Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis describes the development of a prototype application which collects, manages, and distributes knowledge gained by Coast Guard cutter crews making port calls throughout the world. The system uses XML technologies in server/client and stand alone environments. With a web browser, the user views and navigates the system's content from a downloaded file collection or from a centralized data source via a network connection. Users add and modify content with Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) forms using their existing network connections. Client-side data access and navigation, as well as data storage, is performed using non-proprietary standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The prototype application's purpose is to fulfill the strategic goal of achieving superiority of maritime domain awareness over the areas in which the Coast Guard operates. The need for this application is based upon the lack of specific information from currently available reference publications, the absence of a system to distribute port call knowledge, and the data bandwidth limitations of cutters at sea. The need for knowledge retention aboard cutters is elevated by shortened crewmember assignment lengths due to the stressful and arduous duties of life at sea. / Lieutenant, U.S. Coast Guard

M.Com. (Business Management) / The knowledge that people create, possess and share can easily go unnoticed in organisations that do not put effort in identifying it. Knowledge, among other factors, is what people in organisations use to make decisions that can possibly give organisations a competitive advantage. Knowledge, as with other traditionally recognised resources, is a strategic resource that organisations can use to bring about positive change in business. Knowledge can be tacit or explicit and both types need to be managed strategically. Explicit knowledge tends to be easily accessible if it is stored in places such as databases where people can locate it, however, tacit knowledge can be slightly more challenging to access as it lies in the minds of people. Eskom’s Project Development Department (PDD) has 32 project developers who actively develop projects that the organisation will invest in. These projects include electricity generation stations, transmission lines or even pollution mitigating technologies. The project developers work with various stakeholders in and outside of the organisation to ensure that the projects are aligned with the strategic objectives of the organisation. This study aimed to identify the knowledge that the project developers possess and a knowledge audit was conducted on the project developers. The results show that the project developers possess vast amounts of knowledge, skills and are subject matter experts in various fields. The project developers also communicate with various other departments within Eskom when developing projects. A contributing fact to the varying knowledge and skills that the project developers possess is the different projects that each project developer develops. These projects can take up to three years to develop and this can enable a person to acquire knowledge in a specific field of operation. The majority of the project developers also stated that they preferred one on one physical conversations to acquire and share knowledge. Knowledge is gaining recognition as a strategic resource within organisations and strategic management of the knowledge is necessary as it can provide benefits for people and organisations as a whole.

Information Technology (IT) bank examiners have difficulty in making practical use of explicit IT knowledge documents stored in the IT examiners' document repository. This repository contains insufficient context to make it immediately and totally relevant to examiners, especially new IT examiners. At times, the document repository is not available for examiners' use due to limited remote access while examiners are in the field or during systems upgrades. In addition, there are no formal mechanisms for validating and updating the content. The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the IT examiners information technology knowledge sharing sessions/community of practice (CoP) provide a mechanism for reusing tangible knowledge assets, transferring knowledge, improving job performance, and providing the kinds of support that benefit IT bank examiners. The participants in this study, eight IT bank examiners, work in the bank information technology regulatory environment. Their skills are in their IT domain areas such as information security, business continuity planning, and systems disaster recovery testing, IT project management, and audit rather than computer programming. Using case study methodologies, the data collected was based on questionnaires, interviews, participant observations - meeting and field notes, and storytelling notes. The field data was analyzed using selected principles from Grounded Theory - constant comparative analysis, narrative pattern analysis, and the ATLAS.ti quantitative analysis software. The study found that the examiners reported, perceived, and believed that IT knowledge sharing sessions facilitated the capturing, validating, and transferring of knowledge among IT bank examiners while improving their individual job performance. Specifically, emerging from the research were eight knowledge transfer themes that supported five benefits/critical functions of the IT knowledge sharing sessions - examiner development, knowledge transfer, social interaction, problem solving, and learning opportunities. However, a community facilitator, mutual trust, and respect among examiners and active participation in the knowledge sharing sessions are essential to the process to enable improved examiner performance and, by extension, organizational performance.

Drawing on the marketing, strategic management, and supply management literature, this dissertation develops and empirically tests a theoretical model that delineates knowledge sharing and collaboration between competing suppliers in serving a buying organization. Data were collected through the means of a conjoint-decision study and a survey of suppliers in the optics and the automotive industries. One hundred and forty-six executive MBA students participated in the conjoint-decision study, and one hundred and ten companies participated in the survey. Statistical analysis results from both studies show strong empirical support to the theoretical model. This dissertation advances our understanding of the relative impacts of different factors in promoting or constraining knowledge sharing between competing suppliers when they collaborate with each other to create superior value for the customer. This dissertation demonstrates that a focal supplier's transfer of knowledge to its counterpart hinges not solely on the characteristics of the collaboration. More importantly, knowledge sharing between two competing suppliers is related to different facets of the customer's relationship with the focal supplier. In conclusion, this dissertation provides substantial insights into the role and influences of the customer on competing suppliers' knowledge sharing and collaboration, as well as the value of knowledge sharing to the strategic outcomes of the inter-supplier collaboration.

This thesis examines how knowledge management professionals use trust as a component in the creation of knowledge management systems, and what methods they use for building trust. Adopting a grounded theory approach, interviews with 8 knowledge management professionals active in different industries served as the base for an analysis that identified trust to be the single most important common factor in the data. The concept of trust used by the informants was identified as relating to the knowledge management system itself, rather than other users, employees or groups in an organisation. Building trust, the KM-professionals mainly focused on three methods: simple solutions, system superiority, and implementation security. Using these methods, the KM-professionals seek to ensure system trust by creating opportunities for users to obtain positive experiences of using the system, and thereby generate a foundation for a trust-based relationship between the user and the system.

Background. Agile Software Development (ASD) promises agility and flexibility in dealing with uncertainty by prioritizing interaction between people supported by informal communication and knowledge sharing. The lack of practices to manage the knowledge as a resource might jeopardize the application of knowledge in the production of goods and service. The utilization of Knowledge Management (KM) strategies can significantly support achieving and sustaining competitive advantage and brings several benefits to software development. However, how to manage knowledge in ASD is still not well understood or investigated.  Objectives. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to the software engineering field by providing a different perspective on directions that KM can take to improve knowledge-based resource (KBR) management in ASD. The detailed objectives are: (i) Understand the current ASD environment regarding KM; (ii) Identify KBRs in ASD and its implications for KM; and (iii) Provide an initial set of variables to evaluate knowledge criticality of knowledge items in ASD.  Method. We used a mixed-methods approach to address the objective of this thesis. The methods selected to conduct the studies include systematic literature review, grounded theory, and improvement case study. The data collection comprised a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and practitioners’ feedback through static validation.  Results. From our SLR we observed that that KM strategies in ASD promote mainly knowledge transfer through practices that stimulate social interaction to share tacit knowledge in the project layer, increasing the risk of losing knowledge by keeping the knowledge localized inside a few individual’s minds. When it comes to coordination, practitioners utilize KBRs in their routines, through social collaboration within teams’ environment/settings. However, this process is nonsystematic, which brings inefficiency to KBR utilization resulting in knowledge loss. It can generate negative implications to the course of the software development, including meaningless searches in databases, frustration because of recurrent problems, and unawareness of knowledge sources. To support decision making related to knowledge retention, we have developed an initial version of the method to evaluate the criticality (KCEM) of a knowledge item, which is divided into two categories, relevance, and scarcity.  Conclusion. The current results of this thesis are of particular interest. However, we recognize that the work is unfinished. As a complement to this thesis, we have planned our long-term objective, which is to contribute to creating scalable KM solutions for companies adopting ASD.We divide this long-term objective into three studies: Carry out a complementary study to apply KCEM in different companies; explore efficient ways of storing codified knowledge in combination with the KCEM, and investigate how to define metrics to evaluate the outcomes of KM practices. / S.E.R.T.E.R.T. Research Profile

A research report submitted to the faculty of commerce, law and management, university of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master of management (in the field of public and development management). YEAR: 2015 / Knowledge sharing is a critical component of knowledge management and a new phenomenon in the South African public sector. To introduce knowledge sharing in government, the Department of Public Service and Administration included it as one of the core management competencies for senior management service officials. There is a general perception that government employees are not keen to share what they know, as sharing empowers your colleague to compete with you for power and promotional opportunities. The purpose of this research study was therefore to investigate the perception of staff members on knowledge sharing activities in Limpopo Provincial Treasury department. In particular, the study was aimed at answering the following questions about the department: (1) What is the perception of employees on knowledge sharing as a catalyst to achieve operational and service delivery objectives? (2) What is the readiness level of LPT employees to share their experiences and know-how for the benefit of the institution? This was a qualitative research. The data was collected through the questionnaire distributed to employees grouped in two stratas, namely senior management and middle management services. Discussions were held, mostly with members of the dysfunctional knowledge management committee and other identified staff members. Relevant departmental documents were also reviewed as part of the research process. The outcome of the study is that the state of employees’ perception towards knowledge sharing is generally positive but in practice, there is little knowledgesharing taking place due to unconducive organisational culture and lack of leadership to position knowledge management as a strategic focus of the department. The study recommends that LPT adopts knowledge management as a strategic focus and put plans in place to preserve institutional memory

The current contribution of the hospitality industry to South Africa’s GDP is estimated at 8.7% and this is targeted to increase to 9.4% by 2015. Yet, hospitality organisations in South Africa are under increasing pressure to remain competitive. One emerging school of thought links knowledge to competitiveness. Knowledge management has been the focus of much recent research, but there are few studies that investigate the potential competitive gains of knowledge in combination with IT, and even fewer within the context of the hospitality industry. The purpose of this paper is to examine the joint and independent effects of knowledge content, knowledge processes, and IT resources on the competitiveness of hospitality organisations. A research model was developed following a review of the literature. To test the model, a structured questionnaire was developed and a survey was conducted in hospitality organisations across South Africa. 112 Hospitality organisations participated from a sample of 656. Knowledge and IT together significantly and positively influence the financial performance of hotels. Results indicated that the acquisition, conversion, protection and application knowledge processes, knowledge content, IT infrastructure quality and IT capabilities significantly and positively affect market, financial, employee and customer performance, while knowledge sharing significantly and positively affects market, financial and employee customer performance. The mediating role of knowledge application on the relationship between knowledge processes and competitiveness was confirmed. The resulting models had adjusted R2 of .210 for market performance, .226 for financial performance, .118 for employee performance and .117 for customer performance. The findings of this paper benefit the hospitality industry by providing guidance to managers of hotels in their decisions to invest in knowledge management and IT to improve market, financial, employee and customer performance. An earlier version of this study’s research model and design was presented at the 12th annual Global Technology Management Association (GITMA) World Conference held in Las Vegas in June 2011. Citation: Cohen, J.F., Inward, K., Toleman, M. (2011). 'Knowledge Management, Information Technology Resources, and the Competitiveness of Hospitality Organisations' Twelfth Annual Global Information Technology Management (GITMA) World Conference, Las Vegas, USA, June 2011.

This research report investigates the way that course designers in the financial services industry use and engage with unit standards. The origins of unit standards, theories drawn from the sociology of education, and interviews with course developers jointly contribute to understanding how unit standards are received and used within an organisational context. Eight informal interviews were conducted with self-employed course designers, to examine how they use unit standards when developing learning material in business contexts. These interviews indicated that course designers had many issues and concerns regarding these documents. Five course developers working in three large organisations in the financial services industry were further interviewed, formally, to establish how they use and engage with unit standards. The findings from both sets of interviews suggest that unit standards are used in a limited capacity in organisational course development in this industry, because they do not correspond to the training requirements of the respective organisations interviewed. However, unit standards are used in Learnership programmes, because a different training objective is pursued, namely a social justice and redress objective and not a business objective. Although the research indicates that course developers would welcome some kind of standardisation or regulatory system to direct course design, they are opposed to the existing design and structure of unit standards.

Knowledge management and organisational learning have received much attention in recent times, owing to the increased recognition which has been accorded knowledge as a source of organisational success and sustainability. Researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in striving to understand how the two notions can be harnessed in order to attain that success. However, while it seems clear that both knowledge management and organisational learning have the same goals, that is to nurture and harness knowledge resources, the concepts have tended, in the past, to be regarded independently of each other, with parallel strategies having been implemented for each. Such an imposed separation has, at times, resulted in resource duplication and unsatisfactory outcomes for the organisations concerned. The current study examines the nature of the relationship between knowledge management and organisational learning in higher educational institutions in Uganda, with the aim of providing a unified framework for understanding how the above-mentioned knowledge-based concepts relate to each other. A mixed methodology approach was applied to achieve the set objective. Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires from 270 respondents, employed at six higher educational institutions (comprising four universities, one management development institute, and one business school). Qualitative data, in contrast, were collected by means of interviews which were conducted with 13 key informants from three different institutions. Analytical techniques of correlation analysis, regression analysis and canonical correlation analysis were applied to the quantitative data, while content analysis procedure was applied to the qualitative data. Empirical evidence confirmed that knowledge management and organisational learning have an interdependent relationship, which is manifested in two main dimensions, namely the institutional strategic focus and people (human resources) focus. Based on such dimensions, the study proposes a re-conceptualisation of the linkage between knowledge management and organisational learning, aimed at evolving the two concepts into a single organisational knowledge sustainability concept in higher educational institutions. Such a joint concept emphasises the effective utilisation of existing knowledge, while, at the same time, focusing on the importance of continuous learning for acquiring new knowledge to meet future organisational knowledge requirements. In addition, empirical evidence from this study show that knowledge management practices play an important role in promoting learning at various levels of the organisation. The study concludes that knowledge management has not been fully integrated in the strategic agenda of most higher education institutions in Uganda and much internal knowledge is not properly harnessed for the benefit of such institutions. The study recommends that, in the current information age, higher education institutions in Uganda should prioritise both knowledge management and organisational learning by implementing strategies aimed at exploiting existing knowledge, as well as at exploring new knowledge. Lastly, recommendations for future research are presented.