This thesis discusses applying AI planning tools for generating plans for manual operations. Expertise of motion economy domain is used to select good plans among feasible ones. Motion economy is a field of industrial engineering, which deals with observing, reporting and improving manual operations. Motion economy knowledge is organized in principles regarding the sequences and characteristics of motions, arrangement of workspace, design of tools etc. A representation scheme is developed for products, workspace and hand motions of manual operations. Operation plans are generated using a forward chaining planner (TLPLAN). Planner and representation of domain have extensions compared to a standard forward chaining planner, for supporting concurrency, actions with resources and actions with durations. We formulated principles of motion economy as search control temporal formulas. In addition to motion economy rules, we developed rules for simulating common sense of humans and goal-related rules for preventing absurd sequences of actions in the plans. Search control rules constrain the problem and reduce search complexity. Plans are evaluated during search. Paths, which are not in conformity with the principles of motion economy, are pruned with motion economy rules. Sample problems are represented and solved. Diversity of types of these problems shows the generality of representation scheme. In experimental runs, effects of motion economy principles on the generation of plans are observed and analyzed.

My thesis is focused on assessment of evolution of knowledge management systems and specifically on deployment of wiki technology for knowledge management in consulting company Efficio ltd.

lt;p align="justify"gt; O século XXI teve início dentro da chamada Sociedade do Conhecimento, refletindo as mudanças estruturais da economia global das últimas décadas. Nesse novo contexto, o recurso conhecimento impõe-se como de fundamental importância para a otimização dos resultados das organizações, tornando-as mais eficientes para atingir seus objetivos. As organizações, além de aumentar seus investimentos em qualificação profissional, treinamento, gestão, marketing, informática, inovação, desenvolvimento e investigação precisam implementar práticas gerenciais modernas e indutoras de ambientes organizacionais voltados para a inovação de processos e produtos, evidenciando a capacidade criadora, a flexibilidade e a autonomia. Para isso, deverão estar constantemente preocupadas com a sua capacidade plena de atrair e reter pessoas qualificadas e dotadas de conhecimentos, das quais depende seu desempenho.No mundo moderno das organizações, independentemente do setor em que elas atuam, o ser humano caminha para deixar de ver a organização em que trabalha como um mecanismo em que ele é apenas uma peça. A organização, por sua vez, passará a tratá-lo como indivíduo cujas potencialidades precisam ser descobertas. Na verdade, encontra-se hoje uma maior preocupação de empreendedores e dirigentes organizacionais em compreender e incrementar a capacidade de aprendizagem de suas organizações. As organizações são lugares onde se ensina e se aprende continuamente, e esse processo de compartilhamento deve sempre envolver todos os membros que as compõem.O compartilhamento do conhecimento está se tornando parte essencial da Gestão do Conhecimento. O presente trabalho se propõe a desenvolver um modelo para implantar um programa de Gestão do Conhecimento para uma organização de aprendizagem empreendedora, buscando preservar o conhecimento e integrando informações nas organizações. O modelo conceitual proposto no trabalho objetiva explicitar a forma pela qual se deve a Gestão do Conhecimento, com o fim de propor formas para identificar processos críticos de negócio, adquirir o conhecimento de especialistas e disponibilizar e disseminar o conteúdo do conhecimento adquirido. Ele aborda princípios e fundamentos da Aprendizagem Organizacional, da inovação e do Empreendedorismo e une conceitos de Gestão do Conhecimento, engenharia do conhecimento, modelagem de processos para aquisição do conhecimento e matriz de decisão para identificar processos críticos. Para aquisição de informações e conhecimento utilizou-se a metodologia de análise, modelagem e redesenho de processos. Em relação a demonstração de condições de aplicabilidade, foram citados exemplos que possuem uma considerável convergência com o modelo que aqui se propôs, tendo em vista que tratam de modo similar a aplicação do programa de Gestão do Conhecimento. Neste particular, todavia, alguns diferenciais merecem destaque. Esses diferenciais devem-se ao fato de que o modelo proposto contempla a combinação entre Gestão do Conhecimento, Aprendizagem Organizacional, inovação e Empreendedorismo, visando possibilitar um novo potencial competitivo para as organizações que decidam por sua implantação.lt;/pgt; / The XXI century has emerged within the so-called Knowledge Society, a society which reflects the structural changes of the global economy during the past decades. Within this new context, the knowledge factor is of fundamental importance to the outcome optimisation of organizations, making them more efficient in achiving their objectives.Beyond increasing their investments in professional training, management, marketing, informatics, innovation, development and research, organizations also need to implement modern managerial practices, which are able to produce organizational environments devoted to process and product innovation, able to bring forward the creative capacity, the flexibility and a certain degree of autonomy. In order to do so, organizations should always worry about their capacity of attracting and retaining knowledgeable and qualified human resources, from which their own performance depends upon. In the modern organizational world, no matter the area where a certain organization performs, people tend to stop seeing their workplace as just a sort of mechanism in which they represent only a single independent piece. Organizations have started treating individuals as someone whose potential needs to be exploited. Nowadays it is of increasing concern, on the side of entrepreneurs and organizational leaders, the capacity to fully grasp and add value to the learning capacity of their organizations. Organizations are places of continuous learning and of continuous education and this sharing process should involve every member that is part of it. Sharing of knowledge is becoming an essential part of Knowledge Management. This work introduces a model that shows how to implement a knowledge management program where a learning organization, that is also an entrepreneur, seeks the preservation of knowledge and the integration of an information flow in organizations. The conceptual model presented within in this work intends to shed light on aspects of knowledge management. It identifies critical business processes, explains how the acquisition of knowledge from specialists takes place and explores how to make content available and, finally, how to disseminate it. This work is based on the principles and fundamentals of organizational learning, innovation and entrepreneurship. It unites concepts coming from various fields of study such as knowledge management, knowledge engineering, process modelling that encompasses the acquisition of knowledge and uses decision arrays to identify critical processes. For the acquisition of informations and knowledge I have used the methodology of analysis, modelling and redesign of processes. Regarding its practical application, I have cited a series of examples that converge towards the model I proposed because they have applied the knowledge management programme in a very similar way. Some distinguishing features of the model I present should, however, be underlined. The main differences lie on the fact that my model combines knowledge management, organizational learning, innovation and entrepreneurship so as to improve the competitive potential for the organizations that decide to implement it.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / Knowledge is recognised as a crucial resource in the knowledge-based economy; and it is believed to drive sustainable success in organizations. Knowledge management (KM) helps organizations identify, create, organize, distribute and transfer vital knowledge among employees within and across organizations. The underlying premise is that good KM leads to efficiency and effectiveness, which in turn, influences the total performance in an organization. Therefore, this study investigates the role of KM practices as they relate to projects in a South African government organisation. The problem was dwelt with by establishing research questions and objectives. In order to answer the research questions, a literature search was conducted in the area of KM to establish the KM enablers, barriers, and processes known to facilitate or hinder successful KM in organizations. This led to the identification of five enablers, including organizational culture, structure, technology, strategy and leadership, as well as the resources believed to be fundamental in the success of KM practices. Barriers to KM were identified as individual, organizational and technological. The study established four KM processes: acquisition, conversion, application and protection that were found to concur with good KM practices. A conceptual model was developed around these areas. The model assisted in developing qualitative and quantitative questions. In order to investigate the proposed research questions, the study identified a single directorate within the department of public works that is directly involved with the delivery of health infrastructure. The methodology used, which was mainly qualitative research, was conducted by using multiple-data evidences, namely: semi-structured interviews, document review; these were sourced from primary and secondary sources, as well as similar organizational best practices in KM. A total of nine interviews were conducted with individuals in managerial positions. A total of 7 of the 30 e-mailed questionnaires were completed and the data were used to supplement the qualitative data. This study used the Content-Analysis Technique approach to analyse the text data obtained from the interviews. It was established that successful KM implementation requires the promotion of an enabling environment. The results from the findings revealed that organizational culture, structure, leadership and strategy, ICT, as well as KM resources form, a foundation for the KM environment. KM processes, such as knowledge-retention, creation, capture, transfer and iv sharing, were found to be fundamental for KM practices to occur. Barriers to effective KM occurred largely due to the lack of awareness and time. To capitalize on knowledge, an organization must be prepared to balance its KM enablers and processes. The existing challenges impeding KM success should be identified and dealt with, in order to realize the KM benefits. The study, therefore, proposes a KM conceptual model to be integrated with the decision-making framework, as an implementation strategy for KM in the public sector. This would ensure an embedded knowledge-intensive environment in the Department, and hence the improvement of infrastructural delivery. This study is limited, since only a single case was used, which plainly suggests that there is a possibility that the results cannot be generalized beyond the researched organisation – without conducting any further study. It is recommended that for future research, this study be replicated through several other directorates, or even departments at various government levels (e.g. national, provincial). Also, quantitative analysis, together with qualitative analysis, should be used to create a triangulation between the two approaches.

This thesis deals with comprehensive proposal of change that will increase the efficiency of information system and its benefits for the company. The proposal is built on the strategic business analysis and identification of key needs and possibilities for improvement of the current state of information system. The emphasis is on practical use and benefits of proposed solutions.