Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T15:23:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1943319 bytes, checksum: 928a76935387182dda58467617baaa88 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The growing concern about information and knowledge as factors contributing to the transformation of society, has stimulated research that might catch a glimpse of its management process, in order to preserve them in organizations. This study discusses the importance of information management and knowledge management (IKM) in an institution of higher education. Given the rapid growth process of the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), it is believed that the management of information and knowledge can contribute to consolidate the process of modernization of the institution, which requires increasingly prioritizing models that include knowledge generation and its permanence in the organization. It focuses on the stimulus, which can be implemented through assertive actions in creating and maintaining organizational knowledge, and as general purpose, analyze the actions of information management and knowledge of the technical staff of the Department of Accounting and Finance UFPB. In the methodological aspect, the research is characterized as a case study and field, appears as a study of qualitative and quantitative, exploratory and descriptive. Used as instruments of data collection a questionnaire individually, without identification, which allowed us to recognize the actions of GIC through the "diagnostic knowledge management," in view of Bukowitz and Williams, adopted as a parameter, and the technique of direct observation, performed by means of notes in field diary. For organizing and analyzing data, we used content analysis. The results show that the findings of the survey were positive for the actions of GIC, especially in the categories: get information and build and maintain the intellectual capital, although there was a need for improvements with regard to encouraging the sharing of knowledge in the sectors that make the Department of Accounting and Finance UFPB. / A preocupação crescente com a informação e o conhecimento como fatores que contribuem para a transformação da sociedade, tem estimulado pesquisas que possam vislumbrar o seu processo de gestão, com o intuito de preservá-los nas organizações. O presente estudo discute a relevância da gestão da informação e do conhecimento (GIC) numa instituição de ensino superior público. Diante do rápido processo de crescimento da Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), acredita-se que a gestão da informação e do conhecimento possa contribuir para consolidar o processo de modernização da Instituição, onde se requer, cada vez mais, priorização de modelos que contemplem a geração de conhecimento e sua permanência na organização. Tem como foco o estímulo, que pode ser implementado através de ações assertivas na criação e manutenção do conhecimento organizacional, e como objetivo geral, analisar as ações de gestão da informação e do conhecimento do corpo técnico da Coordenação de Contabilidade e Finanças da UFPB. No aspecto metodológico, a pesquisa é caracterizada como estudo de caso e de campo, configura-se como um estudo de caráter qualitativo e quantitativo, exploratório e descritivo. Utiliza como instrumentos de coleta de dados um questionário individual, sem identificação, que permitiu reconhecer as ações de GIC, por meio do diagnóstico de gestão do conhecimento, na perspectiva de Bukowitz e Williams, adotado como parâmetro, e a técnica de observação direta, realizada por meio de anotações em diário de campo. Para a organização e a análise dos dados, recorreu-se à análise de conteúdo. Os resultados obtidos revelam que os achados da pesquisa foram positivos para as ações de GIC, notadamente nas categorias: obtenha informação e construa e mantenha o capital intelectual, embora se observe a necessidade de melhorias no que diz respeito ao incentivo ao compartilhamento do conhecimento nos setores que fazem a Coordenação de Contabilidade e Finanças da UFPB.

Organisations make use of a variety of knowledge management systems (KMS) in order to facilitate the creation, storage, transfer and reuse of organisational knowledge. Metadata is used to describe knowledge by its attributes and to provide the context, quality, condition or other characteristics of knowledge assets. This thesis explores the way in which metadata is being used in KMS. It provides an analysis of the types of metadata used for the descriptIon of knowledge documents at the semantic level and complements other research on the evaluation of KMS by focusing on the use of metadata, adopting a user perspective. The empirical work was carried out through case study research in two highly knowledge-intensive companies, a motorsport engineering company and a pharmaceutical company. Data collection tools included field visits, documentation, surveys and interviews. The findings demonstrate the level of users' satisfaction with the KMS and metadata and their readiness to create metadata when contributing a knowledge document to the KMS. Demographic factors, such as gender, age, qualifications, and years working with the company, are analysed in conjunction with attitudes towards the KMS and metadata The two metadata schemes used in each company are mapped semantically to the widely used Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMI), in order to identify good practice in designing a metadata scheme for a KMS From the mapping, the basis of a metadata framework is created, intended to be used as a checklist for the development of comprehensive metadata schemes for the description of knowledge documents. The metadata management processes of the two companies are analysed to propose guidelines for the development of a metadata management strategy.

Models are incredibly insidious; they slide undetected into discussions and then dominate the way people think. Since Information Systems (ISs) and particularly Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) are socio-technical systems, they unconsciously embrace the characteristics of the dominant models of management thinking. Thus, their limitations can often be attributed to the deficiencies of the organizational models they aim to support. Through the case study of a hotel chain, this research suggests that contemporary KMSs in the hospitality sector are still grounded in the assumptions of the mechanistic organizational model which conceives an organization as a rigid hierarchical entity governed from the top. Despite the recent technological advances in terms of supporting dialogue and participation between members, organizational knowledge is still transferred vertically; from the top to the bottom or from the bottom to the top. A number of limitations still exist in terms of supporting effectively the transfer of knowledge horizontally between the geographically distributed units of an organization. Inspired from the key concepts of the more recent complex systems model, referred frequently as complexity theories, a Knowledge Management Architecture (KMA) is proposed aiming to re-conceptualize the existing KMSs towards conceiving an organization as a set self-organizing communities of practice (CoP). In every such CoP, order is created from the dynamic exchange of knowledge between the structurally similar community members. Thus, the focus of the KMA is placed on capturing systematically for reuse the architectural knowledge created upon every initiative for change and share such knowledge with the rest of the members of the CoP. A KMS was also developed to support the dynamic dimensions that the KMA proposes. The KMS was then applied in the case of the hotel chain, where it brought significant benefits which constitute evidence of an improved self-organizing ability. The previously isolated hotel units residing in distant regions could now trace but also reapply easily changes undertaken by the other community members. Top-management’s intervention to promote change was reduced, while the pace of change increased. Moreover, the organizational cohesion, the integration of new members as well as the level of management alertness was enhanced. The case of the hotel chain is indicative. It is believed that the KMA proposed can be applicable to geographically distributed organizations operating in different sectors too. At the same time, this research contributes to the recent discourse between the fields of IS and complexity by demonstrating how fundamental concepts from complexity such as self-organization, emergence and edge-of-chaos can be embraced by contemporary KMSs.

The study reported in this thesis aimed to provide an ontology of professional activities in the software industry that require and enable the acquisition of experience and that, in turn, is the basis for tacit knowledge creation. The rationale behind the creation of such an ontology was based on the need to externalise this tacit knowledge and then record such externalisations so that these can be shared and disseminated across organisations through electronic records management. The research problem here is to conciliate highly theoretical principles associated with tacit knowledge and the ill-defined and quasi-colloquial concept of experience into a tool that can be used by more technical and explicit knowledge minded practitioners of electronic records management. The ontology produced and proposed here provides exactly such a bridge, by identifying what aspects of professional and personal experience should be captured and organising these aspects into an explicit classification that can be used to capture the tacit knowledge and codify it into explicit knowledge. Since such ontologies are always closely related to actual contexts of practice, the researcher decided to choose her own national context of China, where she had worked before and had good guarantees of industrial access. This study used a multiple case-study Straussian Grounded Theory inductive approach. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews in order to get direct interaction with practitioners in the field and capture individuals opinions and perceptions, as well as interpret individuals understandings associated with these processes. The interviews were conducted in three different and representative types of company (SMEs, State Owned and Large Private) in an attempt to capture a rich variety of possible contexts in the SW sector in a Chinese context. Data analysis was conducted according to coding the procedures advocated by Grounded Theory, namely: open, axial and selective coding. Data collection and analysis was conducted until the emergent theory reached theoretical saturation. The theory generated identified 218 different codes out of 797 representative quotations. These codes were grouped and organised into a category hierarchy that includes 6 main categories and 31 sub-categories, which are, in turn, represented in the ontology proposed. This emergent theory indicates in a very concise manner that experienced SW development practitioners in China should be able to understand the nature and value of experience in the SW industry, effectively communicate with other stake holders in the SW development process, be able and motivated to actively engage with continuous professional development, be able to share knowledge with peers and the profession at large, effectively work on projects and exhibit a sound professional attitude both internally to their own company and externally to customers, partners and even competitors. This basic theory was then further analysed by applying selective coding. This resulted in a main theory centred on Working in Projects, which was clearly identified as the core activity in the SW Industry reflecting its design and development nature. Directly related with the core category, three other significant categories were identified as enablers: Communication, Knowledge Sharing and Individual Development. Additionally, Understanding the Nature of Experience in the SW Industry and Professional Attitude were identified as drivers for the entire process of reflection, experience acquisition and tacit knowledge construction by the individual practitioners. Finally, as an integral part of any inductive process of research, the final stage in this study was to position the emerged theory in the body of knowledge. This resulted in the understanding that the theory presented in this study bridges two extremely large bodies of literature: employability skills and competencies. Both of these bodies of literature put their emphasis in explicit knowledge concerning skills and competencies that are defined so that they can be measured and assessed. The focus of the theory proposed in this thesis on experience and resulting acquisition of tacit knowledge allows a natural link between the employability skills and competencies in the SW industry that was hitherto lacking in the body of knowledge. The ontology proposed is of interest to academics in the areas of knowledge management, electronic records management and information systems. The same ontology may be of interest to human resources practitioners to select and develop experienced personnel as well as knowledge and information professionals in organisations.

aus der Einleitung: „Die Pandemie hat der Digitalisierung in Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Bildung, privaten Netzwerken und öffentlichen Institutionen einen enormen Anschub ermöglicht und gleichermaßen innovative Ideen sowie Schwachstellen aufgezeigt. Seit 2020 wurde unser Leben und Arbeiten zu einer hybriden, auf digitaler Kommunikation und Kollaboration basierten sozitechnischen Wirklichkeit transformatiert. Teilhabe gestaltet sich vermehrt medial, erfasst Bildung, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Privates und die Gesellschaft ganz allgemein. Dabei geht mitunter noch um Infrastrukturen (in der Bildung), oft diskutieren wir Arbeitsweisen und ebenso häufig dafür erforderliche (Digital-) Kompetenzen, gerade auch bei einer alternden Bevölkerung. Debatten drehen sich verstärkt um die Möglichkeit der Rückkehr zum ‚normalen‘ Leben und wir stellen uns immer häufiger die Fragen was den ein Normales Leben ist und ob dies tatsächlich zu erwarten bzw. erwünscht ist.”

from the introduction: „The pandemic has given a huge boost to digitisation in business, science, education, private networks and public institutions, highlighting innovative ideas as well as vulnerabilities in equal measure. Since 2020, our lives and work have been transformed into a hybrid socio-technical reality based on digital communication and collaboration. Participation is increasingly mediated, encompassing education, business, science, private life and society in general. Sometimes it is still about infrastructures (in education), often we discuss ways of working and just as often the (digital) skills required for this, especially with an ageing population. Debates increasingly revolve around the possibility of returning to a ‚normal‘ life and we increasingly ask ourselves what a normal life is and whether this is actually to be expected or desired.”

My thesis is focused on knowledge management and its quality in Czech companies. The issue is one of the most current and very important topic since the interest in knowledge and namely in its management and utilisation by as large as possible number of employees has been rapidly growing worldwide. The main objective of my thesis is to evaluate the level of knowledge management in Czech companies and suggest procedures leading to elimination of most frequent errors therein. The introduction of my thesis provides basic definitions from the field of knowledge management, namely data, information and knowledge, and gives definitions of most important factors that influence knowledge management. Chapter two surveys the current state of knowledge management, namely modern approaches towards knowledge management, classification of knowledge suggested by various authors and different styles of knowledge management. Chapter three is focused on modern trends in human resources and influence of the company’s structure upon knowledge management. Chapter four contains description of ways of origin of knowledge followed by activities necessary to know prior to introduction of knowledge management. Chapter five gives a survey of current development in information systems and products supporting knowledge management. The final part of my thesis presents an assessed questionnaire survey and gives recommendations to the discussed issue. Included are suggested procedures how to proceed and act in human resources management and IT investments in companies intending to introduce knowledge management. In addition, this chapter gives examples of contributions from science, practice and pedagogic procedures.

Dissertation thesis deals with the management of intellectual capital in a company, its level and the current state of the environment of our companies, with the help of modern methods of management and especially management skills. It is a very current topic. The current development of the society and its transformation into the information society can be characterized as a transition from the era of competitive advantage based on information to the era of competitive advantage based on the creation, storage and use of knowledge. Knowledge is today becoming a critical strategic resource for business activities and other economic development of organizations. The aim of this dissertation thesis is to access the level of awareness of knowledge management in the environment of companies operating in the Czech Republic and try to propose a set of recommendations, on which companies will be able to proceed with implementation, respectively improving the level of knowledge management in their practice. Dissertation thesis is based on the theoretical background obtained during the secondary research, focuses on the general concept of knowledge management, its most important parts such as definition of data, information and knowledge, knowledge worker, the internal culture of organization and implementation options. It also focuses on current situation and obstacles, that hinder the implementation of knowledge management into our societies. Another part is devoted to primary research, whereby are set conclusions and recommendations to address issues, leading into the last part with its own set of proposals. The last part is also devoted to its own contributions to science, practice and educational process.

In the last two decades the IT service support worker has emerged to be a worker-type of considerable socio-economic importance. Such workers are symbolic of the trends towards the importance of information/knowledge and information technology within modern economic/political systems. Such systems, heavily influenced by governmental bodies and business organisations, have aggrandised the use of rationalising customer-centric management techniques. And yet such symbolic workers are largely hidden and unacknowledged as a specific type of worker in the business literature. This thesis represents an attempt to conceptualise the IT service support worker as a worker-type, inducing a conceptual model that identifies three aspects to the worker: information systems worker; knowledge worker and service worker and considers them from each of these perspectives. This qualitative research draws on a rich mix of observational and interview data collected across five UK organisations to produce a narrative that suggests that, for different IT service support workers, those different aspects tend to be variably emphasised within their team roles. The study additionally offers a theoretical conclusion that IT service support workers might reasonably be divided into different classes depending upon not only the design of their team role but also their individual career orientations and the nature of the knowledge they actually use in their work. Four such classes are identified as being of particular significance and these are evocatively named: Resigned Robots ; Constrained Careerists ; Establishment Experts and Aspiring Artisans . Whilst being outside of the scope of this study, it is suggested that this novel typology might also be useful for classifying other worker groupings. The study is intended to be useful for the enhancement of IT service management practice and makes several contributions in this regard. These include the need for managers to recognise the importance of experientially-acquired knowledge for efficiency in IT service support work and a suggestion that managers might tailor HRM practices for different classes of worker.

Knowledge Management Systems are deployed in organisations of all sizes to support the coordination and control of a range of intellectual assets, and the low cost infrastructures made available by the shift to ‘cloud computing’ looks to only increase the speed and pervasiveness of this move. However, their implementation has not been without its problems, and the development of novel interventions capable of supporting the mundane work of everyday organisational settings has ultimately been limited. A common source of trouble for those formulating such systems is said to be that some proportion of the knowledge held by a setting’s members is hidden from the undirected view of both The Organisation and its analysts - typically characterised as a tacit knowledge - and can therefore go unnoticed during the design and deployment of new technologies. Notwithstanding its utility, overuse of this characterisation has resulted in the inappropriate labelling of a disparate assortment of phenomena, some of which might be more appropriately re-specified as ‘hidden knowledges’: a standpoint which seeks to acknowledge their unspoken character without making any unwarranted claims regarding their cognitive status. Approaches which focus on the situated and contingent properties of the actual work carried out by a setting’s members - such as ethnomethodologically informed ethnography - have shown significant promise as a mechanism for transforming the role played by members’ practices into an explicit topic of study. Specifically they have proven particularly adept at noticing those aspects of members’ work that might ordinarily be hidden from an undirected view, such as the methodic procedures through which we can sometimes mean more than we can say in-just-so-many-words. Here - within the context of gathering the requirements for new Knowledge Management Systems to support the reuse of existing knowledge - the findings from the application of just such an approach are presented in the form of a Pattern Language for Knowledge Management Systems: a descriptive device that lends itself to articulating the role that such hidden knowledges are playing in everyday work settings. By combining these three facets, this work shows that it is possible to take a more meaningful approach towards noticing those knowledges which might ordinarily be hidden from view, and apply our new understanding of them to the design of Knowledge Management Systems that actively engage with the knowledgeable work of a setting’s members.