Aim of study: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current knowledge management status within the Academic Information Service at the University of Pretoria. Research method: A literature study was conducted to establish the nature and value of knowledge management for organizations. A questionnaire was used to obtain reliable information with regard to the current value and nature of knowledge management within the Academic Information Service at the University of Pretoria. Core findings: Within an academic library like the Academic Information Service at Pretoria, there exist a certain misconception that libraries are already doing knowledge management for years. The management of knowledge for clients, and providing knowledge and information to the client are seen as knowledge management. It was indicated that within the Academic Information Service there is not much attention given to the management of tacit knowledge within the organization. This shows that libraries aren’t doing knowledge management for years. They are doing explicit management of knowledge but not tacit management of organizational knowledge. Within this study it is stressed why this tacit knowledge is so important for an organization to exist and compete within these turbulent times we live in. The academic information service is not managing their tacit knowledge to the fullest potential and for benefit of the organization. There is no culture or incentives conducive to knowledge sharing within the library. The existing technology namely the intranet and portal aren’t re ally enablers for knowledge management. There exist a lot of barriers to knowledge management within the AIS that should be attended to. A knowledge management strategy is suggested with a lot of shifts in connection to the culture of the organization, incentives and information technology. / Thesis (MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2002.

Aim of study: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current knowledge management status within the Academic Information Service at the University of Pretoria. Research method: A literature study was conducted to establish the nature and value of knowledge management for organizations. A questionnaire was used to obtain reliable information with regard to the current value and nature of knowledge management within the Academic Information Service at the University of Pretoria. Core findings: Within an academic library like the Academic Information Service at Pretoria, there exist a certain misconception that libraries are already doing knowledge management for years. The management of knowledge for clients, and providing knowledge and information to the client are seen as knowledge management. It was indicated that within the Academic Information Service there is not much attention given to the management of tacit knowledge within the organization. This shows that libraries aren’t doing knowledge management for years. They are doing explicit management of knowledge but not tacit management of organizational knowledge. Within this study it is stressed why this tacit knowledge is so important for an organization to exist and compete within these turbulent times we live in. The academic information service is not managing their tacit knowledge to the fullest potential and for benefit of the organization. There is no culture or incentives conducive to knowledge sharing within the library. The existing technology namely the intranet and portal aren’t re ally enablers for knowledge management. There exist a lot of barriers to knowledge management within the AIS that should be attended to. A knowledge management strategy is suggested with a lot of shifts in connection to the culture of the organization, incentives and information technology. / Thesis (MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2002.

Thesis (M.S.)--Air Force Institute of Technology, 2006. / AFIT/GIR/ENV/06-01S. "September 2006." Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on: Nov. 16, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-111).

Thesis (M.M.S.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Knowledge is generally regarded as a new competitive business resource in the information age. The leveraging of this resource has therefore become a significant concern of knowledge management. Knowledge management is not culturally neutral, however, and there seem to be differences between Western and Eastern knowledge management practices. In order to address these differences and determine their cultural roots, a comparative analysis of the cultural influences on knowledge management approaches in Western and Eastern corporations is needed. To fulfil this objective, it was firstly necessary to clarify the basic concept of knowledge, knowledge management and some relevant cultural issues. Secondly, specific Western and Eastern corporations were chosen as case studies, and their knowledge management approaches were analysed. In a third step, a comparative analysis was done between Western knowledge and Eastern knowledge management practices. The culturally determining factors are presented. In the second part of the study, the relationship between knowledge management and cultural issues was discussed. Since knowledge management is still in its infancy, this means that a common language is being established. Although the importance of corporate culture has been recognised, national cultural influences on knowledge management practices still need considerable scholarly attention. In the third part of the study, three national cultures were chosen to represent the Western and Eastern cultures. America and Sweden represent Western culture, while Japan represents Eastern culture. Several corporations, including IBM, Skandia, Toshiba, Sharp, were presented as case studies and their knowledge management approaches were analysed, e.g. tacit knowledge management focus, explicit knowledge management focus, knowledge creation, knowledge reuse, internal acquirement of knowledge, external acquirement of knowledge, etc. Based on the analysis of the Western and Eastern corporations' knowledge management practices, a comparative analysis was conducted to identify the role that national culture plays in corporate knowledge management. In the last part of the study, the conclusions indicated that national cultures do influence knowledge managers in their choice or omission of certain approaches to knowledge management. Following from this conclusion, several future research suggestions were proffered. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kennis word oor die algemeen as 'n nuwe mededingende bron van die inligtingsera beskou. Die invloed van hierdie bron het dus 'n betekenisvolle aangeleentheid vir kennisbestuur geword. Kennisbestuur is egter nie kultureel-neutraal nie en daar is toenemende bewyse van verskille tussen Westerse en Oosterse kennisbestuurpraktyke. 'n Vergelykende analise van kultuurinvloede op die kennisbestuurbenaderings van Westerse en Oosterse ondernemings is nodig om hierdie verskille te bepaal en hul grondslae te ondersoek. Om aan hierdie doelstelling te voldoen was dit nodig om eers die basiese kennis- en kennisbestuurbegrippe en fundamentele kultuurdimensies te verklaar. Tweedens is spesifieke Westerse en Oosterse ondernemings gekies as gevallestudies en is hul onderskeie kennisbestuurbenaderings geanaliseer. Derdens is 'n vergelykende analise van Westerse en Oosterse kennisbestuurpraktyke gemaak. In die tweede gedeelte van hierdie studie word die verhouding tussen kennisbestuur en kulturele kwessies ontleed. Aangesien kennisbestuur nog in sy kinderskoene staan beteken dit dat 'n gemeenskaplike terminologie gebou moet word. Alhoewel die belangrikheid van korporatiewe kultuur al herken is, benodig die invloede van 'n nasionale kultuur op bestuurspraktyke nog aandag. In die derde gedeelte van hierdie studie word drie lande as die verteenwoordigers van Westerse en Oosterse kulture gekies. Amerika en Swede verteenwoordig Westerse kultuur, terwyl Japan Oosterse kultuur verteenwoordig. Verskeie ondernemings soos IBM, Skandia en Toshiba word as gevallestudies behandel en hul kennisbestuurbenaderings word geanaliseer, bv. onuitgesproke kennisbestuurfokus, eksplisiete kennisbestuurfokus, kennisskepping, kennisherverbruik, interne kennisverkryging en eksterne kennisverkryging. 'n Vergelykende analise, gebaseer op die onderskeie analises van Westerse en Oosterse kennisbestuurpraktyke, word gedoen om die rol van nasionale kultuur in korporatiewe kennisbestuur te identifiseer. Die bevindings, gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings van die studie toon dat kennisbestuurders wel deur hul nasionale kultuur beïnvloed word in hul keuse, al dan nie, van sekere benaderings tot kennisbestuur. Verskeie voorstelle vir toekomstige navorsing, afgelei van die gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings, word hierna voorgelê.

<p>Companies use IT tools for knowledge management. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceived benefits and possible drawbacks of SharePoint. Different perspectives on knowledge and different knowledge management processes are compared to this system. The vision for SharePoint in Stora Enso includes e.g. increasing work efficiency and supporting of knowledge sharing. The situation before SharePoint 2007 included e.g. information was hard to find and static sites existed in changeable conditions. Knowledge is mostly perceived as an object in Stora Enso, but with new features and techniques it is possible to view knowledge with other perspectives. The main benefit of SharePoint is the possibility to collaborate and share knowledge.</p>

Artificial Intelligence Lab, Department of MIS, University of Arizona / Identified as an important management concept five years ago (Gamer 1999), knowledge management (KM) aims to enable organizations to capture, organize, and access their intellectual assets. This paper proposes a prototype system that applies a knowledge management approach to support concept-based multimedia information retrieval by integrating various information analysis and image processing techniques. The proposed system uses geographical information as its testbed and aims to provide flexibility to users in terms of specifying their information needs and to facilitate parallel extraction ofinformation in different formats (i.e., text, image). Our testbed selection is based not only on the fact that geographical information has become an important resource supporting organization decision making, but also on the diversity of its information media and the fuzziness of geo-spatial queries. We hope that the proposed system will improve the accessibility of geographical information in different media and provide an example of integrating various information and multimedia techniques to support concept-based cross-media information retrieval.

No description available.

This work draws on the discipline of Discursive Psychology for a theory of language, shown to be all but absent in the organizational knowledge management literature, and a methodology for the study of discourse. Organizational knowledge sharing is selected as the topic of primary research for its accessibility to analysis, and because it is considered to be an underpinning action to new knowledge creation. The research approaches discourse as action-orientated and locally situated, as constructed and constructive, with function and consequence for speakers. Indicative research questions are concerned with the discursively accomplished phenomena of trust, risk, identity and context, how these are accomplished in rhetorical interaction and with what effect on organizationally situated knowledge sharing. Recordings of organizations’ everyday knowledge sharing meetings, as well as an online discussion forum, are analysed focusing on these four themes. Findings show them to be accomplished as speakers’ live concerns in knowledge sharing talk. It is claimed that trust, risk and identity, as contexts displayed and oriented to by speakers themselves, are tacitly and collaboratively accomplished actions, shown to be co-relational and influential to knowledge sharing scope and directions. A further claim is that the analysis of discourse for what contexts in general speakers invoke displays speakers’ orienting to trust, risk and identity. Limitations of the present study are discussed, along with speculated implications for knowledge management and future directions for research. This work aims to contribute to the field of knowledge management in three ways. First, in extending the directions that some scholars and practitioners are already indicating through focusing the interest of study on organizational discourse. Secondly, the study seeks to understand how tacit knowing, as a phenomenon invoked by speakers themselves, is accomplished and how it influences the scope and directions of knowledge sharing actions, and with what effect. Finally, it is claimed that the research provides some support for those theorists in the knowledge management field who promote the knowing how-knowing that formulation, and those who are critical of conventional knowledge management’s heavy reliance on technology to deliver its objectives.

Knowledge management only recently gained respect as a strategic business tool. Assisted by technology, the ability to gather, formulate and share data took on new dimensions. Knowledge management is multifarious and covers areas such as cognitive science, business process and human resources management. Human resources management in turn covers a wider area than knowledge management. The two areas overlap because knowledge creation is primarily a human activity. Critical success factors and specific objectives for human resources management within a knowledge-based environment were the main outcomes derived from this research. Human resource practitioners need to change their work practices in order to be effective in a knowledge-based environment. This was a key finding of the research. It was established that information technology management was still the main driver of knowledge management projects in organisations, but had also grown tremendously in understanding human issues within technical environments.