Dorothy E. Leidner

Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues

El presente documento es el informe de investigacion sobre el Estudio de Fortalecimiento de los Procesos de Gestion del Conocimiento en los Grupos de Investigacion de los Departamentos de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Estudio de Caso: Departamento de Ingenieria Electrica y Electronica, tema propuesto para obtener el titulo de Magister en Administracion de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. El desarrollo del trabajo de investigacion ha sido dirigido por el Ingeniero Andres Pavas, quien es profesor e investigador del Programa sobre Adquisicion y Analisis de Senales PAAS-UN. Este trabajo de investigacion propone un instrumento de medicion para los procesos de gestion de conocimiento (GC) llevados a cabo por grupos de investigacion. El instrumento fue disenado teniendo en cuenta los referentes teoricos en el area de la GC, el modelo de medicion de los grupos de investigacion de Colciencias y los aspectos estrategicos institucionales de la Universidad Nacional. Asimismo, se propone un procedimiento para identificar el nivel de madurez del Departamento y entregar informacion pertinente para plantear acciones que conlleven a mejorar las actividades de investigacion de los grupos por medio de un plan de fortalecimiento. La importancia del estudio radica en desarrollar una aproximacion practica en el area de la GC para el caso de grupos de investigacion presentes en Colombia. Los resultados hallados permiten determinar el nivel de madurez de los grupos de investigacion y del Departamento al que pertenecen. Finalmente se propone un plan de fortalecimiento que permitira el cierre de brechas actuales, mejorar el desempeno de las actividades de investigacion del DIEE y contribuir al cumplimiento del Plan Global de Desarrollo-2021, por medio de la formalizacion de la gestion de su conocimiento.Knowledge is a broad and abstract notion that has defined epistemological debate in western philosophy since the classical Greek era. In the past few years, however, there has been a growing interest in treating knowledge as a significant organizational resource. Consistent with the interest in organizational knowledge and knowledge management (KM), IS researchers have begun promoting a class of information systems, referred to as knowledge management systems (KMS). The objective of KMS is to support creation, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations. Knowledge and knowledge management are complex and multi-faceted concepts. Thus, effective development and implementation of KMS requires a foundation in several rich literatures.

Review: a review of culture in information systems research: toward a theory of information technology culture conflict

An understanding of culture is important to the study of information technologies in that culture at various levels, including national, organizational, and group, can influence the successful implementation and use of information technology. Culture also plays a role in managerial processes that may directly, or indirectly, influence IT. Culture is a challenging variable to research, in part because of the multiple divergent definitions and measures of culture. Notwithstanding, a wide body of literature has emerged that sheds light on the relationship of IT and culture. This paper sets out to provide a review of this literature in order to lend insights into our understanding of the linkages between IT and culture. We begin by conceptualizing culture and laying the groundwork for a values-based approach to the examination of IT and culture. Using this approach, we then provide a comprehensive review of the organizational and cross-cultural IT literature that conceptually links these two traditionally separate streams of research. From our analysis, we develop six themes of IT-culture research emphasizing cultures impact on IT, ITs impact on culture, and IT culture. Building upon these themes, we then develop a theory of IT, values, and conflict. Based upon the theory, we develop propositions concerning three types of cultural conflict and the results of these conflicts. Ultimately, the theory suggests that the reconciliation of these conflicts results in a reorientation of values. We conclude with the particular research challenges posed in this line of inquiry.

The use of information technology to enhance management school education: a theoretical view

To use information technology to improve learning processes, the pedagogical assumptions underlying the design of information technology for educational purposes must be understood. This paper reviews different models of learning, surfaces assumptions of electronic teaching technology, and relates those assumptions to the differing models of learning. Our analysis suggests that initial attempts to bring information technology to management education follow a classic story of automating rather than transforming. IT is primarily used to automate the information delivery function in classrooms. In the absence of fundamental changes to the teaching and learning process, such classrooms may do little but speed up ineffective processes and methods of teaching. Our mapping of technologies to learning models identifies sets of technologies in which management schools should invest in order to informate up and down and ultimately transform the educational environment and processes. For researchers interested in the use of information technology to improve learning processes, the paper provides a theoretical foundation for future work.

Leadership Effectiveness in Global Virtual Teams

The trend toward physically dispersed work groups has necessitated a fresh inquiry into the role and nature of team leadership in virtual settings. To accomplish this, we assembled thirteen culturally diverse global teams from locations in Europe, Mexico, and the United States, assigning each team a project leader and task to complete. The findings suggest that effective team leaders demonstrate the capability to deal with paradox and contradiction by performing multiple leadership roles simultaneously (behavioral complexity). Specifically, we discovered that highly effective virtual team leaders act in a mentoring role and exhibit a high degree of understanding (empathy) toward other team members. At the same time, effective leaders are also able to assert their authority without being perceived as overbearing or inflexible. Finally, effective leaders are found to be extremely effective at providing regular, detailed, and prompt communication with their peers and in articulating role relationships (responsibilities) among the virtual team members. This study provides useful insights for managers interested in developing global virtual teams, as well as for academics interested in pursuing virtual team research.

An Empirical Examination of the Influence of Organizational Culture on Knowledge Management Practices

Knowledge management to facilitate the creation, storage, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations has received wide attention in practice and research in the past several years. Often cited as a significant challenge in knowledge management practices is the issue of organizational culture. Although many studies raise the issue of organizational cultures influence on knowledge management success, few investigate the way in which this influence manifests itself. This paper aims to explore how organizational culture influences knowledge management practices. Using a case study method, we examine the cultural values and knowledge management approaches within a large global information services company and one of its knowledge communities. The findings highlight the influence of culture on the use of knowledge management technologies and the outcomes of such use.

Research Commentary: Technology-Mediated Learning--A Call for Greater Depth and Breadth of Research

Universities and corporate training facilities have been investing in information technologies to improve education and training at an increasing rate during the past decade. Many new companies are emerging to provide tools and services to enable the effective design of IT-based learning solutions. Although research on technology-mediated learning has increased in recent years, it still lags behind developments in practice. This essay suggests potential research avenues in the area of technology-mediated learning. It seeks to motivate greater depth of research into the question of how technology enhances learning. This question requires an explicit consideration of relationships among technology capabilities, instructional strategy, psychological processes, and contextual factors involved in learning. The essay also recommends attention to a greater breadth of research questions, including issues of how technology-mediated learning affects program design and what structures and processes universities can employ to facilitate innovation.

An Information Company in Mexico: Extending the Resource-Based View of the Firm to a Developing Country Context

The information industry assumes that information is seen as a valued resource that enables organizations and individuals to improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and overall competitiveness. For the information industry to bridge rather than divide further the global economy to information rich and information poor, we need to understand how firms, particularly local firms, can pioneer or participate in the information industry in emerging economies that do not inherently embrace information as a valued business resource. This research examines how one local firm shaped the external environment to pioneer a local information industry in Mexico and how it competes in a newly opened local market against foreign competitors. In doing so, the paper extends the resource-based view of the firm to a developing country context. The dynamic capabilities of strategic foresight and flexibility, coupled with a core competency of trustworthiness, are found to be critical in effecting internal and external change in an unstable environment.

Bridging communities of practice with information technology in pursuit of global knowledge sharing

This paper explores the use of information technology to support knowledge sharing within and between communities of practice. In so doing, it presents a case of a multi-national organizations efforts to implement an organizational knowledge management (KM) system. The case traces both the technological solutions and the KM strategy of the organization as it met with various challenges along a several year period of establishing KM as organizational practice. The study highlights several lessons, including the possibility of a flexible KM strategy, the necessity for multiple channels of knowledge sharing, the desirability of expanding communities of practice, and the evolution of the role played by information technology as KM strategies evolve.

The Information Age Confronts Education: Case Studies on Electronic Classrooms

Information technology is slowly becoming a part of educational classrooms and corporate training facilities. The current study examines the use and outcomes of computer-based instructional technology in the context of graduate business education. Case study data is gathered to explore how computer technology is used in the university classroom, and how computer-based teaching methods differ from traditional teaching methods in terms of class interaction and in-class learning. The study found that there are many potential computer-based teaching methods and that the methods can have different outcomes. The use of computer-based teaching methods requiring hands-on student use appear to offer an advantage over traditional methods and over computer-based methods not requiring hands-on student use in providing a forum for exploratory analysis during class and for acquiring technical procedural knowledge. A model of in-class learning is developed for future research.

Bringing IT Back: An Analysis of the Decision to Backsource or Switch Vendors

Whereas the decision to outsource information systems (IS) has been an important focus in IS research and practice, the decision to switch vendors or to backsource has received little attention. Evidence suggests that in practice, however, the decision to backsource or to switch vendors is becoming increasingly common as firms vie for ways to continue to cut information technology (IT) costs and improve IT service levels. This research specifically examines the factors associated with the decision to backsource or to switch vendors. Based on a sample of 160 IT managers involved with application development, we compare and contrast the perceptions of those who switched vendors, backsourced, or continued in an outsourcing relationship for application development. Our findings suggest that product quality, service quality, relationship quality, and switching costs are related to the decision to backsource application outsourcing. However, service and product quality did not influence the decision to switch vendors. Rather, firms that made the decision to switch vendors reported high levels of service and product quality but low levels of relationship quality and switching costs.