Background: Recruitment and development of employees is a large burden for companies in most industries. Because of this, there is a clear organizational imperative to attract and retain knowledge workers since these constitute an important resource, especially for knowledge intensive organizations. A decisive factor for success is thus to retain and develop this vital resource in order to upgrade and sustain competitive advantage. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what internal determinants and structures might be needed for knowledge intensive organizations to ensure their long-term provision of key human resources. Practical Approach: In total ten interviews, with interviewees at different levels in the organization, have been conducted. Furthermore, other forms of secondary empirical material of both qualitative and quantitative character have been used. Results: It is important for an organization to attempt to create a consistent and durable identity in order to influence the image held by its different stakeholders. We have found that researchers seem to value working in interesting projects. This argument coincides with the conviction that researchers are actually more committed to interesting research than to the employing organization.

According to a dominant discourse in contemporary writings and research, we are living in a Knowledge Economy where knowledge is seen as the pre-eminent resource and the key to success for individuals as well as organizations and nations. Consequently, much effort in management research has been dedicated to devising new concepts and theories such as the knowledge-based theory of the firm and the intellectual capital perspective, all premised on the assumption that knowledge work is somehow different from other forms of work. But what, actually, is knowledge work? And what is it that makes it so different? This dissertation represents an attempt to make some sense of this discourse. Research themes investigate the role of tangible and intangible dimensions of knowledge work and organizations. Particular attention is paid to organizational identity and the physical work environment. The notion of identity is central to the Knowledge Economy Rhetoric, while the physical setting is a neglected, but potentially important, aspect of knowledge work and identity construction. Various theoretical and methodological perspectives were applied throughout the research process to illuminate these themes. The thesis covers two empirical case studies; one of a small high-tech firm in the telecommunications sector as it developed a knowledge based strategy. The other study explored the relationship between the design of the office and identity construction in a large IT/management consulting firm. In addition, a study of the literature on the organizational category of knowledge-intensive firms was conducted to explore the dominant constructions of knowledge work within the research community. The results from these studies are presented in five papers. While addressing different questions, the papers all deal with some aspect of sensemaking of, or in, knowledge work. The first paper describes how the management team in the case company went through a process to make sense of the intangible dimensions of their organization. The second paper is a conceptual treatise outlining an alternative conceptualization of strategy for knowledge-intensive firms that emphasizes the importance of identity. Paper three provides an analysis of how the category of knowledge-intensive firms is used in the research literature and the consequences thereof. In paper four branding is analyzed as a management practice. The last paper discusses the role of emotion, ambivalence and embodied experience of the physical environment in identity construction. The exposition reflects further on the insights from this journey and what they entail for making sense of knowledge work. It is argued that a better understanding of knowledge work has to take the knowledge worker – the individual – as the starting point for theorizing. Taking this position requires us to scrutinize the theoretical perspectives that guide our conceptualizations of the knowledge worker. Theoretical perspectives are constructions that allow us to see certain things and not others. Current conceptualizations are, by necessity, extensions of earlier dominant perspectives or worldviews. Based on the findings from the empirical studies, an alternative perspective is proposed that takes the embodied experience of the knowledge worker as a point of departure. Implications of this perspective for conceptualizing and studying knowledge work are then discussed. / QC 20100917

For many companies, especially the ones that are knowledge-intensive such as consulting companies or service delivery firms, it has been increasingly popular to organize the employees in so called self-managing teams. These teams have proven to increase efficiency as they reduce overhead costs by not having the need of being supervised by a manager. These teams should handle the daily work tasks by themselves as well as make decisions, handle the teams’ development in line with company desires, and work towards greater performance. Furthermore, the teams need to structure the performance management and be able to handle all the activities that are included within that process. Performance management is a process that is designed to improve the overall performance at the company. Activities within the process include goal setting, performance feedback and performance appraisals. All these activities should help the company with structuring a way of getting the right input for giving the suitable rewards to their employees. The team will always be influenced by different factors that will affect the team: both from within the team and from the organization as a whole. Therefor, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate how external factors (within the organization but outside the team) and internal factors have an impact on the self-managing teams within knowledge-intensive companies, and how well they can perform the performance management activities. To be able to answer the purpose, a case study was made at the IT-consulting company Findwise AB. A year ago (Spring 2011), the three development teams at the Stockholm office got organized in more permanent teams. They saw a need of structuring their daily work and therefor they implemented the agile working method Scrum at the office, a working method focusing on iterative and incremental development.  They started to operate more self-managed and a lot of the responsibilities that had been managed outside the team were now integrated towards the team. This fall (2012), the Team Leaders in each team will begin to take over the responsibility for parts of the performance appraisal process, a performance management activity that previously was done by an external manager outside the team.  Furthermore, the team should to a greater extent than before, handle other performance management activities, such as setting goals and giving performance feedback. The case study showed that the following external factors have an impact on the executing of performance management activities within the self-managing teams: external leaders and the information systems. Furthermore, the group beliefs and meeting organizational objectives, roles and responsibilities, and team composition were internal factors that had an impact. During the analysis, it became clear that things that were found in the empirical data collection also affected how effective the performance management activities were executed within the teams. The external factors were the internal processes at the company, which refers to the fact that the team members also have responsibilities outside the team, and the external Project Leaders, which refers to that the teams sometimes uses Project Leaders for the customer projects that are not held permanent within the team. A new internal factor that was found was the various working methods that were used between the development teams. The recommendations given to the case company included the need of setting clear goals that are tangible, as well as having attainable goals connected to a carrier plan. Furthermore, the study showed a need of implementing performance feedback sessions were input from all relevant stakeholders, inside and outside the company, could be gathered. / För många företag, speciellt de som är kunskapsintensiva så som företag inom konsultsektorn eller tjänstesektorn, har det blivit allt mer populärt att organisera de anställda i självorganiserande team. Dessa team har visat sig öka produktiviteten då de minskar overheadkostnader genom att de inte har ett stort behov av att kontrolleras av en ledare eller chef. Dessa team ska kunna hantera dagliga aktiviteter själva och ta de beslut som krävs inom gruppen, men även se till att teamet utvecklas i linje med organisationens önskemål, samt att de arbetar för att ständigt öka prestationen inom gruppen. Dessutom måste teamen arbeta med målstyrningsprocessen och se till att de kan hantera alla de aktiviteter som finns inom denna process. Målstyrning, eller verksamhetsstyrning, är ett samlingsnamn för en process som underlättar möjligheten för ökad prestation inom ett företag. Aktiviteter som ingår inkluderas av målsättning, prestationsfeedback och utvärdering. Dessa aktiviteter kan tillsammans underlätta för organisationen att skapa en struktur som kan ge input för att kunna ge rätt belöning till företagets anställda. Teamen som ska arbeta med dessa aktiviteter kommer alltid influeras av olika faktorer som påverkar hur väl de kan arbeta som ett självgående team och ha möjlighet att arbeta effektivt med tidigare nämnda målstyrningsaktiviteter. Dessa faktorer kan innefatta påverkan internt inom teamet, men även påverkan utanför teamet men inom organisationen. Detta examensarbete hade därför som syfte att studera hur externa faktorer (inom organisationen men utanför teamet) och interna faktorer har en inverkan på självorganiserande team i kunskapsintensiva företag, samt hur detta i sin tur påverkar hur väl de kan utföra målstyrningsaktiviteterna.  För att kunna besvara syftet gjordes en fallstudie på IT-konsultföretaget Findwise AB. Under våren 2011 började de tre utvecklingsteamen på företagets kontor i Stockholm organisera sig i mer permanenta team. De såg ett behov av att få en bättre struktur på det dagliga arbetet och implementerade därför den agila arbetsmetoden Scrum på företaget som går ut på att arbeta inkrementellt där utvecklingslösningarna utförs iterativt. Detta ledde till att teamen började arbeta allt mer självständigt och många av de ansvarsområden som tidigare legat utanför teamen integrerades nu mot teamen. Hösten 2012 kommer teamledarna för varje team börja ta över ansvaret för delar av utvärderingsprocessen, en målstyrningsaktivitet som tidigare har utförts av olika externa ledare utanför teamet. Tanken är även att teamen ska utföra flertalet av de övriga målstyrningsaktiviteterna inom teamet, så som målsättning och ge feedback. Fallstudien visade att de externa ledarna i organisationen samt företagets informationssystem var externa faktorer som hade en inverkan på utförandet av målstyrningsaktiviteterna inom självorganiserande team. Studien visade även att delade värderingar inom gruppen och möjligheten att nå organisationens mål, roller och ansvarsområden samt gruppsammansättning var interna faktorer som hade en påverkan. Under arbetets analysfas upptäcktes även att faktorer som hittades i det empiriska materialet även det hade en påverkan på hur effektivt målstyrningsaktiviteterna kunde utföras inom teamet. Nya externa faktorer som påträffades var så kallande interna processer, vilket syftar till att de anställda i många fall har ansvarsområden utanför teamet, samt att teamen ibland använde sig av externa projektledare under utförandet av kundprojekt. En ny intern faktor som påträffades var att teamen påverkades av att de redan nu hade börjat utveckla olika arbetsmetoder inom gruppen. Studien avslutades med att ge rekommendationer till fallföretaget med information om att de behövde sätta klara och konkreta mål som på ett tydligt sätt gick att koppla till en karriärs- eller utvecklingsplan för individen. Dessutom visade studien på ett behov av att implementera feedbackmöten på team och individnivå där input kunde hämtas från samtliga intressenter inom företaget samt från de externa kunderna.

The overall topics within the research are Human Capital and Leadership and my aim has been to examine two knowledge-intensive companies and scrutinize in what way these companies practise leadership. The purpose has among other things been to examine which challenges arises when manage/lead the employees within knowledge-intensive companies, how the knowledge-intensive companies can develop and retain their employees and which needs and requirements exists regarding leadership within these. The empirical data has been collected through interviews, both personal interviews and telephone interviews; therefore, I have interviewed one manager and seven employees from two knowledge-intensive companies. The companies which have been scrutinized are two knowledge-intensive companies; accordingly two case studies have been conducted. The thesis partly consists of two cases and these two companies will be presented within the appendix of the thesis. Besides, the introduction chapter, the methodology chapter, the chapter which is called the Frame of Reference and a conclusion chapter, a fourth chapter consists of the empirical study, analysis and renderings. The empirical study is presented in a flowing text connected with the analysis and renderings.   My aim has also been to study literature and theory regarding knowledge-intensive companies since knowledge-intensive companies constitute a major part of my study. Moreover, the organisational structure called adhocracy has been examined as Alvesson (1995) portray, that it is a characteristic of knowledge-intensive companies and which seems to play a big role for how leadership is executed within these. Knowledge Management, Human Resources Management, Human Capital Management, Talent Management and some criticism towards Talent Management are four concepts as well as one important part regarding critique towards one of the concepts that has been scrutinized. Why I have chosen to write about these concepts is because I think these are suitable for my study regarding knowledge-intensive companies and leadership. Another concept that has been examined is whether there is a new trend within leadership according to what some authors promote. I have examined the issue and I have made a comparison between my collected empirical material and the studied theory. A figure that I have used is the figure illustrated at page 18, by Alvesson (2000) and by implementing the figure a comprehension and illustration can be set forth based on where the examined knowledge-intensive companies turn out to be positioned.   A fifth chapter contains the conclusions and the empirical findings reveal that a knowledge-intensive company might encounter varying challenges as well as I state which leadership style is convenient within knowledge-intensive companies. The concepts of Knowledge Management, Human Resource Management, Human Capital Management and Talent Management are utilized within knowledge-intensive companies as the employees within these are rather autonomous. Social features as well as the outcome of knowledge-intensive companies are reflected, to sum up.            Knowledge-intensive companies are considerable in our society today as Seo et al. (2011) explain. Thus, I think it is crucial for potential leaders as today’s leaders and managers to gain an insight in what way leadership is practised within knowledge-intensive companies as these companies are composed of or made up by an immense part Human Capital. I, as well as many other people, hold competencies in the form of for example experiences and education and although these are valuable resources for a company, especially for a knowledge-intensive company, these companies can never own this kind of resources. This is consequently a fundamental issue within companies. Hence, my thesis aim is to support people with deep knowledge and interesting aspects regarding the research question, consequently I have endeavoured at creating a valuable thesis which can be of significance for me and for others. I want individuals to gain a deep knowledge and thereby enhance their knowledge about knowledge-intensive companies and leadership within these by reading my thesis, as I have.

This study deals with individual possibilities for competence development in knowledge-intensive firms, especially advertising and audit firms. The study has an individual perspective which means that the organization is analyzed as subjective perception of indivi­duals. In this approach I seek for differences between people (subjective interpretations), instead of similarities (intersubjective interpretations). Different subjective interpretations are important for the understanding of different possibilities and restrictions individual competen­ce development. Different individuals can, depending on different values about work and life in general, have different experieces of possibilities for competence development. The rese­arch problem deals with different relations between the individual and the organization from the individual perspective of personal competence development. The empirical study is in two parts; case studies at the individual level and a questionnaire to people in advertising firms and audit firms. From the theoretical perspective and the empirical studies, different types of relations between man and organisation have been developed; Respectful professional, respectless professional, respectful holistic, respectless holistic, sectorial professional and holistic professional. The implications of these relations are that certain individual values seems to fit these knowledge- intensive firms better than others. These individual values have been termed respectful, pro­fessional and holistic. Individuals with these values experience their possibilities of compe­tence development better than other individuals. Individuals with the values termed re­spectless and sectorial were less pleased with their companies and their possibilities of compe­tence development. The study also show that individual commitment to organisational values is important for the experienced possibilities for personal competence development. / digitalisering@umu

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att belysa hur företag kan använda normativ styrning för att styra självgående medarbetare. För att uppnå detta syfte studeras självgående medarbetare inom revisionsbranschen. Metod: Studien är av kvalitativ art med semistrukturerade intervjuer där vi utgår från ett hermeneutiskt tolkningssätt. Intervjuerna utfördes i november 2013 och spelades in så att vi noggrant kunnat analysera aktörernas svar. Resultat och slutsats: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa förståelse för hur normativ styrning kan användas och det har påvisats att det finns en del gemensamma mönster när det gäller rekrytering, identitet och kultur. Vi fann tydliga gemensamma värderingar och normer inom varje företag, både uttalade och outtalade. De tydligaste gemensamma värderingar och normer som förekommer är inriktning på företaget, viktiga personliga egenskaper, klädkod, samt hur aktörerna bör agera inom företaget. Studien har även identifierat vissa mönster när det gäller den mer övervakande delen. Det har visat sig att varje aktör inom företaget är styrda av regelverk, aktörerna hade dock inte reflekterat vidare mycket över om det skett någon styrning genom kontroll av arbetet.

隨著新經濟時代的來臨，知識與資訊成為創造價值的主要關鍵要素，服務業逐漸取代製造業成為各國經濟發展主流，其中具有高附加價值的知識密集服務業更是各國發展服務業的首要目標。近十年來，台灣服務業的GDP產值約維持在七成左右，已然成為經濟發展重心，自2001年起，台灣知識密集服務業更以高達6.86%的速度成長，高於服務業平均成長率，顯示出市場對於知識密集服務業的需求日增。 在製造業為經濟發展主流的時期，學術界與企業界大多採取Porter的價值鏈做為企業創價的分析工具，然而時序進入知識經濟時代，已經有越來越多的研究顯示，傳統價值鏈的分析模式，在知識經濟的市場競爭中，已經無法完全滿足企業的需求，據此本研究將針對近幾年知識密集服務業現況、價值鏈相關理論演進做出分析，並透過七大知識密集服務業個案分析，結合理論與實務，發展出適用於知識密集服務業的價值鏈，期望此價值鏈模型能夠對台灣知識密集服務產業有所貢獻。

p. 1 - 132 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-01-21T20:37:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 4444.pdf: 889431 bytes, checksum: 2c99c4e87bb71b00ce50a6f0d8f2e990 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-01-21T20:37:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4444.pdf: 889431 bytes, checksum: 2c99c4e87bb71b00ce50a6f0d8f2e990 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / As organizações características da sociedade do conhecimento se notabilizam, dentre outros pontos, pela utilização intensiva do conhecimento em seus processos. Portanto, para que esse valioso insumo se desenvolva na organização, a aprendizagem organizacional assume um caráter estratégico. Dentre as dimensões da aprendizagem, destaca-se a perspectiva individual-cogntivista, que tende a ocorrer desconectada do contexto, o que a torna deficiente e parcial, e a perspectiva sócio-prática, que considera os aspectos contextuais, contribuindo de forma equilibrada para a criação e disseminação do conhecimento em sua integralidade. Essa última dimensão é composta, sobretudo, por duas modalidades: a mentoria e as comunidades de prática. Diante dessa conjuntura, este trabalho tem o propósito de analisar como ocorre a aprendizagem organizacional nas organizações de comunicação intensivas em conhecimento. Para isso, foi desenvolvido um estudo de caso na Engenho Novo, empresa de comunicação, situada em Salvador-Ba. A pesquisa empírica foi, fundamentalmente, qualitativa, e se baseou na análise de documentos, entrevistas (oito ao todo) e observações pessoais. Como resultado, identificou-se que a Engenho Novo pode ser caracterizada como organização intensiva em conhecimento, apesar de apresentar alguma fragmentação em sua rede interna e de algum grau de concentração de poder na cúpula da empresa. Além disso, a perspectiva sócio-prática se sobressai na empresa estudada, havendo proeminente utilização da mentoria como forma de criar e disseminar conhecimentos. Outro ponto de grande relevância neste trabalho é a não observância de comunidades de prática na organização estudada. Esse resultado confronta a literatura, que considera como certo o surgimento das comunidades de prática no contexto organizacional, independente de aspectos culturais, profissionais, dentre outros. / Salvador

Submitted by Márcio Maia (marciokjmaia@gmail.com) on 2016-09-06T18:44:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2152115 bytes, checksum: cb588c58a5d15d263b90228839043c27 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-06T18:44:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2152115 bytes, checksum: cb588c58a5d15d263b90228839043c27 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / The performance of organizations is related to the level of response given to the environment. The process improvement is strategic because it is also through the processes that the organization responds to its environment. The invitation to bid drafting process should be played by all direct or indirect public administration and is part of a regulated environment. Once this process is not fully specified in the legislation and presents a complex way, it intensively requires knowledge of their specific. The government must manage their complex processes through continuous improvement of management and to this end it is necessary to explore the various components of the process, and perform your mapping. The aim of this work is to investigate the applicability of the Improvement of Knowledge-intensive Business Process to optimize the preparation of bidding documents process at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. This research of applied nature, had the population participants of this process and the sample was selected by intentional criteria such as availability and experience in invitation to bid drafting process execution. Data collection was carried out unstructured interviews with the participants. Historical data and reference on the implementation of the notice of preparation process were collected by consulting bidding process completed, as well as legislation and case law on bidding mode trading on its electronic form. The Data analysis was done based on content analysis. The process management was conducted in accordance with Knowledge-intensive Business Process Improvement methodology (KBPI) and the process map representation we used the standard notation and Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). This research developed a map for the study process and the results achieved have suggested some improvements and the use of appropriate tools for storing information and objective knowledge and the development of a monitoring panel process from the model developed for this study. / O desempenho das organizações está relacionado ao nível de resposta dada ao ambiente. A melhoria de processos é estratégica, pois também é através dos processos que a organização responde ao seu ambiente. O processo de licitação para gestão de compras e contratação de serviços, que deve ser desempenhado por toda a administração pública direta ou indireta, faz parte de um ambiente regulado. Uma vez que o processo de elaboração de edital de licitação não está plenamente especificado na legislação e se apresenta de forma complexa para sua elaboração, o mesmo exige o uso intensivo do conhecimento de suas especificidades. A administração pública deve gerenciar seus processos complexos através do gerenciamento contínuo de melhoria e, para tal, faz-se necessário explorar os vários componentes do processo, além de realizar o seu mapeamento. O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar a aplicabilidade da Melhoria de um Processo Organizacional intensivo em Conhecimento para a otimização do processo de elaboração de editais de licitação na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. O presente trabalho, de natureza aplicada, teve como população os participantes do referido processo e a amostra foi selecionada por critérios intencionais, tais como disponibilidade e experiência na execução do processo de licitação. A coleta de dados foi realizada a partir de entrevistas não estruturadas junto aos participantes. Dados históricos e de referência sobre a execução do processo licitatório, foram coletados consultando processos de licitação finalizados, como também a legislação e jurisprudência sobre licitação na modalidade pregão e na sua forma eletrônica. A análise de dados foi desenvolvida através da análise de conteúdo. A gestão do processo de licitação foi conduzida de acordo com a metodologia Knowledge-intensive Business Process Improvement (KBPI) e para a representação do mapa do processo foi utilizado o padrão de notação Business Process Modeling and Notation (BPMN). Esta pesquisa desenvolveu um mapa para o processo estudado e os resultados alcançados sugeriram algumas melhorias como a utilização de ferramentas apropriadas para armazenamento de informações e conhecimento objetivo e o desenvolvimento de um painel de monitoramento do processo a partir do modelo desenvolvido para este estudo.

Cette thèse propose une méthodologie permettant d’analyser les mécanismes d’innovation au sein du secteur des services ainsi que leurs implications en matière de développement territorial. Cette méthodologie se présente en trois temps. Dans un premier temps, une analyse des processus d’innovation au sein du secteur des services est élaborée afin de mieux comprendre le fonctionnement des modes d’innovation et les logiques de localisation au sein de ce secteur. Dans un second temps, une étude économétrique comparative des déterminants de l’innovation dans les services et l’industrie est réalisée à partir d’une enquête communautaire sur l’innovation (CIS2008). Cette étude permet de mieux appréhender, d’une part, les facteurs à l’origine de l’innovation dans le secteur des services et, d’autre part, les principales divergences en matière d’innovation entre les services et l’industrie. Dans un troisième temps, une étude descriptive et économétrique des déterminants de l’innovation dans les services est effectuée à l’échelle de 31 agglomérations françaises. Cette étude permet de confronter sur données localisées l’impact des déterminants de l’innovation selon les types d’innovations développées (technologique et non technologique).Au final, ce travail, initialement entrepris sur la base d’une analyse globale des activités de services, s’est progressivement centré sur les Services à Forte Intensité de Connaissances (informatiques, R&D, architecture, publicité, etc.) au vue de leur poids économique (en termes d’emploi et de valeur ajoutée) et de leur pertinence en matière d’innovation. / This thesis proposes a methodology to analyze the mechanisms of innovation in the service sector and their implications for regional development. This methodology is presented in three stages. As a first step, an analysis of the innovation process in the service sector is performed to better understand the functioning of innovation patterns and location choices within the sector. In a second step, a comparative econometric study of the determinants of innovation in services and industry conducted on the basis of Community Innovation Survey (CIS2008) data. This study provides insight on the one hand, the factors driving innovation in the service sector and, secondly, the main differences in innovation between services and industry. In a third step, a descriptive and econometric analysis of the determinants of innovation in services is performed for 31 French cities. This study allows to compare the impact of the determinants of different types of innovation (technological and non-technological) on the basis of local data.Finally, this work was originally undertaken on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of service activities, gradually focusing on Knowledge Intensive Service (IT, R & D, advertising, etc.) In view of their economic impact (in terms of employment and value added) and their relevance for innovation.