Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-06-22T11:56:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AlexandreMartinsAdm.pdf: 1617722 bytes, checksum: fdfed229c0da40a002651b29e724ccb4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-22T11:56:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AlexandreMartinsAdm.pdf: 1617722 bytes, checksum: fdfed229c0da40a002651b29e724ccb4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Nenhuma / Em um mercado cada vez mais competitivo e globalizado, empresas de manufatura buscam diferenciação da inovação e se deparam com um desafio cada vez maior: o de gerenciar e criar o conhecimento para materializá-lo em inovação de produtos. O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é o de analisar os processos de importação, absorção e criação de conhecimentos associados à inovação no desenvolvimento de produtos em um fabricante de calçados infantis. Para sua realização foi utilizada a metodologia do tipo qualitativo, sendo adotado o estudo de caso único. Como estratégia de pesquisa foi analisada uma empresa fabricante de calçados infantis que é reconhecida por suas estratégias inovadoras. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio da análise de documentos, entrevistas e observação participante. Para orientar a análise e discussão dos dados foram observadas três categorias de análise: as etapas intensivas em conhecimento, os processos de importação e absorção de conhecimentos e os processos de criação de conhecimentos no desenvolvimento de produtos. O estudo revelou cinco etapas intensivas em conhecimento no desenvolvimento de produtos: a primeira referente à criação dos produtos pelos estilistas; a segunda na validação com gerente de produtos; a terceira relativa à validação dos produtos com os gestores internos; a quarta relativa à validação com fontes externas e a quinta etapa na validação final dos produtos com gestores da empresa. Com relação à importação e absorção de conhecimentos, identificou-se que os mesmos foram propiciados principalmente pelo acesso a dados disponíveis na internet, em blogs especializados em tendências da moda, especialmente do vestuário adulto. Já, a criação de conhecimento é propiciada por fóruns de inovação internos e externos realizados pela empresa que estimulam a interação com médicos, publicitários, lojistas, franqueados e representantes comerciais. Os resultados mostram que existe ainda uma forte cultura voltada para a inovação na empresa estimulada pela liderança exercida pelo presidente da empresa e que, no caso investigado, a combinação de forças internas e externas na construção do conhecimento torna-se uma aptidão estratégica de difícil imitação pela concorrência. / In a globalize and highly competitive market, manufacturers pursue differentiation on innovation and face a growing challenge: to manage and create the expertise in order to materialize it as a product innovation. The main objective of this review is to analyze importing processes, the absorption and the creation of knowledge associated to the innovation of developing products for a children’s shoes factory. To build this review it was deployed a qualitative type methodology, being used a unique case study. As a strategy for this research the subject of this review was a company that manufactures children’s shoes and that is widely renowned by its innovating strategies. Data collection was made through document checks, interviews and participating observation. To orientate the analysis and data discussion it was followed three category of analysis: expertise intensive steps, importing processes and the absorption and generation of expertise for products development. The study revealed five expertise intensive steps; the first referred to the creation process by the fashion designers; the second on its validation with the products manager; the third related to the product validation with the internal managers; the fourth was related to the validation with external sources and the fifth step was the final product validation by the company's directors. With regards to the importing and knowledge absorption, it was identified that the same were facilitated by Internet data access, in fashion trends' blogs, especially the ones about adult fashion. Moreover the creation of knowledge is provided by internal and external innovation forums held by the company that seem to stimulate the interaction with doctors, the publicity market, retailers, franchisees and sales representatives. The results have shown that there is a strong innovation culture in the company driven by the leadership of its president and, on the reviewed case, the mix of internal and external factors that leads to the flourish of expertise becomes a strategic enhancement hardly followed by the competitors.

Professional bodies represent practitioners who continually seek guidance on industry related problems and challenges. Each professional body adopts values that are aligned to their own field of expertise. The operations of professional bodies are generally similar in many aspects and demands efficacy in order to maintain credibility and relevance. Research has revealed that professional bodies are lacking in efficacy and need to improve so that maximum benefit can be relished by practitioners. This research attempts to develop a framework that can be utilised as a guide by professional bodies so that they can achieve excellence. The aim of the study was to develop a framework that can be used for the formation, practice and management of professional bodies by exploring the views and opinions of a total of 1119 participants from management and members of professional bodies locally. The data was collected from interviews, a focus group discussion and two separate questionnaires, one for professional bodies and the other for practitioners. The data was analysed statistically primarily using factor analysis to determine the significant factors that contributed to the developed framework for professional bodies. The questionnaires espoused questions related to the demographics of the respondents, management, mandate of professional bodies, offerings and benefits, assurance mechanisms, role of members, needs of members and more. The research instrument used the seven point Likert scale for the respondents to rate each question. The questionnaires were posted online for the respondents to participate. The research significant factors for professional bodies and practitioners emanated separately through factor analysis. The factors were then combined resulting in a total of 14 research overall factors that were used to develop a framework for professional bodies. The beneficiaries of this study are primarily professional bodies, practitioners and also SAQA. The framework will also be useful to management in industry since it addresses partnership and collaboration efforts between industry, professional bodies and academia. / Business Management / D.B.L.

Comment peut-on devenir plus conscients des sources de connaissance au sein des organisations des humains? Les changements économiques et technologiques rapides forcent les organisations à devenir plus souples, agiles et interdisciplinaires. Pour cela, les organisations cherchent des alternatives pour les structures de communication hiérarchiques traditionnelles qui entravent les pratiques de collaboration ascendantes. Pour que les méthodes ascendantes soient efficaces, il est nécessaire d'offrir aux membres l'accès à l'information et à l'expertise dont ils ont besoin pour prendre des décisions qualifiées. Ceci est un défi complexe qui implique la culture organisationnelle, l'informatique et les pratiques de travail. Un défaut au niveau de l'application de ce système peut aborder des points critiques qui peuvent ralentir les processus de travail, d'entraver l'innovation et qui conduisent souvent au travail suboptimal et redondant. Par exemple, une enquête 2014 de 152 dirigeants de Campus IT aux Etats-Unis, estime que 19% des systèmes informatiques du campus sont redondants, ce qui coûte les universités des Etats-Unis 3.8B$ par an. Dans l'ensemble, les travailleurs intellectuels trouvent l'information dont ils ont besoin seulement 56% du temps. Avec un quart du temps total des travailleurs intellectuels consacré à la recherche et l'analyse des informations. Ce gaspillage de temps coûte 7K$ pour chaque employé par an. Un autre exemple du gaspillage est celui des nouveaux arrivants et des employés promus qui peuvent prendre jusqu'à 2 ans pour s'intégrer pleinement au sein de leur département. En outre et selon des enquêtes étendues, seulement 28% des apprenants estiment que leurs organisations actuelles «utilisent pleinement» les compétences qu'ils ont actuellement capable d'offrir et 66% prévoient quitter leur organisation en 2020. Réussir la résolution de ce défi est capable de motiver les membres de l'organisation, ainsi que d'y améliorer l'innovation et l'apprentissage. L'objectif de cette thèse est de mieux comprendre ce problème en explorant les défis rencontrés par le service d'informatique dans une université et un centre de recherche interdisciplinaire. Deuxièmement, co-développer et mettre en œuvre une solution avec ces institutions, je décris leur utilisation des logiciels que nous avons développés, les résultats et la valeur obtenus avec ces pilotes. Troisièmement, tester l'efficacité de la solution, et explorer de nouvelles applications et le potentiel d'un tel système similaire pour être utilisé dans une plus grande échelle. Pour mieux comprendre le problème je me suis engagé dans une discussion avec les membres et les dirigeants des deux organisations. Une conclusion importante des discussions est que les membres de ces organisations souffrent souvent d'un manque de sensibilisation à propos de leurs connaissances-compétences au niveau d'organisation du capital, et la connaissance des processus et des relations sociales avec leurs collègues dans l'organisation. Grâce à cette exposition, les idées novatrices, les opportunités et les intérêts communs des pairs sont sévèrement limités. Cela provoque des retards inutiles dans les projets inter-équipes, des goulots d'étranglement, et un manque de sensibilisation sur les possibilités de stages. Aussi, j'ai craqué le problème et je l’avais défini comme l'une des informations de fragmentation: Différentes informations sont stockées dans des bases de données disparates ou dans la tête des gens, exigeant un effort et de savoir-faire pour l'obtenir. (...) / How can we become more aware of the sources of insight within human organisations? Rapid economical and technological changes force organisations to become more adaptive, agile and interdisciplinary. In light of this, organisations are seeking alternatives for traditional hierarchical communication structures that hinder bottom-up collaboration practices. Effective bottom-up methods require empowering members with access to the information and expertise they need to take qualified decisions. This is a complex challenge that involves organisational culture, IT and work practices. Failing to address it creates bottlenecks that can slow down business processes, hinder innovation and often lead to suboptimal and redundant work. For example, a 2014 survey of 152 Campus IT leaders in the US, estimated that 19% of the campus IT systems are redundant, costing US universities 3.8B$ per year. In aggregate, knowledge workers find the information they need only 56% of the time. With a quarter of knowledge workers total work time spent in finding and analyzing information. This time waste alone costs 7K$ per employee annually. Another example of the waste created is that newcomers and remote employees may take up to 2 years to fully integrate within their department. Furthermore according to extended surveys, only 28% of millennials feel that their current organizations are making ‘full use’ of the skills they currently have to offer and 66% expect to leave their organisation by 2020. Successfully resolving this challenge holds the potential to motivate organisation members, as well as enhance innovation and learning within it. The focus of this thesis is to better understand this problem by exploring the challenges faced by a university IT department and an interdisciplinary research center. Second, co-develop and implement a solution with these institutions, I describe their usage of the software tool we developed, outcomes and value obtained in these pilots. Third, test the effectiveness of the solution, and explore further applications and potential for a similar system to be used in a wider scale. To better understand the problem I engaged in discussion with members and leaders of both organisations. An important conclusion from the discussions is that members of these organizations often suffer from lack of awareness about their organisation’s knowledge capital—the competencies, knowledge of processes and social connections of their colleagues. Due to this exposure to innovative ideas, opportunities and common interests of peers is severely limited. This causes unnecessary delays in inter-team projects, bottlenecks, and lack of awareness about internship opportunities. I further broke down the problem, and defined it as one of information fragmentation: Different information is stored in disparate databases or inside people’s heads, requiring effort and know-how in order to obtain it. Following the conclusions of this analysis and state-of-the-art review, we have set together the goal to create a collaborative visual database to map the people, projects, skills and institutions for the IT department of Descartes University, and in addition, people, interests and internship opportunities within the CRI, an interdisciplinary research and education center. We have also conducted interviews, surveys and quizzes that ascertain that people had difficulties identifying experts outside their core teams. During the course of this thesis, I progressively addressed this challenge by developing two collaborative web applications called Rhizi and Knownodes. Knownodes is a collaborative knowledge graph which utilized information-rich edges to describe relationships between resources. Rhizi is a real-time and collaborative knowledge capital mapping interface. A prominent unique feature of Rhizi is that it provides a UI that turns text-based assertions made by users into a visual knowledge graph. (...)

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