Organisational learning—a critical systems thinking discipline

This paper deals with the application of critical systems thinking in the domain of organisational learning and knowledge management. Its viewpoint is that deep organisational learning only takes place when the business systems' stakeholders reflect on their actions and thus inquire about their purpose(s) in relation to the business system and the other stakeholders they perceive to exist. This is done by reflecting both on the sources of motivation and/or deception that are contained in their purpose, and also on the sources of collective motivation and/or deception that are contained in the business system's purpose. The development of an organisational information system that captures, manages and institutionalises meaningful information—a knowledge management system—cannot be separated from organisational learning practices, since it should be the result of these very practices. Although Senge's five disciplines provide a useful starting-point in looking at organisational learning, we argue for a critical systems approach, instead of an uncritical Systems Dynamics one that concentrates only on the organisational learning practices.We proceed to outline a methodology called Business Systems Purpose Analysis (BSPA) that offers a participatory structure for team and organisational learning, upon which the stakeholders can take legitimate action that is based on the force of the better argument. In addition, the organisational learning process in BSPA leads to the development of an intrinsically motivated information organisational system that allows for the institutionalisation of the learning process itself in the form of an organisational knowledge management system. This could be a specific application, or something as wide-ranging as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. Examples of the use of BSPA in two ERP implementations are presented.     

A survey of critical success factors in e-Banking: an organisational perspective

We investigate organisational factors critical to the success of e-Banking (EB). Scholars report that a variety of factors are vital to EB success. A shortcoming in the extant EB literature is that much of the research focuses on a small subset of success factors and an overall ranking of factors is still missing. Our aim, therefore, is to synthesise and test the critical success factors (CSFs) identified in the existing literature, thus, substantiating or not the factors purported to be critical. To achieve our aim, we created a survey instrument from a synthesis of CSFs identified from existing EB and e-commerce literature. We draw upon the e-commerce body of knowledge to take in the widest set of CSFs that can affect EB. Data were collected from U.K.-based financial sector organisations that offer EB services. We found the most critical factors for success in EB are: quick responsive products/services, organisational flexibility, services expansion, systems integration and enhanced customer service. Our research shows that organisations need to manage their EB initiative at a strategic level and treat it as business critical rather than simply a technical or operational issue. They need to pay attention to internal integration, which includes channels, technology and business process integration, and improving the overall services to their customers.     

Integrating ergonomics into production system development - The Volvo Powertrain case

Understanding the barriers and assists to integrating ergonomics into production system design remains a research issue. An action research case study at Volvo Powertrain/Sweden was conducted. Researchers worked collaboratively with the firm in efforts to improve the company's ability to handle ergonomics in their daily work of improving and developing production systems. Researchers observed and reflected collectively on the change process using field notes and recordings to support their observations.Observed integration barriers included both individual level issues like life events, and organisational aspects such as communication barriers between groups or assignment of tasks to people not involved in decision-making. Observed assists included the ‘political reflective navigation’ (c.f. Broberg, O., Hermund, I., 2004. The OHS consultant as a ‘political reflective navigator’ in technological change processes. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 33 (4), 315-326) by the project owner to find new ways to overcome barriers and anchor ergonomics into the organisation. While special ‘ergonomics’ groups did not survive long, progress was observed in including ergonomics in regular design groups. A cross-functional workshop that fostered discussion across organisational boundaries helped shift focus from retrofitting systems to future production systems and improve engagement of engineering teams. Progress was marked by both success and setbacks and full integration appears to require more than 2 years time. It is concluded that support by senior managers should include succession planning for personnel that are key to the change effort.     

A decision support system for evaluating intangible investments

In this research project we have connected the procedural and substantive decision support by means of modern information technology. We have showed how the semistructured strategic decisions concerning intangible investments can be supported effectively by relating appropriate analysis methods to the different phases of the investment process. Because for the intangible investments there is no well-defined solution procedure available, a variety of methods must be integrated to support the solution process.

As a demonstrative example we showed how the intangible investments in logistic systems can be managed. It was highlighted that the logistics systems are complex, cross-functional systems that affect all major functions or departments within the firm beginning from the raw material deliveries and ending with the deliveries of finished goods. Investments in the logistics systems have corporatewide, cross-functional effects, and the investment decisions are strategic decisions. Consequently, the investments in the logistics systems should be strategically justified, not only cost-justified. The cross-functional effects imply that the investment analysis concerning the whole logistics system must be fulfilled under multiple, diversified criteria. We can not, however, ignore the financial, cost and revenue oriented, traditional investment criteria. They just have to be used in a new, flexible way in relation to the goals and objectives of the firm.

Strategic planning is a managerial area where semistructured problems frequently exist. One of the key problems faced in strategic management is the issue of investment decisions. Investments in information systems, logistic systems, flexible production systems, corporate image, etc, are examples of complex investment problems that are difficult to quantify and analyze with traditional techniques. Modern computer technology can enrich the analysis and improve the quality of strategic decision making.     

Wertorientiertes CRM

One major development within business practice is the increasing interest in customer relationship management (CRM) in recent years. CRM thereby focuses on establishing and maintaining profitable relationships with the customer using modern information technology (IT) and has emerged as a major research field in business and information systems engineering. However, despite huge investments many CRM projects fail to achieve their objectives as the complex and interdisciplinary nature of CRM is not addressed adequately. In fact an adoption of a customer-centric orientation within a value-based management requires not only a cross-functional integration of different business departments but also a selectively adjusted collaboration of those departments. This article provides an overview of the state of the art of CRM in literature as well as current practices in companies. Furthermore it outlines the specific challenges of a value-based CRM for the cross-functional integration and collaboration of marketing, financial management, and IT. Thus, in addition to a mutual alignment of marketing and IT, a value-based analysis, planning, and controlling of CRM-activities requires the development and implementation of standardized performance measurements and their adequate IT-support.     

Visualising a knowledge mapping of information systems investment evaluation

Information systems (IS) facilitate organisations to increase responsiveness and reduce the costs of their supply chain. This paper seeks to make a contribution through exploring and visualising knowledge mapping from the perspective of IS investment evaluation. The evaluation of IS is regarded as a challenging and complex process, which becomes even more difficult with the increased complexity of IS. The intricacy of IS evaluation, however, is due to numerous interrelated factors (e.g. costs, benefits and risks) that have human or organisational dimensions. With this in mind, there appears to be an increasing need to assess investment decision-making processes, to better understand the often far-reaching implications associated with technology adoption and interrelated knowledge components (KC). Through the identification and extrapolation of key learning issues from the literature and empirical findings, organisations can better improve their business processes and thereby their effectiveness and efficiency, while preventing others from making costly oversights that may not necessarily be only financial. In seeking to enlighten the often obscure evaluation of IS investments, this paper attempts to inductively emphasise the dissemination of knowledge and learning through the application of a fuzzy Expert System (ES) based knowledge mapping technique (i.e. Fuzzy Cognitive Map [FCM]). The rationale for exploring knowledge and IS investment evaluation is that a knowledge map will materialise for others to exploit during their specific technology evaluation. This is realised through conceptualising the explicit and tacit investment drivers. Among the several findings drawn from this research, the key resulting knowledge mapping through FCM demonstrated the complex, multifaceted and emergent behaviour of causal relationships within the knowledge area. The principal relationships and knowledge within IS investment evaluation are illustrated as being determined by a blend of managerial and user perspectives.     

Enabling knowledge diversity to benefit cross-functional project teams: Joint roles of knowledge leadership and transactive memory system

Team members’ knowledge diversity has a “double-edged sword” nature within cross-functional project teams (CFPTs), showing an inconsistent relationship with team performance. For realizing this diversity’s potential benefits, leadership is usually an essential enabler. However, little is known about how knowledge leadership achieves this. This study proposed that knowledge leadership moderates the effect of knowledge diversity on team performance through a transactive memory system (TMS). By empirically testing survey data from 96 CFPTs, we found that knowledge leadership enables a positive linkage of knowledge diversity-CFPT performance by successively breaking down barriers to communication and cooperation in TMS development and functioning.     

How employees' perception of information technology application and their knowledge management capacity influence organisational performance

This study investigates how workers' gender, work experience, designated division, and appointment affect (i) their perception of information technology (IT) within the organisation, (ii) their self-perceived capacity in knowledge management (KM), and (iii) their perception of organisational performance (OP). Furthermore, the study also examines the correlation among the above three dimensions by using t-test, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation and stepwise regression analysis. These results show a positive correlation among IT application, KM capacity, and OP. In addition, the study discovers that (i) adequate IT investment and acceptance will improve employees' KM capacity, (ii) appropriate IT investment and training and employees' knowledge replication ability can better predict organisational outcomes, and (iii) employees' KM capacity is a better predictor of OP than IT application. Results also show that personal factors do affect workers' perception of the organisation's IT application, their KM capacity, and overall OP.     

ALTAR in action: knowledge management

This paper describes the knowledge management (KM) aspects of an action research (AR) project that took place in a large U.K. manufacturing organisation, Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd. The ALTAR (Achieving Learning Through Action Research) approach described in an earlier paper was developed through the KM project described in this paper. The ALTAR approach was intended to facilitate organisational learning and academic research and the study involved a number of AR cycles at different levels of the collaborating organisation. Theoretical concepts were taken from the academic literature and were developed for practical use and fed back into the academic research. The knowledge value chain, in particular, helped the organisation to focus on the essential aspects of KM. The research-led thinking was useful in helping Britvic staff to define and understand the importance of knowledge, to identify what knowledge assets they owned and to understand how that knowledge could be harnessed. The research facilitated individuals' understanding of how better to access the knowledge of others and to share their own knowledge to benefit the whole organisation. From an academic point of view, the AR project facilitated academic research, stimulated organisational change and learning provided useful material for research outputs, teaching and learning and promoted future research opportunities.     

Learning Organisations: The Process of Innovation and Technological Change

In the present scenario of globalisation, knowledge has become the prime factor of production for competitive advantage. This calls for acquisition and utilisation of knowledge for innovation and technical change on a constant basis, which is only possible in a ‘learning organisation’. Innovative activities of a learning organisation are influenced by three main factors: (1) internal learning; (2) external learning; and (3) the innovation strategies decided upon by the enterprise management. An assumption has been made that, particularly in developing countries, absorption and adaptation of technologies, i.e. indigenisation, take place through a process of ‘learning by doing’. Taking this into consideration, this paper focuses on a few case studies carried out at NISTADS, New Delhi, India, on small enterprises in the formal as well as traditional sectors, highlighting the learning process in an organisational context and how it brings in innovation and technological change at enterprise level. The study demonstrates that the learning environment in an organisational context is an indispensable process to be innovative and building up capabilities for technological change. This in turn also calls for strong networking of the enterprises with academia, R&D institutions and other enterprises, to create knowledge clusters. This builds up a strong case for a network approach of learning organisations not only at the regional level but also at the cross-cultural level for constant innovation and technical change.     

Ontological Flip Teaching: a Flip Teaching model based on knowledge management

Training models are designed for students to acquire knowledge at the individual level. Yet that knowledge is not usually applied later to increase organisational knowledge, as represented by the didactic resources available on a subject, nor to improve the effectiveness of the subject itself. In industrial, economic and production areas, knowledge is considered a part of an organisation’s value. This takes into account the knowledge that is acquired by individuals while doing their work, which can both help improve the work of their peers and increase the overall knowledge available within the organisation. In this work, the student of an educational organisation is considered a person who is able to share the knowledge they have acquired on a given subject so that other students can improve their learning. This work proposes the integration of the classic Flip Teaching model that usually involves students/trainees viewing lectures outside of class time while class time is dedicated to practical exercises, with a knowledge spiral that involves ontological and time dimensions. This integration allows to convert individual knowledge into organisational knowledge through the resources that are created by students over the continuous editions of a training course. A quasi-experimental method proves that the new model, called Ontological Flip Teaching, increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the classic Flip Teaching model in the acquisition of the teamwork competence. The results are based on the students’ opinion about workload and time spent to develop both models, the final grades and the student–student interactions.     

Failure mode and effects analysis using a group-based evidential reasoning approach

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a methodology to evaluate a system, design, process or service for possible ways in which failures (problems, errors, risks and concerns) can occur. It is a group decision function and cannot be done on an individual basis. The FMEA team often demonstrates different opinions and knowledge from one team member to another and produces different types of assessment information such as complete and incomplete, precise and imprecise and known and unknown because of its cross-functional and multidisciplinary nature. These different types of information are very difficult to incorporate into the FMEA by the traditional risk priority number (RPN) model and fuzzy rule-based approximate reasoning methodologies. In this paper we present an FMEA using the evidential reasoning (ER) approach, a newly developed methodology for multiple attribute decision analysis. The proposed FMEA is then illustrated with an application to a fishing vessel. As is illustrated by the numerical example, the proposed FMEA can well capture FMEA team members’ diversity opinions and prioritize failure modes under different types of uncertainties.     

What is knowledge and can it be managed?

Philosophical and linguistic debates about the nature of knowledge, information and data should be of more than academic interest to the practice of knowledge management. Grounds are proposed for showing that not all enterprise-critical knowledge can be captured and transferred by the use of data warehouses or knowledge repositories. A key difference highlighted is that between the natural execution of a task and the ability to talk about a task which is discussed as a distinction between ‘thrown’ and ‘breakdown’ behaviour. It is shown that this contrast renders even that which can be codified an incomplete representation of the knowledge concerned. Knowledge management must therefore concern itself with both tangible issues and artefacts (such as codified representations that can be secured) and intangible features such as the skills which people require to interpret and exploit those representations. Furthermore, as organisational structures and procedures themselves represent codified knowledge, they must be designed to be inherently changeable in order to permit the enterprise continuously to adapt as new knowledge is acquired.     

Compliance with institutional imperatives on environmental sustainability: Building theory on the role of Green IS

Addressing the complexity of the growing number of regulatory imperatives from global institutional environments has prompted firms in the IT sector to leverage the enabling effects of IT-based systems to help manage environmental compliance and related organisational risks. Thus, a new breed of IS—Green IS—emerged in recent years. This paper presents an integrative theoretical model that: (1) employs institutional theory to help explain how a range of exogenous regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive factors from the institutional environment and the organisational field influence IT manufacturers’ decisions on the design and manufacture of environmentally sustainable products; and (2) uses organisational theory to describe the strategic endogenous arrangements that organisations institute using Green IS in order to support sense-making, decision making and knowledge creation around environmental sustainability. The paper employs the findings of a case study of Compliance and Risks’ Ltd. Compliance-to-Product (C2P) application and its implementation in two US-based Fortune 500 IT manufacturers to help validate and refine the a priori theoretical model. The paper therefore makes a significant contribution to theory building on the phenomenon of Green IS, through its articulation of empirically-based theoretical propositions which employ conceptual mechanisms to explain how Green IS can support organisational sense-making, decision making and knowledge sharing and creation around the design and manufacture of Green IT.     

Co-ordinating Distributed Knowledge: A Study into the Use of an Organisational Memory

This paper presents an ethnographically informed investigation into the use of an organisational memory, focusing in particular on how information was used in the performance of work. We argue that understanding how people make use of distributed knowledge is crucial to the design of an organisational memory. However, we take the perspective that an ‘organisational memory’ is not technology dependent, but is an emergent property of group interaction. In this sense, the technology does not form the organisational memory, but provides a novel means of augmenting the co-ordination of collaborative action. The study examines the generation, development and maintenance of knowledge repositories and archives. The knowledge and information captured in the organisational memory enabled the team members to establish a common understanding of the design and to gain an appreciation of the issues and concerns of the other disciplines. The study demonstrates why technology should not be thought of in isolation from its contexts of use, but also how designers can make use of the creative flexibility that people employ in their everyday activities. The findings of the study are therefore of direct relevance to both the design of knowledge archives and to the management of this information within organisations.     

Help for cyberterrorism: Y2K's silver lining

We have seen numerous concerted efforts to deal with worldwide problems that potentially affected everyone, such as world wars and health hazards. We are now witnessing a different kind of global mobilization to conquer the Y2K problem. To remedy the Y2K problem, IT departments throughout the world have had to direct enormous resources to perform an in-depth analysis of their computers. We have inventoried software, hardware, and applications; fixed code; replaced noncompliant components and embedded chips; and developed contingency plans. Contingency planning is a major endeavor to ensure continuity of operations even if Y2K bugs persist and cause a system failure. In all this planning is 1st January 2000 the ideal time for a terrorist to strike? So now, as we turn the corner on Y2K, I believe we need to focus on this other large problem: terrorism through cyberspace-cyberterrorism. I consider cyberterrorism to be the use of information technology to disrupt critical infrastructure. Y2K can pay dividends by helping us to protect that infrastructure     

Evaluating the role and effectiveness of an intranet in facilitating knowledge management: a case study at Surrey County Council

The research study discussed here examined the role and effectiveness of intranet technology in the process of creating and managing knowledge for the Social Services Department of Surrey County Council, which is one of the largest local authorities in the UK. Based on an analysis of the literature in the field, we devised an intranet evaluation model (IEM) using both technical (hard) and human (soft) factors. It made use of an epistemological framework to elicit user mental models from across an organisation via a survey.The model was able to identify gaps, mismatches and failings in the knowledge management efforts. These were summarised in an easily understandable diagrammatic form, using knowledge evaluation maps; these showed the gap between the current and desired intranet roles for the different user groups within the council.The paper concludes by demonstrating how factors, such as the different mental models of the user groups can determine the effectiveness (or otherwise) of an intranet in managing organisational knowledge. It also contains recommendations of services that need attention in the council operations and suggests how the IEM could be used as a consulting tool for organisations seeking to evaluate their own knowledge management work on a continuous basis.     

The effects of enterprise resource planning implementation strategy on cross-functionality

Abstract.  Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are characterized by specific features such as the scope of the ERP modules, interdependent relationships, single database and standard management and processing rules, all of which are capable of causing various degrees of change within the company and, potentially, encourage a more cross-functional overview of it. This paper develops a theoretical distinction between cross-functional integration and cross-functionality as it raises people's awareness of the transverse and coupled nature of work process across different organizational units. It aims to test and discuss the impact of ERP implementation strategy (organizational vision, process re-engineering, the scope of the ERP modules implemented and speed) on cross-functionality. The methodology is basically based on a survey of 100 French companies, of which the results are further discussed in five case studies. The results show that all previously mentioned factors play significant roles. These roles should be addressed in future research.     

Development of a mechanism for ontology-based product lifecycle knowledge integration

Compared with relying on the efforts of various enterprises collaborating on product lifecycle activities, such as coordination, communication and control, the ability to effectively share product information and knowledge is more important. Therefore, how to best integrate such heterogeneous product knowledge distributed among various cooperating enterprises has become an extremely important knowledge management subjects associated with collaborative product lifecycle.This study develops a novel mechanism for integrating ontology-based product lifecycle knowledge to effectively integrate the heterogeneous product knowledge distributed among different enterprises during a product’s lifecycle, thereby facilitating sharing of this product knowledge. This study: (i) designed an integration and sharing process for collaborative product lifecycle knowledge, (ii) developed techniques associated with integration of ontology-based product lifecycle knowledge, and (iii) implemented an integration and sharing mechanism for ontology-based product lifecycle knowledge. In developing techniques associated with integration of ontology-based product lifecycle knowledge, which involves establishing a product lifecycle ontology, designing local ontology schema, designing an integration algorithm for ontology-based product lifecycle knowledge, and designing a searching method for ontology-based product lifecycle knowledge.     

A shared ontology for integrated highway planning

Many highway agencies have several functional groups responsible for planning for safety, maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R), mobility, and other functions. The functional nature of State Highway Agencies (SHAs) can result in a siloed approach to planning. Such efforts are further challenged by functional groups utilizing legacy systems which lack interoperability. In practice, this leads to redundant planning efforts and potential spatial-temporal conflicts in the projects proposed by the different groups over a planning period. There is a need for an integrated approach to planning supported by information systems. However, the existing literature on formalized knowledge representation fails to adequately account for the level of information needed for cross-functional planning of projects scheduled for the same network. Hence, this study presents an ontology for integrating information to support the cross-functional and spatial-temporal planning of highway projects. The Integrated Highway Planning Ontology (IHP-Onto) is a shared representation of knowledge about pavement assets, M&R planning, and inter-project coordination. Sources of the knowledge acquired included expert interviews, a review of nation-wide studies, and previously published ontologies. The implementation phase included a case study demonstration of the ontology by answering relevant competency questions via SPARQL queries. Based on the data-driven evaluation of the ontology, the precision and recall rates obtained were 97% and 92% respectively. Based on the results of the evaluation approaches, IHP-Onto was demonstrated as being sufficient to represent domain knowledge capable of supporting integrated highway planning.