Reinhard Bernsteiner

Design Science and ThinkLets as a Holistic Approach to Design IoT/IoS Systems

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most important developments which will change not only businesses in many industries but also our personal life. In current literature, the technical aspects of IoT systems are dominant as they are the basic building blocks for new products, services and processes. Nevertheless, this is not enough to make IoT successful and sustainable in terms of user acceptance.

Improving Business Process Management Competencies by Applying Gamification Aspects in Teaching Bachelor Students

Motivation can be named as one of the major drivers for learning. Besides motivation there is also experience, engagement and activity, which can improve the know-how on certain topics and speed-up knowledge transfer. Especially in practical education, the theoretical concepts are first presented and afterwards it is important to provide a setting for students, where they can learn based on their own experiences, building their own know-how. This is done by designing and executing the simulation as part of the business process management lecture by taking gamification aspects into consideration. This paper shows the positive impact of gamification aspects based on a study (N = 44) in a business process management bachelor class.

Model-Driven Design of a Mobile Product Training and Learning System

The widespread presence of mobile devices and their deep anchoring in everyday life of people bring along various use cases and business opportunities. Mobile learning is one case of application for mobile devices. Hence, it can be inferred that companies need to investigate adequate mobile learning and training scenarios for educating their employees.

Exploring Knowledge Transfer in the Media Industry

In the upcoming years, many organizations will face the challenge of intergenerational knowledge transfer. This paper reports on a study that investigates this type of knowledge handover in a media company. We particularly focus on knowledge transfer processes, methods and procedures as well as factors influencing respective activities. Five retirees and five successors were interviewed. Results show that in the investigated organization best-practice knowledge management plays a rather tangential role, structured retention programs are missing, and supported knowledge transfer initiatives are rare. However, influencing factors do not differ from previous study results. Retirees transfer their knowledge relying on basic conversations, tandem learning and shadowing. Furthermore, they strongly believe in an informal learning-by-doing approach, while mentoring is completely absent. With respect to the knowledge transfer process, the study shows that although activities follow rather informal procedures, they may be explained by existing knowledge management theories such as Nonaka and Takeuchi’s SECI model.

Analytics in Human Resource Management The OpenSKIMR Approach

Abstract Matching skill sets of individuals with highly demanded skill sets of jobs or occupations in the IT area is a great challenge – adding necessary learning items and visualizing the result is a very promising end to end approach. With the “Open Skill Match Maker” (OpenSKIMR) young people shall be able to plan and simulate their individual learning and career routes towards their desired career destination, like with classical route planning software. Using the ESCO, a multilingual classification of occupations, skills, competences and qualifications, will ensure a consistent understanding of the skills and qualification of the talents. This paper aims at showcasing the possibility of matching data about skills, learning items and job offers. It opens up the opportunity to simulate career paths through visualization in order to support decision making in a world of imperfect data and information and overall this project shall also support the Europe 2020 target for inclusive growth as it aims to motivate people in acquiring new digital skills.

Implementation of a Text Analysis Tool: Exploring Requirements, Success Factors and Model Fit

This paper reports on lessons learned from implementing a text analysis tool in an industrial setting. We conducted two rounds of focus group interviews — one pre- and a second one post-implementation — and extended our analysis by a survey undertaken one month after the tool had gone live. This methodology let us explore and compare the suitability of three different technology acceptance models. Findings show that the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) fits as a general mathematical approach describing our tool’s acceptance, whereas the Hospitality Metaphor (HM) produces slightly more precise analytical results, explaining its adoption from a more holistic point of view. Finally, we found that the hybrid approach emphasized by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) showed the most reliable and trustful results, as it combines both human and business/technology aspects.

Knowledge Transfer in Internships from a students' perspective

The importance of internships has grown during the last decade. Internships have a lot of benefits for both, the company and the intern as well. In order to get most out of an internship, it is important that knowledge, which is related to the job assignments, is efficiently transferred to the interns. The purpose of this study is to explore the processes of knowledge transfer to the interns based on Nonoka and Takeuchis knowledge creation model with a focus on tacit to explicit knowledge transfer. The transfer of the required knowledge is twofold: firstly, interns must have access to already existing documents (rather explicit knowledge). Secondly, interns acquire knowledge through permanent transfer of knowledge from those who are highly experienced, like principals or workmates (rather tacit knowledge). This study used a qualitative approach to collect and analyze empirical data whereas two sources were used. In a first phase of the empirical survey a diary study with nine participants was carried out. In a following second phase semi-structured interviews with another 20 participants were conducted. The study represents the perspective of business informatics students who have to complete an internship as part of their studies. Participants state that the best experience of their internship is based on a combination of personal support, self-reliant working and the opportunity to have access to content or knowledge management systems. An intensive training phase conducted by co-workers or previous interns is perceived positively in gaining relevant knowledge for their internship. From a qualitative perspective the support of people was ranked on the first place. The technological aspects such as knowledge management tools actively support the process of knowledge sharing.