This paper investigates the idea of knowledge work appropriate to the context of organization transformation. Specifically, we describe an actionable framework of knowledge synthesis, which accommodates the shift of information system (IS) support from automating to informating to knowledging. Our discussion intends to clarify the ideal of a learning organization which is designed to help transfer learning from individuals to a group, provide for organizational renewal, keep an open attitude to the outside world, and support a commitment to knowledge. The paper deals with the classification of knowledge tasks and its relation to organizational design. We elaborate the issue of knowledge characterizations that help structure and facilitate knowledge interconnectivity, through the exposition of the information continuum. We also describe the spiral approach of knowledge creation in terms of different modes of knowledge conversion, realizable in any of the contemporary organizations. Finally, we conclude by reiterating the various challenges of creating a communal knowledge space within the working of a learning organization.

This chapter provides general arguments for replacing Optimality Theory with a theory that employs ordered rules and derivations. Between 1968 and 1993 the majority of phonologists worked within a theoretical framework of Derivational Phonology (DP), whose central proposition is that the surface

Despite a voluminous literature and widespread belief in the inherent value of innovation, our understanding of the innovation construct remains rudimentary. Extant research on innovation spans across a variety of disciplines and levels of analysis. Yet, the divergence in core assumptions and methodologies across disciplines, coupled with few systematic efforts to integrate findings, have seriously hampered the crossfertilization of research ideas in the field of innovation. The motivation for this work stems from the fragmentary nature of innovation research and the need for a more holistic, ecumenical outlook on innovation. We believe that this paper takes a step toward overcoming disciplinary myopia and a further step toward synthesizing the diverse innovation literature. In this paper, we provide a synopsis of the innovation literature, with an emphasis on how innovation may potentially be reframed to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the construct. To this end, the paper is structured as follows. First, we outline various semantic definitions of innovation and their lexical variants. We then briefly discuss three confluent, but distinct terms (creativity, invention and organizational change) often mistakenly perceived to be synonymous with innovation. Next, we delineate the levels of analysis associated with innovation research and describe exemplary research emerging from these domains. Finally, we identify a number of promising research directions and propose an integrative cross-level model of innovation to energize future innovation research. 3

www.sintef.no/buildingsafety iii

The paper presents a research model and a measurement instrument for a research-in-progress study on the antecedents of success in IS offshoring projects. In this empirical-confirmatory study, we intend to analyse the impact of the constructs “offshoring expertise”, “trust in offshore service provider”, “project suitability”, “knowledge transfer”, and “liaison quality ” on offshore project success. Constructs and indicators are derived from an extensive literature review. We plan to formulate a structural equation model and to test it using partial least squares (PLS) as an analysis technique. Our research model addresses the paucity of research that quantitatively examines offshoring success.

Knowledge is increasingly claimed to be a key critical resource and source of competitive advantage in the modern global economy, especially with the rise of the service economy, the growth in the number of ‘knowledge workers’, the increasingly rapid flow of global information, and the growing recognition of the importance of intellectual capital and intellectual property rights. It is also increasingly claimed that all organizations will have to excel at creating, exploiting, applying, and mobilizing knowledge. The resourcebased view of the firm suggests that organizations will need to be able combine distinctive, sustainable, and superior assets, including sources of knowledge and information, with complementary competencies in leadership and human resource management and development to fully realize the value of their knowledge. Issues include how organizations should be structured to promote knowledge creation and mobilization and how to develop a culture and set of HRD policies and practices that harness knowledge and leverage it to meet objectives. It is often asserted that many SMEs in particular appear to be failing to exploit the information, knowledge, and skills in the knowledge base (KB) embodied in higher education, research institutes, and large companies. Technology translators, able to act as intermediaries between the SME and the KB – in a sense, as brokers and facilitators of learning, using interpersonal, creative, and functional skills – were seen as one response to this challenge. This paper describes one project aimed at developing such ‘technology translators’, and presents a model of viable knowledge management and HRD in SMEs developed after critical reflection on this case study. A research agenda for the study of SME–HE collaboration and other kinds of partnerships, such as alliances, mergers, and joint ventures, using the knowledge-creation cycle and knowledge typology developed in the paper is also outlined.