Knowledge and skill transfer in Addis Ababas light-rail transport

The 21st century has witnessed a growth in the importance given to the third mission of Higher Education Institutions (HEI). This third mission refers to the socioeconomic engagement with the surrounding social and business fabric, namely in the form of knowledge transfer (KT) schemes and policies. Despite its widely-recognized importance, the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) has remained only marginally engaged with HEI, in part due to the lack of explicit policy by public actors to bring the two types of actors together. This article seeks to explore the institutional frameworks that have been developed for knowledge transfer from HEI to the CCS in selected regions of the Atlantic Area. Towards this goal, it first analyses some of the sectoral specificities of the CCS, identifying three feature which distinguish the sector: the entrepreneurial structure and organization of CCS; the type of knowledge, innovation and motivations of firms; and their absence of connections to HEI. The article seeks then to analyze to what extent existing policy on CCS and KT policies in the regions has tackled these specificities, through a qualitative analysis of reports, policy documents, and academic analysis of the regional economies, before proposing a model for understanding KT policy in the CCS sector, which serves as a preliminary line of inquiry into the knowledge relations in the CCS. Finally, these policy concerns are related to the perceptions of CCS practitioners, attempting to understand the primary concerns of these actors according to their regional context. The article highlights the existing disconnect between public policy, the current state of understanding of the CCS and the industry actors, urging for greater research and policy-development to promote innovation and socioeconomic growth.

Knowledge transfer (KT) has entered the higher education arena in the UK as the ‘third sector’ of higher education activity—along with research and teaching. Its antecedents lie in the commercialization and technology transfer of the late 1980s and 1990s, and this business‐like orientation remains dominant in the KT policy discourse. This paper explores the extent to which policy for KT may be understood both as ‘travelling’ policy shaped by globalizing trends in pursuit of successful competition in the new knowledge economy (KE) and as ‘embedded’ policy mediated by local contextual factors that may translate policy to reflect local priorities and meanings. In considering evidence of ‘embedded’ policy the paper develops its arguments through preliminary analysis of KT policy in Scotland where—at least at the level of discourse—there is an attempt in post‐devolution Scotland to encourage KT in the broader public interest. However, KT’s antecedents may continue to shape the engagement of academic staff in Scotland, as may the wider context of UK policy steering in higher education.

<p>Organisations whose mission is to fund health research are increasingly concerned with ensuring that the research they fund is used productively. The resulting interest in the concept of “knowledge transfer” has involved introducing policies to prompt researchers to think about their role, not just as knowledge producers, but as translators of research findings. In New Zealand, researchers can be asked, in their application for funds, to provide an account of what will happen to their research results. They are then judged on the quality of that account. However, little is known about how effectively this type of policy influences researchers to do more to make connections with those who use their findings. Using the explanatory power of the realist evaluative approach, this thesis examines the implementation of new instructions by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) for providing knowledge transfer pathways in research applications. A focus of the research is on how these instructions change (or do not change) the mind-set of researchers. Key informant interviews were held, and the scholarly and grey literature examined, to develop an initial theory on how researchers would be influenced by such instructions. Individual interviews were then held with researchers, seeking their reflections on what they had originally written in a specific knowledge transfer pathway and how this then matched up with what actually happened; these interviews were then used to refine the initial theory. Finally, an on-line survey was conducted with those who sat on the HRC’s research assessing committees in the 2014/15 funding round in order to refine the theory further. The final theory identified six mechanisms, which under different contexts, explain how the HRC’s knowledge transfer policy works (or does not work) to prompt researchers to reason differently. A continuum of reasoning in the form of a dimmer switch was used to explain circumstances where researchers may become more mindful of what is involved in knowledge transfer, but were not likely to markedly change their behaviours. Based on the assumption that the HRC wants to be more active in encouraging researchers to undertake activities other than producing research results, two recommendations are made: (1) knowledge transfer policies should support self-reflexivity by different groups of researchers rather than creating more hoops within the research application process, and (2) the processes by which knowledge transfer sections are judged needs to be strengthened if researchers are going to be confident that this is a “serious” part of the application process.</p>

Knowledge transfers across projects in Project-Based Organizations (PBOs) are more complex and challenging than in the permanent organizational context due to the temporary nature of project teams in which team members do not see capturing and transferring across projects as important for long term benefits to the organization. Although knowledge transfer is well researched, few empirical studies have covered the implementation of knowledge transfer across projects in project-based organizations. To gain an overview of the knowledge transfer process in PBOs, a systematic literature review is conducted to the three theoretical concepts of interest in this study, namely knowledge type, transfer mechanisms and transfer success. The literature review identified several dimensions under each theoretical concept. Subsequently a conceptual model with two propositions is proposed for future empirical study in the relationships amongst the three theoretical concepts.

This article aims to explore the strategic interactions between knowledge management and key human resource management practices in an organizational context of the automotive industry in Morocco marked by the complexity of production processes and digital transformation. Through a qualitative study conducted with companies in the sector, it analyses how specific human resources management practices, such as recruitment, training, skills development, compensation, and internal communication, support knowledge transfer and management within these companies. The results show that KM and HRM are not only complementary but interdependent, creating synergies essential to organizational performance. Knowledge transfer, often influenced by human, cultural and technological factors, is enhanced by well-defined HR practices, which promote not only the acquisition and sharing of knowledge, but also its enhancement and preservation. The study also highlights the challenges associated with knowledge management, notably the identification, updating and storage of information assets, which require a proactive and strategic approach on the part of HR departments. This research is based on an exploratory qualitative approach, combining semi-structured interviews with four companies operating in the automotive sector and a literature review, in order to capture the complexity of HR practices in the Moroccan automotive sector. In summary, this paper proposes a conceptual model integrating the challenges and synergies between KM and human resources management, and an analytical framework offering practical recommendations for organizations wishing to maximize their competitive advantage by aligning their human resources strategies with their knowledge management objectives. Keywords. Knowledge management, Knowledge transfer, Human resources management, HR practices, Organizational synergies.

Cooking is a dietary behavior linked to the optimization of dietary intake in both nonintervention and intervention settings. Incorporation of cooking into daily life to benefit diet requires the acquisition and transfer of knowledge and skills, which can then influence cooking self-efficacy and agency. Utilization of and awareness of tacit (embodied or unspoken) knowledge with transfer to explicit knowledge (spoken, written) may facilitate cooking as a practice. This perspective article will explore the use of tacit knowledge in cooking in the building and transfer of skills, provide a framework for understanding knowledge development and transfer, and provide implications for practice and research.

An imbalance exists in almost any type of knowledge and technology transfer due to the information asymmetry of the relationship. However, this is especially the case for reverse technology and knowledge transfer which is epitomised for us by transfers from an MNC's subsidiary to its headquarters. This paper builds on the few pieces of research in the area of reverse knowledge transfer and, by integrating the cognitive barriers to reverse knowledge transfer produces a conceptualisation which emphasises the importance of informal mechanisms such as social networks. This establishes a theoretical framework for the investigation of barriers to successful reverse knowledge transfer including failure of psychological contracts, perceived lack of procedural justice, a lack of intrinsic motivation, psychic distance and liability of foreignness.

This article addresses the challenges of R&D–sales cross‐functional cooperation by exploring how HR practices encourage knowledge transfer, minimising peer‐to‐peer friction and maximising the effectiveness of the exchanges for performance innovation. We combined document analysis of professional HR management magazines and semi‐structured interviews at a Finnish digital media firm, in order to identify manifestations of institutional work expressing and legitimising knowledge transfer‐focused HR management practices, and how employees make sense of them. Our findings identify manifestations of institutional work expressing, sustaining and legitimising knowledge transfer and relate these manifestations to distinct dimensions of human resource management practices. We integrate prevailing institutional expectations and employees' attributions of knowledge transfer‐focused human resource practices, which highlights the connections between human resource management and the knowledge management field, as well as the dichotomy between the more humanist knowledge transfer strategies and those that are information technology‐oriented. Our original integration of institutional expectations and a case analysis of employees' attributions of knowledge transfer‐focused human resource practices contribute directly to management practice dealing with the effects of organising strategically for knowledge‐based innovation outcomes. This has implications in terms of the development of interpersonal skills, the engagement and development of cross‐team work; the design of participative mechanisms; and the implementation of knowledge transfer principles, practices and systems.

As advanced capitalist economies including the UK have moved from being resource-based to knowledge-based, national governments have seized upon knowledge and innovation produced in universities as drivers of economic growth, job creation and social development. Knowledge Transfer extends a university's mission beyond teaching and research and forms one element of third-stream activities, which are about the interactions between universities and the rest of society. For government, Knowledge Transfer is about the transfer of ideas, research results and skills directly from universities (and other research organisations) to business, government and the wider community. Many social scientists prefer less linear models that include notions of interaction, conversation and interpretation. In this paper we reflect upon how the innovative processes of Knowledge Transfer for the social sciences have been advanced by the actions of the UK's Research Council responsible for social science research. Drawing upon our own experience of undertaking projects within the Knowledge Transfer remit, we comment on sense-making and dialogue across the boundaries of academia and practice.

Communication is at the heart of knowledge transfer (KT). But studies of KT barriers do not explicitly consider the relationship and impact of specific communication modalities on KT. The modalities of computer-mediated communication (CMC), namely email, Voice Over Internet Protocol, Instant Messaging (IM) and the like are generally viewed as a group ‘CMC’. In this paper, we analyze the KT literature to distill 21 key barriers to successful KT. These barriers are then categorized according to basic communication theory. We then examine leading theories of CMC and discuss how based on these theories individual CMC modalities can be applied to KT barriers. We conclude with a model that presents the categorized KT barriers in a communication channel model that can be addressed by CMC modalities and that can potentially break down those barriers.

<i>Managing Human Resources in China: The View from Inside Multinationals</i>, by Yu Zheng. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xx+287 pp. US$110.00 (cloth), US$49.99 (paper), US$36.00 (eBook).

Purpose Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems enhance productivity and working quality by offering integration, standardization and simplification of multiple business transactions. The present study seeks to introduce a conceptual framework that investigates the way that human inputs (top management, users, external consultants) are linked to communication effectiveness, conflict resolution and knowledge transfer in the ERP consulting process, as well as the effects of these factors on ERP system effective implementation. Design/methodology/approach The examination of the proposed conceptual framework was made with the use of a newly developed questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to a group of 361 Greek companies that have implemented an ERP system. Information technology (IT) managers were selected as the key respondents of the questionnaire. After the completion of the four month research period (September to December 2008), 108 usable questionnaires were returned (response rate=31 percent approximately). The empirical data were analyzed using the structural equation modelling technique (Lisrel 8.74). Findings The main findings of the empirical study can be summarized in the following categories: the assistance provided by external consultants during the ERP implementation process is essential; knowledge transfer is an extremely significant factor for ERP system success; knowledge transfer concerning technical aspects of ERP systems is more important than effective handling of communication, as well as conflict resolution among organizational members; the role of top management support seems to be of less importance that the one provided by users. Research limitations/implications The present study is limited by the poor definition of its population (due to lack of available data) and the relatively small size of the sample. Practical implications The paper points out areas that adopting companies should emphasize in order to successfully implement an ERP system and, therefore, harvest its potential benefits. Originality/value The paper proposes an enhanced conceptual framework that examines vital issues concerning ERP system effective implementation, thus, providing valuable outcomes for decision makers and academics. The originality of the paper lies in its three dimensional approach.

Applying the principles of knowledge organization originating from library and information science, the purpose of the study is to explore how knowledge organization assists employees to share and store their tacit knowledge. An international pharmaceutical company in Taiwan, JavaMed (pseudonym), will be the case for this study. In‐depth interviews will be used to uncover how employee training and knowledge transfer in JavaMed are carried out. Furthermore, the study will examine the role of knowledge organization, such as knowledge map, knowledge base, and yellow page, in facilitating knowledge transfer and achieving the goal of knowledge management. The main contribution of this study will be to identify the interrelationship among knowledge transfer, knowledge organization, and human resource management. The proposed study applies the concepts originated from library and information science to the area of business management. The researchers expect that the interdisciplinary nature of the study will shed light on both fields.

This paper reviews the current academic thinking on knowledge transfer channels between universities and private industry, from a human resource perspective. It also offers a general framework for re-organising the literature, so as to identify gaps in the understanding of organisational behavior and human resource management for university-industry knowledge transfer. The review highlights that knowledge transfer channels with highest relational intensity are also most valued by industry, and that most knowledge transfer channels are not currently institutionalized or formalized. It concludes that knowledge transfer between universities and industry is characterized by important management challenges, which require an understanding of the extent and nature of individuals’ involvement. However, the existing literature emphasises the outcomes rather than processes of knowledge transfer. Future research looking at knowledge transfer processes at the individual and organizational level of analysis would provide valuable information for better policy-making.

HRM practices affecting extrinsic and intrinsic motivation of knowledge receivers and their effect on intra-MNC knowledge transfer