Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

D.Litt. et Phil. / There have been numerous approaches to Knowledge Management (KM) over the past number of years. In addition there is also confusion amongst enterprises and enterprise management as to the role and contribution of KM, the differences between information management, information technology and KM. There has been an overflow of information and “knowledge” in large enterprises and this situation will only worsen if not managed appropriately. Knowledge is now universally accepted as a factor of production and similar to other factors of production viewed as being scarce and expensive. The knowledge inventory of an enterprise should thus be managed in a similar manner as physical inventory – kept at the essential minimum level and to be provided at the time that it is required. The challenge to creating a successful knowledge enterprise is more reliant on the people aspects than technology per se and this view is supported by recent research. This situation is exacerbated by the diversity of participation amongst knowledge workers who as a “grouping” speaks a different language based on their perspectives of issues within and external to the enterprise. Because knowledge is not synonymous with information, information technology cannot deliver knowledge management, yet a large proportion of managements view information technology as the panacea for their failure at implementing successful KM or what they consider to be KM. Another concern of management is that current management approaches cannot handle imperfect information with certainty. Enterprises are thus faced with the situation of not being able to deliver the right information to the right person at the right time because enterprises are unable to predict what is the right information to distribute, who the right recipients of that information should be and all of this may take place under conditions of uncertainty – as found in today’s dynamic business environment. Defining knowledge from an enterprise management perspective or in terms of an organisational context present a number of issues. The most important being that there is no single all encompassing definition of KM. However, in terms of the objectives of this research a definition which relate the dimensions of time, delivery, the right information and the right recipient is applied. KM varies from the perspective of controlling knowledge processes within the enterprise to methods applied to the extraction of knowledge from the flow of information, internal and external to the enterprise. Recent thinking on KM distinguishes between demand-side KM and supply-side KM. The supply-side of KM is associated with the “delivery-oriented” assumptions that valuable knowledge exists within the enterprise and that it is the task of management to find it, codify it and place it into a repository. This is then followed by an approach which “decrees” and determine how it is to be distributed, e.g. via learning, databases, documents, etc. and to whom. Demand-side KM is initiated with an approach requiring a view of where does valuable knowledge exist within the enterprise, is what is required in existence, does it support the enterprise's strategies and how can the use thereof benefit the enterprise's competitive advantage? Obviously the proponents of both of these sides do see the need for closing the gap between supply and demand and that they are in fact complimentary activities. A view is taken on the KM approach / practices undertaken by the enterprise. There are a number of KM taxonomy approaches based upon the process applied in the enterprise to extract knowledge. An understanding of the different approaches employed is necessary to locate the role of the knowledge worker in the overall KM value chain. The knowledge processes approach is considered to be a factor of production where the person is central to the process as the carrier or owner of knowledge. Communication amongst individuals is of primary importance, especially in respect of the management of the enterprise and its outputs. This approach also considers an enabling culture in the enterprise to be a pre-requisite to the successful management of knowledge. The focus of this approach is on knowledge transfer through human interaction. Technology is recognised as playing a supporting role in this approach. Knowledge is more than information and also considers experience, skills, competencies and attitudes as part of knowledge created in the process of human interaction. The term Just-in-Time (JIT) can be defined as a production or inventory scheduling technique found within the more complex production logistics disciplines. JIT is more appropriately thought of as a philosophy as it is more than a mere set of management and production principles. KM JIT is an endeavour to provide the right knowledge at the right time to the right person. This requires an insight into the knowledge demand and supply process as well as the time horizon applicable to the knowledge required. Over the longer term business forecasts, environmental scans, strategic planning, etc. can be applied to close the gap between these variables. However, it is in the short term and immediate requirements that the present systems fail and management concerns are emphasised. To summarise the relationship: JIT KM searches for an optimisation of the matching process between demand and knowledge supply within enterprises, i.e. it endeavours to translate the logistic concept of JIT to the knowledge management field. In addition to JIT KM the concept of real-time KM is introduced as an alternative since present research indicates that the implementation of JIT KM presents major issues in terms of cost and development effort, restricting its use to mission critical applications. A more generic application for JIT KM need to be developed and it is contended that real-time KM fits the requirements of enabling the enterprise to be agile in respect of its ability to respond to present and future knowledge demands. The major difference between JIT KM and real-time KM being the latency of information concept which applies to the latter.

Organisations worldwide are continuing to offshore more and more of their work tasks across national boundaries, to countries with lower labour costs. These offshored tasks, which were performed by local knowledge workers in the past, now also include activities like research, development, and innovation. In a time where growth industries are those with the highest degree of knowledge work, and the most profitable organisations are those with the most knowledge workers, the importance of retaining these valuable resources by ensuring a healthy employment relationship cannot be over emphasised. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact that knowledge task offshoring has on the employment relationship of knowledge workers. A quantitative research methodology was followed, and the responses of 85 individuals were examined through the theoretical lenses of the psychological contract, organisational commitment, turnover intention and job insecurity. The main findings of the research was that offshoring resulted in higher levels of perceived psychological contract breach and violation scores, while it did not have any negative impacts on the scores for job security, turnover intention, organisational commitment or perceived employer or employee obligations associated with the psychological contract. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

M.A. / The information economy, brought about by the advances in information and communications technology, has led to significant changes in the work environment. Organisations and workers must be flexible and are required to adjust quickly to demands from external and internal market forces. Employees are expected to be knowledge workers who are not only computer literate, but information literate as well. The high demand for flexibility has led to a trend that allows workers to perform their duties in locations outside of their traditional workspace. This trend has been named teleworking or telecommuting. A literature study revealed similarities and differences between the work environment of the knowledge worker and that of the teleworker. Both the teleworker and the knowledge worker are interacting in an environment that consists of individual, group and organisational processes. These processes are interrelated and none of them can be viewed in isolation. The factors that influence the knowledge worker also affect the teleworker, but the extent and focus of the influence vary. The features of the work environment of the knowledge worker and the teleworker provided the context for investigating the information environment of both. The information environment of the knowledge worker revealed certain distinct features, such as the manner in which documents and information were managed and the systems that were used. These features were compared with the information environment of the teleworker through an investigation of teleworkers in South Africa. Although very few, if any, South African organisations were involved in formal teleworking programmes, it was possible to establish certain trends through employees who had an ad hoc arrangement with their organisations. In conclusion, it was found that the information environment of the teleworker was somewhat similar to that of the knowledge worker, but certain distinctions also came to the fore. Further areas for research were also identified.

The research, investigating how a selected group of former BETD graduates understand and implement the theory of reflective practice, is a qualitative case study carried out in the Kavango region of Namibia. The study was shaped by one of the major policy emphases in Namibia’s post independence teacher education reform process - that of developing reflective teachers who actively participate in curriculum planning and take educational decisions based on their own judgment. A basic assumption underlying the study is that effective educational practice is dependent on practitioners thinking about what they are doing and acting on their reflections to improve practice. The study found that a fundamental problem preventing these teachers from implementing reflective practice in accordance with the Namibian educational reform process, is that the participating teachers neither understand the exact meaning of reflective practice nor do they have a common or shared view of the concept, in spite of their common qualifications. A key contributing factor to their problems withimplementing reflective practice is the lack of a deep understanding of the reform epistemology and pedagogy revealed by the three former BETD graduates selected for the research. These are the teachers referred to in the first paragraph: The first teacher is Helena, a teacher at Duduva primary school, the second teacher is Kalishe, also teaching at the same school as Helena and the third teacher is Darius at Ntja Junior secondary school. The qualitative approach employed for the study served to illuminate and highlight specific issues related to the implementation of reflective practice that will be of considerable value for the researcher in her capacity as a teacher educator. These included among others: • The teacher’s need for an understanding of the key principles on which reflection is based and how to translate these into practice. • The need for teachers to have a clear understanding of the role that learners play in the reflective process. • The need to revisit the Basic Education Teacher Diploma (BETD) education programme, because for teachers to reflect they need a sound subject knowledge on which to base their judgments. These aspects, as well as the identification of the factors in the school system that contribute to the failure of reflective practice, provide a foundation for finding real solutions to the problems identified.

The main research problem in this study was to identify strategies that could assist South Afrian companies in managing knowledge workers for their opt imal benefit . To achieve this goal, the following act ions were ta ken: Aliterature study was conducted to identify the best strategies that South African companies could use to manage knowledge workers for optimal benefit; Following the literature review interviews were concluded with key people in the human resource and recruitment industry to determine how a knowledge worker was defined in their organisations as well as to probe what management and human resources strategies were used to manage knowledge workers to their full potential; The interviews, in addition to the literature study, also served as a basis for a survey questionnaire, which was used to probe the views of knowledge workers to determine tools and strategies managers use to manage them. The empirical results from the study showed some concurrence with best strategies suggested from the theoret ical study. In essence, the study revealed that knowledge was well managed in the organisations where the study was conducted and that the knowledge workers were motivated and productive. However, it appeared that there was uncer tainty around the remuneration, rewards and recognition of these employees, which could ultimately reflect in less promising levels of commitment and lower levels of retention. The main findings were that: knowledge workers should be recognised for their good performance by providing financial incentives; knowledge workers should be provided with opportunities to continuously develop their competencies but be allowed to craft their own developmental experiences; knowledge workers should be empowered by delegat ing tasks to them that carry decision making responsibility and af fectinnovation; and Managers and knowledge workers should cont inuously have performance and organisational development discussions.

This study attempts to add to the previous research conducted on the relationship between specific leadership styles and employee engagement in the workplace. There are numerous studies of factors influencing organisational and team performance and these have attempted to find relationships amongst numerous key variables in order to predict organisational success. A significant contributor towards organisational performance identified, particularly within knowledge worker companies, is the vigour dedication and absorption, otherwise defined as engagement, of the employees at work. The influence of leadership specifically is viewed as a significant determinant of employee engagement.This descriptive research therefore attempts to specifically illuminate the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership behaviours, initially articulated by Bass (1985), and employee engagement levels within a South African company of knowledge workers. Correlation and crosstabulation tables are used to identify the existence of a positive association. Key findings include a contradiction of the current literature that transformational leadership has a positive relationship with employee engagement at a statistically significant level. Transactional leadership is also shown to have higher predictive qualities than previously found. The research also adds to the case for further study of situational and cultural moderators of transformational leadership’s effectiveness in predicting employee motivation and engagement. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Women around the world are not making much progress up the corporate ladder but instead; many are frustrated and choosing to leave their jobs. The purpose of this study was to identify what challenges are facing senior level women in the corporate world, which would make them leave/desire to leave work and the role played by organisations in this situation. Interviews and survey research were done on a sample of qualified, experienced women over the age of 30, who are either in the corporate world or who have left. The study showed that women are leaving or have a strong desire to leave due to a combination of workplace and personal factors, and that South African organisations are not doing much to retain them. The implication of this is that they are going to continue losing high calibre women, if they do not implement effective retention strategies very quickly.

This study explores protean and boundaryless career attitudes in a sample of black British knowledge intensive workers. Changes in the organisational climate to more flexible project based working have affected the way in which careers develop. It has been reported that employees need to possess certain skills to help them succeed in the modern employment climate (Arthur and Rousseau 1996). The main research theory that has attempted to explain such career changes and the acquisition of specialist skills include the boundaryless career which includes both intelligent and protean career competencies (Greenhaus et al 2004). The purpose of the current study is to investigate the extent to which black African and black Caribbean workers careers are boundaryless and to investigate the nature and type of career boundaries and barriers faced. The current research addresses some of the criticisms of boundaryless career research highlighted by Sullivan et al (1998, 1999, 2009). These criticisms include an apparent exaggeration of the pervasiveness of boundaryless and protean careers and a lack of research investigating the applicability of these career theories to professional, minority group members. Thirty two knowledge workers were interviewed to understand the nature and type of career boundaries faced. A quantitative questionnaire developed by Briscoe et al (2006) was also used to investigate the extent to which black knowledge workers are protean and boundaryless in their career outlook. The findings from the interviews highlight education and family as career enablers as they help participants navigate potential career barriers. The lack of career mentors, racial discrimination and inadequate career advice at an early age were perceived as career boundaries. Results also point to a perceptual difference between career boundaries and barriers which researchers such as Sullivan et al (2004) saught to clarify. The findings suggest that career boundaries are more flexible and less permeable and career barriers are more rigid and difficult to overcome. Briscoe et al (2006) boundaryless and protean scales and were completed by 187 participants. It was found that management consultants, those aged 41-50 and those with higher levels of education were found to be the most boundaryless. The main theoretical contribution is that “attached boundaryless” is displayed. Attached boundarylessness occurred as participants preferred the security of remaining in an organisation, but enjoyed being self directed and boundaryless within their organisations by working collaboratively.

Thesis (M.Com. (Management))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2016. / In an economic environment where knowledge based-work is the strategic component of value creation and competitive advantage, knowledge workers have become the engine that drives sustainability and profitability. Knowledge workers are described as workers with high degrees of education, expertise and whose primary task is to create, distribute and apply knowledge. With the increasing demand and number of knowledge workers in the work force, the productivity of knowledge workers has become an imperative management task as well as a decisive economic factor. Despite the continuous stream of research on knowledge worker productivity, knowledge worker productivity continues to be one of the greatest challenges facing managers today. Knowledge worker productivity refers to ability of knowledge workers to effectively collect, create and use inherent knowledge to produce goods and services. Inherent knowledge is highly personal and cannot be separated from the person who holds it. Further, inherent knowledge is closely related to the technical skills that an individual has and are only known to the person who possesses those skills. If organisations wish to leverage this inherent knowledge to their competitive advantage, they need to know how to engage and stimulate the deepest parts of the human mind. However, no two individuals are the same. Personnel psychology literature has long stressed that meaningful differences exist between people. These individual differences influence individual work performance and behaviour. Although several studies have addressed the issue of personality predicting job performance, there is a lack of knowledge of the relationship between personality, motivation and knowledge worker productivity, specifically in the South African context. This study attempts to address this lack of knowledge through a quantitative study of the relationship between personality, motivation and knowledge worker productivity. The study investigated whether the intrinsic personalities of knowledge workers and motivation predict knowledge worker productivity. Although several studies have directly addressed the issue of personality predicting job performance, few studies have directly investigated whether motivation mediates the relationship between personality and specifically knowledge worker productivity. Consequently, there is limited evidence to support the arguments of the present study. The theoretical and practical implications for knowledge worker productivity are discussed.