James D. McKeen

Knowledge management and organizational performance: an exploratory analysis

– The purpose of this paper is to report the results of an exploratory investigation of the organizational impact of knowledge management (KM)., – A search of the literature revealed 12 KM practices whose performance impact was assessed via a survey of business organizations., – KM practices were found to be directly related to organizational performance which, in turn, was directly related to financial performance. There was no direct relationship found between KM practices and financial performance. A different set of KM practices was associated with each value discipline (i.e. customer intimacy, product development and operational excellence). A gap exists between the KM practices that firms believe to be important and those that were directly related to organizational performance., – The majority of the research constructs were formative, thus improving the measurement of KM practices will prove vital for validating and extending these findings. The findings were based solely on organizations from North America and Australia and may not reflect KM practices in other geographic, economic or cultural settings., – This study encourages practitioners to focus their KM initiatives on specific intermediate performance outcomes., – The paper examines the relationship between KM practices and performance outcomes. It was expected that a direct relationship between KM practices and organizational performance would be observed. It was also expected that organizational performance would mediate the relationship between KM practices and financial performance. These expectations were supported. KM practices showed a direct relationship with intermediate measures of organizational performance, and organizational performance showed a significant and direct relationship to financial performance. There was no significant relationship found between KM practices and financial performance.

The evolution of IS job skills: a content analysis of IS job advertisements from 1970 to 1990

Changes in the knowledge and skill requirements of information systems (IS) positions were examined by analyzing the content of advertisements for IS professionals placed in four major newspapers over the 20-year period 1970-1990. Three types of jobs were examined: programmers, systems analysts, and IS managers. The analysis of the frequency of phrases in these advertisements suggests that job ads for programmers have changed very little -- technical requirements remain high, and business and systems knowledge requirements remain relatively low (although the frequency of mention of business requirements has increased somewhat). IS management positions are also relatively stable (as relected in the makeup of job ads) from the standpoint that business knowledge requirements have remained high, with technical and systems requirements specified less frequently. The greatest transition in specified job requirements over this 20-year period has occurred for systems analysts. Although this is perhaps not surprising, the nature of this transition is. Contrary to expectations, the relative frequency and proportion of stated technical knowledge requirements in ads have increased dramatically, while the relative frequency of business and systems knowledge requirements has actually decreased slightly.These results raise questions concerning the implicit understanding by academics and practioners alike of the need for business knowledge on the part of systems analysts and other IS professionals. Various interpretations of these findings are provided, and the implications for both education and recruitment are discussed.

Successful strategies for user participation in systems development

Past MIS research has indicated a mixed relationship between user participation and user satisfaction with system development projects, suggesting that user participation is not equally effective in all situations. This has led researchers to investigate the contexts within which user participation can be used to improve user satisfaction. This study builds on this past body of research by examining the relationship between specific user participative behaviors and user satisfaction in different contextual situations in order to identify the most successful participative behaviors. To do this, data were collected from 151 independent system development projects in eight different organizations. The context of development was described by two factors--task complexity and system complexity. As suggested in the literature, the combination of these two contextual factors determine the need for user participation. The relationship between specific participative behaviors and user satisfaction was then examined where the need for participation was high and those results were compared with situations with a lower need for participation. Not all participative behaviors were equally effective in all situations. Depending on the level of task complexity and system complexity, some user participative behaviors resulted in improved user satisfaction, while others had no relationship with satisfaction. The results add to earlier studies by identifying those specific user participative behaviors most beneficial under different contexts. The implications apply to both practitioners involved in the development of systems and academicians seeking to explain where and how user participation should be used. Strategies based on the results are suggested for the most appropriate involvement for users during system development.

Enhancing computer-mediated communication: an experimental investigation into the use of a group decision support system for face-to-face versus remote meetings

Abstract A controlled laboratory experiment was undertaken to examine the effects of the use of a Group Decision Support System (GDSS) on face-to-face versus remote meetings. Some expected and some unexpected results were obtained for decision performance (quality, speed, choice, shift) and group member perceptions (confidence and satisfaction). Use of a GDSS, for example, increased the time it took groups to reach a decision yet had no impact on the decision quality of the groups. Also, there was a substantial interaction effect regarding choice shift. The ramifications of these results are discussed fully.

Knowledge Management and Organizational Performance: An Exploratory Survey

Ninety organizations were surveyed in an exploratory investigation of the organizational impact of knowledge management (KM). A search of the literature revealed 12 KM practices. Results indicated that these KM practices were directly related to organizational performance which, in turn, was directly related to financial performance. In addition, a different set of KM practices were associated with specific value disciplines (i.e., customer intimacy, product development and operational excellence). Interestingly, a significant gap exists between the KM practices that firms believe to be important and those that turned out to be directly related to organizational performance. The implications of this study are significant for both practitioners and academics. Suggestions are offered for future work in this area.

Successful development strategies for business application systems

In a field study of thirty-two business application systems, the relationship between the time spent in various phases of the development life cycle and the outcome of the development was examined. Results indicate that systems which spent more time in the analysis phase required less time to code, resulted in greater user satisfaction, and were developed in agreement with established budgets and deadlines. These results suggest preferred strategies for the development of application systems and have implications for their successful management and control.

Computerization and management: A study of conflict and change

Abstract This paper documents the conflict between information systems (IS) and business management concerning computerization and managerial decision-making, based on in-depth interviews with 150 IS and business managers from ten large corporations. Relations between IS and user departments in these firms were generally characterized by mutual lack of trust. Four underlying sources of conflict were identified: disagreement about control of computerization; differences in goals and time-frames of managers; lack of measurable benefit; and disagreement over the roles and responsibilities during systems development. In addition, the paper discusses those emerging trends that influence the IS-business relationship; the routinization and standardization of managerial work; changes to work content and skill requirements; and the erosion of managerial control and decision-making. Finally, the paper presents some prescriptions to derive maximum advantage from IS.

Selecting MIS projects by steering committee

Steering committees have recently gained vast acceptance in organizations as the mechanism used to select management information systems (MIS) projects. Because of their widespread adoption and their differences from other selection mechanisms with respect to orientation, steering committees were chosen for study. Data from 92 projects selected from 32 organizations were analyzed. As hypothesized, projects selected by steering committees were found to differ significantly from those chosen via other selection mechanisms. The implications of this result for organizations using steering committees to select MIS projects are presented.

Creating and Facilitating Communities of Practice

Communities of practice (CoPs) are an emerging, unstructured organizational form that many believe will help companies to truly leverage what they know. CoPs appear to have the potential to galvanize knowledge sharing, learning, and change thereby improving a company’s performance and making it more competitive. However, a major problem with them is that their organic and informal nature makes them highly resistant to management supervision and interference in their activities. CoPs are therefore controversial because there is no clear role for management in them. In fact, if management does get involved, the community often dissipates. Yet paradoxically, CoPs require specific managerial efforts to develop and support them so that their full power can be leveraged.

Opportunities for research about managing the knowledge‐based enterprise

Potentially valuable directions for new research into the management of knowledge-based enterprises are identified in this paper. This was done by reviewing relevant literature to develop research questions, using a model of knowledge-based capabilities to focus the review. The model highlights six knowledge capabilities: acquisition, creation, capture, storage, diffusion and transfer. A knowledge-based enterprise would have to engage in (if not excel at) these activities simply to manage its key resource – knowledge. Forty-two research questions were proposed based on the review. The focus of the research questions varies widely, representing potential opportunities for researchers from many different areas to further our understanding of managing knowledge-based enterprises.