Dissertations (Ed. D.)--Rowan University, 2008. / Typescript. "UMI Number: 3307277"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (November 13, 2006) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Drexel University, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 190-208).

Dynamic capabilities can help a firm to interpret and respond to an environment of rapid technological change. Although there is broad research consensus that they are higher order capabilities comprising routines, their nature and how they develop remains open to debate. A view of dynamic capabilities as capacities, which can shape and reshape and configure and reconfigure ordinary capabilities so as to remain competitive, is taken to examine how dynamic capabilities develop through learning. An emerging theme in the strategy literature is that managerial cognition may be important, even central, to the development of capabilities. In line with this theme, models are proposed on how managers learn to learn and how technological and organisational sensemaking practices can facilitate cognition. In addition, characteristics of two types of learning, expert and entrepreneurial, are proposed to explain how managers learn and recognise opportunities. The distinct learning patterns relate to content-oriented and process-oriented views of strategy respectively. Further, suggestions are made on how entrepreneurial learning in particular, may be beneficial in a highly dynamic environment. A process oriented, case study is conducted of three securities custodians facing an environment of increasing dynamism, competitiveness, and interconnectedness due to information technology developments in financial markets. The findings are shown to support the claim that managerial theories on learning are required to develop and sustain dynamic capabilities. In addition, the findings provide evidence that these theories may form through two learning patterns, depending on how managers frame problems and recognise opportunities. An important contribution of this study is the analytical framework of dynamic capability learning that was developed during the case analysis. The framework enables organisational learning experiences relating to dynamic capability development to be captured. The thesis concludes with implications for both managers and scholars. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / pagibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / PhD / Unrestricted

The aim of the study is to provide a theoretical background to knowledge management and related concepts and to determine the current situation with regard to knowledge management implementation in industry, specifically financial organisations. Organisations all over the world are realising that knowledge in the form of expertise and competence is the organisation’s most important asset and that its quality and availability affect all aspects of the organisation. More and more executives and managers realise that in modern organisations, all available work is centred on knowledge-intensive activities and the organisation’s success is directly related to the quality and relevance of these activities, particularly through knowledge workers’ willingness to use that knowledge to the advantage of the organisation. Knowledge management is seen as a business process, integrating knowledge, people, processes, strategies, techniques and technologies. It is the process through which organisations create and use their institutional or collective knowledge assets. Knowledge management is not only about managing these knowledge assets but also about managing the processes that act upon the assets. These processes include developing knowledge and preserving knowledge within organisations, including learning processes and the management of information systems. Knowledge management techniques and technologies play an important role in supporting knowledge management processes and activities. Technology and people related techniques bring to knowledge management the ability to carry out knowledge management processes quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively, making it an enabling solution. When implementing a knowledge management initiative the knowledge management strategy is closely linked to the overall business strategy. The study proposed a knowledge management implementation framework. The emphasis of the framework was on the management of the organisation, people, processes and infrastructure as well as the alignment of the knowledge management strategy to the overall business strategy of the organisation. Based on the theoretical background, three well-known financial organisations were used in a case study to investigate the current state of knowledge management implementation in industry. Finally conclusions, based on the literature survey and the case studies are given. From the conclusions, gaps in the literature have been identified and addressed in the discussion of possible further research possibilities. / Dissertation (M IS (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Information Science / unrestricted

No description available.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

How clinicians detect and differentiate near misses from adverse events in health care is poorly understood. This study adopted a constructivist grounded theory approach and utilized document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 24 managers (middle and senior) and clinicians to examine the processes and factors associated with recognizing and recovering and learning from near misses in daily clinical practice. While safety science suggests that near misses are sources of learning to guide improvement efforts, the study identified how clinicians and managers cognitively downgrade and accept near misses as a routine part of daily practice. Such downgrading reduces the visibility of near misses and creates a paradoxical effect of promoting collective vigilance and increased safety while also encouraging violations in clinical practice. Three approaches to correcting and/or learning from near misses emerged: “doing a quick fix,” “going into the black hole,” and “closing off the swiss-cheese holes”; however, minimal organizational learning occurs. From these findings, two key paradoxes that undermine organization-level learning require further attention: (a) near misses are pervasive in everyday practice but many remain undetected and are missed learning opportunities, and (b) collective vigilance serves as both safety net and safety threat. Study findings suggest that organizational efforts are required to determine which near misses need to be reported. Organizations need to shift the culture from one of “doing a quick fix” to one that learns from near misses in daily practice; they should reinforce the benefits and reduce the risks of collective vigilance, and further encourage learning at the clinical microsystem level. Future research is required to provide insight into how individual, social, and organizational factors influence the recognition, recovery, and instructional value of near misses and safety threats in health care organizations’ daily practice.

Despite the variety of literature on ‘adaptation to technology’, the literature still witnesses a gap concerning the concept of adaptation especially about its multi-level nature. Recognizing the multilevel nature of IS adaptation, we rise the challenge of conducting an alternate template analysis of three cases of adaptation to IS in order to provide complementary explanations about the phenomenon. In order to expand the comprehension of the ‘adaptation’ concept, a multi-study dissertation model is adopted. The objective is to examine the adaptation concept on three different levels: the individual, the group level, and the organizational level. This thesis aims at 1) exploring the shaping of individual adaptive actions that knowledge workers engage towards technostress with a focus on the factors that influence their adaptation process; 2) examining the adaptive performance of a group facing an newlyimplemented technology based on the adaptive structuration theory (DeSanctis and Poole 1994) under which were puzzled the concepts of affordances (Leonardi 2011, Leonardi, Huysman et al. 2013) and the structure of usage (Burton-Jones and Straub Jr 2006, Burton-Jones and Gallivan 2007); 3) examining, through an organizational learning lens (Argyris and Schon 1978), the case of an organizational adaptation to environmental technological changes examined within a managerial cognition conceptual framework (Orlikowski and Gash 1994); (Bijker 1987, Bijker 1995). To answer the different research questions, the three studies adopt a qualitative approach falling within a critical realist perspective.