Rethinking knowledge management in an emerging AI landscape

Knowledge management (KM) is maturing as a field of study with an interdisciplinary orientation, being taught in a variety of schools by the faculty from diverse affiliations. In this context, KM curriculum design becomes a major challenge for educators. This study was designed with the purpose of analyzing the perceptions of senior KM academics and KM experts about the relevance and value of KM constructs in graduate programs. KM curriculum content was proposed based on an earlier study of KM modules (Rehman and Sumait, 2010). KM modules: An analysis of course. In Paper presented at the Pre-conference on LIS Education in Developing Countries, 75th Annual IFLA Conference, Milan, Italy; revised version accepted for publication in Journal of Information and Knowledge Management, 2010) about what is being taught in the KM programs. We also used findings of a validated set of KM taxonomy that indicated both the structure of the discipline and disciplinary content expressed in standard terminology (Tan, 2010; Chaudhry and Lee, 2009). Intellectual structure of knowledge management. The International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management, (9)). Two hundred KM academics and experts were identified internationally as potential participants. They were requested to respond to a Web-based survey, indicating their perceptions about the value and relevance of KM statements/modules. Fifty-one of them responded to the survey. The results have indicated that the academics placed a great deal of emphasis on the conceptual foundations of the discipline for its inclusion in the curriculum. KM modules related to KM processes, knowledge sources, KM technology, knowledge organisation, and knowledge sharing received a clear emphasis. It is expected that the findings of this study will be useful for those engaged in curriculum design or revision.

Corporate Knowledge Management in Agile Manufacturing

PurposeThe paper aims to discuss the critical issue of learning and knowledge convergence in knowledge‐intensive organizations, and to provide practical guidelines for effective strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper brings together previous research in knowledge management and provides a critique for the lack of integration of previous studies with learning, a key process for efficient knowledge management. Stemming from this critique, an integrative framework for knowledge management support from a learning perspective is proposed.FindingsThe major contribution is the framework for knowledge management support from a learning perspective, which can guide strategies of effective knowledge and learning management. This framework initiates an interesting discussion of technological issues that can enhance current knowledge management practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe taxonomy of knowledge management systems provides the basis for an extensive specification of knowledge management strategies. Further research could focus on an instrumental approach to the integrative framework suggested in this paper, to illustrate how it can be used to enhance the integration of learning processes and products in the knowledge management process.Practical implicationsThe paper is a very useful source of information and impartial advice for strategists, knowledge management officers and people interested in implementing learning and knowledge management in a knowledge‐intensive organization.Originality/valueThis paper presents a novel taxonomy of knowledge management systems from a learning perspective. Unlike previous literature on knowledge management, this paper makes an explicit claim for integrating knowledge management and learning activities and illustrates how the two can be jointly supported by various knowledge management systems.

Purpose The knowledge management (KM) models in the African organisations are influenced by the interplay between human agents from diverse societies whose experiences, values, contextual information and insights that are perceived controversial in Africa. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the indigenous assumptions related to knowledge and its management in Africa and the perceived contradictions in the existing models by adopting the Ubuntu philosophy. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a perspective lens to examine the existing management practices and propose an integrated framework that is appropriate for the utilisation of the Ubuntu epistemic knowledge management practices and at the same time provide highlights on the perceived paradoxes and how they can be managed to improve knowledge management and people management in African societies. Findings The inductive posteriori knowledge approach is perceived to be dynamic, applicable and more desirable in the African societies as it allows organisational managers and their work teams to embrace knowledge construction, dependent on experiences in form of stories and metaphors that demonstrate successful work samples. The Ubuntu dramaturgical knowledge management approach adds value to the posteriori knowledge by refining the rhetoric stories and metaphors into empirical performance scripts that are tailored to the audiences’ expectations. Research limitations/implications The paper adapted a perspective view to explain knowledge management; therefore, it was not possible to provide empirical data on the metaphysical and dramaturgical elements that are assumed to influence knowledge management in Africa. However, based on theoretical analysis, the authors have proposed a coherent knowledge management framework based on the interaction between posteriori KM assumptions and Ubuntu dramaturgy. Practical implications Ubuntu ideology has been appreciated since it treasures interdependency and interconnectedness among people. Therefore, collaborating partners working in Africa would be expected to act as interdependent agents, whereby this interdependency is perceived as an integral part of the knowledge management process. The proposed Ubuntu knowledge management model is grounded on the posteriori knowledge approach which assumes that experience is the source of knowledge. Through social interactions and experiences sharing, organisational members can create new processes, innovative technologies and dynamic context based performance scripts that can drive productivity. Social implications The authors concluded that a coherent framework that is tailored to social interactions and contextual needs of the people and their communities can promote productive knowledge and knowledge management systems in the African contexts. Moreover knowledge management requires one to acknowledge the complexity of Ubuntu ideology in a sense that it recognises the past experiences and contributions of the diverse individuals in the same community/organisation. Originality/value This paper focused on examining how the Ubuntu philosophy can promote knowledge development and management strategies that are tailored to social and contextual needs of the organisations in Africa to curtail the perceived paradoxes in the existing knowledge management models.

Leading knowledge management in a secondary school

This study aims to examine the influence of Knowledge Management (KM), Talent Management (TM), and Transformational Leadership (TL) on the performance of higher education institutions in Makassar, Indonesia, emphasizing the role of TL as a mediator between KM and TM and institutional performance. This quantitative study involved 325 lecturers from various universities in Makassar. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to assess the relationship between KM, TM, TL, and lecturer performance. The results showed that KM and TM have a significant positive influence on performance, both directly and through the mediation of TL. KM positively affects TL, and these two variables, along with TM, contribute significantly to performance improvement. However, the interaction between KM and TL did not show a significant moderating effect on performance, indicating that the direct influence of KM and TM is more dominant in this context. This study confirms the importance of the integration of KM and TM in improving the performance of higher education institutions and demonstrates the strategic role of TL in maximizing the effectiveness of these management strategies. The findings suggest that effective leadership can enhance the implementation of KM and TM, which overall improves organizational performance. The practical implications of this study are highly relevant for policy makers and university administrators in Makassar to develop and implement strategies that integrate effective KM and TM practices, directed by transformational leadership. Further research is recommended to use a longitudinal design to validate the findings and understand the dynamics of this relationship over time.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the efficacy of knowledge management (KM) based systems and best practices that could be used to address operational issues in the oil and gas sector.Design/methodology/approachGiven little was known empirically about the strategies and practices which contribute to improved performance, innovation and continuous improvement in the oil and gas sector qualitative method was used. Semi-structured interviews were used to derive senior managers’ constructs of project delivery efficiency and KM based systems. The interviews were analysed through the use of a qualitative analysis software package NUDIST NVivoTM. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Validity and reliability were achieved by first assessing the plausibility in terms of already existing knowledge on some of the operational issues raised by participants.FindingsThese were synthesised into a framework capturing seven well-defined stages. All these steps emerged as being related; they are comprised of independent variables. These steps were found to comprise of knowledge management technology approaches, knowledge management people approaches, KM strategies and value enhancing practices.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the findings are pertinent to oil and gas organisations, it will be important to conduct follow-up research validating the potential for using the results of this study to establish frameworks for knowledge and information management in different organisations and contexts. This will provide not only data about the validity of the framework in generic terms but will also generate additional data on the application of KM strategy.Practical implicationsAs shown in this study, successful KM based systems requires the aligning of business strategy, technology for KM, project management operations with an enterprise knowledge-sharing culture. Such sharing requires managing the behaviour of project personnel such that knowledge transfer becomes part of the organisation’s norm.Social implicationsThe implementation of KM based systems requires deliberate planning and action to create the conditions for success and put in place the strategy, leadership, goals, process, skills, systems, issue resolution, and structure to direct and exploit the dynamic nature of project work. The strategies proposed in this research cannot be expected to resolve all KM issues in the oil and gas sector. However, their use defines an approach that is superior to the traditional approaches typically adopted and consequently merits far wider application.Originality/valueThe proposed framework presents a better way of optimising the performance of project-based operations thus enabling oil and gas organisations to reform their poor performance on projects and empower them to better manage emerging cultural challenges in their future projects. Reflecting on their experiences, the participants confirmed that the proposed KM framework and its seven well-defined stages were central to the effectiveness of KM in oil and gas operations. Although the scope of this research was restricted to projects in Nigeria and the UK, the geographical focus of this research does not invalidate these results with respect to other countries. The fact is that the oil and gas sector globally shares some common fundamental characteristics.

This paper summarises aspects from the doctoral thesis “Regional Development in Romania and Finland. Examples from Remote and Sparsely Populated Areas”. It reffers to regional and rural development processes within cross-sectoral partnerships quadruple helixes. Knowledge management is a component of regional and rural development, generally and of local development processes and project management particularly. It is insufficiently acknowledged and accounted for. There are numerous cases when involuntary knowledge management occurs while carrying on regional or rural development, therefore the specific processes related to knowledge creation and management are conducted without awareness, harnessing less a more efficient functioning of the activity. At a very general level, social structure consists of the uneven puzzles of social subsystems facilitating or hindering different kinds of interactions (Giddens 1984). The conceptual model takes over Giddens’ consideration about sub-systems, therefore it also assumes that each of them has different degrees of structuration and there are different kinds of interactions to be considered (Aldea-Partanen 2007). The theoretical framework employed accounts for concepts associated with regional development such as knowledge creation and management, innovation, sustainability, social networks and social capital, quadruple helix, and place-based development. Other terms, related to the policy framework, are considered in a critical manner: main available policies are briefly examined, at different levels, connecting them to elements from the theoretical framework. Policy implementation and evaluation tools, such as project cycle management are summarised and critically reviewed. This paper focuses on the way knowledge management may be used for knowledge based regional and local development. This paper provides a review of concepts related to knowledge management in regional development processes. Keywords: knowledge management, regional development, sustainable innovation, quadruple helix, involuntary knowledge management, knowledge transfer

In many parts of the world, the use of indigenous knowledge to curb the problems of environment and natural resources mismanagement has been effectively applied. This study focused on assessing the efficiency of Indigenous Knowledge in managing the environment and natural resources in Ringim Local Government Area (LGA) of Jigawa State, Nigeria. The study was qualitative consisted of focus group discussion and interviews. The eight discussants’ groups defined by ages (25 – 40, 40 – 60, and 60 years old and above) were interviewed on environmental issues and level of indigenous Knowledge. The results revealed that the level of environmental awareness within Ringim community is significantly effective in the management of environment. Also, the efficiency of indigenous knowledge in environmental management was very effective as declared by more than 71% of the respondents. This indicates that the study area utilizes local knowledge in the management and conservation of their immediate resources and environment. More than 72.92% of the residents of these communities have blamed the poor drainage network as the major cause of flooding in the area. Therefore, it can be summed up that, the level of environmental awareness, indigenous knowledge in environmental management is very effective within the study area. It was recommended that government and private organizations should collaborate with communities in solving numerous environmental challenges through the application of indigenous knowledge and environmental awareness.

Purpose: This research examined the efficacy of knowledge management based systems and best practices that could be used to address operational issues in the oil and gas sector. Design/methodology/approach: Given little was known empirically about the strategies and practices which contribute to improved performance, innovation and continuous improvement in the oil and gas sector qualitative method was used. Semi-structured interviews were used to derive senior managers’ constructs of project delivery efficiency and knowledge management based systems. The interviews were analysed through the use of a qualitative analysis software package NUDIST NVivoTM. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Validity and reliability were achieved by first assessing the plausibility in terms of already existing knowledge on some of the operational issues raised by participants. Findings: These were synthesised into a framework capturing seven-well defined stages. All these steps emerged as being related; they are comprised of independent variables. These steps were found to comprise of knowledge management technology approaches, knowledge management people approaches, knowledge management strategies and value enhancing practices. Research limitations/implications: Although the findings are pertinent to oil and gas organisations, it will be important to conduct follow-up research validating the potential for using the results of this study to establish frameworks for knowledge and information management in different organisations and contexts. This will provide not only data about the validity of the framework in generic terms but will also generate additional data on the application of knowledge management strategy. Practical implications: As shown in this study, successful knowledge management based systems requires the aligning of business strategy, technology for knowledge management, project management operations with an enterprise-knowledge sharing culture. Such sharing requires managing the behaviour of project personnel such that knowledge transfer becomes part of the organisation’s norm. Social implications: The implementation of knowledge management based systems requires deliberate planning and action to create the conditions for success and put in place the strategy, leadership, goals, process, skills, systems, issue resolution, and structure to direct and exploit the dynamic nature of project work. The strategies proposed in this research cannot be expected to resolve all knowledge management issues in the oil and gas sector. However, their use defines an approach that is superior to the traditional approaches typically adopted and consequently merits far wider application. Originality/value: The proposed framework presents a better way of optimising the performance of project-based operations thus enabling oil and gas organisations to reform their poor performance on projects and empower them to better manage emerging cultural challenges in their future projects. Reflecting on their experiences, the participants confirmed that the proposed knowledge management framework and its seven well-defined stages were central to the effectiveness of knowledge management in oil and gas operations. Although the scope of this research was restricted to projects in Nigeria and the UK, the geographical focus of this research does not invalidate these results with respect to other countries. The fact is that the oil and gas sector globally shares some common fundamental characteristics.

Knowledge and innovation management is a knowledge management is a way of managing knowledge so that it can be distributed to organizations and can be studied by organizations in order to achieve the goals of the organization in terms of creating a product process that can affect organizational performance. Management of human resources (HR) is important in achieving the goals of an organization or agency. The purpose of this theoretical analysis is to find out how knowledge and innovation management improves human resources in the health sector. The research method used is a theoretical analysis study. Theoretical analysis as analysis in order to ensure that the theories used as analytical tools to dissect the problems in research are scientifically correct. The core of this theoretical analysis is knowledge and innovation management in the health sector, namely in terms of human factors, organization and strategy. It can be concluded that Knowledge management in innovation has become something that is very decisive, therefore its acquisition and utilization needs to be managed properly in the context of improving organizational or agency performance. In addition, strong management is also needed so that this knowledge takes root in every individual in the organization, always improving resource skills that can be supported by infrastructure for disseminating information within organizations and agencies. For institutions in the health sector, it is urgently needed how to apply to employees and health workers related to increasing skills through knowledge management and innovation. Employees or health workers must be able to acquire knowledge, make knowledge into institutional assets, apply the knowledge acquired and protect this knowledge as an asset that must be maintained and developed in providing health services to patients and also the importance of improving human resources.

PurposeThis paper seeks to explore the relationship between knowledge management and quality management with a particular focus on the role of quality culture. The paper also aims to address the assumption that as knowledge management reaches its maturity, in terms of acceptance as an important part of doing business in the modern world, quality will again become the mantra of successful companies.Design/methodology/approachA total of 1,000 quality managers from Australian organisations were surveyed for their perspectives on current and future knowledge management and quality management approaches. The questionnaire utilised both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The questionnaire was broken into three sections: respondent profile, current knowledge management and quality management practices, and future predictions for both knowledge management and quality management.FindingsThe key finding of the paper was that organisations would have to embrace a quality culture as a fundamental component of implementing knowledge management in order to compete successfully in such a dynamic business environment. The responses from this survey assist in identifying the relationship between knowledge and quality management, and the importance and future of both knowledge and quality management.Originality/valueThis paper is based upon the assumption that quality is in fact, resurging. It has identified quality culture as the significant link between knowledge management and quality management that leads to successful competitive advantage. Organisations are urged to recognise knowledge management as a vehicle for success not a stand‐alone process. It is the first time that such a survey has been designed, and the first time a paper has produced an explanation to the current situation.

Purpose– This paper aims to explore knowledge management (KM) literature to understand further the inter-relationship among KM infrastructure (KMI), KM strategy (KMS), KM process (KMP) and individual competence (IC), which are considered very much essential for achieving a heightened competence at an individual level. In the present scenario, knowledge intensive organizations are striving highly to manage competitiveness for their survival in the market. The role of knowledge capability is very much pivotal in ensuring the success of knowledge process implementation.Design/methodology/approach– A methodical review has been carried out of empirical and conceptual articles to justify the linkages among KMI, KMS, KMP and IC, particularly accessed through sources such as Pro Quest, EBSCO host, Google Scholar and other e-databases. This review integrates a conceptual framework to explore the relationship among the aforesaid constructs.Findings– This study provides valuable insight into the role of KMI and KMS in enabling various KM processes. It also contributes significantly to organizations by helping them to integrate KM processes so as to enhance IC.Research limitations/implications– This paper provides helpful suggestions to drive the KMPs by facilitating suitable congruence of infrastructure capabilities and KMSs within organizations. Further, this study would also be helpful in enhancing IC along with organizational competence. Study limitations are also discussed.Originality/value– This paper contributes to knowledge and competence management literature by adding the fact that KMI and KMS both precede KMP for better outcomes at an individual level.

Today’s world is entering the knowledge-based economy. In this economy, knowledge and intellectual capital management are among the most important assets of an organization. Implementing an efficient knowledge management strategy and transforming an organization into a knowledge-based one, is considered one of the fundamental qualifications for the success of the organizations that enter the knowledge-based economy. With the transformation of organizations, like network organizations that reshape from classic form into modern and modified form, the importance of knowledge management has been doubled and it has become one of the most fundamental issues and concerns in the management of these organizations. Many thinkers has identified that the execution and implementation of knowledge management in an organization are vital elements in knowledge management, while the other elements can be regarded as an introductory for preparing infrastructure and utilizing them to practical realization of knowledge management. When organizations utilize knowledge management the confidence in organization increases, communications become more effective, team work culture grows richer, responsibilities become more transparent, self-assurance increases, the administrative processes are codified more scientifically and the professional ethic will flourish. This study attempts to provide an in-depth study of library resources and propose a macro-model for knowledge management implementation in network organizations. The goal of network organizations is to utilize the macro-capacities completely while the preserve agility and flexibility, however the optimal use of the organization’s knowledge resources in trivial organizations within created networks will not be an easy task. After an thorough review of literature related to virtual organizations and networks and knowledge management in them, and also surveying the processes, details, advantages and limitations of knowledge management, and concentrating on main components of knowledge management in network organization, the proposed operational pattern for knowledge management in network organizations, which consists of key performance indicators in administration and implementation of knowledge management and the communication within the organization and also outside the organization.

Indigenous knowledge has existed within the diverse African societies since the beginning of the life of such societies. However, it is claimed that during the colonial era in Africa such knowledge was ignored by colonialists, and later by African leaders after independence. Thus, most African indigenous knowledge including that used for improving human health was ignored by existing knowledge management theories; and people have come to depend more on exogenous (foreign) knowledge. Various theories on knowledge management have been proposed, however many have not focused on the management of African indigenous knowledge. This prompts a need to charter new theoretical models for the management of African indigenous knowledge. This article aimed at examining and highlighting various theories from different schools of thought that have explained the processes and activities involved in the management of knowledge by focusing on how they fit in managing the diversity of African indigenous knowledge systems. A total of three knowledge management theories were examined based on their significance and limitations. Given the existing theories’/models’ limitations to manage indigenous knowledge, a new framework that focuses on processes and strategies for the management of indigenous knowledge in the African context where such knowledge is generated and developed has been proposed. The five main attributes of the proposed framework are the following: the environment and setting, stages and phases for managing indigenous knowledge, the role and support of agents, the institutionalisation of indigenous knowledge and the legal framework for the management of indigenous knowledge.