Formal approaches for Complementary Competence Management and Discovery

This article will describe the background, basic infrastructure, and future trends of collaborative knowledge management (CKM) and enterprise knowledge management (KM) systems. CKM is about capturing the information that is in people’s heads and sharing it in a collaborative manner (e.g., an open, application-independent framework that allows all to have access to it) across the enterprise. In order to take advantage of the knowledge that exists in organizations, an authoring process must be undertaken that categorizes and places important information into a shared resource (often referred to as a “knowledge repository”) that can be assessed by all relevant stakeholders. Collaboration should be across departments, various types of employees, and different types of projects within the enterprise. Some of the important topic areas that will be discussed in this article are the focus on the benefits of CKM and enterprise KM systems and the recent attempts to define the return-on-investment (ROI) of sharing knowledge across organizations.

This paper examines the role of knowledge management and knowledge management systems (KMS) for supporting knowledge work. We argue that an organization benefits from knowledge management systems when it is focused on a specific task as knowledge is always task-specific and situated in the specific context in which the task is instantiated. Providing support for knowledge work at the task level complements the work practices of actors performing the task. Such a system supports extended functionality such as reasoning, memory aids, and explanation facilities and learning capability, amongst other facilities. A system with such capability can be defined Knowledge Work Support System. The paper discusses the task-based knowledge management approach at individual and organisational levels and describes its application to the strategy development at an International Bank.Presented at: 3rd European Conference on Knowledge Management; 2002 Sep 24-25; Dublin, Ireland. p. 100-112.

Optimisation of Supply Chain is today an issue for companies. This paper explores how Knowledge Management could improve the efficiency of Supply Chains. It investigates the specificities of knowledge of Supply Chain collaborators and the specificities of their management. With an Action Research methodology it proposes a framework and recommendations to design efficient Knowledge Management Systems for intra-organizational Supply Chains. It shows that in this context Information Technologies (TI) are rather used to change cognitive schemes than to manage knowledge. IT are used as artifacts that interact with individuals in creating, stocking, sharing and using organizational knowledge.

At present, knowledge has become an important capital for many organizations in the international competition. So knowledge management is gradually becoming the core competence and key of sustainable development for organizations. Many enterprises have already used concepts and methods of knowledge management for operation and achieved remarkable results. Based on the analysis of knowledge management system, a framework model for enterprise knowledge management is presented in this paper. For an enterprise, it is necessary to build this knowledge management system to share knowledge resources, provide scientific supports for decision-making, face fiercely competitive market, and so on. Therefore, the construction of knowledge management system plays an important role in enhancing enterprise's core competence. Finally, paper introduces the directions of its development simply.

This paper investigates the determinants of Knowledge Management System (KMS) adoption. It leads to reconsider KMS adoption in the light of the structuration theory. This research develops the concept of usage level both comprising qualitative and quantitative dimensions. A case-study is conducted within a French mutual insurance company and treats the implementation of an Intranet and the introduction of the groupware technology Lotus Notes. It underlines the major influence of individual and technological factors on KMS implementation. This paper outlines findings such as the important role of the profile of the direction, the profile of the users, IS and KMS characteristics. The influence of organizational structure and culture, and knowledge embedded within the system also play a role during the adoption. Thus, this research develop an empirical model of KM adoption success. The mutual insurance's experiences suggest lessons for others firms attempting to better manage knowledge assets.

Most of knowledge management documents use a single dimension or individual case study as the foundation to carry out studies into management performance and the studies into how knowledge management performance influence knowledge management driver are very few. Consequently, this study integrated the theories from different studies to propose three individual drivers of knowledge management, and the knowledge management performance of organizations was the dependent variable. Through questionnaires, the mutual relationship between the three individual drivers of knowledge management would be discussed, and then the relationship between the drivers of knowledge management and the knowledge management performance in the organization would be discussed too. Two-step approach of Anderson and Gerbing (1988) was the main study method of this study, and SPSS statistical software was used to carry out reliability test and exploratory factor analysis, and assessment of validity and measuring model were then carried out. LISREL8.51 statistical software was used to carry out verification for the measuring model. The study result showed that the more popular the application of relevant information system of knowledge management, the better the performance of organization’s knowledge management. Positive participation of the leaders and creation of knowledge management culture are important factors of the optimal knowledge management performance in the organization. On the other hand, appropriate use of information technology allows the formation of knowledge management culture. This culture could guide or stimulate the organization too. Leader’s behavior is the significant factor of creating excellent knowledge management culture. This study attempted to urge the enterprises to check on its organization and operation, and correct their major problems during the preparation of implementing knowledge management, so as to promote the probability of being successful when the enterprises implement knowledge management. Key words: Drivers of knowledge management, knowledge management performance, knowledge -based economy, operation performance.

Many mobile knowledge management (KM) systems have been described in the literature having unique and interesting features, each being inserted into a specific application domain. This fragmentation in the application domain makes it difficult to compare and define a set of core features of mobile KM systems. Analysing and comparing features and strategies of several systems from different application domains makes it possible to identify the core features that form a mobile KM system. Consequently, we may use these core features to define the evaluation and comparison framework of mobile KM systems, regardless of its application domain. The purpose of this work is to define these core features and discuss their importance, through the analysis of six mobile KM systems, highlighting the positive and the negative aspects of the KM processes. The contributions of this work are the framework and the list of core features of mobile KM systems.

Many mobile knowledge management (KM) systems have been described in the literature having unique and interesting features, each being inserted into a specific application domain. This fragmentation in the application domain makes it difficult to compare and define a set of core features of mobile KM systems. Analysing and comparing features and strategies of several systems from different application domains makes it possible to identify the core features that form a mobile KM system. Consequently, we may use these core features to define the evaluation and comparison framework of mobile KM systems, regardless of its application domain. The purpose of this work is to define these core features and discuss their importance, through the analysis of six mobile KM systems, highlighting the positive and the negative aspects of the KM processes. The contributions of this work are the framework and the list of core features of mobile KM systems.

This study investigates the factors affecting the perceived usefulness of and the intention to use knowledge management (KM) systems by students. The research model posits that the intention to use KM systems in higher education depends on perceived usefulness, perceived user-friendliness, organizational rewards, and community of practice. A survey method was used to collect the data for the study. We used a convenience sample consisting of undergraduate students enrolled in various business courses in a Canadian University. The data obtained from a sample of 120 students were initially factor analyzed to identify the relevant factors. Separate factor analysis was conducted for each of three types of measures – the independent measures, the intermediate measures, and the dependent measure. In order to test the proposed hypotheses, we employed the method of multiple regression analysis. The findings suggest that organizational rewards and KM system characteristics positively impact perceived usefulness, and that user-friendliness, usefulness, organizational rewards, and community of practice are significant predictors of intention to use KM system. This analysis reveals that business schools need to focus on usefulness and practical relevance of knowledge captured in knowledge management systems. This is in line with the current debate in management education regarding the appropriateness of methods employed to teach business knowledge. Organizational rewards being a significant predictor of intention to use KM systems corroborate the expectancy theory. Therefore, it is important for business schools to communicate on the usefulness of their KM systems but also to encourage its usage through different incentives.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the knowledge management (KM) system on the hospital services performance. The hospital located in DKI Jakarta (Indonesia) that has implemented the KM system as a pilot project is the population of this research. Where the respondents are medical personnel at the hospital. This study analyzes the correlation between the use of KM systems and the performance of hospital services, using independent-samples T-tests and ANOVA tests from SPSS and R Commander programs to prove the hypothesis of the two variables, namely the use of KM systems (capabilities) and hospital services performance. The results of this research have succeeded in proving that there are significant differences between medical personnel who rarely use the KM system and who often use it, with those who often have a greater level of service performance. Thus, it can be concluded that the KM system used by hospital has a positive effect seen in the performance of medical personnel.

Discussions at previous HICSS conferences have shown that there is no general agreement on definitions of knowledge management (KM) and knowledge management systems (KMS) success. A deep understanding of these concepts would help to design and implement efficient KM initiatives and systems. We present an exploratory research study to begin and facilitate a debate that will hopefully lead to a consensus definition of KM and KMS success. We chose an expert panel approach followed by two exploratory surveys to approach the KM and KMS success definition. The research shows only a few points of consensus. We present areas of agreement as well as of disagreement, which serve as a good starting point for further discussions on KM and KMS success

The aim is to investigate how a strategic flexibility approach can be used for the planning of information systems as support for knowledge work, i.e. knowledge management systems (KMS). The result of a case study of an intranet project is presented, discussing systems that cover the perspectives of strategic flexibility and illustrating the application of the concept. A concluding discussion argues for this approach to knowledge management as a key activity in balancing change and stability in the organization.

Although current efforts have indicated the need for design verification and evaluation systems, little has been done to develop knowledge representation systems for implementing this class of expert systems. In this paper, we describe CANDLE, a knowledge representation system built to solve design verification and evaluation problems. We define the class of design verification and evaluation systems and the functionality required of knowledge representation systems used to develop these systems. We present an example design verification and evaluation problem, illustrating how this problem imposes these functionality requirements on the knowledge representation system used. In the remainder of the paper we discuss CANDLE, a knowledge representation system created to develop design verification and evaluation systems. We show that CANDLE meets the knowledge representation requirements for this class of systems. We also present some of CANDLE'S functionality that exceeds the defined knowledge representation requirements and provides a knowledge engineer with the capability to expand the functionality of a design verification and evaluation system.

Using case-based reasoning (CBR), the authors integrate the techniques of cognitive task analysis (CTA), hierarchical clustering and ontology and propose a Web-based CBR knowledge management (KM) system for investigating the construction of a KM system with multiple information techniques to support KM activity in industry. The maintenance service centres of a computer company are used as an example to illustrate extracting the maintenance knowledge necessary to construct a PC troubleshooting KM system. The effectiveness of applying a Web-based CBR KM system to support KM activities in the KM life cycle is subjected to practical verification.

Introduction. Today, in the era of the intellectualization of the economy, knowledge management plays an important role in building an effective strategy for the enterprise. The effective application of the knowledge management system at the enterprise reduces business risks, improves the speed and quality of decision-making processes, promotes innovative activity, and leads to an increase in the competitiveness of the enterprise. By applying an effective knowledge management system, an enterprise can achieve significant savings of resources, which is difficult to achieve using traditional management models and methods. The purpose of the paper is to research and analyze the knowledge management system of the enterprise, as well as to formulate recommendations for the development of effective technology for implementing the knowledge management system at the enterprise. Results. The knowledge management system of the enterprise today occupies a central place in the research of many domestic and foreign scientists. Its main elements are objects, subjects of knowledge, knowledge management goals and tasks, knowledge management processes, knowledge management functions and principles, approaches to knowledge management, as well as knowledge management culture. To improve the process of development and implementation of the knowledge management system at the enterprise, the authors proposed a recommended technology that consists of 9 consecutive stages, the priority of which are: identification of the business bottlenecks, analysis of the knowledge available at the enterprise, development of the enterprise’s knowledge management strategy, creation of a department at the enterprise that will be responsible for knowledge management, as well as the development of knowledge management tools. Conclusion. Implementation and application of the recommended technology for the development and implementation of the knowledge management system will allow the enterprise to clearly organize the knowledge management system and thus improve the efficiency of operations and achieve resource savings that cannot be achieved using traditional management mechanisms.