Elissaveta Gourova

Design of Knowledge Management Systems

In the information era knowledge is in the centre of organisational competitiveness and growth. It is difficult to manage knowledge as it resides in human minds. Its success requires a synergy of organisational, technological and human-focused initiatives and tools integrated in a Knowledge Management System. This paper provides guidance in a form of patterns on designing the core elements of such system -- infrastructure, info-structure and info-culture. It provides a framework for a set of patterns to be further developed, and based on already presented patterns at the European Conference for Patterns Language of Programming (EuroPLoP) in the areas of Knowledge Audit and Knowledge Management Strategy.

Audit of knowledge flows and critical business processes

The authors presented a series of business patterns for Knowledge Audit at EuroPLoP workshops trying to establish a pattern language in the field aimed at Knowledge Management practitioners, for managers of Small and Medium Enterprises, entrepreneurs, students, experts and consultants. As a follow-up of the previous work, in this paper are presented three patterns corresponding to the main tools used in the Knowledge Audit methodology - Knowledge Flows Analysis, Critical Knowledge Function Analysis and Knowledge Diagnostics. The patterns can be applied in knowledge-intensive organizations as they propose guidelines for solving specific problems of linking knowledge and business processes, better usage and provision of knowledge when and where it is needed and taking advantage of existing knowledge flows.

Knowledge audit data gathering and analysis

It has been discussed by researchers and practitioners that Knowledge Audit (KA) is an important tool for monitoring the effectiveness of Knowledge Management (KM) implementation. The KA aims at investigating the company status at a given moment regarding the knowledge availability and needs, its flow and usage in processes, by employees, etc. The concept of business patterns for Knowledge Audit was presented at a writers workshop of EuroPLoP 2009, where the patterns KNOWLEDGE AUDIT PLAN, KNOWLEDGE AUDIT TEAM, KNOWLEDGE AUDIT METHODOLOGY, KNOWLEDGE AUDIT QUESTIONNAIRE and KNOWLEDGE AUDIT REPORT were described. This paper continues the previous work and focuses on the patterns KNOWLEDGE AUDIT DATA GATHERING, KNOWLEDGE AUDIT ANALYSES OF RESULTS. Their value is supporting the decision-making process for ensuring greater use of knowledge strengths and the competitive advantages of the organization. In fact, a wider understanding of organizational interests, the global situation and processes could facilitate all employees to contribute better to the competitive position of the organization and the efficient management of its knowledge. In order not to reinvent the wheel, business patterns for Knowledge Audit could be applied in organizations.

Integrated Platform for Mobile Learning

Today, technological trends in informatics and telecommunications are behind a new change in educational service provision—from e-learning to mobile learning (m-learning). Mobile devices provide users with opportunities to communicate and access information, learning content and services everywhere, at any time. However, many challenges to the rapid uptake of m-learning are identified by scholars—some of them related to the choice of devices suitable for m-learning and others—focused on the design of the courses and lecture modules so as to be accessible at various mobile devices. This chapter’s main goal is to present the approach proposed for m-learning at Sofia University. It provides initially a brief overview of recent technology background and the trends in distance education leading to the m-learning concept. Some approaches proposed by scholars for m-learning systems are presented as well. The usage of tablets in the educational process gains particular attention and the need for using different types of content in learning—text, audio, and video. This chapter presents an idea how to organize m-learning and, in particular, which learning styles are appropriate with a tablet. Finally, it considers a platform providing opportunities to students to diversify learning according to their own needs using text, audio, and video educational materials.

Knowledge management strategy for academic organisations

Knowledge Management (KM) is a new scientific discipline which facilitates organisations to better perform in their highly competitive environment. Universities as learning organisations in the centre of the knowledge triangle are faced with the need to better manage their knowledge resources and to facilitate their transfer to all interested stakeholders. Similar to companies, universities are developing at different speeds, and some are lagging behind in adopting KM strategic approach. The goal of this paper is to provide guidance to university staff in developing their KM strategy and integrating it in the overall organisational strategy.

Design of knowledge management info-structures

Nowadays, knowledge is in the centre of organisational competitiveness and growth. It is difficult to manage knowledge as it resides in human minds. Knowledge Management success requires a synergy of organisational, technological and human-focused initiatives and tools integrated in a single system. This paper extends the patterns presented at VikingPLoP 2014 and EuroPLoP 2014 related to Knowledge Management systems and strategy. Its goal is to add sub-patterns in the area of information structures, and more specifically, focused on describing business processes -- their context and knowledge profile.

Adapting educational programmes according to e-competence needs: The Bulgarian case

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to present the experience of New Bulgarian University (NBU) and the methodology followed for changing its educational programmes and developing new ones according to the labour market needs. Design/methodology/approach – Initially, the paper focuses on the need for adapting curricula for meeting the labour market demands for information and communication technologies (ICT) professional skills. It provides an overview of the ICT skills supply and demand trends in Europe. A special emphasis is made on the dialogue of leading stakeholders in Europe for developing European E-Competence Framework. After introducing the overall picture in Europe, the paper presents the environment in Bulgaria for higher education, research and innovation and the ICT skills challenges in the country. The last part of the paper is based on the project methodology and its results. First, the methodology behind the design of a new Masters programme is given, and next, the concepts for adapting NBU ...

Keeping Talents

Knowledge workers today are characterised by high professional engagement and low commitment to their employers. These highly-qualified employees are looking for opportunities for their professional and personal development and if the organisation is not satisfying their requirements and needs, they change the employer. Subsequently, many worldwide organisations face the problem of high turn-over of their personnel, and lose time and efforts when hiring new employees. Therefore, special emphasis is paid on talent management and attraction, as well as creating an attractive and motivating organisational environment. Many researchers have considered what are the characteristics of a good employer, what attracts the employees, and have focused on the employers branding as a tool for raising employers image and for attracting talented employees. The main goal of this paper is to contribute to the development of an organisational environment that facilitates employee engagement with the organisation and motivation for high performance and creativity at work. The paper presents four patterns (Figure 1): TASKS DISTRIBUTION, LEARNING AND GROWTH, PERFORMANCE RECOGNITION, EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP. It is closely related with the patterns presented at VikingPLoP 2017: EMPLOYER BRANDING, EMPLOYEES AS AMBASSADORS, EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE FIT, MEETING EXPECTATIONS. Furthermore, the paper extends the pattern INFO-CULTURE CHANGE discussed at VikingPLoP 2014, as part of a pattern language on Knowledge Management.

Use of balanced scorecards for knowledge management roadmap

Knowledge Management (KM) is a new scientific discipline which facilitates organisations to better perform in their highly competitive environment. Universities are learning organisations in the centre of the knowledge triangle. They are faced with the need to better manage their knowledge resources and to facilitate their transfer to all interested stakeholders. Similar to companies, universities are developing at different speeds, and some are lagging behind in adopting KM strategic approach. The goal of this paper is to provide guidance to university staff in developing their KM strategy roadmap on bases of the Balanced Scorecard approach and integrating it in the overall strategy.

Social Network Analysis in Professional e-Recruitment

The present paper considers the importance of social networks for the success of the recruitment process in the knowledge society. It provides a short theoretical background on social network analysis (SNA) and the most common recruitment practices. The paper provides some results from a survey on the social networks usage by Bulgarian recruiters. On bases of the analysis made, a short specification of a tool supporting professional recruitment is provided.