Donald Hislop
Loughborough University
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Publication
Featured researches published by Donald Hislop.
Journal of Knowledge Management | 1999
Jacky Swan; Sue Newell; Harry Scarbrough; Donald Hislop
Begins with a critical review of the literature on knowledge management, arguing that its focus on IT to create a network structure may limit its potential for encouraging knowledge sharing across social communities. Two cases of interactive innovation are contrasted. One focused almost entirely on using IT (intranet) for knowledge sharing, resulting in a plethora of independent intranets which reinforced existing organizational and social boundaries with electronic “fences”. In the other, while IT was used to provide a network to encourage sharing, there was also recognition of the importance of face‐to‐face interaction for sharing tacit knowledge. The emphasis was on encouraging active networking among dispersed communities, rather than relying on IT networks. Argues for a community‐based model of knowledge management for interactive innovation and contrasts this with the cognitive‐based view that underpins many IT‐led knowledge management initiatives.
Employee Relations | 2003
Donald Hislop
This paper contributes to the development of the knowledge management and human resource management literatures through developing the linkages between them. Increasingly it is being acknowledged that the success of knowledge management initiatives is fundamentally predicated on having workers who are prepared to share their knowledge. It is suggested that HRM concepts and frameworks could be utilized to improve our understanding of what shapes the willingness (or reluctance) of workers to share their knowledge. Specifically the paper considers how the motivation of workers to share their knowledge may be shaped by their level of organizational commitment. Guest and Conway’s model of the psychological contract is modified to link commitment with knowledge‐sharing attitudes and behaviours. Finally, it is suggested that, if commitment is linked to knowledge‐sharing attitudes, then the apparently low commitment levels reported by a number of surveys may mean this represents a key problem for knowledge management initiatives.
Journal of Information Technology | 2002
Donald Hislop
This paper critiques the perspective that information technology can play a central role in knowledge-sharing processes. Fundamentally, it suggests that the nature of knowledge itself makes it extremely difficult and that quite specific conditions are required for information technology-based knowledge sharing to occur successfully. The paper proceeds by criticizing the objectivist philosophy of knowledge, which typically underpins the literature advocating information technology-based knowledge management. The centre point of this critique involves questioning one of the foundational assumptions of the objectivist perspective, namely the dichotomy made between tacit and explicit knowledge. Instead, a ‘practice’-based philosophy of knowledge is proposed that suggests that all knowledge has both tacit and explicit components, is to some extent embodied in human brains and bodies and is embedded in organizational routines, practices and contexts. These characteristics therefore suggest that the role of information technology systems in the sharing of knowledge is likely to be somewhat limited.
New Technology Work and Employment | 2007
Donald Hislop; Carolyn M. Axtell
Whilst many teleworkers are increasingly working beyond home and office, these mobile teleworkers are neglected in the telework literature. This neglect is addressed through reviewing relevant literature, developing a conceptual locational framework that accounts for mobile teleworkers and the presentation of an illustrative example which links to the theme of worklife balance in the telework literature.
Technology Analysis & Strategic Management | 2000
Donald Hislop; Sue Newell; Harry Scarbrough; Jacky Swan
This paper examines the highly political nature of innovation appropriation processes. The central focus is on the role of networks, networking, and knowledge in these processes. The data presented is drawn from two case study companies, both of which were implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. While formal, hierarchical authority was found to be an important contextual factor, shaping the appropriation processes examined, it was found that such authority was not automatically translatable into actual power. In terms of knowledge and networks, the paper concludes that they were inextricably inter-related, largely because the typically tacit nature of much relevant knowledge required the development of networks to access and utilize it. The paper further concluded that the use of both networks, and knowledge in the innovation appropriation processes examined had a dual character. They could not only provide access to relevant knowledge and artefacts, but could also be used as political tools in support of particular interests.
Research Policy | 2002
Donald Hislop
Abstract This paper examines the role played by client firms in shaping their consultancy relations during the implementation of similar technological innovations in four organisations. While much of the literature on consultants underplays the role of clients, this paper shows that client firms can play a key role in shaping their consultancy relations. The paper utilises Granovetter’s concept of embeddedness to suggest that the diversity of client behaviour found, was influenced by the social networks and organisational cultures that client staff were embedded within. Further, the character of the consultancy relations developed also influenced the innovation processes examined.
New Technology Work and Employment | 2009
Donald Hislop; Caroline Axtell
The paper examines the spatial implications of multi-location work considering how the spaces such workers travel through and work in shape the type of tasks they conduct, how they act to create a workspace in such locations and the implications that this type of working has for how the workplace is conceptualised.
International Journal of Human-computer Studies \/ International Journal of Man-machine Studies | 2008
Carolyn M. Axtell; Donald Hislop; Steve Whittaker
Whilst mobile work is increasingly prevalent, there is little detailed study of this phenomenon in the specific context of a train. Thus, the current study focuses on how mobile work is conducted onboard trains, as a way of exploring general issues relating to mobility. Through survey and interview data, several constraints to mobile work on the train were revealed. These include the lack of reliable communications network, access to co-workers and lack of privacy which together restrict the types of communicative tasks people carry out. We found that the majority of tasks conducted were socially independent in nature (without the need for communication with others). However, people made some technological task and contextual adaptations which allowed them to work around these limitations to conduct some socially interdependent work (with the need for communication with others). We explain why and how specific technologies/media are used (and adapted) in this setting and explore the implications this has for technology design and our thinking about mobile work.
Journal of Knowledge Management | 2010
Donald Hislop
Purpose – This paper aims to understand how interest in the topic of knowledge management has evolved in the decade between 1998 and 2008 and to evaluate the claim that knowledge management is a management fashion.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the academic publications database to investigate academic interest in the topic of knowledge management between 2000 and 2008, and company web sites to evaluate level of contemporary interest among global consultants and professional service firms in knowledge management.Findings – The data presented challenge the idea that knowledge management can be regarded as a transient fashion, showing that academic interest in the topic has been sustained throughout the first decade of the twenty‐first century. However, in contrast to this, there has been a significant decline of interest in knowledge management among global consultancies and professional service firms.Research limitations/implications – The data on levels of academic interest in knowledge man...
International Journal of Innovation Management | 2003
Donald Hislop
The paper analyses the implementation of IT based innovations through a communities of practice lens. It is suggested that such a framework can add fresh insights to the dynamics of innovation processes. The paper makes an empirical and theoretical contribution to the innovation literature by both examining case study evidence from a number of technological innovation projects, and reflecting on the relationship between innovation processes and communities of practice. It is concluded that this relationship is not unidirectional. Not only did the communities of practice influence the innovation processes, for example through shaping important knowledge sharing processes, but the innovations also impinged on organizational communities of practice in important ways. The paper also proposes ways in which the analytical utility of the community of practice concept can be improved, for example by taking greater account of potential negative effects that communities of practice can have for innovation processes.