Mírian Oliveira

Knowledge management metrics in software development companies in Brazil

Purpose – The main goal of this research is to analyze knowledge management (KM) evaluation metrics in software development companies in Brazil through the perception of managers and users.Design/methodology/approach – The method applied was a multiple case study in two information technology companies in Brazil.Findings – According to the KM objectives and motivations, each company selects an implementation approach that results in specific challenges. The results show that the differences in Company A and Company B can be related to the KM process adopted. Based on the perception of the interviewees, it is possible to affirm that the relevance of a metric depends on the organizations context and the existence of a structured KM process.Research limitations/implications – The conclusions are based on two case studies of Brazilian IT companies. There could be industry‐specific issues as well as national cultural and behavioral values that might affect the findings and conclusions.Practical implications –...

Knowledge sharing barriers in global teams

Purpose – The creation of offshore units allows companies to invest in countries that offer tax incentives, and provides global presence. Nevertheless, knowledge sharing in global teams may be challenger. The aim of this paper is to analyze the barriers of knowledge sharing in global teams.Design/methodology/approach – This is a qualitative research based on interviews in two firms.Findings – The interviewees confirmed the relevance of the barriers to knowledge sharing identified in the literature. The interviewees also cited other four barriers: technology, professional skills, cost and methodology of software development. Other results were: the relationship between the barriers, for example, cultural differences are negatively related to absorptive capacity; and, the barriers could also be enablers for knowledge sharing.Research limitations/implications – The limitations identified were: the use the interview as the only form of data collection, since the firms did not authorize the collection of docum...

Using alternative scales to measure knowledge sharing behavior

Knowledge sharing behavior influences innovation partially mediated by absorptive capacity.The use of different knowledge sharing behavior scales had no effect on the results.Respondents share knowledge, but are not responsible for leveraging knowledge sharing.Employees seem to engage more in knowledge sharing participation than in knowledge sharing conduction.Tacit knowledge is more widely shared than explicit knowledge. This study addresses the relationship between knowledge sharing behavior (KSB), innovation (IN) and the mediating effect of absorptive capacity (AC), using alternative scales to measure KSB. The study is original because it uses two different scales to measure KSB. One KSB scale relates to the epistemological aspect of knowledge sharing: tacit and explicit. The other scale regards the involvement of the individual in KSB: conducting and participating. Data were collected from information technology organizations, involving 248 employees, working in teams. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The results suggest that KSB influences IN and that that influence is partially mediated by AC. The use of different KSB scales had no effect on the results, which indicates the presence of the relationship regardless of the way in which the construct is operationalised. Employees seem to engage more in knowledge sharing participation than in knowledge sharing conduction. The findings also indicate that tacit knowledge is more widely shared than explicit knowledge.

Using benefits management to link knowledge management to business objectives

Purpose – Identifying and tracking how knowledge management (KM) impacts on organizational performance represents a gap in the research. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the applicability of adopting a benefits management (BM) approach in order to identify KM benefits and elicit their contribution to the achievement of business objectives.Design/methodology/approach – A case study was carried out in a systems and information technology firm in Portugal. The data were collected using interviews and documental analysis. The data were subjected to content analysis.Findings – BM can strengthen KM, not only by identifying the benefits, but also by aiding the process of organizational change required to achieve those benefits, considering the investment objectives, the necessary transformations and the allocation of responsibilities, among other aspects.Research limitations/implications – This research was based on a single case study. The findings cannot be generalized.Practical implications ...

Information management and knowledge sharing in supply chains operating in Brazil

This article seeks to answer the following research question: how do enterprises within an automotive supply chain manage inter-organisational information and share knowledge? To this end, this study offers an analysis of the state of the inter-organisational information management and knowledge sharing in a supply chain in the Brazilian automotive sector. The research follows a qualitative approach. The study revisits models by Davenport (1997) and Dyer and Nobeoka (2000) aimed to incorporate particularities from the supply chain analysis by conducting a case study in the Brazilian automotive sector. Information exchanged and knowledge shared within the automotive chain is basically operational in nature and the phenomena occur at layers: unilaterally, bilaterally and multilaterally. Power and technology are elements that need to be balanced to achieve the effective management of inter-organisational information management and knowledge sharing. This paper highlights the relation between information management and knowledge sharing in an automotive supply chain.

Teams’ innovation: getting there through knowledge sharing and absorptive capacity

This study addresses the contribution of knowledge sharing behaviour and absorptive capacity to innovation at team level. Although the hypotheses reflect the dominant literature, the study’s novelty lies in the data collected from several industries in Portugal, avoiding possible industry bias. Relationships are tested outside sectors where traditionally team effects are studied, for example healthcare. Data were collected from 141 employees working in organizational teams, excluding top management teams, which are often the object of research addressing phenomena leading to innovation. There is no evidence in support of organizational size effect, team’s geographic concentration effect or gender effect. However, team tenure duration is positively related to increased knowledge sharing, that is, recent teams do not share as much knowledge as older ones. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the mediation effect of absorptive capacity between individual knowledge sharing behaviour and team innovation. Evidence in support of full mediation was found.

Organizational performance through the donation and collection of interorganizational knowledge

Purpose – This paper aims to provide empirical evidence to support the relationship between interorganizational knowledge sharing, absorptive capacity and organizational performance, and proposes that interorganizational knowledge sharing is composed of two processes: knowledge donation and collection. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative methodology is adopted to examine the proposed relationship between interorganizational knowledge sharing, absorptive capacity and organizational performance. The study uses survey data from 269 companies in Brazil. Structural equation modeling is applied to test the stated hypotheses and the model. Findings – The empirical findings indicate that interorganizational knowledge sharing is composed of the donation and collection of knowledge. Interorganizational knowledge collection is found to have a positive effect on interorganizational knowledge donation, while collection is found to have a positive effect, mediated by absorptive capacity, on organizational perf...

Análise de Conteúdo Temática: há uma diferença na utilização e nas vantagens oferecidas pelos softwares MAXQDA® e NVivo®?

1 Possui graduação em Engenharia Civil pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, PUCRS, mestrado em Engenharia Civil pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS e doutorado em Administração pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS. Atualmente é professora titular do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração (PPGAd) da Faculdade de Administração, Contabilidade e Economia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS). Porto Alegre. Rio Grande do Sul. Brasil. E-mail: miriano@pucrs.br 2 Possui graduação em Administração de Empresas pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, PUCRS, especialização em Administração de Recursos Humanos pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, PUCRS, mestrado em Administração pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, doutorado em Business pela The University of Queensland, UQ, Austrália e doutorado em Administração pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS. São Leopoldo. Rio Grande do Sul. Brasil. E-mail: claudiacb@unisinos.br 3 Possui graduação em Biologia Licenciatura Plena pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, UNISINOS, especialização em Secretariado Executivo Bilingue Gestão Empreendedo pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, UNISINOS, mestrado em Administração pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, UNISINOS e doutorado em Administração de Empresas pela Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, UNISINOS. São Leopoldo. Rio Grande do Sul. Brasil. E-mail: aclarissa@cpovo.net 4 Possui graduação em Ciências Econômicas pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, mestrado em Economia pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, PUCRS e doutorado em Administração pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, PUCRS. São Leopoldo. Rio Grande do Sul. Brasil. E-mail: eduardo.kunzel@hotmail.com ABstrACtContent analysis is widely used in qualitative research. It can be organized into three approaches: lexical analysis (nature and richness of the vocabulary), syntactic (verb tenses and modes) and thematic (themes and frequency), used complementarily or separately, depending on the research objective. Whatever the approach, the volume of data is usually large and qualitative data analysis software could help simplify the operational activities. The aim of this study is to analyze the contribution of the NVivo ® and MAXQDA ® software packages in thematic content analysis. Achieving this objective involves a review of the main characteristics of thematic content analysis and an examination of both software packages, and finally, a comparison between them. The main results are: the similarity between the features available for qualitative data analysis in the two software packages and the differences in their interfaces. The potential gain provided by using these packages depends on the researcher’s knowledge of content analysis since they do not substitute the researcher in the coding process. A considerable reduction in execution time of the analysis, as well as the possibility of applying different filters are important benefits obtained aiding the researcher to reflect on the data collected and obtain inferences.

Target: A collaborative model based on social media to support the management of lessons learned in projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model of adoption of social media to assist project managers in the treatment of lessons learned (LL). Target, a collaborative model to foster learning in projects, approaches the problem of LL management from nearly a new light and perspective. Design/methodology/approach – This research was conducted using a mixed methods approach with a research design denominated partially mixed concurrent equal status. In this design, both quantitative and qualitative elements were conducted concurrently in their entirety before being mixed at the data interpretation stage. These elements have approximately equal emphasis with respect to reaching the objectives of the research. Findings – The results indicate the most suitable social media that match each LL process. They show how to manage LL through processes made in any phase of the project life cycle. The LL processes most commonly used in the projects are raising awareness, collect and store. According to the questionnaire respondents, 54.5 percent of organizations make use of social media in project management, and among the interviewees, half of them use such tools in projects. In addition, 84.1 percent of the questionnaire respondents believe that social media can assist in the LL management. Research limitations/implications – This study did not get proven successful experience reports in the management of LL. Respondents and interviewees mentioned and recognized such importance, but in projects that use LL management there are no control reports of this learning in organizations in order to measure the gains from the practice of LL management, which indicates an area for future work. An empirical validation of the model proposed in this paper is one immediate research to be done. Another future work is to validate the model in projects from disparate sectors. Practical implications – The Target model could minimize the problem of knowledge drain, which is ineffective learning practices, resulting in knowledge hoarding, limited sharing and superficial LL practices. Thus, the use of processes supported by collaborative tools that promote discussion, with a familiar format for the user and with an efficient search engine, can generate greater involvement in projects. The usefulness is determined as practical and scientific. It is determined as practical use, because the model allows the selection of tools for each LL process and it can be applied to projects in organizations. Originality/value – This research proposes a new approach to the management of LL supported by social media. The Target model adds a theoretical contribution to LL processes associating them to social media. This research revisited the extant LL processes and methods in the literature, proposing a new process – raising awareness – that covers personal and interpersonal aspects for the management of LL. The theoretical contribution lies on incremental originality, since it is based on existing theories, processes, methods and tools in order to provide a solution to a known problem.

Knowledge management mechanisms within the SECI model

A cloud computing tem aumentado a sua popularidade no contexto das Instituicoes do Ensino Superior. Apesar de ser uma tematica muito abordada nos dias de hoje, existem ainda poucos estudos que explorem quais sao os custos e beneficios trazidos por esta nova abordagem. Este trabalho tem como objectivo examinar quais os factores que levam a adopcao desta tecnologia no contexto de uma instituicao de Ensino Superior. Como referencial teorico adicionamos ao modelo Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) o Risco Percebido. As Expectativas de Desempenho, Expectativas de Esforco, Influencia Social sao facilitadoras da Intencao de Adopcao de Cloud Computing, sendo o Risco percebido o unico que tem um impacto negativo no uso dos servicos de cloud computing. Para o uso de Cloud Computing os facilitadores sao a Intencao de Adopcao de Cloud Computing e as Condicoes Facilitadoras.O Governo Electronico e de elevada relevância nos tempos que correm, contribuindo para a modernizacao do sector publico, tendo como prioridade a melhoria da qualidade dos servicos. Os Sistemas de Informacao tambem estao na linha da frente no tributo ao alcance dos resultados desejados para uma maior competencia na Administracao Publica. A transformacao da Administracao Publica nos ultimos anos tem sido uma aposta clara do Governo Portugues. De modo particular o sector das aguas, e em especial os Servicos Municipalizados de Agua e Saneamento de Tomar (SMAS), como entidade prestadora de um servico publico, cedo se apercebeu que o caminho a trilhar passaria pelo uso da tecnologia. Neste contexto, o objectivo do artigo e proporcionar uma visao clara das melhorias que proporcionou a Governacao Electronica e o uso das Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao para a crescente eficiencia e eficacia dos SMAS de Tomar.The collective development of conceptual structures has not been satisfactorily addressed in the knowledge representation research literature. Nevertheless and assuming that a shared conceptualization of a given reality is the cornerstone to build semantic artifacts such as ontologies, this paper presents ConceptME, a platform that supports the collaborative modeling of conceptual models. The platform is based on semantic web technologies and proposes a set of functionalities for importing, creating, manipulating, discussing and documenting conceptual models that can act e.g., as the specification of a formal ontology. The platform is in a prototype state and is being tested and used in a research project1A prioritizacao de stakeholders, enunciada pela stakeholders salience theory, permite perceber os relacionamentos entre partes interessadas e e alterada pelo e-government. A investigacao desenvolvida assumiu um posicionamento ontologico relativista, epistemologico interpretativista e recorreu a um desenho de investigacao alicercado em estudos de caso. Conclui-se que o e-government condiciona a prioritizacao de stakeholders na medida em que altera a percecao de urgencia das solicitacoes, reduz o poder discricionario e modifica a forma como a legitimidade e exposta, embora se considere que diretamente a legitimidade das solicitacoes nao e alterada.O Customer Relationship Management (CRM) no Sector da Saude e ainda um conceito recente. Devido aos resultados positivos que se tem vindo a alcancar com a utilizacao do CRM em empresas privadas, tem ocorrido uma adaptacao a sua vertente publica, utilizando e mantendo um historico de informacoes, optimizando processos e melhorando o relacionamento com os utentes. Este artigo procura responder a seguinte questao de investigacao: Como e que uma empresa do Sector Publico de Saude beneficia do Citizen Relationship Management (CzRM). Para tanto foi realizado um estudo de caso, de natureza qualitativa e exploratoria, no Instituto Portugues de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil, onde foram realizadas nove entrevistas e recolha de documentos secundarios. Com este estudo de caso percebeu-se que o CzRM traz variados beneficios as organizacoes do Sector Publico de Saude. Isto verifica-se uma vez que e uma area info-intensiva, em que a informacao e o seu tratamento sao um elemento-chave do sucesso operacional destas organizacoes.Since the early days of Software Engineering, researchers and practitioners have sought to improve the software development process. The lack of reuse or the low productivity rates are recurring concerns. The research community and industry members have been studying the Software Product Lines paradigm as a mean to industrialize the software development process. This paper takes that premise, materializing the paradigm with applicable technologies and analyses its true potential.A Regiao Demarcada do Douro (RDD) possui caracteristicas unicas a nivel mundial e requer um sistema de classificacao das parcelas com vinha que assegure os niveis de elevada qualidade dos vinhos do Douro e Porto. Com base neste pressuposto, foi desenvolvido um Sistema de Informacao Geografica para a gestao e classificacao das parcelas com vinha da RDD. O sistema foi desenhado utilizando padroes de desenho de software com o objectivo de tornar a sua evolucao sustentavel, respondendo aos novos requisitos e preservando o legado inicial. Neste artigo e apresentada uma metodologia que permite a utilizacao de Rich Internet Application (RIA) sobre as aplicacoes Web tradicionais, proporcionando interfaces graficas (GUI) mais ricas, dinâmicas e interactivas, tornando as aplicacoes mais atractivas para o utilizador. E apresentado ainda um padrao de desenho de software, derivado do Model –View- Controller (MVC) designado por Model – View – LogicGateway (MVLG). E um padrao de arquitectura de software utilizado no desenvolvimento de User Interfaces (UI), que permite a separacao logica e fisica do codigo fonte, proporcionando a sua reutilizacao e facilitando a correccao de erros, tornando o codigo mais limpo e eficiente. Dado a natureza da informacao geografica da parcela com vinha foi desenvolvido um componente modular, baseado em padroes de software, que permite a visualizacao de informacao geografica, utilizando servicos de Web mapping sem custos, provando ser uma alternativa as solucoes comerciais.Outsourcing dos sistemas de informacao, ou como e designado na literatura information systems outsourcing (ISO) e uma das praticas de negocio mais auspiciosa na area das tecnologias de informacao, com enorme potencial de crescimento e capacidade de aprimorar o desempenho das empresas na gestao dos seus processos de negocio. E a gestao das operacoes dos sistemas de informacao levada a cabo por uma empresa externa a organizacao. Contudo, e apesar dos diversos artigos na literatura acerca do tema, devido a crescente tendencia na adopcao do ISO, e de forma a compreender melhor este fenomeno, ha necessidade de ampliar o foco do estudo e incluir factores especificos e adicionais. Assim, e necessario empreender esforcos com outros modelos, para alem daqueles cuja sua aplicabilidade ja foi verificada. Baseado no modelo technology – organization – environment (TOE), oito variaveis (complexidade, vantagem relativa, disponibilidade tecnologica, dimensao da empresa, apoio da gestao de topo, beneficios percebidos, pressao competitiva, ambiente regulatorio) sao propostas para prever a adopcao do ISO, em conjunto com o modelo diffusion of innovation (DOI) com a variavel (atitude para mudar). Os dados recolhidos de 261 empresas com actividade em Portugal foram testados no quadro de investigacao proposto por meio de regressao logistica. Os resultados deste estudo contribuiram para uma melhor compreensao dos factores determinantes para a adopcao do ISO em Portugal.A pretensao de desburocratizar as formalidades administrativas e proporcionar, simultaneamente, um acesso seguro online aos servicos publicos dos Estados-Membros da Europa, atraves da identidade electronica, conduziu a concepcao do projecto STORK. As expectativas na implementacao e possivel expansao da interoperabilidade entre os Estados- Membros sao muito elevadas. A partilha de informacoes, experiencias e custos, seguranca, simplicidade, transparencia, celeridade e economicidade dos processos administrativos transfronteiricos e a mais-valia do STORK. No presente artigo faz-se uma reflexao sobre a utilidade da implementacao do projecto STORK, descrevendo-o de forma objectiva, enunciando as perspectivas e prospectivas, bem como uma analise critica ao mesmo.