In Search of Organisational Creativity: The Role of Knowledge Management

Contemporary management theories lead to systematic practices that appear to limit the creative capacity of any given organisation. Often there is a closed system paradigm, when in reality organisations are open systems. A desire to seek a rational way of operating is not necessarily negative, but gives priority to mechanisms and results over processes or contents. Drawing on practical experiences in architectural design within the construction industry, we point to approaches that inhibit the emergence of creativity in an organisation, and which can be harmful from the business point of view in the long run. It is suggested that one way to overcome these difficulties lies in improvements in knowledge management.     

The Interplay between Creativity Issues and Design Theories: A New Perspective for Design Management Studies?

In this article, we analyse the relationship between creativity issues and design theory. Although these two notions seem to correspond to different academic fields (psychology, cognitive science and management for creativity; engineering science and logic for design theory), they appear to be deeply related when it comes to design methods and management. Analysing three historical moments in design theory building (the 1850s, with the ratio method for industrial upgrading in Germany, the 20th century with systematic design, and the 1920s with the Bauhaus theory), we point to the dialectical interplay that links creativity and design theory, structured around the notion of ‘fixation effect’: creativity identifies fixation effects, which become the targets of new design theories; design theories invent models of thought to overcome them; and, in turn, these design theories can also create new fixation effects that will then be designated by creativity studies. This dialectical interplay leads to regular inventions of new ways of managing design, i.e., new ways of managing knowledge, processes and organizations for design activities. We use this framework to analyse recent trends in creativity and design theories.     

The Sources of Novelty: A Cultural and Systemic View of Distributed Creativity

This article discusses the limitations of the first generation of creativity‐management technologies based on the psychological theories of intelligence and problem solving. The turn into a cultural and systemic conceptions in the psychology of creativity is analysed. It is argued that this psychology converges with the ideas developed in the sociology of knowledge, the history of technological systems, and activity theory as well as in innovation studies. All of them underline the significance of artefact‐mediated communities, domains or practices. They agree on the importance of combining heterogeneous cultural resources and knowledge by horizontal networking across the boundaries of knowledge and activity domains. The internet‐mediated new communities are discussed as emerging forms of distributed creation. A challenge for the management of creativity is to study and learn from the emerging problems, means and patterns of conduct of these communities.     

Toward Understanding the Microcomputer Management Function

The present research identifies and defines value management practices that can help to accommodate and organize IS investments in order to secure and maximize their value-creating potential. Drawing on the resource-based view, we developed a conceptual model organizing 25 unique practices as part of three distinct competences (structural, process, and relational) that are integrated and mobilized through an overarching Value Management Capability. Findings are based on a literature review and exploratory case study.     

Questions and Information: Contrasting Metaphors

This article examines metaphors for question asking, information and knowledge in the context of knowledge management. Metaphors discussed include: information is a resource, knowledge is a product, a good question is an irritant, and questions are the enemies of authority. The analysis draws on current theories of metaphor from the cognitive sciences as a basis for understanding the conceptual entailments of these terms for the MIS field. Churchman's inquiring systems are discussed as an example of a question-centric approach to knowledge management. The article concludes that a greater emphasis on inquiry would offer a beneficial perspective for practices concerned with information quality and knowledge management.     

More than a quarter century of Creativity and Innovation Management: The journal's characteristics,evolution, and a look ahead

When this journal was founded in 1992 by Tudor Rickards and Susan Moger, there was no academic outlet available that addressed issues at the intersection of creativity and innovation. From zero to 1,163 records, from the new kid on the block to one of the leading journals in creativity and innovation management has been quite a journey, and we would like to reflect on the past 28 years and the intellectual and conceptual structure of Creativity and Innovation Management (CIM). Specifically, we highlight milestones and influential articles, identify how key journal characteristics evolved, outline the (co‐)authorship structure, and finally, map the thematic landscape of CIM by means of a text‐mining analysis. This study represents the first systematic and comprehensive assessment of the journal's published body of knowledge and helps to understand the journal's influence on the creativity and innovation management community. We conclude by discussing future topics and paths of the journal as well as limitations of our approach.     

人事管理系统中的数据库设计

基于Windows平台的关系型数据库管理系统,以Microsoft SQL Server2000为软件平台,采用PowerBuilder为前端开发工具,完成了针对高校人事管理系统的数据库设计。利用结构化的分析方法进行系统分析,并结合数据库相关理论以高校的实际情况,进行系统数据库的概念结构和逻辑结构设计,最后讨论数据库的连接方法。     

Challenges and Directions in Service Management Automation

Research teams and IT service providers are continuously increasing the degree of Automation in Hybrid IT environments spanning multi-provider Clouds as well as traditional IT. Automation and Cognitive Systems are widely regarded as the foundation for improving the productivity as well as the quality of Service Delivery. At the same time, Hybrid IT deployments are being subject to a variety of challenges in large deployments on a global scale. Based on our experience of running a service practice that delivers IT Service Management in Hybrid IT environments to customers worldwide, this paper will review the challenges and directions in implementing Integrated Network, Systems and Service Management technologies and point out gaps encountered in current tools and implementations. This is fueled by the desire of Service Providers to evolve Automation from a development activity to an approach focusing on recording and storing the practices of the best system administrators and further on to a cognitive activity where the management system learns over time which actions need to be undertaken under a given set of circumstances. By means of real-life examples, we identify candidate concepts and technologies that will help us build the next generation of Integrated Network, Systems and Service Management.     

Using conversational agents to support the adoption of knowledge sharing practices

In this paper, we present an agent-based system designed to support the adoption of knowledge sharing practices within communities. The system is based on a conceptual framework that, by modelling the adoption of knowledge management practices as a change process, identifies the pedagogical strategies best suited to support users through the various stages of the adoption process. Learning knowledge management practices is seen as a continuous process, taking place at individual and social level that includes the acquisition of information, as well as the contextual use of the information acquired.The resulting community-based system provides each member of the community with an artificial personal change-management agent capable of guiding users in the acquisition and adoption of new knowledge sharing practices by activating personalised and contextualised intervention.     

The Orientation of Business Process Management toward the Creation of Knowledge in Enterprises

The main condition for the survival and development of contemporary enterprises is a focus on changes in the business environment. Business Process Management is a concept that enables efficient adaptation to changing business environment conditions. Currently, companies tend to focus on the process approach, using the knowledge that is available within the company. This paper presents research results related to knowledge management in Poland and to both Polish and worldwide practices of Business Process Management. This presentation is followed with a discussion that provides inspiration for in‐depth empirical research in this field. Currently, there is an urgent need for research that addresses the challenging issues related to the integration of available knowledge management technologies, concepts, and methods into organizational business processes.     

Factors Influencing Creativity in Virtual Design Teams: An Interplay between Technology,Teams and Individuals

Creativity is a topic of interest across numerous disciplines and areas of study. Creativity constitutes a challenging aspect of engineering design, and scholars in the field of management claim that the increase in virtual teamwork calls for research as to how virtual configurations alter some of the management practices based on the collocated workplace. By reviewing the different literatures, we posit a knowledge gap regarding creativity in the virtual design context, where varying degrees of virtuality are likely to exert an influence on creativity. In our quest to start bridging this gap, we pursued an exploratory case study with a student‐based virtual design team project, known as the European Global Product Realization (EGPR). Thirty‐nine interview extracts, covering most participants, along with non‐participant observation and document review, gave us insights into the nature of the project, the participants' perceptions of creativity, and their experience of designing in virtual teams. In all, our study unearths and discusses a number of factors – and the extent to which – they are found to influence creativity in virtual design teams. The study has cross‐domain relevance from those interested in the management of virtual teams through to those looking at creativity and design.     

Digital creativity and transdisciplinarity at postgraduate level: the design and implementation of a transdisciplinary masters programme and its implications for creative practice

This article investigates how transdisciplinary approaches to curriculum design on a taught masters programme in creative technologies enhance digital creativity in students. Drawing on the experience of developing and running the Masters in Creative Technologies (MA/MSc) at the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University, Leicester, we explore a number of areas relating to transdisciplinary teaching and learning in higher education, including: how digital technologies enable students to work in a transdisciplinary manner; how working creatively with technology enables transdisciplinary modes of working; and the ways in which transdisciplinarity, enabled by digital technologies, has affected the creative practice of learners. The article discusses how the programme has developed a climate for creativity, and outlines how the knowledge and skills gained during a creative technologies-related transdisciplinary programme meet the needs of a changing workplace.     

文档管理系统的设计与开发

随着知识经济的到来和知识管理的兴起,企业越来越重视对其内部和外部各种形式的 知识的管理。这些知识的一个重要表现形式就是由企业内部或外部产生的各种报告、 产品设计书、产品使用说明书、客户资料及客户反馈意见等等,这些非结构化的文本信 息对企业是非常有价值的。因此,为加强企业对其内部各种文档资料的管理,本文运用 一种新的全文检索方法,设计并开发了一个实用的文档管理系统,并取得了成功。     

Interoperability of Learning Objects Copyright in the LUISA Semantic Learning Management System

Abstract

Semantic Web technology is able to provide the required computational semantics for interoperability of learning resources across different Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Learning Object Repositories (LOR). The EU research project LUISA (Learning Content Management System Using Innovative Semantic Web Services Architecture) addresses the development of a reference semantic architecture for the major challenges in the search, interchange, and delivery of learning objects in a service-oriented context. One of the key issues, highlighted in this paper, is Digital Rights Management (DRM) interoperability. A Semantic Web approach to copyright management has been followed, which places a Copyright Ontology as the key component for interoperability among existing DRM systems and other licensing schemes like Creative Commons. Moreover, Semantic Web tools like reasoners, rule engines and semantic queries facilitate the implementation of an interoperable copyright management component in the LUISA architecture.     

Innovation and Knowledge Management: The Long View

The challenge of the e–Economy is one of technological change and the innovation process affords insights into how this new knowledge can be harnessed across the economy to increase productivity and generate wealth. The conceptual framework for this paper is National Systems of Innovation (NSI) as applied to Australia Edquist (1997); Freeman (1995). NSI allows us to take a holistic view of innovation that realistically blends technology with institutional elements, particularly including issues of collaboration. Taking a Long View (Schwartz (1991), that is, looking back on the legacy of experience with the innovation process, will also facilitate looking forward strategically from Australia’s current practices, and to speculate on the prospects. This paper illustrates selectively and not comprehensively, from my own direct experience, the evolution of innovation policies in Australia and speculates on their implications for collaboration in the e–Economy by drawing on selected case studies in Research and Development, Industry and Trade, and the e–Economy. It also draws upon work for my doctorate in knowledge management at the University of Technology. The selection and synthesis of theory inevitably also reflect, however idiosyncratically, my academic training in engineering, politics and economics.     

Creative Problem Solving as a Technology of Expert Behaviour within Marketing Management

This paper presents a case based on the notion that rule based systems or ‘technologies’ designed to promote creativity may be seen as a way of short-cutting the training route to domain specific cognitive expertise in Marketing Management. The paper draws on multi-disciplinary research from different but thematically parallel research programmes in expertise and cognitive science, creativity, and problem solving. The argument proceeds with an examination of the construct of ‘creativity’ and its role in management domains in general and the marketing domain in particular. A review of psychological findings concerning expertise is then undertaken to draw out the common features between creativity in problem solving and high level expertise. Finally, these common features are synthesised in a speculative model which describes the complex of cognitive strategies and beliefs about problem solving which may characterise expert problem solvers in marketing management—a move towards a potentially testable ‘metacognition’ of expertise in marketing.     

How to get mature global virtual teams: a framework to improve team process management in distributed software teams

Managing global software development teams is not an easy task because of the additional problems and complexities that have to be taken into account. This paper defines VTManager, a methodology that provides a set of efficient practices for global virtual team management in software development projects. These practices integrate software development techniques in global environments with others such as explicit practices for global virtual team management, definition of skills and abilities needed to work in these teams, availability of collaborative work environments and shared knowledge management practices. The results obtained and the lessons learned from implementing VTManager in a pilot project to develop software tools for collaborative work in rural environments are also presented. This project was carried out by geographically distributed teams involving people from seven countries with a high level of virtualness.     

The Paradox of Diversity Management,Creativity and Innovation

This conceptual and discursive paper argues that diversity is a recognizable source of creativity and innovation that can provide a basis for competitive advantage. On the other hand, diversity is also a cause of misunderstanding, suspicion and conflict in the workplace that can result in absenteeism, poor quality, low morale and loss of competitiveness. Firms seeking competitive advantage therefore face a paradoxical situation. If they embrace diversity, they risk workplace conflict, and if they avoid diversity, they risk loss of competitiveness. The advantages and disadvantages associated with workforce diversity put organizations in a position of managing a paradoxical situation. To give support to this assertion, the paper considers what is meant by diversity, how it is best managed, what its relationship with creativity and innovation might be and how the problems created by the management of diversity, creativity and innovation might be resolved.     

面向开源生态的软件数据挖掘技术研究综述

全球开源软件生态中孕育的大众化软件生产模式正快速形成一种新型的软件生产力,在软件开发和应用各个环节发挥了巨大作用.大众化软件生产的数据规模日趋庞大、协同范围不断扩展、管理模式高度精简,这些全球化特征使其在软件复用、协同开发、知识管理等环节面临诸多挑战,迫切需要新的理论指导和工具支持.本文首先界定了大众化软件生产活动的分布范围、基本过程和数据形态,然后从软件复用、协同开发、知识管理三个核心环节对开源社区数据挖掘技术的研究工作进行了归类与分析,最后总结了该领域研究工作存在的问题和未来发展趋势.