The study investigates knowledge management (KM) practices in the public sector in Botswana. The underlying premise is that good KM leads to efficiency and effectiveness. The study assesses the KM practices in the government departments by means of a questionnaire survey of senior managers. The assumption is that the corporate manager/directors will know what knowledge is there, how knowledge is created, shared and flow in the organization. The main question of this study is whether the Botswana public sector is practicing KM. The study explores the problem and questions by means of a questionnaire survey amongst 43 departmental directors of the Government of Botswana. The overall finding is that information management rather than KM is being practiced. The respondents, senior public service managers, certainly recognize the value of and the need for KM. But, they themselves identify certain weaknesses, such as lack of knowledge of KM among their staff, weak communication inside and across the departments, lack of policy and lack of good KM systems.

<p>The study investigates knowledge management (KM) practices in the public sector in Botswana. The underlying premise is that good KM leads to efficiency and effectiveness. The study assesses the KM practices in the government departments by means of a questionnaire survey of senior managers. The assumption is that the corporate manager/directors will know what knowledge is there, how knowledge is created, shared and flow in the organization. The main question of this study is whether the Botswana public sector is practicing KM. Related questions are:&nbsp / What are the views of public service managers/ directors on the benefits that can be reaped from KM practices?&nbsp / What evidence is there that the public service has a culture of sharing information and knowledge? And how are staff members encouraged to internalize and use new knowledge? How are creativity and new ideas encouraged?&nbsp / Are there appropriate technological resources to facilitate effective KM, for example central knowledge repositories and social networking?The study explores the problem and questions by means of a questionnaire survey amongst 43 departmental directors of the Government of Botswana. The overall finding is that information management rather than KM is being practiced. The respondents, senior public service managers, certainly recognize the value of and the need for KM. But, they themselves identify certain weaknesses, such as lack of knowledge of KM among their staff, weak communication inside and across the departments, lack of policy and lack of good KM systems.<br /> .</p>

For manufacturing companies active on the global market, high-performance production systems that contribute to the growth and competitiveness of the company are essential. Among a wide range of industries it is increasingly acknowledged that superior production system capabilities are crucial for competitive success. However, the process of designing the production system has received little attention, ignoring its potential for gaining a competitive edge. Designing production systems in an effective and efficient manner is advantageous as it supports the possibility to achieve the best possible production system in a shorter time. One way to facilitate the design of the production system is an effective management of design information. Without managing design information effectively in the production system design process the consequences may be devastating including delays, difficulties in production ramp-up, costly rework, and productivity losses. The objective of the research presented in this thesis is to develop knowledge that will contribute to an effective management of design information when designing production systems. The empirical data collection rests on a multiple-case study method and a survey in which the primary data derive from two industrialization projects at a supplier in the automotive industry. Each industrialization project involved the design of a new production system. The findings revealed ten categories of design information to be used throughout the process of designing production systems. The identified design information categories are grouped in the following way: (1) design information that minimizes the risk of sub-optimization; (2) design information that ensures an alignment with the requirements placed by the external context; (3) design information that ensures an alignment with the requirements placed by the internal context, and (4) design information that facilitates advancements in the design work. In order to improve the management of the broad variety of design information required, a framework is developed. The framework confirms the necessity to consider the management of design information as a multidimensional construct consisting of the acquiring, sharing, and using of information. Further, the framework is based on six characteristics that influence the management of design information. These characteristics are information type, source of information, communication medium, formalization, information quality, and pragmatic information. Supported by the findings, guidelines for the management of design information are outlined to facilitate an effective and efficient design of the production system and thus contribute to better production systems. The guidelines are of value to those responsible for or involved in the design of production systems.

When starting a new business, the owner has the vision to grow the business to a large corporate enterprise. In the small business stage, many challenges face the management of such businesses though. The influence of the external environment pushes the business from one side to the other. It is at this point where a true entrepreneur takes control and uses all necessary skills to succeed in generating the expected return on the invested money. One of the skills in the management armour of the small business manager is the ability to use information as a management tool. To gain insight into the dynamics of information management, a detailed literature study was done on all the aspects relevant to the topic. Previous research studies were taken into account to form a broad understanding of the study field. To determine the use of management information in small businesses as a tool in decision–making activities, a qualitative research study was done. The outcome of this study shows that there is a good understanding of the advantages of using management information as a decision–making tool, but that application does not happen to its full extent in practice. The management of data seems to be not very recent in small businesses. The objectives of the study was to determine the use of information, as well as the possibility of creating a communal information bureau, to assist in the availability of relevant data in the information support process. Certain recommendations were made in terms of the direct results and conclusions raised by the empirical study. Future studies can be done to determine the feasibility of communal data warehouses and data bureaus. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

When starting a new business, the owner has the vision to grow the business to a large corporate enterprise. In the small business stage, many challenges face the management of such businesses though. The influence of the external environment pushes the business from one side to the other. It is at this point where a true entrepreneur takes control and uses all necessary skills to succeed in generating the expected return on the invested money. One of the skills in the management armour of the small business manager is the ability to use information as a management tool. To gain insight into the dynamics of information management, a detailed literature study was done on all the aspects relevant to the topic. Previous research studies were taken into account to form a broad understanding of the study field. To determine the use of management information in small businesses as a tool in decision–making activities, a qualitative research study was done. The outcome of this study shows that there is a good understanding of the advantages of using management information as a decision–making tool, but that application does not happen to its full extent in practice. The management of data seems to be not very recent in small businesses. The objectives of the study was to determine the use of information, as well as the possibility of creating a communal information bureau, to assist in the availability of relevant data in the information support process. Certain recommendations were made in terms of the direct results and conclusions raised by the empirical study. Future studies can be done to determine the feasibility of communal data warehouses and data bureaus. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Modem construction projects, characterised by severe fragmentation from both geographical and disciplinary perspectives, require accurate and timely sharing of information. Traditional information management systems operate on a textual basis and do not always consider the meaning of information. Current web-based information management technology supports information communication to a reasonable extent but still has many limitations, such as the lack of semanticawareness and poor interoperability of software applications. This research argues that Semantic Web technologies can enhance the efficiency of information management in construction projects by providing content-based and contextspecific information to project team members, and supporting the interoperation between independent applications. A Semantic Web-based Information Management System (Sams) for construction projects was created to demonstrate the above concept. The approach adopted for this research involved creating a new framework for Semantic Web-based information management. This extensible system framework enables the system to merge diverse construction information sources, ontologies and end-user applications into the overall Semantic Web environment. The semantic components developed in this research included a project document's annotation model, a project partner's user profile model, and several lightweight IFC-based ontologies for documented information management. This supports intelligent information management and interoperation between heterogeneous information sources and applications. The system framework, prototype annotations, and ontologies were applied to a concept demonstrator that illustrated how the project documents were annotated, accessed, converted, categorised, and retrieved on the basis of content and context. The demonstrator (named SwiMS) acts as a middleware, which mediates between user needs and the information sources. Information in project partners' documents were mapped and accessed intelligently. This involved the use of rule-based filtering and thus prevented the users from being overwhelmed by irrelevant documents or missing relevant ones in heterogeneous and distributed information sources. It also enabled the adaptation of documents to individual contexts and preferences, and the dynamic composition of various document management services. Evaluation of the system framework and demonstrator revealed that the system enhances the efficiency of construction information management, with the three most beneficial areas being project knowledge management, collaborative design and communication between project team members. The Swims annotations, ontologies and deductive rules are important technologies provide an innovative approach to managing construction information. These enable the information in construction documents, both structured documents and un-structured documents, to be interpretable by computers. This ensures the efficiency and precision of construction information management.

The World Wide Web contains rich collections of digital materials that can be used in education and learning settings. The collaborative authoring prototype of Walden's Paths targets two groups of users: educators and learners. From the perspective of educators, the authoring tool allows educators to collaboratively build a Walden's Path by filtering and organizing web pages into an ordered linear structure for the common information needs, which can be extended, tailored and modified into a derivative path from its parent version to meet dynamic and evolving educational requirements. From the students' perspective, Walden's Paths provide a shared knowledge space that facilitates collaborative learning. Specifically, collaborative learners can annotate locally and globally on pages and share among group members, where each annotation fosters the initiation of a thread of discussion. Therefore, knowledge transfer can be achieved in the process of social interaction associated with shared annotations.

The aim of the research was to investigate the formation of the information management discipline, propose a framework by which it is presently understood, and test that framework within a particular area of application, namely the provision of scientific and technological information (STI) services. The work is presented as a PhD by Publication which comprises a narrative that encompasses the series of published papers, and includes excerpts from the book written to illustrate the province of the discipline. In thee book the disciplinary context is detailed and exemplified based upon information management domains. The book consolidates information management principles within a framework defined by these operational, analytical and administrative domains. It was created by a redaction of prior epistemological proposals; an analysis of the understanding of practice that has been shaped by professional, institutional and information science influences; and demonstration of practice within the domain framework. The disciplinary framework was then used in a series of STI case studies where it was found to provide an effective description of information management. Together, the book and subsequent case studies provided illustration of the principles utilised in information management and the way that they are practiced within different domains, along with an explanation of the manner in which the information management discipline has been formed. These should assist with direction of future research and scholarship particularly with respect to factors relevant to information services and indicators for their successful application in future. It is anticipated that this generalised description of the practices across the range of interpretations of information management should enable practicing information professionals to appreciate the relationship of their own work to disciplines that are converging towards similar purpose, such as through a clearer indication of the extent to which technical and management standards may be applied, and performance analysis undertaken. Complementary outcomes that were achieved during the course of the work were: a comparative analysis of thesauri in the information field which shows that in this field, the ways that information professionals represent themselves remains unreconciled; an historical examination of Australian STI services that provides pointers to their effective continuation; and a reconsideration of the relationship between librarianship and information management. The work is presented as a compilation of papers that comprise firstly extracts from the book to exemplify its consolidation of information management principles, then a number of published and submitted papers that examine how principles have been applied in practice. This is in the context of six case studies of Australian STI services including interviews with creators and developers, and analysis of historical information.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2003.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005.