This master thesis is the qualitative research with a question whether principles Web 2.0 when implemented, could bring change to organizational knowledge process and influence barriers to knowledge sharing. Nowadays all the constantly growing companies present on the international market has their offices in many countries, separated not only by distance, but also by culture and working hours. This working style brings a lot of benefits to them on local markets, but it also brings some troubles and challenges in terms of management of whole enterprise. The obligatoriness of managing the tacit knowledge sharing is becoming more considerable, because companies face with a problem to bridge the knowledge gap between more experienced employees and new ones. The discussion about how to collect that knowledge and transfer it is still open. This case is sensible for big firms with departments which consult other employees, which are the main focus of this study. In this study there researched and found factors that influence social learning and knowledge sharing in the view of enterprise companies. Research found strong and weak sides of the currently implemented knowledge sharing systems at all and from the point of view of enterprise companies. This research used the qualitative research method as there is the need of exact understanding of how implementing of this system can improve work processes or what discomfort it can bring. In the analysis chapter factors that have direct influence on social knowledge sharing was found and analyzed. In discussion chapter suggestions to the company for further developing and improving present situation was provided.

My claim is that analogue knowledge must be enacted and therefore cannot be documented explicitly, the emphasis lies in the process therefore architecture must address it in such a way. The architecture lends itself to knowledge as a carrier, of both a space for it to enact and to embody its processes and output. The process here is associated with craftsmanship, enduring and evolving where the craftsperson works to delay the image; they do not work to a set goal (the image) but only to further their own knowledge and craft, it is essentially a process of trial and error that evolves the ‘thing’ it is creating. Craft does not hold itself to exquisite products, quite the opposite; its focus is not on the thing it has created but the idea itself, the iterative act, that is craft. When coupled with the practice of analogue knowledge a proposition emerges, an architecture that embodies and addresses this knowledge as a practice archive. A space that pertains to the principals explored in theory however introduces a platform for craftspeople to inhabit and enact. A space that is not ephemeral, where analogue knowledge can endure and evolve as a practice. It becomes an archive not as accumulative practice, but as engaged or performative practice, the performance is the carrier of theory and enactment of knowledge.

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

Magister Commercii - MCom / The aim of this study is to understand how knowledge is created, shared and used within the fast moving consumer goods distribution centre in the Western Cape (WC). It also aims to understand knowledge sharing between individuals in the organisation. A literature review was conducted, in order to answer the research questions- this covered the background of knowledge management (KM) and KS and its current status with particular reference to SA’s private sector. The study found that technological KM infrastructure, cultural KM infrastructure and organisational KM infrastructure are important enablers of KS. A conceptual model was developed around these concepts. In order to answer the research questions, the study identified a FMCG DC in the WC, where KS is practiced

The study reported in this thesis aimed to provide an ontology of professional activities in the software industry that require and enable the acquisition of experience and that, in turn, is the basis for tacit knowledge creation. The rationale behind the creation of such an ontology was based on the need to externalise this tacit knowledge and then record such externalisations so that these can be shared and disseminated across organisations through electronic records management. The research problem here is to conciliate highly theoretical principles associated with tacit knowledge and the ill-defined and quasi-colloquial concept of experience into a tool that can be used by more technical and explicit knowledge minded practitioners of electronic records management. The ontology produced and proposed here provides exactly such a bridge, by identifying what aspects of professional and personal experience should be captured and organising these aspects into an explicit classification that can be used to capture the tacit knowledge and codify it into explicit knowledge. Since such ontologies are always closely related to actual contexts of practice, the researcher decided to choose her own national context of China, where she had worked before and had good guarantees of industrial access. This study used a multiple case-study Straussian Grounded Theory inductive approach. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews in order to get direct interaction with practitioners in the field and capture individuals opinions and perceptions, as well as interpret individuals understandings associated with these processes. The interviews were conducted in three different and representative types of company (SMEs, State Owned and Large Private) in an attempt to capture a rich variety of possible contexts in the SW sector in a Chinese context. Data analysis was conducted according to coding the procedures advocated by Grounded Theory, namely: open, axial and selective coding. Data collection and analysis was conducted until the emergent theory reached theoretical saturation. The theory generated identified 218 different codes out of 797 representative quotations. These codes were grouped and organised into a category hierarchy that includes 6 main categories and 31 sub-categories, which are, in turn, represented in the ontology proposed. This emergent theory indicates in a very concise manner that experienced SW development practitioners in China should be able to understand the nature and value of experience in the SW industry, effectively communicate with other stake holders in the SW development process, be able and motivated to actively engage with continuous professional development, be able to share knowledge with peers and the profession at large, effectively work on projects and exhibit a sound professional attitude both internally to their own company and externally to customers, partners and even competitors. This basic theory was then further analysed by applying selective coding. This resulted in a main theory centred on Working in Projects, which was clearly identified as the core activity in the SW Industry reflecting its design and development nature. Directly related with the core category, three other significant categories were identified as enablers: Communication, Knowledge Sharing and Individual Development. Additionally, Understanding the Nature of Experience in the SW Industry and Professional Attitude were identified as drivers for the entire process of reflection, experience acquisition and tacit knowledge construction by the individual practitioners. Finally, as an integral part of any inductive process of research, the final stage in this study was to position the emerged theory in the body of knowledge. This resulted in the understanding that the theory presented in this study bridges two extremely large bodies of literature: employability skills and competencies. Both of these bodies of literature put their emphasis in explicit knowledge concerning skills and competencies that are defined so that they can be measured and assessed. The focus of the theory proposed in this thesis on experience and resulting acquisition of tacit knowledge allows a natural link between the employability skills and competencies in the SW industry that was hitherto lacking in the body of knowledge. The ontology proposed is of interest to academics in the areas of knowledge management, electronic records management and information systems. The same ontology may be of interest to human resources practitioners to select and develop experienced personnel as well as knowledge and information professionals in organisations.

The Duke of Uncertainty - Aspects of Professional Skillis a dissertation whose title is a literary metaphor designedto draw attention to encounters with unforeseen problems anddilemmas at work. The first part of the dissertation presents the skill andtechnology tradition that has developed over the last twentyyears through explorative case studies. These have covered theskills of various occupational groups, such as processoperators in the paper-and-pulp and chemicals industries,managers and systems engineers working on real timeapplications in specialized knowledge intensive firms as wellas doctors and nurses. The theoretical perspective is the epistemology of skillfocusing on the phenomenon of tacit knowledge. This has itsroots in Wittgenstein's philosophy of language as developed bythe philosophers Allan Janik and Kjell S. Johannessen. The methodological framework develops indirect analogicalthinking which is a prerequisite for knowledge based onexperience, through exemplification. The empirical part of the work shows knowledge offamiliarity among members of an occupational group with lowformal training but extensive practical experience, namelyassistant nurses. A comparative analysis is undertaken inrelation to previous case studies in the field of skill andtechnology aimed at occupational groups with high formaleducational qualifications. A particular aspect to which attention is drawn is therhythm in work that unites occupational groups regardless ofeducational background. Occupational skill is treated as acapacity developed to find rhythm in action when confrontedwith situations that are hard to handle. The dissertationconsiders aspects that can be tried out in other occupationalarenas and paves the way for identifying phenomena in workinglife that hinder the development of rhythm in work. The dissertation contributes to the setting-up ofundergraduate-level training for groups of people who have notpreviously had access to higher education, and aims tointroduce new aspects into the development of analoguethinking. Key words: practical versus theoretical knowledge, skillof epistemology, tacit knowledge, comparative case study,literary metaphor, analogical thinking, indirect method,occupational training. / <p>NR 20140805</p>

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

Under året som gått har den digitala kommunikationen ökat drastiskt. En hel värld har blivit påverkad. Digitala verktyg och plattformar har varit en förutsättning för ett fungerande samhälle och för att hålla kontakten med andra människor. I det här examensarbetet ville vi genom grafisk design utforska och lyfta analog kommunikation och vilken rollden spelar idag. Det finns något väldigt fint i mötet mellan papper och penna. Något personligt som går förlorat när budskap digitaliseras. På papper kan vi skri- va ner våra innersta tankar, till oss själva eller till någon annan. Vi kan också använda pappret för att klottra ner små krumelurer, skissa, måla eller på annat sätt sätta vår personliga prägel. Vi ser det här som ett sätt att hant- verka och det är just hantverk som är vår röda tråd. Med vårt projekt vill vi belysa traditionellt hantverk i vår samtid och uppmuntra till personlig kommunikation. / Digital communication has increased drastically during the past year. An entire world has been affected. Digital tools and platforms have been crucial for a functioning society and for us to be able to keep in touch with other people. In this thesis, we wanted to explore analog commu- nication through graphic design and highlight what role it plays today. There is something beautiful inthe meeting between paper and pencil. Something personal that might be lost when messages are digi- tized. On paper, we can write down our innermost thoughts, to ourselves or to someone close to us. The paper can also be used when we doodle, sketch, paint or when we in other ways add a personal touch. We see this as a way of crafting and craftsmanship is our common thread. With our project, we want to shed light on traditional crafts and encourage personal communication.

<p>Generally, the trade supervisors are seen swapping stories about how they have done things differently in their previous projects that had resulted in saving man-hours and resources. Since most of them are doing repetitive tasks for years, they rely mainly on their judgments and intuition while making decisions and have developed a plethora of knowledge throughout their experience. They often find it difficult to articulate the knowledge they have acquired most of which is tacit. There is a need to identify this tacit dimension of knowledge to harness it effectively as tacit knowledge is one of the factors determining the competitiveness of a construction firm. The skills shortage in the industry is further aggravated by the growing workforce. Employee retirements and knowledge loss are compelling the specialty contracting firms to capture this tacit knowledge to prepare the future workforce. This study posits an instrument to gauge the reliance of the field supervisors on tacit knowledge and identifies barriers to knowledge sharing through case studies involving electrical contracting firms. The findings of this research clearly show that the experience level of an individual is related to the reliance on tacit knowledge. Most of the experienced field supervisors rely on the tacit dimension of knowledge to perform the major day-to-day routine tasks at the construction site. The education level of an individual seems to have no significant relation with the acquisition and usage of tacit knowledge. Findings also suggest that the viewpoint of the management and the field team are disparate regarding the barriers to knowledge sharing. Management feels that lack of formal processes prevents the trade professionals from sharing their knowledge among themselves whereas according to the field team lack of socialization is identified as the key barrier. Similarly, managers' resistance to change is identified by management as the key barrier that prevents supervisors or managers from sharing their knowledge with the subordinates whereas, for the field team it is the lack of encouragement from the management. Moreover, according to management, lack of formal processes is the key barrier at the organizational level but for the field team, it’s the silo mentality of the managers. The organizations must incorporate the feedback from the field team into the decision making related to knowledge management (KM). The developed framework will benefit the trade contractors to identify on what type of knowledge the field supervisors are relying to perform a particular task and eventually categorizing knowledge into explicit and tacit.</p>

Sammanfattning Datum:                               2022-05-30 Nivå:                                   Magisteruppsats Företagsekonomi, 15 hp Akademi:                            Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalen University Författare:                           Sara Andersson                  Anna Tjärnström                                             (95/03/22)                           (96/03/05) Titel:                                   Kunskap som resurs- En fallstudie på Volvo CE om utmaningar och möjligheter inom knowledge management utifrån ledares och medarbetares upplevelser  Handledare:                        Magnus Linderström Nyckelord:                          kunskap, knowledge management, kunskapsspridning, explicit och tyst kunskap, organisation Forskningsfråga:                    Hur hanterar fallföretaget explicit och tyst kunskap utifrån ledare och medarbetares upplevelser?  Syfte:                                         Syftet med studien var att utifrån fallföretagets utmaningar och möjligheter inom knowledge management få en djupare förståelse för hur dem hanterar kunskap som resurs utifrån ledare och medarbetares upplevelser.  Metod:                                I studien användes fallstudiemetodik med en blandad metod. Fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med ledare från fallföretaget samt en enkät som skickades ut till dess medarbetare utgör empiriska data. Slutsats:                              I studiens analys urskildes tre teman som har betydelse för hur kunskap som resurs hanteras i fallföretaget. Analysen framförde att kunskap som resurs är en ständig process samtidigt som särskilda processer eller strategier för kunskapshantering inte identifierades. Det visade sig ske ett större och mer medvetet hanterande gällande explicit- än tyst kunskap / Abstract Date:                                   2022-05-30 Level:                                 Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution:                          School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors:                              Sara Andersson                  Anna Tjärnström                                             (95/03/22)                           (96/03/05) Title:                                   Knowledge as a resource- A case study at Volvo CE on challenges and opportunities in knowledge management based on managers 'and employees' experiences Supervisor:                         Magnus Linderström Keywords:                          knowledge, knowledge management, knowledge dissemination, explicit and tacit knowledge, organization  Research question:             How does the case company handle explicit and tacit knowledge based on leaders 'and employees' experiences? Purpose:                              The purpose of the study was to, based on the fall company's challenges and opportunities in knowledge management, gain a deeper understanding of how they handle knowledge as a resource based on leaders 'and employees' experiences. Method:                              The study used the case study methodology with a mixed method. Five semi-structured interviews with leaders from the case company and a questionnaire sent out to its employees constitute empirical data. Conclusion:                        In the study's analysis, three themes were identified that are important for how knowledge as a resource is handled in the case company. The analysis stated that knowledge as a resource is a constant process at the same time as specific processes or strategies for knowledge management were not identified. It turned out that there was a greater and more conscious handling of explicit than tacit knowledge