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

No description available.

<p>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. </p><p>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. </p><p>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. </p><p>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.</p>

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.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-09-27T14:45:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Eloisa Karolczak_.pdf: 1695577 bytes, checksum: df665bf3850b52bb83bfcbe42a0ca82e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-27T14:45:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Eloisa Karolczak_.pdf: 1695577 bytes, checksum: df665bf3850b52bb83bfcbe42a0ca82e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-13 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / UNEMAT - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso / Este estudo tem como propósito oferecer entendimento para o fenômeno da disponibilidade/escassez de recursos humanos capacitados nas áreas de Ciências, Tecnologia, Engenharia, Matemática e afins, os profissionais STEM, na perspectiva da Teoria do Capital Humano (TCH). A THC provê os seguintes pressupostos teóricos para este estudo: a) quanto maior a qualificação e as habilidades dos profissionais STEM, maior possibilidade de mobilidade; b) o estoque de capital humano depende de políticas organizacionais independentemente do valor investido; c) o capital humano especializado é visto como um investimento em educação feito pela organização, pelo funcionário ou por ambos; d) os indivíduos podem ter autonomia sobre suas qualificações que alavancam a vida profissional. Com base nesses pressupostos, este estudo discute quatro proposições: P1 – As políticas públicas influem na formação, na qualificação e na criação de ambientes propícios e não propícios ao desenvolvimento do conhecimento e das habilidades de profissionais STEM; P2 – As políticas do setor privado desenvolvem, assimilam e retêm os conhecimentos de profissionais STEM; P3 – Os elementos conhecimento e habilidades impactam na decisão do profissional STEM para empreender mobilidade e estão associados à busca por qualidade de vida; P4 – Diferentes modalidades de retorno de investimento interferem no estoque de capital humano das organizações. A metodologia desenvolvida neste estudo é caracterizada como uma pesquisa de campo, com análise de documentos e entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas com gestores e diretores de organizações intensivas em conhecimento (OIC), localizadas em parques tecnológicos brasileiros e para Instituições de Ensino Superior. Constatou-se que existe uma carência de profissionais STEM e uma assimetria entre o perfil profissional que o mercado necessita e o que é entregue pela academia. Verificou-se que as políticas públicas e privadas não são eficazes para reter os profissionais e, embora existam recursos e políticas que contribuam, também há aquelas que dificultam as operações, sobretudo, as políticas trabalhistas. O estudo conclui que, embora existam políticas públicas e instituições capazes de formar profissionais STEM no Brasil, as organizações intensivas em conhecimento que atuam no país têm limitações na retenção desses profissionais. / This study aims to offer an understanding of the phenomenon of availability/dearth of skilled human resources in the areas of Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and the like, the STEM professionals, in the perspective of the Human Capital Theory (HCT). The HCT provides this study with the following theoretical arguments: a) the higher the qualification and the skills of the STEM professionals, the higher the possibility of mobility; b) the asset of human capital depends on organizational policies, no matter the invested capital; c) the skilled human capital is seen as an investment in education provided by the company, by the employee or by both; d) individuals can be autonomous in terms of their qualifications, which enhances the professional life. Based on these premises, this study discusses four proposals: P1 – The public policies influence the formation, qualification and creation of environments, or not, favorable to the development of knowledge and abilities of STEM professionals; P2 – The policies of the private sector, develop assimilate and retain the STEM professionals; P3 – Knowledge and ability impact the decision of the STEM professional to undertake mobility and is associated to the search for life quality; P4 – Different ways of return on investment interfere in the asset of human capital in the organizations. The methodology developed in this study is characterized as a field research, with documents analysis and partially structured interviews with managers and directors of knowledge-intensive organizations, (KIOs), located in Brazilian science parks and higher education institutions. It was verified that there is a shortage of STEM professionals and an asymmetry between the professional profile that the market needs and what is delivered by the academy. It was found that public and private policies are not effective in retaining professionals, and although there are resources and policies that contribute, there are also those that hamper operations, especially labor policies. The study concludes that, although there are public policies and institutions able to train STEM professionals in Brazil, the knowledge-intensive organizations working in the country have limitations in terms of retention of these professionals.

This is a thesis about knowledge-intensive work and the organizational con-texts of such work. The specific objective is to analyze the geography of work. The geography of work may diverge from the geography of employ-ment when paid work is undertaken at the premises of client organizations, during commuting, on business trips, in external meetings, at home or in other places. The focus is on work practice and the perspective of everyday life. The study examines where knowledge workers are located and where knowledge work occurs. It is about what knowledge workers actually do. The everyday perspective is about the relationship between paid work and unpaid work. To understand the organization of knowledge-intensive work in a time–space context, different possibilities and constraints must be taken into con-sideration. This thesis has a time–geographical approach. The case study examines knowledge-intensive organizations located in central Stockholm. The organizations are in PR/communications, management consultancy, and research and development sectors. Both private and public sector organiza-tions are considered. The empirical study combines interviews, time diaries and questionnaires. The NVivo software program is employed to analyze the interview data. The main conclusion from the thesis is that in order to under-stand knowledge-intensive work, different factors such as relations, attitudes and norms need to be considered. These factors affect the organization of work, which in turn is affected by the choices, possibilities, constraints, ex-pectations and negotiations of different actors (i.e. employees, employers, family, clients and colleagues). The working time of the knowledge workers investigated in this study is mainly spent at the office of their employers. Social interaction with col-leagues and clients is an important part of their work. Work routines involve many meetings, both face-to-face and virtual. Face-to-face interactions play a crucial role in shaping the geography of work; teamwork is important. The knowledge workers in this study are “working long hours,” and the norm is to work more than what have been expected.

Bakgrund: Ur den kritik som sedan 50-talet formulerats mot den byråkratiska “mekaniska” organisationsformen har en utveckling mot mer “organiska” organisationsformer skett. Detta har tillsammans med den tekniska utvecklingen, som under de senaste årtiondena fortskridit, kommit att förändra många verksamheter. Begreppet post-byråkrati har i många sammanhang blivit ett samlingsnamn för dessa nya organisationsformer. Även om organisationer i mångt och mycket framhålls som mer post-byråkratiska, alltså flexibla, nätverkande och decentraliserade, finns det argument för att särskilt mellanchefers arbete och roll inte har förändrats i samma utsträckning och att byråkratin upprätthålls. Det talar för att det förekommer ett glapp mellan föreställning och verklighet. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur ett post-byråkratiskt chefsbeteende gestaltas i organisationer som utger sig för att vara post-byråkratiska. Metod: Studien har genomförts med utgångspunkt i en kvalitativ forskningsansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer har tillämpats. Detta eftersom syftet var att studera fenomenet på djupet snarare än att producera numerisk data och se samband. Respondenterna utgjordes av sex mellanchefer från två olika organisationer, tre chefer från respektive organisation. Urvalet av organisationerna baserades på ett antal uppställda kriterier. Resultat/slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att ett post-byråkratiskt chefsbeteende gestaltas som en hybrid mellan byråkratiska och post-byråkratiska kännetecken. Denna kombination gör sig synlig i alla studerade områden inom chefsbeteendet, såsom kommunikation, kontroll/styrning, beslutsfattande, ledarskapsstil och det interpersonella. Dock visar studien att beteendet hos de studerade mellancheferna tenderar att vara övervägande post-byråkratiskt. / Background: From the criticisms that have been formulated against the bureaucratic "mechanical" organizational form since the 1950s, there has been a development towards more "organic" forms of organization. This has along with the technological development, which has continued in recent decades, changed many enterprises. The concept of post-bureaucracy has in many contexts become a collective name for these new organizational forms. Although organizations are widely regarded as more post-bureaucratic, for example being flexible, networking and decentralized, there are arguments that the work and role of middle managers has not changed in the same extent and that bureaucracy is maintained. A gap between assumption and reality seems to occur. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe how a post-bureaucratic managerial behavior is embodied in organizations claiming to be post-bureaucratic.Method: The study has been carried out on the basis of a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews and observations have been applied, since the purpose was to study the phenomenon in depth rather than produce numerical data and compare different results with each other. The respondents consisted of six middle managers from two different organizations, three managers from each organization. The selection of organizations was based on a number of criteria. Results/Conclusion: The results of the study show that a post-bureaucratic managerial behavior is regarded as a hybrid between bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic characteristics. This combination is visible in all of the studied areas in managerial behavior, such as communication, control, decision-making, leadership style and the interpersonal. The study shows that the behavior of the studied middle managers tends to be predominantly post-bureaucratic.

Bakgrund: Distansarbete som under de senaste åren har blivit allt mer vanligt innebär enannan typ av arbetssätt, vilket påverkar organisationens kultur. Varje organisation har en egen kultur, där ledaren har en viktig roll i att influera medarbetarna. Om kulturen är effektiv kan organisationen uppnå fördelar som ökad effektivitet och positiva resultat, både ekonomiska och gällande medarbetarna välmående. Det är därför viktigt att ledarskapet anpassas för att upprätthålla en effektiv organisationskultur, när arbetet går från en fysisk arbetsplats till distans. Då kunskapsintensiva organisationer har en teknisk vana som möjliggör att distansarbete fungerar, valdes ett IT-företag ut som studiens undersökningsobjekt. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att få en djupare kunskap om hur chefer och medarbetare på IT-företag upplever att distansarbetet har påverkat ledarskapet och deras organisationskultur. Teoretisk referensram: Studien utgår från tre huvudområden, kunskapsintensiva organisationer vilket är kontexten, ledarskap på distans och effektiv organisationskultur. Alla tre områden beskriver vikten av ledarskap och olika typer av ledarskapsförmågor inom de tre huvudområdena. Metod: Studien utgår från en fallstudiedesign där det empiriska materialet samlades in genom både en kvalitativ och kvantitativ undersökning, vilket utgör en triangulering. Den kvalitativa undersökningen har gjorts i form av intervjuer med chefer inom ett IT-företag, och den kvantitativa undersökningen genomfördes via en enkätundersökning med medarbetarna till de intervjuade cheferna. Slutsats: Ledarskapet påverkas av distansarbete i form av att ledaren inte längre kan läsa av stämningen på samma sätt, vilket leder till att det är svårare att stötta medarbetarna och se deras välmående. Ledarskapet måste därför förändras på distans, bli mer tydligt och ha tydligare kommunikation. Bristen på den sociala interaktionen bidrar även till att ledarens roll blir allt viktigare för att upprätthålla en effektiv organisationskultur, vilket kräver starka relationer och att vara en god förebild. / Background: Distance work, which in recent years has become increasingly common, involves a different type of way of working, which has affected the organizational culture. Each organization has its own culture, in which the leader has an important role in influencing the employees. If the culture is effective, the organization has the possibility to achieve benefits such as increased efficiency and positive results, both financially and the wellbeing of the employees. Therefore, it is important to adapt the leadership to maintain an effective organizational culture when work shifts from the physical workplace to working on distance. Since knowledge-intensive organizations have a technical experience which makes distance work possible, an IT-company was selected as the study's research object. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to gain a deeper knowledge of how managers and employees in IT companies experience how working on distance has affected the leadership and their organizational culture. Theory: The study is based on three main areas, knowledge-intensive organizations which is the context, distance leadership and effective organizational culture. All three areas describe the importance of leadership and different types of leadership abilities, within the three main areas. Method: The study is based on a case study design, where the empirical material was collected through both a qualitative and quantitative study, which constitutes a triangulation. The qualitative study was conducted in the form of interviews with managers in an IT company, and the quantitative study was conducted through a questionnaire survey with the employees of the interviewed managers. Conclusion: The leadership is affected by distance work when the leader can no longer read the atmosphere in the same way, which leads to it being more difficult to support employees and their well-being. The leadership must therefore change when on distance, to become clearer and to have clearer communication. The lack of social interaction also contributes to6the role of the leader becoming increasingly important to maintain an effective organizational culture, which requires strong relationships and being a good role model.

Bakgrund Distansstyrning anses som den moderna organisationens sätt att styra sina anställda mot att uppnå vad som är bäst för organisationen. De styr primärt sina anställda genom att fastställa organisatoriska mål för att vägleda de anställda i rätt riktning. För att uppnå en god styrning krävs det att organisationerna har en god kommunikation med sina anställda, inte minst då information kring målen skall kommuniceras. De senaste årens teknologiska framsteg kring kommunikation har bidragit med att organisationer utvecklat sitt sätt att kommunicera till sina anställda. Inom organisationer är det viktigt att ha en rad olika och fungerande strategier för hur de ska kommunicera och uppnå sina organisatoriska mål. Utvecklingen av kommunikation har således lett till att organisationers ledning kan förmedla sina organisatoriska mål med hjälp av en rad olika kommunikationskanaler. Litteraturstudien pekade på att organisationer använder distanskommunikation alltmer i sin verksamhet. Ledningen inom konsultföretag har en ständig distansfaktor att ta hänsyn till när det kommer till styrning av deras organisationer. Samt att deras anställda jobbar för två organisationer vilket leder till att de har en flerorganisationskultur. Konsultbranschen blev således intressant att undersöka på grund av sin distansstyrning, distanskommunikation och flerorganisationskultur då även övriga branscher tenderar att gå mot den här organisationsstrukturen. Syfte Den här studien avser att undersöka hur kunskapsintensiva organisationer i form av konsultbolag styr sin verksamhet med hjälp av organisatoriska mål. Stor fokus kommer att ligga på kommunikationen kring de organisatoriska målen mellan företagsledning och anställd. Metod Det här är en explorativ studie där ett par konsultbolag ingick i en fallstudie för att undersöka hur kommunikation kring de organisatoriska målen uppfattas och hanteras av de inblandade konsulterna. Studien är uppbyggd så att konsultbolagets ledning står för ena parten och konsulterna för den andra. Sedan har deras uppfattning av kommunikationen gällande de organisatoriska målen undersökts med hjälp av intervjuer och enkätundersökningar. Vidare jämfördes de båda parterna för att identifiera eventuella olikheter i deras uppfattningar. Anledningen till att just konsultbolag valdes var för att en stor del av den här studien kommer rikta in sig på distansdimensionen av kommunikation. Detta för att ledningen inom konsultbolaget och konsulterna i regel inte bedriver sitt vardagliga arbete under samma tak. Resultat Resultatet tydde på att det finns diskrepans på specifika kommunikationsaspekter mellan ledningen inom konsultbolaget och konsulterna. På andra aspekter speglar de båda parternas uppfattning varandra bättre. De största likheterna som identifierades var medvetenheten om de organisatoriska målens existens och dess betydelse för företaget i stort. Uppfattningarna skiljdes dock något åt när det kom till de organisatoriska målens betydelse på lokal nivå. Utefter resultatet går det att vidare ifrågasätta huruvida effektiv respektive konsultbolags styrning hanteras med avseende på de organisatoriska målen. Slutsats Några slutsatser som drogs var att konsultbolagen i studien lägger stort fokus av deras styrningsarbete på att förmedla, återkoppla och skapa en god förståelse bland organisationens konsulter kring organisatoriska mål. Det går också att konstatera att de inblandade konsultbolagen arbetar aktivt med metoder och tillvägagångsätt kring kommunikationen av de organisatoriska målen som är väl grundade i teorin om kommunikation. Konsultbolagen löser primärt problematiken kring distansfaktorn och flerorganisationskulturen genom att mestadels kommunicera organisatoriska mål genom fysiska möten med sina konsulter. Konsultbolagets ledning är väl medvetna om att de organisatoriska målen initialt ofta är abstrakta. Vilket innebär att de måste brytas ner och konkretiseras, helst med hjälp av konsulterna så att de lättare ska kunna applicera dem på sitt vardagliga arbete. Resultatet påvisar också att det finns en viss problematik kring konflikter mellan konsultbolagets organisatoriska mål och kundbolagets organisatoriska mål. / Background Distance management is regarded as the modern organization's way of directing its employees to achieve what is best for the organization. They primarily control their employees by setting organizational goals to guide employees in the right direction. In order to achieve good management, it is necessary that the organizations have good communication with their employees, not least when information about their goals is to be communicated. Recent technological advances in communication have helped organizations develop their way of communicating to their employees. Within organizations, it is important to have a variety of different and functioning strategies for communicating and achieving their organizational goals. The development of communication has thus led to the management of organizations to convey their organizational goals by means of a variety of communication channels. The literature study pointed out that organizations are increasingly using distance communication in their operations. Management within consulting companies has a constant distance factor to take into account when it comes to managing their organizations. And that their employees work for two organizations, which leads to a multi-organizational culture. The consulting industry thus became interesting to investigate because of its distance management, distance communication and multi-organizational culture as other industries also tend to go against this organizational structure. Purpose This study aims to investigate how knowledge-intensive organizations in the form of consulting companies control their activities with the help of organizational goals. A major focus will be on communication about the organizational goals between company management and employees. Method This is an explorative study where a couple of consulting companies were included in a case study to investigate how communication about the organizational goals is perceived and managed by the consultants involved. The study is structured so that the management company management stands for one party and the consultants for the other. Since then, their perception of communication regarding the organizational goals has been investigated with the help of interviews and questionnaires. Furthermore, the two parties were compared to identify any differences in their views. The reason why a particular consulting company was chosen was because a large part of this study will focus on the distance dimension of communication. This is because the management within the consulting company and the consultants usually do not do their everyday work under the same roof. Result The result indicated that there discrepancy in specific communication aspects between the management within the consulting company and the consultants. In other aspects, the two parties' views reflect each other better. The biggest similarities identified were awareness of the existence of organizational goals and its importance to the company as a whole. However, perceptions differed somewhat when it came to the significance of organizational goals at the local level. Further to the result, it is possible to further question whether the management of the respective respective consulting companies is managed with regard to the organizational goals. Conclusion Some conclusions that were drawn were that the consultancy companies in the study place great focus on their management work on mediating, feedback and creating a good understanding among the organization's consultants about organizational goals. It can also be noted that the consultancy companies involved are actively working on methods and approaches to the communication of the organizational goals that are well founded in the theory of communication. The consulting companies primarily solve the problems regarding the distance factor and the multi-organizational culture by mostly communicating organizational goals through physical meetings with their consultants. The management company's management is well aware that initially the organizational goals are often abstract. Which means they have to be broken down and concreteized, preferably with the help of the consultants so that they can more easily apply them to their everyday work. The result also shows that there is a certain problem of conflicts between the consulting company's organizational goals and the customer company's organizational goals.

Introduction At the start of 2020 Sweden gets their first documented case of Covid -19. On March 16th the Public Health Agency of Sweden recommended that schools and universities should conduct their education on distance mode. These recommendations would also apply to businesses all around Sweden where it is possible to work remotely. Previous studies have shown that working remotely requires that leadership must take more responsibility. Additionally, the need for clear management control and communication. Purpose The purpose of this study is to research how management control and communication works and have changed within knowledge intensive organizations where daily operations has gone on distance mode due to the corona pandemic. Method The research has been conducted using a qualitative method where both managers and employees have been interviewed. The interviewed people represent three different organizations, a management company, the industrial unit within the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and a legal unit within Swedish Public Employment Service. Result and contribution According to our research, remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic has led to informal meetings on the workplace has been heavily reduced or completely seized. This change has affected managers ability to retain a healthy relationship to their employees. The study show that a management control based on trust and a leadership based on trust has been an advantage, especially within knowledge intensive organizations. The underlying challenge for the managers has been missing communication and knowledge sharing. / Inledning  Den 31 januari 2020 får Sverige sitt första konstaterade fall av Covid-19. Den 16 Mars presenterar Folkhälsomyndigheten rekommendationerna om att svenska gymnasieskolor, universitet, högskolor och övrig utbildning att ske på distans. Dessa rekommendationer kommer även att gälla för samtliga verksamheter i Sverige som har möjlighet att arbeta på distans. Under distansarbete visar tidigare forskningen på ett ökat behov av en medveten och välutvecklad arbetsledning, samt behovet av en tydligare styrning och kommunikation.  Syfte  Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera hur styrningen och kommunikationen fungerar samt förändrats inom kunskapsorganisationer där verksamheten har gått över till distansarbete, som en följd av pandemin.   Metod  Undersökningen är utförd med en kvalitativ metod där vi har intervjuat chefer och medarbetare. De olika kunskapsorganisationer vi undersökt är ett managementbolag, Industrienheten inom Naturvårdsverket och rättsavdelningen på Arbetsförmedlingen. Resultat och bidrag Distansarbetet har enligt samtliga respondenter, lett till att informella möten på arbetsplatsen minskat eller helt upphört. Det har påverkat chefernas förmåga att upprätthålla en viktig relation till medarbetarna, men även inverkat på informationsflödet. Denna studie visar att en tillitsbaserad styrning och ett tillitsbaserat ledarskap är fördelaktigt under distansarbetet, speciellt inom kunskapsorganisationer. De stora utmaningarna för de chefer som intervjuats kan härledas till bortfall av kommunikation och kunskapsdelning.