The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical background on the knowledge management principles required in determining the current state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry. Emphasis is placed on identifying initiatives that is required for embedding tacit knowledge within an organisation. Knowledge is what people know and there is no knowledge without someone knowing it. Knowledge can be present in ideas, judgement, relationships and concepts. Unlike data and information, knowledge is never static but is continually shaped inside peoples' heads through experience, reasoning and the inflow of new stimuli. Tacit knowledge is the information about work processes and products that individuals hold above and beyond what organisations has documented. It is the "tricks of the trade" that promote smooth organisational functioning, overall know-how, and competitive advantage. In order to ensure that an organisation maintains its competitive advantage, special focus must be placed on tacit knowledge management. The state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry in South Africa was assessed in the use of survey questionnaires. The Pyrometallurgical industry has still got a long way to go in order to ensure that the tacit knowledge is embedded within their organisations. Key areas of concerns are the lack of experienced mentors as well as enough resources in order to foster tacit knowledge transfer. A practical tacit knowledge management framework is proposed in order to assist management in looking after this critical asset of their organisation. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical background on the knowledge management principles required in determining the current state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry. Emphasis is placed on identifying initiatives that is required for embedding tacit knowledge within an organisation. Knowledge is what people know and there is no knowledge without someone knowing it. Knowledge can be present in ideas, judgement, relationships and concepts. Unlike data and information, knowledge is never static but is continually shaped inside peoples' heads through experience, reasoning and the inflow of new stimuli. Tacit knowledge is the information about work processes and products that individuals hold above and beyond what organisations has documented. It is the "tricks of the trade" that promote smooth organisational functioning, overall know-how, and competitive advantage. In order to ensure that an organisation maintains its competitive advantage, special focus must be placed on tacit knowledge management. The state of knowledge management within the Pyrometallurgical industry in South Africa was assessed in the use of survey questionnaires. The Pyrometallurgical industry has still got a long way to go in order to ensure that the tacit knowledge is embedded within their organisations. Key areas of concerns are the lack of experienced mentors as well as enough resources in order to foster tacit knowledge transfer. A practical tacit knowledge management framework is proposed in order to assist management in looking after this critical asset of their organisation. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Att hantera kunskapen inom organisationer blir allt viktigare för att kunna förbättra den organisatoriska konkurrenskraften. Detta kan bland annat uppnås genom ett ökat utnyttjande av kunskapskapitalet. Kunskapskapitalet brukar vanligtvis handla om att utforska tacit kunskap, det vill säga den kunskapen som finns i de anställdas sinnen. Från år 2010 och fyra år framåt förväntas en stor utmarsch av 40-talister från den svenska arbetsmarknaden. Detta kommer att få konsekvenser på arbetsplatserna. Konsekvenserna kommer bland annat att bli i form av underskott i kunskapskapitalet. Syftet med uppsatsen är ta fram en modell som illustrerar hur kunskap kan identifieras och överföras. För att kunna besvara syftet har en abduktiv ansats och en kvalitativ datainsamlingsmetod använts i studien. Totalt har två observationer och fyra intervjuer genomförts. Studien har genomförts på fallföretaget Electrolux Laundry Systems i Ljungby och datainsamlingen har skett inom enheten Hydraulpressningsgruppen. I studien kommer begreppet kunskap och dess olika typer att redas ut. Vidare kommer det beskrivas hur kunskap kan identifieras, konverteras och överföras. Vi har utformat en analys som är baserad på den teoretiska referensramen. Analysen är utformad för att spegla syftet och problembakgrunden i studien. Den bygger på tre övergripande delar, kunskapsbegreppet, kunskapsidentifiering och kunskapsöverföring. Resultatet av studien är en modell som skapar en förståelse för hur kunskapsidentifiering och kunskapsöverföring kan gå till. Studien har även kommit fram till att det finns hinder som kan försvåra en effektiv kunskapshantering. / Managing knowledge is becoming increasingly important to improve the organizational competitiveness. This can be achieved by a greater use of the knowledge capital. This usually means to explore the tacit knowledge which exists in the minds of the employees. In Sweden, from 2010 and four years onwards, a great walkout is expected among the people being born in the 40s. The purpose of this essay is to create a model that illustrates how knowledge can be identified and transferred. The methodology used in this study aims to attain the purpose by using a qualitative method in which interviews and observations are combined. The study has been carried out at the case company, Electrolux Laundry Systems in Ljungby, Sweden. The authors have developed an analysis which is based on the theoretical framework. This analysis consists of three main parts, knowledge identification, knowledge transfer and a model for knowledge management. The conclusion in this essay is a model that creates an understanding of how knowledge can be identified and transferred. The study also found that there are obstacles that might constrain an effective knowledge management.

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBibl / The aim of this study was to determine whether or not knowledge was shared and created in the library of the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The study adopted the SECI model of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) as its theoretical framework. The service delivery points at the UWC library are as follows: Circulation section, which deals with walk-in users. These are users who, on a daily basis borrow books from and return books to the library. This section normally deals with queries such as users whose library cards are blocked due to outstanding library fines. It comprises front - desk staff, shelf attendants and inter-library loan staff members. Staff members working in the information section (IS) are referred to as faculty librarians (FAC/L’s), who are regarded as section heads and liaise with faculties on campus on a regular basis. The information section deals with walk-in users on a daily basis. The other sections, namely cataloguing, acquisition and periodicals, provide mostly ‘behind the scenes’ services, but their work is of such a nature that users have no access to their sections due to the strict policy with regard to areas of the library in which staff are working with new books and journals. Books and journals that are not on the cataloguing system are kept in the acquisitions and cataloguing section. This also has a significant impact on service delivery in the library. These sections have to ensure that books and journals are processed, in order for users to get access to these resources. This study attempted to answer the following research questions Is there evidence of knowledge sharing and creation in the UWC library? If so, what practices currently exist? How do staff share and create knowledge for service delivery not with general library users, but within and between the acquisitions, cataloguing and information sections? / South Africa

Communities of Practice have been utilized with great success by organisations in the business and manufacturing sectors to help in the management of their knowledge. Not much research have been done on their application in learning organisations such as academic libraries, however. The aim of this study was therefore to determine how knowledge can be managed through Communities of Practice in a learning organisation such as an academic library. The investigation was build around the concepts knowledge management, learning organisations and Communities of Practice and the interrelationship between these concepts. The role Communities of Practice play in the management of knowledge in a learning organisation is investigated as well as the development stages in the implementation of Communities of Practice to support knowledge management. This is followed by an investigation of the factors critical to the success of Communities of Practice in a learning organisation. The investigation consisted of a literature study to help define the key concepts and to lay a framework for the research design, and is followed by an empirical study where interviews were held with some of the staff members of the Academic Information Service (AIS) of the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In conclusion it was found that the AIS was considered a learning organisation and that the AIS was in the beginning stages of knowledge management. A number of Communities of Practice in the AIS were identified that existed internally and externally, and the small number of internal Communities of Practice in the AIS were linked to specific inhibiting factors. The study also showed that Communities of Practice can be found in learning organisations, and that learning organisations are characterised by knowledge management. Knowledge managed through Communities of Practice was also shown to help in the development of learning organisations. Communities of Practice in the AIS were shown to be in the beginning stages of development. The role of management, incentives and rewards for participation, information technology/tools, attention to newcomers, knowledge capturing/sharing techniques, trust and a proper knowledge management framework were shown to be essential for the success of Communities of Practice in the AIS. / Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Information Science / unrestricted

Global Software Development (GSD) team members engage in intellectual activities that involve sharing business domain knowledge and technical knowledge across geographical areas, which is crucial to the successful development of software. In global software development, media choice may influence how virtual teams create and share knowledge. As digital technology advances and organizations become more digitally transformed, current communication theories for media selection lack the explanation to the complicated phenomena with the use of advanced media technologies. There have been many studies focused on the effectiveness of media, but they did not include user’s understanding of system security and its influence on knowledge sharing behavior. However, affordance theory explains the utility with both social actors and technical features. The use of media may be shaped by features of technologies and user’s perception on system security. The goal of this study was to empirically assess the effects of media affordances and media security awareness on knowledge sharing behaviors among GSD team members with the lens of affordance theory. In this study, data was collected through survey from 214 GSD employees, after inviting 1000 employees to participate. The survey data was analyzed to test the effects of communication media affordance and user’s awareness of media security on behavior in knowledge sharing. The analysis results show that awareness of media security had significant moderating effects on the relationships from some actualized media affordances to implicit knowledge sharing. The results of this study revealed positive relationships between perceived media affordances and actualized media affordances. The results also showed that organization tenure had a significant effect on implicit knowledge sharing, and professional tenure had a significant effect on explicit and implicit knowledge behavior. This study contributed to the body of knowledge in organizational communication literature by providing new insights into how technology properties and users’ awareness on technology security shape team members’ knowledge sharing practice.

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.

Background:The management of knowledge within organizations and projects has become increasinglyimportant. In addition, the number of transnational projects is on the rise. Moreover, projectsare considered the loci where new knowledge is generated. Further, the asset of knowledge ishighly related to the competitiveness and value creation of the organization. Yet, due to theintangible nature of knowledge, it is often considered difficult to manage. Literature review: Literature shows a growing interest in the topic of knowledge management and theenhancement of new knowledge creation. Additionally, structuring and managing this processwithin projects is highly complex due to the nature of projects as temporary organizations.Mitigating these challenges demands careful actions and thoughtfulness throughout the project.Moreover, the conversion between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge to generate newknowledge is vital. Managing tacit knowledge on an individual level is difficult, yet crucial forprojects and organizations to absorb knowledge into the core of the operations. Method:The methodology employed in this research is a constructionist research design with relativismas ontology. The standpoint of the study is therefore that several truths exist and that facts aredependent on the viewpoint of each observer. As the study aims to investigate the knowledgecreation process within an international multi-actor project, several perspectives with their ownunderlying reality, as well as truth, must surrender to the surface. The study follows aqualitative and abductive research approach. A single case study was carried out with purposivesampling. Primary data consists of six semi-structured interviews and one observation thatprovides the foundation for the findings. The seven steps of grounded theory were used toanalyze the empirical findings. Findings & Analysis: From the findings of the study, the starting point for the generation of tacit knowledge was seento be shared experiences. Additionally, to fully generate the tacit knowledge, a strategic purpose was seen to be critical. Further, to transform the generated knowledge into explicitknowledge, feedback loops internally among the different actors were identified. Yet, thedimension of feedback loops was not sufficient in itself to generate and transform into explicitand codified knowledge. The incorporation of practical instruments enabled the knowledge tobecome codified knowledge available to be absorbed on an organizational or project level.Finally, SACC-USA acting as a neutral facilitator was seen as a vital component for the successof the project. Further, they enabled the process to take place and bridged the differencesbetween the actors involved in the project. Conclusion:Compared to projects within organizations, projects with different actors and culturaldifferences do not share tacit knowledge as a starting point. They need to form theseexperiences together with respect to their shared interest and understanding of each other'sdifferences. To enable the process of tacit knowledge between the individuals responsible forthe project, shared experiences are crucial. Additionally, to discuss the strategic purpose createsa common ground between the actors and fulfills the generation of tacit knowledge.Furthermore, for the generation of new knowledge to take place, this needs to be converted intoexplicit knowledge through feedback loops internally and further transformed into practicalinstruments.

Tackling grand challenges such as anthropogenic climate change, urgently requires an increase in bio-based resource utilization in regard to offsetting fossil dependencies within industrial sectors, also known as bioeconomic shifts. Bioeconomic shifts can be achieved by implementing Mission-oriented innovation (MOI), which concerns facilitating and directing resources towards achieving predetermined missions. Public actors within Uppsala region have proposed a regional mission which communicates their approach towards achieving a bioeconomic shift. Therefore, this study explores the empirical and contextual barriers to MOI- implementation towards increasing local bio-based rest flow utilization, enabling an expansion biochar within Uppsala region. To satisfy the purpose and research question, an inductive qualitative interview-based case study was performed. This allowed for an understanding of contextual barriers regarding an implementation of MOI from the perceptions of the purposefully sampled interviewees. Thematic analysis was then applied to uncover codes and themes within the gathered data. Noteworthy, and a valuable takeaway for future studies regarding MOI-implementations, is that many of the observed barriers could be mitigated through further developing abilities that enable codification of tacit knowledge. Difficulties in facilitating necessary cooptation, uncertainty associated with innovation, and lengthy payback horizons contribute to MOI-implementation barriers within Uppsala region. A lack of structures that enable the synchronization of, and cooperation between, public and private actors has resulted in barriers for public actors to incentivize and facilitate activities towards achieving a regional expansion of biochar. Also, a lack of resource allocation to enable an MOI-implementation, results in barriers towards exploiting/counteracting contextual advantages/disadvantages towards achieving the regional mission. Contextual advantages include mobility of knowledgeable individuals, universities, and waste management facilities. Contextual disadvantages regard insufficient resource allocations, lack of public actor involvement, and policy which is currently unable of facilitating necessary activities. The results and associated theory support the notion that innovation policy should communicate routes and directions, and better organize actors and activities towards specific missions. Increasing the ability to assess previous and future MOI-implementations, while incentivizing cooperation through shared risks and rewards. Increased communication and assessments of MOI-implementations could also increase the ability to further develop contextual advantages. Contributing and expanding upon existing MOI-literature, this study emphasizes codification of knowledge as to increase the transferability of MOI-related policies and activities between, and within domains. Increased transferability could entail positive spillover effects, regarding the ability of actors to learn from successful, and non-successful MOI-related activities. This knowledge could increase the success rate of MOI-implementations, thus increasing the ability to further develop MOI-implementation frameworks.

There is a growing need to study factors that affect user comprehension of Business Process Management (BPM) information portrayed by graphical process models (GPMs). For example, deployment of BPM Systems, unique types of enterprise-level information systems, has dramatically increased in recent years. This increase is primarily because BPM Systems give a variety of managers across an enterprise the ability to directly design, configure, enact, monitor, diagnose, and control business processes that other types of enterprise systems do not. This is possible because BPM Systems uniquely rely on GPMs derived from formal graph theory. Besides controlling the business processes, these GPMs, such as metagraphs and Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams, portray business process information (BPI) and prompt BPM managers to apply their training and expertise to deal with BPM situations. As a result, GPMs are the primary information artifacts for decision-making and communication among different, often geographically dispersed stakeholders. Therefore, user comprehension of these unique GPMs is critical to the efficient and effective development, deployment, and utilization of BPM Systems. User comprehension outcomes are jointly affected by the (1) BPM cognitive resources available to each manager (including the type of GPM, BPI, and user educational training and experience), and (2) cognitive differences between individual BPM managers (such as their mental workload, cognitive styles and cognitive abilities). Although research has studied GPMs in various contexts, there is apparently no empirical research investigating GPM user comprehension in the context of BPM Systems. This research makes an important contribution by addressing this gap in the literature. Statement of the Objective: The purpose of this research is to empirically study how BPM cognitive resources and cognitive differences between individuals affect outcomes of GPM user comprehension. This research centered on the following objectives: A. Investigate whether more positive user comprehension outcomes are produced by novice users if a single GPM technique is used to portray different types of BPI (e.g., as with metagraphs) or if different GPM techniques are used to portray different types of BPI (e.g., as with UML diagrams). B. Investigate whether one type of BPI is more easily comprehended and interpreted by novice users irrespective of the type of GPM or the type of educational training of the user. C. Investigate whether users with a specific type of user educational training can more easily comprehend and interpret BPM information irrespective of the type of GPM or the type of BPI. D. Evaluate influences of individual cognitive differences (i.e., mental workload, cognitive styles, and cognitive abilities) on outcomes of user comprehension. In order to accomplish these objectives, this study: (a) defined a theoretical framework conceptualizing user comprehension outcomes in terms of the interaction between cognitive resources external to the user and individual differences affecting how users cognitively process BPI, (b) empirically tested an operational research model of GPM user comprehension that is based on the theoretical framework, and (c) interpreted the experimental results in the context of related literatures. Description of Research Methods: This study empirically tested relationships between several variables representing BPM cognitive resources and individual cognitive differences hypothesized as influencing the outcomes of user comprehension. A laboratory experiment, involving 87 upper-level undergraduate students from two universities, analyzed relationships between participant comprehension of two types of GPMs (i.e., metagraphs and UML diagrams) used to portray three types of BPI (i.e., task-centric, resource-centric, and information-centric BPI) by novice GPM users possessing different educational training (i.e., industrial engineering, business management, and computer science training). Dependent variables included assessments of task accuracy, task timeliness, subjective mental workload, and self-efficacy. Covariate effects were also analyzed for two types of participant cognitive abilities (i.e., general cognitive ability (GCA) and attentional abilities) and two types of participant cognitive styles (extroversion-introversion and sensing-intuitive). Multivariate analysis techniques were used to analyze and interpret the data. Discussion of Results: The type of GPM and participants' GCA produced significant effects on the dependent variables in this study. For example, metagraph users produced significantly more desirable results than UML users across all dependent variables, contrary to what was hypothesized. However, if only the BPM cognitive resources (i.e., GPM Type, BPM Type, and the Type of Participant Education) were studied in relation to user comprehension outcomes, spurious conclusions would have been reached. When individual cognitive differences were included in the research model and analyses, results showed participants with higher GCA produced significantly more positive user comprehension outcomes compared to participants with lower GCAs. Also, many of the impacts of differences in the types of BPI and the types of UET were moderated by the differences in participants' GCA and attentional abilities. In addition, the relationship between subjective mental workload and task performance (i.e., accuracy and timeliness) suggest a possible GPM cognitive "profile" for user comprehension tasks in a BPM Systems context. These results have important implications for future research and practice in several bodies of knowledge, including GPM user comprehension in management systems engineering, BPM modeling, BPM Systems, HCI, and cognitive ergonomics literature. / Ph. D.