VINE

Cultural impacts on knowledge management and learning in project-based firms : Table of Contents

Mian M. Ajmal, Tauno Kekäle, Josu Takala — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – Projects almost invariably involve a variety of diversely skilled people from different national, organisational, and professional cultural backgrounds. These people come together for a specific period of time to accomplish certain unique, unpredictable, and complex objectives. These distinctive characteristics mean that project-based firms require a particular approach to knowledge management (KM) and learning activities that differs significantly from prevailing strategies. This paper aims to explore the way in which these distinctive cultural issues (national, organisational, and professional) influence KM in project-based firms. Design/methodology/approach – The paper first looks at the general issues of KM and the “learning organisation”. Second, the study discusses the more specific issue of KM in project-based firms. Third, the paper explores national, organisational, and professional cultures in the context of project-based business. Finally, the paper draws the three preceding sections together to discuss the managerial implications of dealing with cultural issues in fostering KM in project-based firms. Findings – It is apparent that culture has a most significant influence on the KM capability of an organisation. The moral and budgetary support of senior management is essential for the success of any KM plan in project-based business. Research limitations/implications – This paper puts forward a conceptually grounded argument by stressing on cultural complexities to KM and learning in project environments. The key cultural issues highlighted here need to be empirically tested in future studies. Practical implications – At the organisational level, people and processes must be the first priority for project managers who wish to nurture a “KM culture” in project-based business. At the team level, the project manager can help to create a team culture conducive to KM by transmitting appropriate values and beliefs to the team members. Originality/value – The paper helps practitioners and academics to understand the complexities of cultural issues during KM initiatives in the context of improving project performance.

Engagement and innovation: the Honda case : Table of Contents

Robert Paton, Niru Karunaratne — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – Research and development (R&D) plays a significant role in creating and sustaining technological leadership. This paper aims to look at the extent to which R&D interventions stimulate innovation engagement. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines, in the main, secondary data sources from Honda to assess the extent to which R&D-enabled plants enjoy both enhanced innovatory potential and employee engagement. Findings – Initial indications point to a positive correlation between R&D and associated plant performance. Ongoing research suggests that there is a clear link between interventions and enhanced employee engagement. In addition, there appears to be evidence that monoculture outperform multicultural establishments. Research limitations/implications – The research was exploratory in nature and relied, in the main, on secondary data sources. However, access to the secondary sources was extensive which hopefully compensates for the limited primary data. Originality/value – Practitioners and academics interested in the relationship between engagement, value add knowledge transfer, R&D and innovation should find this paper of interest.

Interoperating ontologies of organizational memory through hybrid unsupervised data mining : Table of Contents

Ching-Chieh Kiu, Chien-Sing Lee — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an automated ontology mapping and merging algorithm, namely OntoDNA, which employs data mining techniques (FCA, SOM, K-means) to resolve ontological heterogeneities among distributed data sources in organizational memory and subsequently generate a merged ontology to facilitate resource retrieval from distributed resources for organizational decision making. Design/methodology/approach – The OntoDNA employs unsupervised data mining techniques (FCA, SOM, K-means) to resolve ontological heterogeneities to integrate distributed data sources in organizational memory. Unsupervised methods are needed as an alternative in the absence of prior knowledge for managing this knowledge. Given two ontologies that are to be merged as the input, the ontologies' conceptual pattern is discovered using FCA. Then, string normalizations are applied to transform their attributes in the formal context prior to lexical similarity mapping. Mapping rules are applied to reconcile the attributes. Subsequently, SOM and K-means are applied for semantic similarity mapping based on the conceptual pattern discovered in the formal context to reduce the problem size of the SOM clusters as validated by the Davies-Bouldin index. The mapping rules are then applied to discover semantic similarity between ontological concepts in the clusters and the ontological concepts of the target ontology are updated to the source ontology based on the merging rules. Merged ontology in a concept lattice is formed. Findings – In experimental comparisons between PROMPT and OntoDNA ontology mapping and merging tool based on precision, recall and f-measure, average mapping results for OntoDNA is 95.97 percent compared to PROMPT's 67.24 percent. In terms of recall, OntoDNA outperforms PROMPT on all the paired ontology except for one paired ontology. For the merging of one paired ontology, PROMPT fails to identify the mapping elements. OntoDNA significantly outperforms PROMPT due to the utilization of FCA in the OntoDNA to capture attributes and the inherent structural relationships among concepts. Better performance in OntoDNA is due to the following reasons. First, semantic problems such as synonymy and polysemy are resolved prior to contextual clustering. Second, unsupervised data mining techniques (SOM and K-means) have reduced problem size. Third, string matching performs better than PROMPT's linguistic-similarity matching in addressing semantic heterogeneity, in context it also contributes to the OntoDNA results. String matching resolves concept names based on similarity between concept names in each cluster for ontology mapping. Linguistic-similarity matching resolves concept names based on concept-representation structure and relations between concepts for ontology mapping. Originality/value – The OntoDNA automates ontology mapping and merging without the need of any prior knowledge to generate a merged ontology. String matching is shown to perform better than linguistic-similarity matching in resolving concept names. The OntoDNA will be valuable for organizations interested in merging ontologies from distributed or different organizational memories. For example, an organization might want to merge their organization-specific ontologies with community standard ontologies.

Protecting knowledge assets in multinational enterprises: a comparative case approach : Table of Contents

Nathan O'Donoghue, David T. Croasdell — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – This paper aims to examine ways in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) can secure knowledge assets across global operations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports the results of a comparative case study. The practices of four MNEs are considered in conjunction with practices identified in the literature. A comparative company analysis is conducted using the resource-based view of the firm. Findings – The paper principally concludes that MNEs have several options for protecting knowledge assets. A set of seven recommendations are derived from the analysis. Practical implications – The recommendations derived from the analysis could be beneficial for enterprises who do knowledge work in global settings. Originality/value – The paper offers background and consideration for those companies with IP in global business environments. The background, analysis and recommendations add to the body of knowledge in this area.

Organisations and the issue of multiple identities: who loves you baby? : Table of Contents

Judy Pate, Phillip Beaumont, Gwilym Pryce — Sat Nov 14 08:00:19 GMT 2009

Abstract:
Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between organisational identification and identification with work group and profession for knowledge workers. The literature points to two competing standpoints, first, a compatible relationship between focal points of identity and second, a trade off relationship whereby an increase in one is at the expense of another. Design/methodology/approach – Using the population of a large public UK sector organisation ordinary least squares regression was used to examine these relationships. Findings – The findings established a strong relationship in which work group, organisational and professional identification were compatible. Research limitations/implications – The findings indicate, at least in this context, that no inherent trade off or problem reconciling multiple identities was evident. Regrettably the authors do not have the capacity to comment on the weighting or the relative importance placed on each focus of identity; this is an area for future research. Originality/value – This paper seeks to contribute to the discussions of is the relationship between organisational identification and allegiances with the workgroup or profession, which is underdeveloped in the literature.