Peter Holdt Christensen

Knowledge sharing: moving away from the obsession with best practices

Purpose – How companies can become better at knowing what they know, and share what they know have in recent years become dominant fields of research within knowledge management. The literature focuses on why people share knowledge, or why they fail to share knowledge, whilst the discussion of what they actually share has been pinned down to the concept of best practices. In this paper it is argued that there is more to knowledge sharing than the sharing of best practices. Knowledge sharing is more than the closing of performance gaps and the sharing of stocks of knowledge – knowledge sharing is also about bridging situations of organizational interdependencies and thereby supporting ongoing organizational activities.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is both theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, the concept of organizational interdependence is applied to create a conceptual framework encompassing four types of knowledge to be shared. The theoretical framework is applied on a case company to empi...

Facilitating Knowledge Sharing: A Conceptual Framework

This paper argues that knowledge sharing can be conceptualized as different situations of exchange in which individuals relate to each other in different ways, involving different rules, norms and traditions of reciprocity regulating the exchange. The main challenge for facilitating knowledge sharing is to ensure that the exchange is seen as equitable for the parties involved, and by viewing the problems of knowledge sharing as motivational problems situated in different organizational settings, the paper explores how knowledge exchange can be conceptualized as going on in four distinct situations of exchange denominated organizational exchange yielding extrinsic rewards, organizational exchange yielding intrinsic rewards, financial exchange, and social exchange. The paper argues that each situation of exchange has distinct assumptions about individual behaviour and the intermediaries regulating the exchange, and facilitating knowledge sharing should therefore be viewed as a continuum of practices under the influence of opportunistic behaviour, obedience or organizational citizenship behaviour.

Modeling Uncertainty in Climate Change: A Multi-Model Comparison

The economics of climate change involves a vast array of uncertainties, complicating both the analysis and development of climate policy. This study presents the results of the first comprehensive study of uncertainty in climate change using multiple integrated assessment models. The study looks at model and parametric uncertainties for population, total factor productivity, and climate sensitivity. It estimates the pdfs of key output variables, including CO2 concentrations, temperature, damages, and the social cost of carbon (SCC). One key finding is that parametric uncertainty is more important than uncertainty in model structure. Our resulting pdfs also provide insights on tail events.

Modeling Uncertainty in Integrated Assessment of Climate Change: A Multimodel Comparison

The economics of climate change involves a vast array of uncertainties, complicating our understanding of climate change. This study explores uncertainty in baseline trajectories using multiple integrated assessment models commonly used in climate policy development. The study examines model and parametric uncertainties for population, total factor productivity, and climate sensitivity. It estimates the probability distributions of key output variables, including CO2 concentrations, temperature, damages, and social cost of carbon (SCC). One key finding is that parametric uncertainty is more important than uncertainty in model structure. Our resulting distributions provide a useful input into climate policy discussions.

Registration, access and use of personal knowledge in organizations

Abstract Organizations have managed information regarding knowledge of employees using processes such as codification, knowledge mapping, network analysis and personalization. Recently, personal knowledge registration (PKR) has become another way of managing this knowledge. Little is known about how organizations support PKR, and how PKR facilitates the flow of information and knowledge. This paper examines how different information management professionals access and use PKR. It is a multiple case study, with 43 semi-structured interviews and an analysis of strategic documents. The purpose is to shed light on strategic intentions with PKR, its collaborative tasks and qualities. A conceptual model was built for this purpose. The aim is to better understand how PKR works and to examine how information on education, training and the skills of employees is managed in organizations. The findings demonstrate that organizational strategies portray elaborate intentions regarding knowledge seeking and sharing, while less emphasis is put on knowledge registration or management. Interviewees expressed lack of appropriate actions to support PKR. Access and use of PKR is limited and the organizations still struggle to manage the PKR of their employees.