Kerstin V. Siakas

Cultural Impacts on Knowledge Sharing: Empirical Data from EU Project Collaboration

Purpose – EU‐sponsored lifelong learning projects involve a variety of experts of diverse cultural, organisational, and professional backgrounds connected together in one project with time and money constraints. The members of the consortium, often unknown to one another from the beginning, come together for a specific period of time to accomplish certain distinctive objectives. A special knowledge‐sharing strategy is needed in order to incorporate culturally diverse values, and to overcome the technical difficulties of dispersion and limited access to informal communication. This paper aims to explore the way in which EU projects appreciate diverse cultural (national, organisational, and professional) influences on knowledge sharing in project‐based collaboration.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on longitudinal studies, own multicultural experiences and earlier conceptually grounded arguments regarding cultural complexities to knowledge sharing in project environments. The key cultural i...

Software outsourcing quality achieved by global virtual collaboration

In todays rapidly changing and highly competitive global environment, offshore outsourcing (contracting of a portion or all of the software development function to software engineers outside the home country) teams working across national borders and virtual organisations have become a fact. The globalisation of the software market has also changed the contextual boundaries of information systems (IS) research and practices to include the wider societal context. Management experiences difficulties when applying traditional management approaches, because of the increased complexity of global organisations and their dependency on people with different underlying norms, values and beliefs. Researchers call for caution in managing global workers. They argue that behavioural traits of diverse work groups can contribute to dysfunctional organisations. Cultural sensitivity has become a core issue. This article discusses the implications of globalisation in software development and seeks to make more explicit the human dynamics that have a bearing on the success of outsourcing and virtual collaboration. Two models, namely, the e-Sourcing Capability Model for Service Providers (eSCM-SP) and the Software Quality Management—Cultural and Organisational Diversity Evaluation (SQM-CODE) Model, are proposed to bring added value for service purchasers in their search for, selection of and collaboration with service providers. The eSCM-SP, a capability maturity assessment model related to IT-enabled sourcing, is briefly discussed and the SQM-CODE model, a tool for assessing the fit between organisational and national culture, is presented, and its importance for identifying cultural factors and taking appropriate action in order to achieve a cultural fit between the service provider and the contractor in outsourcing business partnerships is revealed. Copyright

Empirical Measurement of the Effects of Cultural Diversity on Software Quality Management

The difficulties of achieving social acceptance for Software Quality Management systems have been underestimated in the past, and they will be exacerbated in the future by the globalization of the software market and the increasing use of cross-cultural development teams within multinational companies. Management that can take account of the cultural context of their endeavours will improve understanding, minimize risk and ensure a higher degree of success in improvement programs within the software industry.This paper addresses cross-cultural issues in Software Quality Management. Qualitative and quantitative research was carried out in five European countries by using a postal questionnaire. Empirical measures of organizational culture, national culture and their interdependence, are presented together with interim instruments developed for the purpose of classifying organizations. Verification of the statistical results from the survey was carried out by triangulation, which included qualitative research methods in the form of interviews and observation. Cultural factors, which may have bearing on successful adoption and implementation of Software Quality Management were identified, and an assessment model, has been developed for use by organizations developing software in different parts of the world. The intention is that the recommendations following from the assessment will lead to greater cultural awareness in addressing quality, and will provide stimulus for improvement. The models aims is to predict to what degree there is a fit between the organizational and the national culture, and to give recommendations and guidelines for software process improvement.

The need for trust relationships to enable successful virtual team collaboration in software outsourcing

This paper explores the significance and the challenges of trust in offshore outsourcing relationships, which rely to a high degree on virtual team members, transcending time, space and culture. The challenges are highlighted by integrating recent literature concerning outsourcing, virtual teams, culture, and interpersonal and organisational trust. In order to investigate these challenges empirically, we assimilate the results from a field study concerning the synchronous and asynchronous virtual collaboration of software engineering team members from three countries. Experiments and surveys are also carried out in a virtual student environment. Our findings reveal that trust is culture bound and therefore calls for cultural awareness and special precautions. The advantages gained in outsourcing relationships that could demonstrate trust between partners are improved communication, enhanced capabilities of problem solving and decision making, improved efficiency and quality outcomes, as well as the mitigation of opportunistic behaviour. The study raises a number of issues, to be explored and debated by future research.

Social responsibility aspects supporting the success of SPI

Software Process Improvement (SPI) activities aim at driving change in information technology development towards increased quality and productivity levels. The SPI Manifesto describes the key values and principles for a successful implementation of SPI. About two‐thirds of its principles relate to human, social, and organizational aspects and one‐third to technical aspects. This raises the question if these aspects have a relationship with ‘social responsibility’ principles. The new ISO 26000:2010 standard provides guidance about social responsibility (SR), describing the core subjects and issues an organization has to consider when implementing SR. In this paper, we describe how the values and principles of the SPI Manifesto have a relationship with the SR issues described in the ISO 26000. In addition, this paper describes about the steps taken in an industry group to exchange best practices about how social strategies can be used to achieve higher acceptance and sustainability of SPI initiatives. Copyright

Trust facilitating good software outsourcing relationships

Offshore outsourcing and teams working across national borders have become a fact. Management experiences difficulties when applying traditional management approaches, because of the increased complexity of global organizations and global partnerships and their dependency on people with different underlying norms, values and beliefs. Cultural sensitivity is a core issue. Trust, an issue embedded in culture, is utmost important for global organizations and global outsourcing partnerships. In this paper we investigate the phenomenon of trust by analyzing the characteristics, their interconnection and identification in the software outsourcing context. Our findings reveal the importance of trust in software outsourcing relationships and the recognition that trust is culture bound and therefore prompts for special caution and cultural awareness. The advantages gained in outsourcing relationships which could demonstrate trust between partners were improved communication, efficiency and output of Information Systems (IS) development projects, as well as mitigation of opportunistic behavior.

Launching Innovation in the Market Requires Competences in Dissemination and Exploitation

It is widely recognised that innovation is required for economic growth on a number of levels, such as in Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), large organisations, regions and nations. Innovation is an important driver for organisational survival, sustainability, improvement, long-term productivity and economic growth. However, innovation in isolation is not only wasteful but also not useful. All projects, and in particular innovation projects, need to disseminate and exploit their results for maximising achievements and increasing sustainability after their completion. This includes launching of the innovation to market, transfer of results and best practices to different and broader contexts; potential tailoring to the needs of others; continuation after the funding period has finished; influences on policy and practice; as well as serving the public good. The emphasis should be on optimising the value of the project and on boosting its impact.

Family Businesses in the New Economy: How to Survive and Develop in Times of Financial Crisis☆

Abstract The family businesses play an important role regarding the dynamism and strength of the European economy, long-term stability and sustainability. Many of the challenges facing family businesses also concern Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), but due to the fact that family businesses involve three overlapping elements (the family, the business, and the ownership) they are different from other types of businesses. In Europe the family business sector is dominated by particularly micro enterprises with less than 10 employees and SMEs. Across Europe around 70-80% of all enterprises are family businesses. The current financial crisis has influenced negatively the majority of business activities and many family businesses found themselves in a new turbulent financial environment where uncertainty dominates and the market characteristics are radically reversed. This paper recognizes the importance of family businesses in both the Finnish and the Greek economy and the need for in-depth research about the dynamics of family businesses, the difficulties they face (strategy, succession, internal conflicts etc.) and factors influencing their survival (endurance) and sustainability. Despite the differences in economic structure and culture both Finland and Greece are small countries in the outskirts of Europe with a high percentage of family businesses. Finland counts on a highly industrialized manufacturing sector and is one of the economically and politically most stable countries in the world, whilst Greece relies on the service sector and in particular on tourism. Currently a cross-cultural study between Greece and Finland is undertaken. It includes an extensive literature review for deeper understanding of the research variables. In addition it incorporates a qualitative and quantitative research methodology. This paper describes mainly the results of a qualitative study carried out in 60 family businesses in the North-western part of Thessaloniki, Greece. The aims of the study were to record the new conditions that prevail concerning business operations in family businesses. The main findings from our study show that family businesses can combine sentiments with business dexterity and create unique dynamics towards business decisions. The financial crisis can be perceived as pushed “opportunity” in many functional areas of the business for reformation towards business sustainability and the creation of competitive advantage. It converts into a cause of reorganization of business plans and helps the company to adopt more formal management procedures for decision making. The combination of emotion with entrepreneurship also brings family members around a common goal of survival and due to the two separate systems of “family” and “business” resulting in a dynamic growth in the middle of the crisis. The adoption of a lean and flexible budget is an important parameter in responding to the financial crisis. Family firms have the advantage of being motivated and supported by all family members who are involved in the family business (e.g. willingness to work long days under difficult conditions with limitedly rewards), while in non-family businesses such commitment is more difficult to obtain. Other incentives for surviving the financial crisis can be contributed to the considerable consequence that a failure of a family business may have on the leader; there is a high risk regarding the family property, negative publicity of the familys name, and the sense of cancellation of the familys legacy. Managers of a non-family business do not encounter such pressures.

Using social media as a tool for business improvement and certification of knowledge workers

Business improvement is a hot topic in all business areas. In the last years, the unstoppable emergence of the use of social media by organizations and individuals alike has opened this tool for knowledge networking purposes. In this paper, the authors shed some light on how the traditional knowledge management approach has changed to a networked approach of knowledge sharing. Authors also explain how social media is used as a business tool, in particular in Information Technology industry environments. ECQA Certified Social Media Networker Skills (SIMS) is a new qualification that is available from 2013 and is meant to train and certify experts in the use of social media as a business improvement enabler and as a means for knowledge networking in organizational settings. Copyright

The I5P Visualisation Framework for Performance Estimation through the Alignment of Process Maturity and Knowledge Sharing

This paper argues that Knowledge Management KM and Knowledge Sharing KS are strongly linked to organisational maturity. The mechanisms that enable this upward movement and depict measurable effects of performance as the organisation climbs from ad hoc levels to institutionalised high levels of process maturity are investigated. The I5P visualisation framework which aligns a Knowledge Sharing level to the appropriate maturity level and characterises the process from incidental to innovative is examined. This framework provides the basis, in terms of preparedness and disposition towards knowledge sharing, for estimating and measuring organisational performance. In todays competitive global business environment organisations are increasingly dependent on Information and Communication Technologies ICTs and particularly vulnerable to knowledge dilution. The framework links knowledge sharing to process maturity providing a framework that aims to encapsulate tacit accumulated knowledge in the organisation by preserving it for future needs. The framework will be useful to Information Technology IT organisations that are familiar with maturity models, such as CMMI.