This paper aims to describe two themes of information and knowledge management in building corporate memory through curation in complex systems. The first theme describes the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe two themes of information and knowledge management in building corporate memory through curation in complex systems. The first theme describes the skillsets of new memory curators: curation; appraisal; strategist and manager. The second theme describes four concepts that support information management in complex systems: David Snowden’s just-in-time process; Polanyi’s personal knowing; Wenger’s transactive memory system; and David Snowden’s ASHEN database schema.
Design/methodology/approach
Academic journals and professional publications were analysed for educational requirements for information professionals in complex adaptive systems.
Findings
The skills described should be readily applied and useful in a complex adaptive system with the four concepts described. The four concepts displayed features indicating each separate concept could be aligned and integrated with the other concepts to create an information sharing model based on synergy between reasoning and computing.
Research limitations/implications
Research is needed into the capability and potential of folksonomies using recordkeeping metadata and archival appraisal to support peer production information and communication systems.
Originality/value
The author has not found any research that links archival appraisal, user-generated metadata tagging, folksonomies and transactive memory systems governance policy to support digital online, co-innovation peer production.
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We are reaching the end of the second generation of knowledge management, with its focus on tacit‐explicit knowledge conversion. Triggered by the SECI model of Nonaka, it replaced…
Abstract
We are reaching the end of the second generation of knowledge management, with its focus on tacit‐explicit knowledge conversion. Triggered by the SECI model of Nonaka, it replaced a first generation focus on timely information provision for decision support and in support of BPR initiatives. Like BPR it has substantially failed to deliver on its promised benefits. The third generation requires the clear separation of context, narrative and content management and challenges the orthodoxy of scientific management. Complex adaptive systems theory is used to create a sense‐making model that utilises self‐organising capabilities of the informal communities and identifies a natural flow model of knowledge creation, disruption and utilisation. However, the argument from nature of many complexity thinkers is rejected given the human capability to create order and predictability through collective and individual acts of freewill. Knowledge is seen paradoxically, as both a thing and a flow requiring diverse management approaches.
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Peggy Lockyer, Deidre Le Fevre and Mark Vickers
This study sets out to investigate the elements of the collaborative culture required for the successful implementation and sustainability of programs in schools. It draws on a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study sets out to investigate the elements of the collaborative culture required for the successful implementation and sustainability of programs in schools. It draws on a case study of a student peer-led physical activity (PA) program implemented within the complex and dynamic environment of school communities in New Zealand. The article outlines four key components needed to effectively implement and impact long term sustainability of a program within the school context.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative case study examines the implementation of a new peer-led PA program introduced across eight New Zealand schools. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with senior leaders, teachers and parents and analyzed through a complexity theory lens.
Findings
Effective and sustainable program implementation requires a strategic, collaborative approach through actively engaging with and resourcing four key interacting components: student choice, voice and agency; collective responsibility; shared understanding of purpose; and curriculum coherence.
Originality/value
This research offers a pragmatic approach to developing collaborative school communities that can effectively implement change by highlighting key areas of focus that policymaker, school leaders and program designers can plan for.
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The purpose of this article is to focus on the role of networks in organizations as a critical aspect of knowledge management and learning processes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to focus on the role of networks in organizations as a critical aspect of knowledge management and learning processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The article has built on an established technique, namely SNA, by shifting from individuals to identities and then to abstractions.
Findings
By making the shifts identified above, a solid and tool‐rich body of research is used as a base on which to build, but in effect the focus is on using the network intelligence rather than assemblies of atomistic individual intelligences: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, but only if one understands it as a whole.
Originality/value
The article has focused on problem resolution, but the technique also shows potential as a generic innovation tool, and as a possible model to create an alternative mechanism for the distribution of funding within organizations including governments.
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The purpose of this paper is to complement a previous article on using the Cynefin framework to make sense of the electronic records management challenge. Its focus is on how to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to complement a previous article on using the Cynefin framework to make sense of the electronic records management challenge. Its focus is on how to use Cynefin, and the ERM framework developed using it, as an approach to addressing this wicked problem. The aim is to provide examples of how they could be used in practice in different organisational contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Four examples are provided. Empirical research data are used to underpin three of the examples and a thought experiment using published literature informs the fourth.
Findings
The examples illustrate the potential value and power of the Cynefin framework as both a practical and conceptual tool in the ERM context. It can be used to address the ERM challenge in different ways: as a strategic approach taking a holistic view and/or as a tactical approach at a more specific granular level. It can be used to inform practice by helping practitioners choose the most appropriate approach dependent on the level of complexity of the issue they are addressing, whether that is for a specific issue, a project or initiative, for planning or for exploratory, sense-making purposes.
Research limitations/implications
The examples draw on one qualitative, empirical set of research data and one published use. Further experimentation and practical use are required; others are encouraged to use Cynefin to test the propositions and provide further examples.
Practical implications
The examples provided can be adopted and/or adapted by records professionals, both practitioners and/or academics, at strategic and tactical levels in different records contexts.
Originality/value
This paper provides examples of adopting a different approach to tackling the wicked problem of managing electronic records using the Cynefin framework as a new lens.
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Emmanuel Sawyerr and Christian Harrison
The purpose of this study is to identify the prescribed formative elements of supply chain resilience (SCR) in literature, to compare them with the unique characteristics of high…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the prescribed formative elements of supply chain resilience (SCR) in literature, to compare them with the unique characteristics of high reliability organisations (HROs) and derive lessons useful for improving SCR.
Design/methodology/approach
Two systematic literature reviews are carried out as follows: one on SCR and the other on HRO, which identified 107 studies and 18 papers, respectively. The results from the review are presented, analysed and synthesised.
Findings
Findings suggest that despite significant similarities in some of the proposed formative elements for SCR and the characteristics of HROs, the strong managerial commitment exhibited in HROs is absent in SCR literature. More importantly, the most cited characteristic of HROs, which is their flexible decision making structure is pointed out as a prima lesson towards developing resilience in supply chains.
Practical implications
A decision making framework to facilitate flexible decision making for supply chains during crisis is presented. Further, practical lessons are pointed out from principles common to both streams of literature such as redundancy, human resource management, collaboration, agility, flexibility, culture and risk avoidance that can be implemented in supply chains.
Originality/value
This paper is the first study to systematically review HROs, adapt a HRO decision making framework and also apply the Cynefin framework to SCR. This, therefore, provides the basis to launch further research into the use of these theories and the role of decision-making in SCR creation.
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The aim of this paper is to report the finding of an exploratory research project that considered how public service organizations may conquer the debilitating effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to report the finding of an exploratory research project that considered how public service organizations may conquer the debilitating effects of enterprise dementia.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the seminal research of Michael Earl, this project sought to solicit the view from the front, which in this case are the middle managers of the Canadian public service. Specifically, the aim was to determine which of Earl's schools of knowledge would be most appropriate in curbing the organizational memory loss and taming the information anxiety that are common place today.
Findings
The sample of public service middle managers overwhelmingly opted for a single strategy. The organizational school surfaced as the strategy most likely to fit respondents' perceived needs. Through collaboration, Earl's organizational school focuses on maximizing the use of social networks with a view to knowledge sharing.
Practical implications
This paper provides a compendium of knowledge strategies that may be useful for public service executives.
Originality/value
This the first project to consider how Earl's taxonomy of knowledge strategies may be implemented in a Canadian public service environment.