Han‐Kuk Hong, Jae‐Sik Kim, Taehun Kim and Byung‐Hak Leem
The paper aims to clarify the relationships between various components of knowledge possessed by the members of system integration (SI) project team and the project performance of…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to clarify the relationships between various components of knowledge possessed by the members of system integration (SI) project team and the project performance of those team members. From this lessons are learnt on SI project management issues and managerial implications regarding team member knowledge management for project performance are provided.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors validated the model and tested the hypotheses using the structural equation model analysis LISREL.
Findings
Using data from 49 SI projects performed by a prominent consulting firm, the authors discovered a positive relationship between SI project team member knowledge and project performance. Notably, tacit knowledge was found to be influential, but explicit knowledge was not. The leadership capability of team leaders and the communication capability among team members were found to be important factors affecting project performance.
Research limitations/implications
A limited number of SI projects were analyzed due to difficulties with project selection and frequent movement of consultants during the data gathering process. As a result, additional analyses considering project size and complexity were not performed. Project team members' personal knowledge obtained through experience in similar projects or similar industries is very important to improve SI project performance. Leaders of participating SI projects have to think over project team members' tacit product knowledge and tacit process knowledge when building their project's team.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this paper lies in the establishment of a causal relationship between SI project team member knowledge and project performance, as well as in the proposed managerial implications for SI project knowledge management.
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Keywords
Bong Choi, Jongweon Kim, Byung‐hak Leem, Chang‐Yeol Lee and Han‐kuk Hong
This study proposes a research model to test whether Six Sigma‐based management activities improve corporate competitiveness in Samsung Group.
Abstract
Purpose
This study proposes a research model to test whether Six Sigma‐based management activities improve corporate competitiveness in Samsung Group.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper's model was validated and its hypotheses tested using structural equation model analysis.
Findings
Empirical results showed that Six Sigma activities do indeed contribute to revitalized process management, improved quality, and, finally, lead to corporate competitiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The survey data were collected at the individual level, such as GB, BB, MBB, and limited to the affiliated companies of Samsung Group. To obtain more meaningful results, data would be collected at the corporate level and the pool of subjects expanded. However, this paper shows that the four fundamental factors (CEO's will, Communication, Training, and Policy) as well as three substantial factors (Information Utilization, Standardization, and Promotion) are meaningful activities influencing the success of Six Sigma management significantly.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this paper lies in the establishment of a causal relationship among Six Sigma activities, process innovation, quality improvement, and company competitiveness, as well as in the proposed managerial implications for Six Sigma projects.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the contextual differences and causes of police corruption in Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan and to assess their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the contextual differences and causes of police corruption in Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan and to assess their governments’ effectiveness in minimising this problem.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins by identifying the contextual differences in the five countries before analysing their major causes of police corruption and their governments’ effectiveness in minimising it.
Findings
Police corruption is a more serious problem in Indonesia and the Philippines because of their more difficult governance environments, low salaries of police officers, red tape, lack of meritocracy in recruitment and promotion, and lack of accountability of police officers. By contrast, the perceived extent of police corruption has declined in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in recent years because of the improvement in the salaries of their police officers and the implementation of various police reforms.
Originality/value
This comparative analysis of combating police corruption in five Asian countries will be of interest to policy makers and scholars concerned with minimising this problem.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore four Korean teacher learners’ academic experiences in an Australian Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) master’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore four Korean teacher learners’ academic experiences in an Australian Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) master’s programme. By investigating the ways they encounter the overseas teacher education programme and how to interact with different meanings, this study reveals Korean teacher learners’ multiple selves and several meaning systems embedded in them. The understandings from the case provide some implications for curriculum internationalisation in higher education as well as TESOL.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews, a focus group discussion and metaphors were used as data, and from these narratives, the participants’ experience was categorised into the programme’s aspects of the methods, contents and applicability, materials and usefulness, assessment criteria and feedback and communication and support. Each interview was undertaken in a library for around one and a half hours. At the end of the interviews, participants were required to produce a metaphor of desirable teacher/lecturer roles. For triangulation, a focus group discussion was conducted for approximately two hours, in which three participants could represent social worlds, evaluate them and establish themselves as members of particular groups. All the questions were semi-structured and about teaching and learning experiences in Korea and Australia and ideas of lecturers’ roles, practices and desirable pedagogy.
Findings
From the analysis of the participants’ experiences in these, it was revealed that their identity was tangled with that of the (English) teacher, consumer, (international) student and non-native speaker. The meaning systems of these identities were based on the mixture of the Korean traditional and Western or modern educational values: positive attitude towards communicative language teaching and its contexutalisation, pursuit of practical knowledge and pragmatic ideas, favour for discussions and getting confirmation from authorities and being positioned in the weak and using different communication rules, etc.
Research limitations/implications
From the insights from this case, the lecturers and programme coordinators in intercultural TESOL courses will gain some ideas for a curriculum responsive to international needs. While it cannot be denied that the small scale of the study has limitations for generalisation, this research will be one of the required literatures which examines East Asians or Koreans in Western academic institutions, given that this qualitative study complements the findings of the quantitative studies by specifically disclosing the ways Korean teacher learners’ identity and the meaning systems of desirable pedagogies.
Practical implications
For the curriculum internationalisation in TESOL and several higher education (HE) courses, the lecturers’ and the institutions’ awareness of cultural differences and reducing stereotyping, language support and being explicit about new rules in the new game and communication for support and respectful and professional encounters are essential, alongside the learners’ voluntary endeavour for academic adaptation in their overseas learning.
Social implications
The effort to understand each other in education is a good start for intercultural communication, that is, curriculum internationalisation in TESOL as well as higher education.
Originality/value
Different from other studies in similar areas, this study discloses the multiple selves/identities and meaning systems of the teacher learners in TESOL, by maximising the benefits of a qualitative study. The understandings from this approach help the researcher draw out practical implications for curriculum internationalisation in TESOL and HE.