This research explored the extent to which different knowledge conversion processes require different kinds of leadership. The research was inspired by Nonaka and Konno (1998) and proposed that knowledge conversion processes may each require their own form of leadership because they are conducted under different bas or contexts. Vera and Crossan's (2004) work provided a foundation for this research through the argument that knowledge conversion processes need not only transformational but also transactional leadership. The leadership framework based upon transformational and transactional leadership was therefore adopted for the study. Semi-structured interviews and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), developed by Bernard Bass and Bruce Avolio to assess leadership under the transformational and transactional leadership framework, were used to gauge the opinions of participants about leadership and knowledge conversion processes. Scenarios/descriptions derived from Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) were used to focus the mindset of the participants involved in the interviews and the questionnaire, which was administered at the time of the interviews to support triangulation. Findings suggested that knowledge conversion processes do not differ to the extent that they require both transformational and transactional leadership. However, qualitative evidence indicated that knowledge conversion processes were somewhat different in terms of certain dimensions of transformational leadership. These differences related to the need for a strong sense of purpose, a compelling vision of the future and long-termism in some but not all situations involving the leadership of knowledge conversion processes.

Despite the widely recognised importance of knowledge as a vital source of¡@competitive advantage, there is little understanding of how groups actually create and manage knowledge dynamically. Knowledge conversion is a continuous, self-transcending process through which one transcends the boundary of the old self into a new self by acquiring a new context, a new view of the world, and new knowledge. An organisation creates knowledge through the interactions between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Through the conversion process, tacit and explicit knowledge expands in both quality and quantity. There are four modes of knowledge conversion. They are: (1) socialisation; (2) externalisation; (3) combination; and (4) internalisation. We try to use the conversion model to be our theorical base. And use grounded theory to be out research mehod. Through the real data, we come out some factors impacting the Information System Develop Team¡¦s knowledge conversion.

Background: Organizational spending on marketing needs to be justified and therefore measured. New technology has enabled new ways of conducting market research. Research question: How can knowledge be transferred from a crowd of consumers to a company operating in the retail industry? Purpose: To explore the process of knowledge transfer in a new type of market research company by creating an understanding of (1) how to gather knowledge through engaging and motivating a crowd to share information, (2) how to analyze and transfer it to the clients, and in the end (3) how the clients receive the information and are able to create knowledge internally. Methodology: Qualitative single case study through semi-structured interviews with the case company and two of their clients. This was combined with secondary data and observations. Conclusions: Motivated users are important when gathering knowledge through crowdsourcing. Focusing on gathering and transferring explicit knowledge makes it more actionable and therefore more valuable when it comes to market insights. Externalization was found to only be partly possible in the case company, which strengthens established theories published after Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). Absorptive capacity and relationships had influence on the knowledge transfer and how the results were acted upon in the client organizations.

This research is an in-depth study concerning the practice of Risk and Opportunity (R&O) assessment during the early phases of major project alliances in Australia. The particular focus is on how R&Os are assessed and how the profile of R&Os are set up and transferred during tender phases (from pre-tender, tender development, through to tender negotiation and construction start-up). The motivation for this research was that project risk assessments are reported to be inadequately assessed and ineffectively managed throughout the project life cycle in spite of the existence of well developed theories and procedures. However, little is known factually about how effectively R&Os are actually assessed in practice during the early project phases, the factors that influence the risk assessment performance and the nature of the issues causing the deficiency of the tender risk assessment system. Although much has been written on the theoretical development of risk assessment systems, tools and techniques, very few studies have been conducted to discover empirically how both risks and opportunities are actually assessed during the tender phase in construction practice. These problems suggest that there is a need for in-depth studies of the practice of R&O management, in order to better understand the fundamental nature of the issues that might be causing the reported ineffectiveness of current risk management practice as a basis for improvements. The researcher was immersed in the actual projects at critical stages in order to gain fine-grained access to investigate the issues ‘in situ.’ Four major construction project alliances were selected for in-depth investigation, from amongst twenty large mining and construction projects considered in the course of this research. The research methodology used centred on participant observations and document analysis supported by interviews, discussions and mini-surveys to triangulate the findings. Data were gathered and analysed on how information and rapport associated knowledge of R&Os were captured, converted and transferred during tender phases, from pre-tender, tender development, commercial negotiation up to construction start-up. Risk assessment systems, tools and techniques used during the tender phase in the projects studied were first examined and analysed. This revealed the R&O assessment profile transfer process plus its variatious patterns, the associated practical problems and gaps in both theoretical models as well as practical implementation. The process and analysis were then interpreted and modelled using the four modes of the SECI (Socialisation-Externalisation-Combination-Internalisation) model developed in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). This provided a better understanding about the fundamental nature of the issues that might be causing the reported inadequacies of current practice. Implications of this knowledge conversion perspective for the adoption of risk assessment tools and techniques were identified. The major findings of this research are: (1) The R&O assessment profile transfer across the tender phases described as an information transfer model, reveals that while considerable effort goes into formal R&O documentation during the tender phase, there are a number of “breakdowns” in the assessment process. The two most critical issues are the disconnections between the quantitative assessment process and qualitative process, and a discontinuous process during hand-over from the tender phase to construction start-up phase; (2) These breakdowns can be explained when the R&O assessment process is modelled as a knowledge conversion and transfer process rather than an information transfer process described in finding 1. The analysis reveals subsequent knowledge losses during the process and knowledge gaps between theory and practice. People, process and technology factors influencing tender risk assessment are also discussed; (3) Viewing R&O assessment as a knowledge conversion process points to the need for the adoption of tools that can enhance the effectiveness of risk assessment through a knowledge elicitation, capture, communication and consolidation process; (4) The study proposes the SECI model as a suitable framework to better understand the nature of reported problems and reveals possible explanations for the deficiencies in the R&O assessment systems observed in practice. These major thesis findings provide an alternative way of looking at risk assessment, shifting risk assessment from an information-based process to a knowledge conversion-based approach for a more sustainable and effective R&O assessment system. Using the SECI model to describe risk and opportunity assessment processes as a knowledge conversion process has major implications for education and training in the practice of R&O assessment. R&O assessment becomes a learning process rather than a mere information passing process. Knowledge is revealed and captured and becomes internalised as an integral part of R&O assessment. This helps to explain why attempts to capture “lessons learned” as a separate of conventional R&O procedures frequently fail. Alliances and similar modes of project delivery that involve the collaboration of many stakeholders are likely to be used increasingly in construction, and it is essential we understand the ways in which information and knowledge of risks and opportunities are managed, especially in the early phases of major projects. Thus the new insights provided by these findings have significant implications for the formation and operation of risk and opportunity procedures in alliances and major projects more generally. Project alliance is recommended as a good procurement strategy that can enhance the effective transfer and use of knowledge about project uncertainties, thus assisting project organizations in achieving an effective risk management performance. Future research is needed to further explore the relationship between the characteristics of project alliances and the effectiveness of risk management over the whole project life cycle, with the support of the analysis framework from knowledge conversion process proposed in this thesis. Building on these findings, future research work is needed to understand how to effectively enhance the conversion of tacit knowledge about uncertainty into explicit knowledge. This will aid the development of a practical risk management framework across the whole project life cycle together with supporting risk assessment tools that utilize a knowledge-centered approach. The findings also point to the need for more research on the risk attitudes and related people factors, in the conduct of risk and opportunity assessments across the project life cycle.

The Turkish National Police (TNP) peacekeeping officers experience poor knowledge-sharing practices before, during, and after their tours of duty at the United Nations (UN) field missions, thus causing knowledge loss. The study aims to reveal the current knowledge-sharing practices of the TNP peacekeeping officers and proposes a knowledge-sharing system to share knowledge effectively. It also examines how applicable the knowledge management models are for their knowledge-sharing practices. In order to gain a better understanding about the knowledge-sharing practices of TNP officers, the researcher used a qualitative research method in this study. The researcher used semi-structured interviews in data collection. The participants were selected based on the non-probability and purposive sampling method. Content analysis and constant comparison was performed in the data analysis process. The most important knowledge sources of the peacekeeping officers are their colleagues, the Internet, and email groups. The peacekeepers recommend writing reports, organizing training programs, conducting exit interviews, adopting best practices, and creating a knowledge depository. The study uncovers that organizational culture, hierarchy, and physical proximity are significant factors that have a vital impact on knowledge sharing. Knowledge Conversion Model is substantially applicable for the knowledge-sharing practices of the TNP peacekeeping officer.

This research was initiated in the belief that new product development requires the integration of diverse knowledge located in different units or organizations. In recent decades, evolutionary scholars have emphasized the importance of coherent systems and regional scientists have highlighted the importance of geographical proximity for easier transfer of tacit knowledge. Despite the strength of these explanations, they do not adequately address the balance between tacit and explicit knowledge, ignoring different types of knowledge conversion process (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). My research aims to bring a greater understanding of the integration of diverse knowledge for innovation achievements among different actors. Specifically, this thesis deals with project organization for new product development, exploring three main research areas: (1) company utilization of external companies and freelancers for project formation in relation to resource mobilization of companies; (2) types of knowledge conversion among employees within and between departments; and (3) the impacts of several meditating factors on clustering orientations of companies. These meditating factors include knowledge codification, IT technology for communication, and trust mechanisms that help to mobilize external knowledge and reduce friction among team members. In this study, data are collected from questionnaire survey (104 firms) and interviews with 34 persons in the Korean game industry. Probit model, tobit model, and OLS regression model were used. The main findings are as follows. First, codified knowledge concept reports, prototypes, and manuals is produced through externalization as a game development project is in progress. Second, among several indicators of internal capability of companies, the type of initial industry whether game companies started their business in the game industry and expenditures on the purchase of intellectual property rights from other cultural industries have significant and positive impacts on the utilization of external partners. Third, information communication technology has a significant, negative impact on clustering orientation of companies while reliance on communities of practice and built-in trust have significant, positive impacts on that.

Research of Knowledge Creation & Spread In Company -Case Study Abstract Knowledge management is one of the current hottest issues in academy and in practice. Nowadays, facing changeful and critical competitive environments, knowledge creation and spread management is the key resource to gain competitive advantage. The structure of this research is based on four modules of knowledge transformation; five-step modules in organization knowledge creation procedure and five circumstances of organization knowledge creation spiral, which advocated by Nonaka & Takeuchi (1994). The research designs contents of interviews in order to explore the influence of company competition in knowledge creation and spread management. The research also tries to integrate scopes of knowledge management researches by academic documents and deep interviews to explore and understand knowledge creation and spread management in company. The result shows most of companies know knowledge management is one of the internal core procedures. If it can establish a better knowledge management system earlier than competitor, then the company can develop it into a long-term major advantage by a spread of knowledge spiral even if it is tiny initially. In this case, manufacturers know customer¡¦s demands by feedback system management operating by customer claim service department. Then marketing and developing departments react punctually and supply suitable product and service in market. A tiny advantage can increase company¡¦s competition. This is increasing return economics. Keywoeds: Knowledge Management¡A Knowledge Creation & Spread ¡A Knowledge Conversion Model ¡A The Knowledge Spiral

[pt] Diante de uma sociedade cada vez mais exigente e consciente dos seus direitos, os governos têm sido pressionados a apresentar resultados de qualidade, éticos e transparentes, por meio de bons serviços públicos prestados à população. Nesse contexto, o papel do controle interno ganhou importância por constituir-se em um instrumento fundamental para corrigir rumos, reduzir a ineficiência e os desperdícios na Administração Pública. As Auditorias Internas das Agências Reguladoras Federais, inseridas no sistema de controle interno, para exercer suas funções precípuas, devem utilizar amplamente os recursos de tecnologia da informação, bem como fazer uso de práticas de gestão do conhecimento, como forma de suplantar as dificuldades de lidar com o vasto universo de informações, identificando aquilo que é realmente útil para a decisão. Assim, este trabalho buscou desvendar quais são os fatores facilitadores e inibidores de Gestão do Conhecimento nas atividades das Auditorias Internas das Agências Reguladoras Federais. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo, em um estudo de caso múltiplo, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com oito Auditores-Chefe das Agências Reguladoras Federais, realizadas em Brasília e no Rio de Janeiro, de um total de dez Agências. Como resultados, o trabalho verificou que a Gestão do Conhecimento é praticada em diferentes estágios nas Agências Reguladoras, e que possuem diferentes estruturas de recursos humanos e de tecnologia da informação. Além disso, constatou-se que esses órgãos de controles contribuem para a conversão do conhecimento tácito para explícito, ou externalização, assim como de explícito para explícito, ou combinação. Outra constatação foi que as Auditorias Internas fomentam o Aprendizado Organizacional nas áreas auditadas, tanto em laço simples quanto no laço duplo, em perfeita harmonia com os postulados teóricos de Argyris e Schön (1996). / [en] Faced with an increasingly more demanding and aware of their rights, governments have been pressured to deliver results with quality, ethically and transparently, through good public services rendered to the population. In this context, the role of internal controls has gained importance because it represents a fundamental instrument to correct course, reduce inefficiency and waste in public administration. Internal Audit of Federal Regulatory Agencies, inserted in the internal control system to perform its primary functions, should make wide use of information technology resources, and make practical use of knowledge management as a way to overcome difficulties of dealing with the vast universe of information, identifying what is really useful for the decision. Thus, this study sought to uncover what factors are facilitators and inhibitors of Knowledge Management activities of Internal Audit of Federal Regulatory Agencies. To this end, we conducted a qualitative study in a multiple case study, using semistructured interviews with eight Chief Auditors of Federal Regulatory Agencies, held in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, a total of ten agencies. As a result, the study found that knowledge management is practiced at different stages in the regulatory agencies, which have different structures and human resources and information technology. Furthermore, it was found that these bodies contribute to control the conversion of tacit to explicit or externalization as well as explicit to explicit or combination thereof. Another finding was that the foster Audits Organizational Learning in the areas audited, both in the simple loop and double loop, in perfect harmony with the theoretical postulates of Argyris and Schon (1996).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio de Miranda Simaozinho.pdf: 1385694 bytes, checksum: 6f74f9303c4869c756aa1a08ac8983ff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-01 / In the current competitive context of the businesses where the business environment becomes it s so fast, and the physical and financial capital is no longer the differential in competitive strategy, the focus of companies turned to innovation, because without it, companies will be doomed to extinction. Thus, to meet this challenge, knowledge management has become essential for companies because they need people with knowledge and skills that are the differential relative to its competition. In this sense, it is common knowledge management associated with more people and departments that develop products and services offered by the companies, however, this vision cannot be limited to these departments, because there are other departments that also merit of concern in knowledge management companies. Accordingly, and in view of the important role of the Controller in managing business enterprises, this case study explored the question of knowledge in the Comptroller, with the purpose of investigating "As professionals in the department Comptroller acquire and share knowledge?". It is hoped that the answer to this question and provide empirical evidence of the current state of knowledge management oriented to the Controller, this study will contribute to enable companies to plan and implement actions structured and efficient in improving the skills of its professionals, that in counterpart may be supported with best qualified professionals in implementing differentiated and their competitive strategies. / No atual contexto competitivo das empresas, onde ambiente de negócios se transforma com grande velocidade, e os capitais físico e financeiro deixaram de ser o diferencial na estratégia competitiva, o foco das empresas voltou-se para a inovação, pois, sem ela, as empresas estarão fadadas ao desaparecimento. Dessa forma, para enfrentar esse desafio, a gestão do conhecimento passou a ser fundamental para as empresas, pois necessitam de pessoas com conhecimentos e competências que sejam o diferencial em relação à sua concorrência. Nesse sentido, é comum ver a gestão do conhecimento mais associada a pessoas e departamentos que desenvolvem produtos e serviços oferecidos pelas empresas, porém, esta visão não deve limitar-se à esses departamentos, pois existem outros departamentos que, também devem ser objeto de preocupação na gestão do conhecimento das empresas. Nesse sentido, e diante do importante papel da Controladoria na gestão dos negócios das empresas, este estudo de caso explorou a questão do conhecimento na Controladoria, com o objetivo de investigar Como os profissionais do departamento de Controladoria adquirem e compartilham conhecimento? . Espera-se que ao responder à essa questão e fornecer evidências empíricas da atual situação da gestão do conhecimento voltada aos profissionais da Controladoria, esse estudo possa contribuir para que as empresas possam planejar e aplicar ações estruturadas e eficientes na melhoria das competências dos seus profissionais, para que em contra partida possam contar com o apoio de profissionais mais bem qualificados e diferenciados na implementação de suas estratégias competitivas.

Olika forskningsinitiativ har belyst vikten av att lära både i och mellan projekt, vilket medför att hela organisationen gynnas av lärande erfarenheter i slutändan. Lärande i och mellan projekt är således en kritisk framgångsfaktor för lyckade projekt i framtiden. Denna uppsats har som ambition att undersöka kunskapspro-cesser i och mellan kommunala projekt, med emfas på huruvida dessa processer skiljer sig mellan lyckade eller misslyckade projekt. M.h.a. en kvalitativ-deduktiv fallstudie, framkom det att det finns vissa skillnader på formaliseringen baserat på projektresultatet. Lyckade projekt har en större tendens att explicitgöras genom någon form av dokumentation, m.h.a. internaliserings- externaliserings- eller kombinationsprocesser. / Various research initiatives have highlighted the importance of learning both in and between projects, which means that the entire organization will benefit from learning experiences ultimately. Learning in and between projects is therefore a critical success factor for successful projects in the future. This paper is aiming to examine knowledge conversion within and between municipal projects, with em-phasis on whether these processes differ between successful or unsuccessful pro-jects. With the methodology consisting of qualitative - deductive thematic analy-sis, conducted as a case study, - with triangulation as a validation tool – the study revealed some differences in the formalization based on a project's result. The successful project is more likely to result in explicit, rather than tacit, knowledge. This knowledge dimension is achieved through internalization, externalization and combination-processes – whereas the unsuccessful project can consist of so-cialization as well as internalization, as a result of differences in the externaliza-tion of knowledge between projects.