Arjan Raven

Understanding shared knowledge creation spaces around business processes: precursors to process innovation implementation

The thesis of this paper is that the implementation success of process innovations is facilitated by having an organisational environment that is conducive to effective shared knowledge creation around the process that is being improved. The paper describes a research study to better understand shared knowledge creation around business processes by developing a model of shared knowledge spaces that includes catalysts, organisational values, information technology infrastructure, and SKC processes. The context used is the new product development process in two high technology companies in Finland. Findings are presented and implications for creating effective shared knowledge creation environments are drawn. The paper ends with a call for creating such spaces as precursors to process innovation implementation.

Digital Video Presentation and Student Performance: A Task Technology Fit Perspective

This paper reports the results of a confirmatory study of a Task Technology Fit TTF model. Three dimensions of fit:Task Match, Ease of Use, and Ease of Learning, are applied in the context of digital video tools use for oral presentation in a classroom environment. Students completed a digital video presentation that acted as a substitute for an in-class oral presentation. An existing survey instrument was adapted, and administered to the students to examine the impact on presentation skill and fit to task. Results confirm the adaptation of the TTF model and show significant relationships between variables. The model can be used in other task/technology combinations. Additional findings suggest that when there is a significant fit between digital video tools technology and improvement of oral presentation skills task, student performance also improves. Digital video can be a useful alternative to in-class presentation when the goal is to improve presentation skill.

Silence or Knowing in IT-Facilitated Face-to-Face Meetings

An increasing proportion of work in organizations has shifted from repetitive, structured, individually focused activities to what is now known as knowledge work. This has been accompanied by a stronger need for collaboration and coordination as well as new information technology (IT) tools. It has changed the nature of face-to-face meetings and the ways in which IT can support them. This study investigates how shared knowledge creation (SKC) operates and is supported by IT in face-to-face meetings. Two scenarios, “Silence” and “Knowing,” are used to illustrate the extremes of the types of collaboration that can take place. The article extends Wengers theory of communities of practice to the domain of IT-facilitated face-to-face meetings. It develops and operationalizes the community-behavior constructs of participation and documentation reification in this context. The article develops a number of hypotheses around SKC effectiveness. The hypotheses are tested in the context of new product development practices in two companies. The empirical results show that community behavior leads to higher speed of SKC and higher quality of output from SKC. The study further indicates that IT tools affect participation and documentation reification differently. IT tools are shown to only work for participation during formal meetings. The study shows the importance for a team to act as a community of practice in the SKC environment as well as the need for new IT tools and the better use of existing tools. The article concludes with implications for practice and research for IT support in face-to-face meetings.