Competitive advantage does not depend solely on the creation and storage of existing and new knowledge. Rather, it requires sustained exploitation and production. The challenge becomes driven towards maintaining some mechanisms to help in producing new, and sharing existing knowledge. Harnessing the power of managing and sharing knowledge enabled companies like Apple and IBM to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. While such challenges have been closely examined in the extant literature, the context of knowledge management and sharing in higher education institutions (HEI) has only been lightly considered. However, considering the highly unique features of HEIs context in terms of autonomy, climate, distinct leadership and role of academics as knowledge workers, it can be argued that examining knowledge-sharing in the context of higher education is greatly needed. The literature has shown fragmented nature of examining academics' KS determinants in contemporary research. Thus, the need to comprehensively examine those influencers is essential. This thesis seeks to address the research gaps and contribute to the literature by asking What antecedents influence the process of knowledge-sharing (KS) between academics in HEIs, and how can the process of KS in HEIs be improved? Through the use of a quantitative research methodology, the research has developed eleven hypotheses to investigate the above-mentioned question. The findings in this study revealed to a very great extent that academics themselves can contribute towards influencing knowledge production and management, and determine the levels to which the universities will be able to share knowledge internally. The research reveals that organizational factors (affiliation, innovativeness, fairness represented by organizational climate and HEI leadership) were stronger predictors of academics' knowledge-sharing than individual (perceived loss of knowledge power, knowledge self-efficacy, perceived reciprocal benefits and trust) or technological ones.

<p>Competence Portals are software tools that are intended to make it easier for persons that have had no previous contact to find and contact each other. The portals can address areas ranging from finding an expert within an organisation to the marketing of the competence of a region or a research centre to other organisations. </p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to examine the necessity of Competence Portals in research-intensive organisations. Important characteristics of the information in such portals have been identified and used as a basis for recommendations regarding how Competence Portals could be designed. Furthermore, the thesis focuses on the task of finding a source of knowledge within an organisation. </p><p>The study is of a general nature and is supposed to be of interest to anyone who has an interest in knowledge management and tools to enable easy contacts within and between organisations. The study includes research organisations from Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom and privately owned Swedish companies. The focus is on the German research organisations and Swedish companies. The empirical data was gathered using two surveys and multiple interviews with both persons featured in a Competence Portal as well as prospective users. </p><p>We have found that is uncommon to have access to tools such as Competence Portals in the studied groups. The tasks that a portal is meant to make easier is most often already solved in an efficient way or not performed frequently enough to merit a larger investment. Furthermore, the general opinion regarding Competence Systems in the studied group is very sceptical. We have therefore reached the conclusion that the demand for a software solution such as Competence Portals is low in the studied group. As a result of the little room for improvement in current work procedures and a general low demand we conclude that the necessity of Competence Portals is low in the studied group. However, Competence Portals are likely to be useful to very large or geographically scattered organisations. We have summarized our findings regarding the quality aspects of the information inCompetence Portals in a model that illustrates the important areas to consider when designing a Competence Portal. The model emphasise the importance of processes for updating and maintaining the information in the portal.</p>

Competence Portals are software tools that are intended to make it easier for persons that have had no previous contact to find and contact each other. The portals can address areas ranging from finding an expert within an organisation to the marketing of the competence of a region or a research centre to other organisations. The purpose of the thesis is to examine the necessity of Competence Portals in research-intensive organisations. Important characteristics of the information in such portals have been identified and used as a basis for recommendations regarding how Competence Portals could be designed. Furthermore, the thesis focuses on the task of finding a source of knowledge within an organisation. The study is of a general nature and is supposed to be of interest to anyone who has an interest in knowledge management and tools to enable easy contacts within and between organisations. The study includes research organisations from Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom and privately owned Swedish companies. The focus is on the German research organisations and Swedish companies. The empirical data was gathered using two surveys and multiple interviews with both persons featured in a Competence Portal as well as prospective users. We have found that is uncommon to have access to tools such as Competence Portals in the studied groups. The tasks that a portal is meant to make easier is most often already solved in an efficient way or not performed frequently enough to merit a larger investment. Furthermore, the general opinion regarding Competence Systems in the studied group is very sceptical. We have therefore reached the conclusion that the demand for a software solution such as Competence Portals is low in the studied group. As a result of the little room for improvement in current work procedures and a general low demand we conclude that the necessity of Competence Portals is low in the studied group. However, Competence Portals are likely to be useful to very large or geographically scattered organisations. We have summarized our findings regarding the quality aspects of the information inCompetence Portals in a model that illustrates the important areas to consider when designing a Competence Portal. The model emphasise the importance of processes for updating and maintaining the information in the portal.

With the advances in technology, the change of the healthcare environment, and the need for users, the use of computerized support systems or expert systems are able to cut down costs for unnecessary procedures, achieve higher levels of efficiency and productivity. Applied to the nursing department, it may provide good quality of care, decrease the time that nurses duplicate patient history, reduce nurses¡¦ burden and enhance the abilities to solve problems. The topic of this research mainly focused on the nursing department in the pediatric ward. I propose a framework for nursing knowledge management by using subjective data, objective data, assessment, and care plan (SOAP), which is used by the nursing staffs as a way of decision-making processes. The method is to collect subjective and objective data, read relevant clinical practice guidelines, make clinical judgments about patients¡¦ actual or potential problems and provide applicable nursing plans and interventions. The staffs review and make final decision to accept or reject these judgments, nursing plans and related interventions. If the staffs reject any judgment, nursing plan and intervention, the system should have inquiry-signs to ask physician and nursing staff. Then the staffs correct the inappropriateness. These clear and easy-to-follow processes help student nurses or beginning nurses cultivate their abilities to care and hope it can provide as a guide to nursing teaching and clinical patient care.

In today’s economy the importance of knowledge in organizations is well underscored. The management of an organization’s knowledge has become one of the most important strategic vehicles to an organization's sustainable competitive advantage. The design and success of knowledge management systems (KMS) is viewed as the next evolutionary step in the management of knowledge processes and activities. The debate over the efficacy of these systems draws attention to the differences in approach to KMS that may develop among organizations whose employees’ work involves primarily the execution of procedural routines and those who are involved in primarily creative, problem solving work. This study explored empirically the factors defining Knowledge-intensive Organizations (KIOs) and related these factors to the choices of KMS deployed in these organizations. The study was conducted in two phases and employed both quantitative and qualitative methodologies for data collection. Survey and document analysis techniques were used in the first phase of the study which examined KIO defining factors, how they relate to each other, and how they contribute to knowledge intensity in KIOs. In the second phase semi-structured, in-depth interviews and survey techniques were employed. Grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was then utilized to uncover how knowledge-intensive defining factors interlace with the choice of KMS deployed in KIOs. The interviews were analyzed using QSR NVivo 9 qualitative data analysis software. Quantitative computations were carried out using the PASW Statistics 17.0 package. The study found that KIOs are described by unique knowledge-intense attributes and these attributes inform the design and choices of KMS implemented in KIOs. This research contributes to the literature on factors that describe knowledge intensity in organizations. It provides the research community with a new articulation of the underpinnings of KIOs and KMS, an important step in advancing subsequent theoreti¬cal developments. The study might also have practical value for sellers and systems designers who are looking at assessing user demand for new KMS design ideas and for decision makers within KIOs who would like to evaluate the offerings of sellers.

Knowledge is a very important asset for organizations; it is one of the best sources of competitive advantage. Knowledge Management is used to effectively capture and apply knowledge in organizations. This task is usually carried out with the help of knowledge management systems, which serve for the creation, transfer, application and storage/retrieval of knowledge. Currently in Mexico the level of KM in organizations is not at the level that it could be. It seems that organizations are having a hard time applying the practices and level of KM that organizations in first world countries have achieved. The purpose of this study is to understand what factors drive employees in Mexico to adopt knowledge management systems. With these results organizations will know what factors they should pay close attention to, and it will shed light into what actions or interventions they should take in order to increase the adoption level of KMS. In order to do this, a research framework was designed based on a review of theoretical models used to study the adoption of technology, as well as previous KM adoption studies. And by applying a survey questionnaire, which received a total of 953 valid responses, through which several hypotheses were tested, it was found that subjective norm and efficiency gains have a significant positive influence over perceived usefulness, which in turn has a significant positive influence on the intention to use and attitude towards use of KMS. Subjective norm also influences image, which itself also influences perceived usefulness. It was also found that perceived ease of use has a positive influence on attitude towards use, perceived usefulness and attitude towards use. Finally voluntariness influences attitude towards use which in turn influences intention towards use, which is the primary factor that we wish to influence for usage behavior. The most important factors that organizations in Mexico, particularly in Monterrey, should pay attention to when seeking to increase the level of adoption of KMS are the following, in order of relevance: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norm, efficiency gains, voluntariness and image.

Šiuo metu viena iš ypač sparčiai besivystančių valdymo sričių yra žinių valdymas. Globalizacijos procesai iš esmės keičia šiuolaikinio valdymo sampratą. Vienas iš naujų požymių yra tas, kad šiuolaikinis valdymas vis labiau įsijungia į rinkos santykius. Antras požymis yra tas, kad keičiasi valdymo modeliai ir organizavimo formos. Abu požymiai yra susieti su žinių visuomenės aplinkos keliamais reikalavimais, ir yra atsakas į žinių visuomenės iššūkius. Žinių ekonomikos judėjimas kol kas menkai palietė kasdienę Lietuvos įmonių veiklą. Per paskutinius dvejus metus žinių ekonomiką Lietuvoje propaguojančios struktūros daugiausia dėmesio skyrė platiems politiniams pareiškimams, filosofinėms diskusijoms ir globalių permainų šalies ekonomikoje planavimui. Ilgu laikotarpiu šis procesas darys pastebimą įtaką Lietuvos ekonomikos vystimosi krypčiai. Tuo tarpu eilinėms įmonėms reikėtų pradėti rūpintis paprastesniu, žemiškesniu žinių valdymo problemų sprendimu. Vis dažniau organizacijose ieškoma būdų atvaizduoti turimas žinias, užtikrinti įmonės darbuotojams priėjimą prie jų, apsaugoti organizacijos žinių bazę nuo išorinio pasaulio intervencijos. Organizacijose iškyla žinių valdymo problema. Žinių valdymo modelio sudarymas – tai pirmas žingsnis šios problemos sprendimo link. Organizacijos žinių valdymo modelis yra hierarchinis taisyklių tinklas, kuris įgalina paaiškinti ir prognozuoti įvykius bei sąveikos modelius įmonės žinių ir žinių valdymo procesuose ir įmonės aplinkoje. Jo tikslas –... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Within the last few years, the topic of knowledge management has gathered a lot of interest in the corporate sectors. Although there is no commonly agreed upon definition of knowledge management, organizations are demonstrating an increasing interest in the topic and start having problems to create, store and use the knowledge. The solution for such problems is creation of models of knowledge management in organizations. The object of the work is knowledge management in international organization. The aim of work is to analyze and adapt the model of knowledge management in international organization. Master’s Diploma work consists of 77 pages, 16 charts, 19 pictures, 56 sources of literature, 2 appendixes. In the first part of work there is provided the analysis of definition of knowledge, the economy and management of knowledge, differences between knowledge and information and knowledge society influence on knowledge management. In the second part the work also provides the analysis of the advantages and functions of knowledge management in organizations, analyzes different models and systems of knowledge management. In the last part the work provides the analysis of knowledge management in international Joint Stock Company “Selecta” and after the analysis provides the adjustment of the growth model of knowledge management and suggests the model of knowledge management program creation.

Social networking services are relatively new phenomena and they have attracted so much attention around themselves. These services have been seen by many organizations as a po-tential tool to facilitate knowledge sharing. However, very few have successfully adopted such services. Many problems which lead to failures arise when it comes to developing and implementing social networking services with the goal to facilitate knowledge sharing.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the failure of one social networking service to satisfy the knowledge sharing needs of the organization that has developed and implement-ed it in-house.Interviews with three employees of the company were arranged. The interviews were done with time intervals in between. This gave us the opportunity to rearrange the questions that were going to be asked to the next interviewee. The interviews were really helpful and gave us a good insight of the problem with the development and implementation of the social networking service that the organization was facing. After the interviews were conducted, a questionnaire was elaborated and sent out to the employees in the organization.The results we came up with were really interesting. A table with failure factors for the so-cial networking service used in the organization was made and a model suggesting the steps an organization should follow for the successful development and implementation of a so-cial networking service that facilitates knowledge sharing internally was developed.We found out that the failure was not in the social networking service itself but in the way it was presented, positioned and communicated to the employees of the company. They never took the service seriously for its intended purpose which was knowledge sharing within the organization and that led to the cancelation of the project.

The help desk serves as the first support level for solving IT problems but sometimes they have their own problems. These problems can be linked to the lack of access to the right knowledge which could be solved by implementing knowledge management so that agents have all the knowledge they need available to them when they need it. There is statistical data available to confirm that, by implementing this knowledge management-centric approach, there is a significant improvement in throughput and reduced times spent on calls. Yet there seems to be that there is no research available to show us the cultural, process, resource and responsibility impact of knowledge management in this environment. This is the focus of this project and by creating a special knowledge management system prototype, for a working help desk, these aspects are analyzed. The results show a minimal culture barrier, more structured processes, better access to resources and increased responsibilities.

Den ökade användningen av kunskap inom organisationer har utvecklat teorin inom Knowledge Management (KM). KM-processer utvecklas för större organisationer vilket skapar problem när dessa ska tillämpas inom SME (Small och medium Enterprises), som karaktäriseras av en brist på resurser och standardisering. Ytterligare problem uppstår inom konsultorganisationer när arbetet mot kunder prioriteras före arbete som bidrar till organisationsutveckling. Vår studie fokuserar därmed på konsult-SMEer och de utmaningar som dessa ställs inför inom KM. Abstrakt Genom en litteraturstudie identifierades tre problemområden när det gäller KM- processer inom dessa organisationer; kodifikation, organisatorisk struktur och skapande av kunskapsvänlig kultur. Inom varje problemområde finns det även ett antal utmaningar som organisationerna ställs inför. Dessa utmaningar studerades empiriskt hos två olika konsult-SMEer som arbetade inom IT. Den empiriska undersökningen bidrog med nya utmaningar som inte identifierades i litteraturen, dessa presenteras i diskussionen. I slutsatse / The increased use of knowledge within organizations has contributed to the development of Knowledge Management (KM). The processes of KM are developed for larger organizations. This creates problems when they are directly applied on a SME (Small and Medium Enterprises), which is characterized by a lack of resources and standardization. Additional problems arise within consulting organizations when work towards the customer is prioritized above organizational-development. This study focuses on consulting SMEs and the issues that arise through their KM- development. Abstract Through a literature-review we identified three problematic areas for KM-processes within consulting SMEs. The areas are codification, organizational structure and creation of a knowledge-friendly environment. Within each problematic area there were additional challenges that later was studied empirically. This study was done at two consulting-SMEs, both working within the field of IT. The empirical study contributed with new challenges that will be presented during the discussion