Sharing Knowledge in the Extended Supply-Chain

Abstract: This paper aims to describe the main barriers to knowledge sharing in the extended enterprise. The barriers were identified through a literature review and work with industrial companies. The barriers have been categorised according to the TOP (Technology, Organisation, People) classification. The main finding is that the majority of barriers are concerned with people issues.

Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases

Abstract: HRD professionals can be considered to be knowledgeable about knowledge management practices in their own offices. Effectiveness of knowledge management practices of three HRD offices were studied, using a combination of structured questionnaires plus interviews with four HRD professionals per office. Three categories of knowledge management activities were considered, by the members of these organisations, to be effective: activities that expand the individual or collective experiential horizon; activities that are meant to consolidate knowledge; informal and formal communication about work issues. Conditions that facilitate or inhibit these activities are identified. Organisations wishing to improve their knowledge productivity are confronted with some fundamental choices: innovation versus routine, office versus officer, and knowledge sharing versus knowledge shielding.

Improving co‐development through process alignment

Abstract: There has been a recent surge of enthusiasm within the automotive industry to build closer supplier relationships within the area of product development. One concept deemed central to these relationships is the alignment of development processes between the collaborating organizations, an area that is expanded upon within this paper. We suggest that synchronization can be achieved through the four key steps of process standardization, knowledge sharing, alignment of existing practices, and continuous elimination of waste within the joint development cycles. A methodology for implementing these stages is presented along with the underlying principles on which it is based – the importance of joint teamworking and multi‐company involvement within the alignment process is highlighted.

The diffusion, design and social shaping of production management information systems in Europe

Abstract: Information systems for production management tend to be promoted by technology suppliers as standardised solutions which form a singular “best practice”. However, as these technologies are configurational, the notion of best practice is illusory. Data on the diffusion and design of information systems for production management across four European countries indicate distinctive national differences. It is argued that these can best be explained at two levels: first, national differences in the social institutional networks through which information about these systems is diffused socially shapes patterns of adoption and design; second pre‐existing patterns of work design and managerial practices may influence the degree of “fit” between particular design philosophies and prevailing organizational contexts in different countries. Differences in the particular roles of professional association networks and technology suppliers in the diffusion process are explained in terms of different patterns of knowledge sharing across countries.

Augmented Intensional Reasoning in Knowledge‐Based Accounting Systems

Abstract: A limitation of existing accounting systems is their lack of knowledge sharing and knowledge reuse, which makes the design and implementation of new accounting systems time‐consuming and expensive. An important requirement for knowledge sharing and reuse is the existence of a common semantic infrastructure. In this article we use McCarthy's (1982) Resource‐Event‐Agent (REA) model as a common semantic infrastructure in an accounting context. The objective is to make knowledge‐intensive use of REA to share accounting concepts across functional boundaries and to reuse these concepts in different applications and different systems, an approach we call augmented intensional reasoning. Intensional reasoning is the active use of conceptual structures in information systems operations such as design and information retrieval. For augmented intensional reasoning, the conceptual structures are extended with domain‐specific REA knowledge. Sections II and III describe different dimensions of augmented intensional rea...

Getting strategic value from constellations of communities

Abstract: The concept of constellations of communities is a big picture view of how communities of practice in organizations relate to one another These communities are voluntary, and over time they form a complex, informal network of relationships, knowledge sharing, learning, and conversations that can be woven together into a powerful strategic fabric with the right kind of leadership Like a garden, these communities must be tended and nurtured rather than commanded and controlled The article contains examples of constellations of communities in business, non‐profit, volunteer‐oriented associations, and society at large and outlines the potential benefits of a constellation to its stakeholders

PLANET: A Shareable and Reusable Ontology for Representing Plans

Abstract: Ontologies are becoming a recognized vehicle for knowledge reuse, knowledge sharing, and modeling. This paper presents PLANET, an ontology for representing plans. To show that PLANET is a comprehensive ontology that can be reused to build new applications, we describe several specializations of it to represent plans in three different real-world domains that were made by adding minor extensions to PLANET’s general definitions and classes. In past work, we have developed several plan evaluation systems in these domains, and have integrated them in several occasions with plan editors and plan generation systems. For each of these integrations, and often for each system in the integration, a new format for exchanging plans was devised. PLANET can represent all of the plans that we and others have used in these domains, providing a standard universal format for knowledge sharing that can be used as an interlingua in integrated planning applications. Finally, the paper discusses how we have used PLANET as a knowledge modellingtool to design representations for courses of action in a military domain, guiding us to make useful distinctions and modelling choices.

Knowledge sharing practices and technology use norms in dispersed development teams

Abstract: Dispersed, cross-functional development teams—a particular type of virtual team—confront a wide range of knowledge-based challenges in their dispersed work. Encompassing diverse sources of task-relevant knowledge, such teams present rich opportunities for exchanging and combining knowledge—activities at the heart of an organization’s ability to innovate (Grant 1996; Schumpeter 1934). Yet empirical studies from distinct research streams indicate that both knowledge diversity and geographic separation also challenge the effective exchange and ability to leverage knowledge. This study explored how such teams interact to overcome the barriers and reap the benefits of their “built-in” knowledge diversity. In particular, we sought to understand (1) how teams use various collaborative technologies at their disposal to share knowledge and (2) whether shared—or disparate—expectations around the use of those technologies influenced knowledge sharing practices. In-depth, multi-method field research of dispersed new product development teams in a multinational company forms the empirical basis of this work.

Knowledge Representation Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations A Review

Abstract: Like his previous book, Conceptual Structures (Addison-Wesley 1984), Sowa's new book is a unique blend of philosophy, computer science, linguistics, and mathematics. It is intended to be a "general textbook of knowledge-base analysis and design" (p. IX), but I see it more as a collection of intellectual provocations, stimulating exercises, and cross-disciplinary comparisons for the appreciation of a more mature audience. Its great strength is recognizing the need for an interdisciplinary approach, and the attempt at presenting the logical and philosophical foundations of knowledge representation under a unified view. Its great weakness is a lack of consistent rigor, which is needed in a textbook for newcomers to a subject. After some historical remarks and a first introductory chapter devoted to logic, Sowa immediately attacks the hard problems involved in choosing ontological categories, which ly at the heart of any knowledge representation project. This chapter is the densest (and most problematic), where the basic distinctions used and refined throughout the book are presented. Then the author overviews the main representational paradigms and delves into the muddy waters of times, events, processes, purposes, contexts, and agents. The subtle issues related to the limits of logic when dealing with vagueness, uncertainty, and ignorance are also addressed in some detail, in the context of what Sowa calls the knowledge soup, "a collection of signs—images, symbols, words, and concepts with associated feelings" (p. 394); this discussion ends with a synthesis of Peirce's and Saussure's accounts of semiotics, the study of signs. A final chapter overviews the problems and the techniques for knowledge sharing and acquisition, including a discussion about relationships between different representation systems. The book is supplemented by an extensive appendix, which includes a sample ontology (with a preliminary axiomatization of the top-level categories), an extended example, and answers to selected exercises. My feeling is that this book is meant for adults only. I mean that although Sowa's first book was suitable for a large audience (and I myself still recommend it to knowledge engineering newcomers), this one is less systematic and more problematic, reflecting years of passionate inquiry into the deepest foundations of conceptual analysis and knowledge representation. What emerges is a vivid picture of the author's peculiar view of history of logic and philosophy, which is deeply intertwined with the analysis of the big problems of knowledge representation and knowledge engineering. Unfortunately, clarity and formal rigor are sacrificed in this highly interdisciplinary attempt, so that a good background in logic, philosophy, and knowledge engineering is necessary to avoid being puzzled by the many confusions, inaccuracies, and formal glitches and to extract the useful lessons. This tolerant and open-minded attitude is especially

Sustained knowledge management by organizational culture

Abstract: Preserving and fostering knowledge is the vital interest of a network-like virtual organization. The decentralized and geographically distributed organizational structure inhibits knowledge flow. The particular conditions of knowledge management in virtual organizations are discussed by the example of an empirical study we carried out in a service company. We analyze how technical and organizational aspects influence knowledge sharing and transfer. Particular emphasis is placed on supporting knowledge transfer. It is shown how an existing knowledge sharing tradition had to be extended and which drawback it had concerning technology use. To improve knowledge flow within the organization a web-based knowledge base was introduced. This initiated a process of externalizing tacit knowledge and is meant to introduce new ways of knowledge transfer to the organizational culture. In fluid virtual organizations sustained knowledge management means to establish an organizational memory that is flexible and adaptive to changing requirements. This is best achieved by a strong organizational culture that emphasizes knowledge sharing by the use of various communication channels.