This study aims to propose a knowledge management process model for global projects. The paper also seeks to generate interest among academic researchers for undertaking further…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a knowledge management process model for global projects. The paper also seeks to generate interest among academic researchers for undertaking further research on this important topic.
Design/methodology/approach
This research effort uses literature review findings and past research efforts of the author to develop a generic KM process model and a set of questions for designing a project‐specific KM process model.
Findings
Different cultures understand knowledge and its value differently. It is a challenge to develop KM processes for knowledge capturing and sharing in global projects where cultural diversity is a norm.
Research limitations/implications
The KM process model and the set of questions identified to develop the KM process need to be studied further and to be validated for their effectiveness in knowledge management.
Practical implications
The study is an attempt to recommend a knowledge management process that meets both internal and external goals and challenges. It aims to generate interest in the research community for undertaking a detailed and comprehensive research on this topic. It also aims to serve as a foundation for future studies.
Originality/value
The study is an original effort in examining some of the issues related to the impact of cultural differences on knowledge sharing in global projects and virtual teams.
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The challenge facing knowledge management (KM) professionals is how to leverage knowledge for improving organizational performance. From a management perspective, it is important…
Abstract
Purpose
The challenge facing knowledge management (KM) professionals is how to leverage knowledge for improving organizational performance. From a management perspective, it is important to utilize KM systems for improving communication, and collaboration to enhance employee skills with a focus on improving productivity. From a leadership perspective, it is critical to ensure that KM investments result in promoting collaborative culture both at individual and organizational levels to encourage knowledge sharing for better decision making and innovation. Ultimately, the purpose of KM is to leverage knowledge in order to improve organizational performance internally and externally. This paper aims to address these challenges from leadership perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This research addressed the following questions: how does an organization manage knowledge resources to gain and sustain competitive advantage? What is the role of KM leadership in making effective use of KM? A literature review was used to understand the role of leadership and the relation between KM and organizational performance. Further, two research studies, which employed interpretive structural modeling (ISM) were used to answer these two questions.
Findings
The study finds that selection of a competent leader is critical first step establishing an effective KM initiative as the leader plays an important role in obtaining top management and budgetary supports and in building technology infrastructure to accomplish KM goals. Further, KM leadership assumes greater importance during its initial implementation phase.
Practical implications
Effective KM leadership is a prerequisite to implementing a KM initiative and organizations will experience better results if they choose a leader before a detailed plan for KM initiative is developed and implemented.
Originality/value
This paper provides useful information on the effective KM leadership role.
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The paper seeks to identify attributes of KM effectiveness and establish their relation with business results. The research premise is that KM outcomes are difficult to measure…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to identify attributes of KM effectiveness and establish their relation with business results. The research premise is that KM outcomes are difficult to measure but their contributions to organizational performance can be assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
The research paper has addressed the following questions: what are the key attributes of KM effectiveness? How can management use these key attributes to leverage knowledge assets for improved organizational performance? A literature review was used to identify the attributes of KM effectiveness. Then KM professionals and practitioners were invited to participate and respond to a survey‐based questionnaire to establish important attributes of KM effectiveness. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) was used to develop and determine the underlying relations among these key attributes.
Findings
Leadership is the main driver for successful KM implementation. KM leadership is primarily responsible for supporting and sustaining a learning environment in organizations. Aligning KM initiatives with the strategic plan of organizations would direct KM efforts toward improved organizational performance such as customer satisfaction and business growth. KM initiatives promote customer satisfaction through better product or service quality. In turn, these outcomes promote new products and services, and increased revenue.
Research limitations/implications
As KM practitioners and professionals have participated in this study, these results are limited to the KM discipline only. As the majority of the respondents are from for‐profit organizations, the results may be biased towards for‐profit organizations. The research findings and conclusions must be seen in the context of the profiles of the respondents and organizations they represent. Future research should focus on exploring how these attributes vary with respect to demographics and type of organization. Further research efforts should include more types of organizations from wider geographical regions.
Practical implications
KM effectiveness can lead to improvements in performance such as customer satisfaction through better product or service quality. KM efforts can be directed to develop new product or service developments, and increased revenues.
Originality/value
The research effort is an attempt to capture the mental model for successful KM implementation. The study is useful for KM professionals in developing and implementing KM systems and processes.
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Vittal Anantatmula and Shivraj Kanungo
Research has shown that it is not easy to associate information technology (IT) and knowledge management (KM) with business performance. The paper aims to propose that this…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has shown that it is not easy to associate information technology (IT) and knowledge management (KM) with business performance. The paper aims to propose that this difficulty of associating IT and KM with business performance can be extrapolated to project management performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Given that research integrating all three disciplines – IT, KM, and project management – is sparse, the authors use an inductive and grounded approach, complemented by past research findings, to develop a research model. They developed a model using the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) methodology, and employed ISM because it helped to not only integrate both qualitative and quantitative variables but also allowed the authors to capture the shared mental models of practitioners – who formed the empirical basis of this research.
Findings
The paper shows that the drivers of project management (PM) effectiveness can be categorized into distinct groups – of which some are easier to manage compared to the others
Research limitations/implications
The authors current study is limited to one organization and therefore, the generalizability of this research is limited. Future research efforts should expand this study to more organizations and in various geographical locations to validate and obtain generalizable results.
Originality/value
The paper helps the reader to understand the role of IT and KM in the context of improving project performance.
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Abstract
Details
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Abstract
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Vittal S. Anantatmula and Shivraj Kanungo
Given that it is difficult to establish monetary benefits for KM initiatives, this paper aims to present a model that consists of a set of enablers and barriers for successful KM…
Abstract
Purpose
Given that it is difficult to establish monetary benefits for KM initiatives, this paper aims to present a model that consists of a set of enablers and barriers for successful KM implementation to obtain desired results. The contributions of the research effort should also support organizations in making decisions about improving organizational performance using KM initiatives, and understanding the directional relations among KM factors.
Design/methodology/approach
In the research study, using a literature review, the authors identify a set of enablers of and barriers to successful KM implementation. Using this set of factors, a questionnaire is developed by applying the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) methodology to determine the underlying relations among these factors and to develop strategies for the successful implementation of KM initiatives. As a result of the ISM methodology, the paper presents a model to show its findings.
Findings
The research study findings help to identify important strategies for implementing KM successfully. Further, the study suggests methodologies for KM implementation.
Originality/value
Knowledge is recognized as a critical resource to gain and sustain competitive advantage in business. While many organizations employ knowledge management (KM) initiatives, research studies suggest that it is difficult to establish return on investment of such efforts; however, desired results can be obtained through successful implementation. The paper presents approaches to successful KM implementation.
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Vittal S. Anantatmula and Bobbie Shrivastav
The purpose of this paper is to develop a knowledge base for project managers to understand and deal with issues that arise out of Generation Y working with other generations. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a knowledge base for project managers to understand and deal with issues that arise out of Generation Y working with other generations. The research study is expected to generate interest among the research community for undertaking similar studies to advance understanding on this interesting and important topic.
Design/methodology/approach
This research method consists of analyzing literature review findings and survey results of an exploratory study of Generation Y working professionals. Both the literature review findings and the study results were analyzed to develop findings and recommendations.
Findings
Research results confirmed that the generation gap is an issue. Generation Y is viewed unfavorably and they face struggles in dealing with other generations. These generation gap issues might vary depending on the type of industry and composition of the workforce. People from each generation – raised in different social and technological contexts – bring different attitudes, values, and work ethics to the workplace and a project manager is required to manage these to improve project team effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The research study has a participant selection bias; only Gen Y working professionals from the USA participated in the study and people from other generations and Generation Y people from other countries were not included in the study. Therefore, study results do not reflect issues from the perspectives of other generations. A similar study that considers participation of people from real project teams consisting of different generations is recommended to validate the research results of this study.
Practical implications
The paper explored issues concerning project teams consisting of members from different generations. Results are expected to help project managers develop team management strategies. This study is also aimed to develop a foundation for future studies to examine how project management can deal with project teams consisting of people of different generations working together. The study findings and implications for practical use are limited due to participation bias.
Originality/value
The study is an original effort in examining some of the issues related to different generations working together in a project environment. Results are of relevance in today's corporate world. Project teams span many generations and present challenges in developing them into a high performing team. This paper addresses some of the challenges from the perspective of Generation Y.
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Vittal Anantatmula and Shivraj Kanungo
This study aims to identify a set of criteria to assess the effectiveness of knowledge management (KM) and to understand how these criteria inter‐relate with one another. From a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify a set of criteria to assess the effectiveness of knowledge management (KM) and to understand how these criteria inter‐relate with one another. From a research and practitioner's perspective, the study seeks to study how to expand these criteria to develop measures.
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology is based on literature review to determine a list of KM outcomes followed by the Delphi technique and survey questionnaire methods. The findings of the Delphi were used to supplement literature review findings. Both these results were used to develop the survey questionnaire. Survey‐based research, which used a questionnaire targeting knowledge management professionals as respondents, was aimed at establishing criteria for assessing knowledge management success.
Findings
Using the criteria based on survey results, a computer‐assisted model is used to understand the shared underlying organizational framework in which KM operates and to identify how these criteria were linked. These relations should be explored and utilized to improve organizational performance.
Research limitations/implications
Some of the limitations of this original research are limited number of experts participating in the study. Also, about 48 percent of the survey respondents represent for‐profit organizations and thus, research results may be biased towards for‐profit organizations. Future research should focus on translating the soft measures of knowledge management into detailed metrics.
Originality/value
This is an academic research paper providing information on the underlying relations among KM outcomes.
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Brent M. Han and Vittal S. Anantatmula
Research has shown that the current knowledge management (KM) practices are developed from the standpoint of the management and do not put enough emphasis on knowledge sharing…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has shown that the current knowledge management (KM) practices are developed from the standpoint of the management and do not put enough emphasis on knowledge sharing from the non‐executive employees' perspective. However, it is important for organizations to understand – from the perspective of employees – the factors that motivate employees to share knowledge for successful implementation of any KM program. In this exploratory study, willingness of employees to share knowledge is the dependent variable. The purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge sharing factors from the employees' perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Using survey methodology, two large IT service and consulting organizations were included in the study to examine cultural, technological, motivational and organizational factors, which influence knowledge sharing within an organization from the perspective of non‐executive employees.
Findings
The study results showed that issues related to availability and usability of technology, leadership support and motivating structures were shown to have influences on knowledge sharing. The study also revealed that employees' willingness to share knowledge was not affected by their concerns about the loss of power or job insecurity.
Research limitations/implications
Self‐reporting bias is a limitation of the survey study. Self‐report bias occurs when individuals would bring in their experiences, self‐perception, and their work environment when completing a survey. Even though the present study clearly indicates to the participants that it is anonymous, it is possible that sometimes participants may misreport and misrepresent their perceptions to make themselves look better. The study was exploratory, and it was limited to two organizations. This would therefore restrict one from generalizing the outcomes of the study.
Originality/value
This exploratory study contributed to a deeper understanding of knowledge sharing with empirical data from two large IT organizations based on the non‐executive employees' perspective rather than that of management.