Chris Kimble

Communities of Practice in the Distributed International Environment

Modern commercial organisations are facing pressures which have caused them to lose personnel. When they lose people, they also lose their knowledge. Organisations also have to cope with the internationalisation of business forcing collaboration and knowledge sharing across time and distance. Knowledge management (KM) claims to tackle these issues. This paper looks at an area where KM does not offer sufficient support, that is, the sharing of knowledge that is not easy to articulate. The focus in this paper is on communities of practice in commercial organisations. We do this by exploring knowledge sharing in Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of communities of practice and investigating how communities of practice may translate to a distributed international environment. The paper reports on two case studies that explore the functioning of communities of practice across international boundaries.

Innovation and knowledge sharing across professional boundaries: Political interplay between boundary objects and brokers

The article examines the process of innovation and knowledge sharing from a perspective that focuses on the influence that local circumstances can have. In particular, it looks at the problems of knowledge sharing between groups of professionals. It presents a comparative analysis of two studies, one involving two groups of IT professionals; the other a network of healthcare professionals. The data was collected in two sets. The first set consisted of the results from two earlier, independent studies; the second was collected specifically for this article. We investigate the role played by boundary objects and brokers. Through an analysis of the interplay between boundary object and broker, we uncover the dynamics of the innovation process and show that the role played by the broker can be political. We identify two strategies that are used by brokers in the selection of a boundary object. The first is directed towards achieving a balance between the actors involved and the second is directed towards controlling their activities. We conclude by suggesting that other researchers should also consider the interplay between broker and boundary object when examining cross-boundary knowledge sharing.

Dualities, distributed communities of practice and knowledge management

Abstract: Purpose – This main aim of this article is to explore the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and communities of practice (CoPs) in general and virtual CoPs in particular. A subsidiary aim is to provide some practical guidelines about how virtual CoPs can be facilitated and maintained. Design/methodology/approach – The relationship between KM and CoPs is explored using theoretical constructs, the notion of a duality, and data from a case study. The article reports on a case study of a “virtual” CoP and highlights two key aspects of virtual working. The article demonstrates how these key aspects map on to Wengers participation-reification duality and, in turn, on to the soft-hard duality described by Hildreth and Kimble. Findings – The case study of a “virtual” CoP was based in three geographically separate locations (the UK, the USA, and Japan). The case study reports on the activities of the UK part of the CoP both at their UK base and during one of their regular trips to the USA. It highlights the importance of two particular aspects or virtual working: social relationships and the use of shared artefacts. Practical implications – Some general conclusions are drawn from the analysis concerning the facilitation of virtual CoPs and the broader implications of dualities for KM. Originality/value – The main contribution of the article is in making an explicit link between KM and CoPs through the use of the notion of the duality of knowledge.

Building effective virtual teams: How to overcome the problems of trust and identity in virtual teams

This article explores some of the challenges faced when managing virtual teams, in particular the role played by trust and identity in virtual teams. It outlines why teams and virtual teams have become a valuable part of the modern organization and presents ten short case studies that illustrate the range of activities in which virtual teams can be found. Following this, the article examines some of the common problems encountered in virtual team working. It discusses two broad classes of solutions. The first are solutions that are essentially technical in nature (i.e., where changes to or improvements in technology would help to solve or ameliorate the problem); the second are more organizationally based (i.e., where the root of the problem is in people and how they are managed). The article concludes that both the technical and the organizational solutions need to be considered in parallel if an attempt to build an effective virtual team is to be successful.

Knowledge-Based Systems – A Re-Evaluation

Abstract: Purpose – The goal of this paper is to re-evaluate the role of knowledge-based systems (KBS) in knowledge management (KM). While knowledge-based systems and expert systems were widely used in the past, they have now fallen from favor and are largely ignored in the knowledge management literature. This paper aims to argue that several factors have changed and it is now time to re-evaluate the contribution that such systems can make to knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach – The role of KBS in KM is explored through a comprehensive analysis of both the management and the technical literature on knowledge. The literature on KBS and expert systems is reviewed and some of the problems faced by them are highlighted. Some of the probable causes of these problems and some of the solutions that might be used to overcome them are indicated. The paper describes how knowledge systems (KS) could be used as an effective tool for managing knowledge. Findings – The lack of success of KBS technologies for managing knowledge is mainly due to organizational and managerial issues. These problems can be solved through feasibility studies before system development activities. KS technology is now being successfully applied in a variety of newer domains that exploit its capabilities. Practical implications – Some conclusions are drawn concerning integration of knowledge systems with knowledge management, problems of the early implementation of knowledge systems technology, and possible solution to overcome these problems. Originality/value – The main contribution of the article is in re-evaluating the role of knowledge-based systems as a tool for knowledge management.

UBB Mining: Finding Unexpected Browsing Behaviour in Clickstream Data to Improve a Web Site's Design

This paper describes a novel Web usage mining approach to discover patterns in the navigation of Web sites known as unexpected browsing behaviours (UBBs). By reviewing these UBBs, a Web site designer can choose to modify the design of their Web site or redesign the site completely. UBB mining is based on the continuous common subsequence (CCS), a special instance of common subsequence (CS), which is used to define a set of expected routes. The predefined expected routes are then treated as rules and stored in a rule base. By using the predefined route and the UBB mining algorithm, interesting browsing behaviours can be discovered. This paper introduces the format of the expected route and describes the UBB algorithms. The paper also describes a series of experiments designed to evaluate how well UBB mining algorithms work.

Low-cost strategy through product architecture: lessons from China

Abstract: Purpose – The article shows how changes in product architecture have become the driving force behind a breakthrough strategy that has enabled Chinese carmakers to produce vehicles that are broadly equivalent to the products of western carmakers but at a fraction of the price. Design/methodology/approach – The article presents an analysis of the development of a strategy based in an innovative product architecture used by a Chinese carmaker. The analysis covers the period between 1998 and 2006 and presents the results of a longitudinal study carried out by one of the authors in China between 2002 and 2007. Findings – The article uses the literature on product architecture and breakthrough strategy to describe a quasi-open modular product architecture used by Chinese carmakers. It provides an historical account of one companys approach to car making using this strategy and describes how it has allowed it to move from being a manufacturer of refrigerators to the ninth largest carmaker in China in period of ten years. Practical implications – The article highlights the strategic potential of innovations in product architecture in general and that of quasi-open modular architectures in particular. It also highlights the role of the emerging markets in China as the source of potential drivers for breakthrough strategies and as a threat to the current position of western carmakers. Originality/value – This article uses evidence based on direct observation to describe a novel approach to product architecture that has been pioneered in the emergent markets in China.

Big Data and Business Intelligence: Debunking the Myths

Offering unprecedented levels of intelligence concerning the habits of consumers and rivals, big data promises to revolutionize the way enterprises are run. And yet, the concept of big data is one of the most poorly understood terms in business today. The implications for big data analytics are not as straightforward as they might seem—particularly when it comes to the so-called dark data from social media. Increases in the volume of data, the velocity with which they are generated and captured, and the variety of formats in which they are delivered all must be taken into account. To make the best use of the ever-burgeoning store of knowledge and insight at their fingertips, organizational leaders must confront two commonly held fallacies: that methodological issues no longer matter and that big data offers a complete and unbiased source of information on which to base their decisions.

An Organisational Memory Information System using Ontologies

O Acto de gerir adquiriu ao longo do tempo uma crescente complexidade. Cada vez sao mais as incertezas quanto ao seu resultado, e cada vez maior o numero de variaveis que tendem a influencia-la. Como tal, os Sistemas de Informacao sao hoje um recurso chave no apoio a tarefa “Gerir”. Nunca foi tao importante explorar ao maximo toda a informacao que prolifera numa dada organizacao. “Gerir e decidir em cenario de incerteza, com suporte probabilistico e intuicao, na procura constante de antecipar o futuro, actuando o mais cedo possivel, com um determinado nivel de risco. A informacao constitui o recurso-chave para a reducao da incerteza na gestao empresarial. Saber gerir a informacao de forma a apoiar a gestao global da unidade economica, e actualmente um dos principais desafios que se coloca as empresas” [Zorrinho, Carlos 1995]. Aproveitar os meios que as TIC (Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao) disponibilizam, passou a ser nao somente um factor de sucesso mas essencialmente um factor de sobrevivencia.Apresenta-se um sistema de apoio a decisao (SAD) cujo principal objectivo e aplicar metodos formais de apoio a decisao, no âmbito da gestao de uma rede rodoviaria. Partindo de uma analise efectuada a dados disponibilizados pelo Instituto para a Conservacao e Exploracao da Rede Rodoviaria (ICERR), foi adaptada uma estrutura de dados que permitiu eliminar as redundâncias, inconsistencias e lacunas detectadas. O Sistema de Informacao (SI) desenvolvido corresponde aos requisitos fundamentais de um sistema de apoio a decisao (flexibilidade e interactividade), e permite a visualizacao dos resultados em ambiente grafico. Integra um Sistema de Informacao Geografica (SIG) – ArcView - e um Sistema de Gestao de Bases de Dados Relacional (SGBDR) - 4th Dimension. O metodo de apoio a decisao implementado foi o ELECTRE TRI, por se abordar este caso como sendo um problema de afectacao, de situacoes observadas, a classes que sao pre-definidas a partir de situacoes de referencia. A classificacao em classes tem por objectivo permitir ao Agente de Decisao (AD) tomar decisoes de forma coerente e fundamentada, no que respeita a afectacao de recursos (sempre escassos) para as operacoes de conservacao de uma rede de estradas.Neste artigo aborda-se o tema gestao do conhecimento nas organizacoes, apresentando-se o estudo de caso do Departamento de Informatica da Universidade da Beira Interior. Estuda-se o processo de geracao, transmissao e partilha de conhecimento no contexto deste Departamento e, propoe-se um Modelo de Gestao do Conhecimento que facilite a interaccao entre as pessoas, armazene e favoreca a partilha de informacao e conhecimento no Departamento. No modelo proposto, consideram-se dois niveis: o nivel organizacional e o nivel aplicacional/tecnologico. Ao nivel organizacional sao abordados os aspectos que devem ser considerados para implementar um processo de gestao do conhecimento no Departamento. Ao nivel aplicacional e desenvolvido um Sistema de Gestao do Conhecimento integrado na intranet do Departamento, suportado em tecnologias que facilitam o armazenamento e a partilha de informacao e conhecimento e que inclui, nomeadamente, documentacao cientifica e administrativa, fora de discussao e “melhores praticas”. O sistema serve de suporte ao modelo em termos organizacionais. Como abordagem metodologica adequada para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho, foi escolhido um estudo de caso explicativo e interpretativo, recorrendo-se a triangulacao de metodos, atraves da administracao de um questionario, da observacao participante e da analise documental.Com a finalidade de auxiliar os usuarios, proporcionando recursos e procedimentos para um gerenciamento eficiente das informacoes, a Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina – Unisul implantou um Sistema Integrado de Gestao (Enterprise Resources Planning - ERP), apoiado por uma Arquitetura de Sistemas de Informacao (Information Systems Architecture - ISA). Este artigo apresenta algumas experiencias da implantacao do SAP/R3 e do uso do ARIS na reestruturacao da Unisul, para promover uma melhor integracao dos alunos, docentes e colaboradores aos processos de gestao universitaria, sendo que o aperfeicoamento e a manutencao destes sistemas e apoiada por um grupo de pesquisa, que tambem proporciona suporte e inovacao aos processos de aprendizagem que se vem praticando. Alem disso, descreve-se neste trabalho, uma abordagem do ensino de Reengenharia de Processos de Negocios (Business Process Re-engineering - BPR), considerando que mudancas tecnologicas possibilitam a execucao de tarefas, de modo bem diferente dos anteriores. Tendo em vista que a reestruturacao da universidade e a implantacao do ERP sao tarefas de longo prazo e que exigem melhorias continuas, o principal objetivo deste artigo e contribuir com a aplicacao de conceitos de integracao, mudancas organizacionais e tecnologicas nos procedimentos de ensino.Apresentamos um modelo para geracao automatica de programas para invocacao de transaccoes em sistemas ERP em operacao desconectada. O modelo estende estes sistemas para alem da sua natureza cliente-servidor tradicional, permitindo a existencia de um novo tipo de aplicacoes cliente, executaveis em PDA, capazes de invocar transaccoes das varias areas funcionais dos ERP. Este processo de geracao tem por base as API ja existentes nos ERP, permitindo a construcao de aplicacoes simples correspondentes aos processos elementares do negocio, com capacidade de sincronizacao com o sistema central.Compara-se neste artigo o papel dos Sistemas de Informacao e das Tecnologias de Informacao em duas industrias: texteis e do vestuario; e moldes de plastico. A comparacao e efectuada na optica da cooperacao entre empresas dessas industrias. A presenca mais intensa e generalizada de Sistemas Informacao e Tecnologias de Informacao na industria dos moldes de plastico favorece esta industria, na forma como se envolve em processos de cooperacao inter-organizacionais. A concentracao geografica das empresas das duas industrias em estudo, aponta para a existencia de clusters. No entanto, na industria de moldes de plastico, a evidencia de concentracao geografica das empresas ligadas a industria e mais forte do que para as industrias texteis e do vestuario. Este aspecto parece gerar maiores oportunidades de cooperacao.ERP implementation success is influenced by a large number of factors, which most of the times are difficult to measure objectively. User involvement and participation is one of the most cited critical success factors in ERP implementation projects, and one of the most critical ones for the their satisfactory outcome. This study attempts to define a set of metrics for monitoring user involvement and participation within ERP implementation projects by using the Goals/Questions/Metrics method. The results of this work are twofold. First, a literature review is presented on the user involvement and participation topic as related with ERP implementation projects. And second, a Goals/Questions/Metrics preliminary plan is proposed to monitor and control user involvement and participation within ERP implementation projects.

What Cost Knowledge Management? The Example of Infosys

The term knowledge management (KM) first came to prominence in the late 1990s. Although initially dismissed as a fad, KM continues to be featured in articles concerning business productivity and innovation. And yet, clear-cut examples that demonstrate the success of KM are few and far between. A brief examination of the history of KM explores the reasons for this and looks at some of the assumptions about what KM can achieve. A subsequent analysis of the experiences of Infosys with KM shows that for KM to be successful, organizational leaders need to engage in a continuous process of modification and maintenance. Although KM initiatives can be made to yield worthwhile returns over an extended period, there are often substantial ongoing costs associated with them.