Knowledge is now recognized as an important basis for competitive advantage and many firms are beginning to establish initiatives to leverage and manage organizational knowledge. These include efforts to codify knowledge in repositories as well as efforts to link individuals using information technologies to overcome geographic and temporal barriers to accessing knowledge and expertise. We suggest that Knowledge Management (KM) efforts, to be successful, need to be sensitive to features of the context of generation, location, and application of knowledge. To this end, we highlight the situated organizational learning perspective that views knowledge as embedded in individuals, in connections between individuals, and in artifacts as a useful lens to examine phenomena related to the establishment of KM initiatives. In an ethnographic case study of an effort to change knowledge-work processes in a market research firm, we apply the situated knowledge perspective to highlight the factors responsible for the limited success of the initiative in the firm. This study suggests that a consideration of the situated knowledge web and the alignment of the initiatives with the features of the knowledge web are central to success in knowledge management efforts in firms.

Much research argues that information technology can have a positive influence on knowledge application. However, practical results from research on knowledge management systems indicate that such systems often fail when implemented in contemporary organizations. Whilst maintenance of knowledge management systems has been recognized as an important research area, imbalance between additional workload and accurate content still appears to be a critical factor, resulting in systems of little use for organisations in their knowledge application processes. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how knowledge management systems can be designed to better support knowledge application in organizational knowledge work processes. Building on lessons learned from three knowledge management systems, this paper contributes general design principles describing how knowledge management systems can be integrated with everyday work to leverage user practices.

ii Today, more and more organizations rely upon the competencies of their staffs. This increasing reliance on competence has triggered many organizations to implement competence systems in order to support staff allocation and competence development. Competence systems can be characterized as systems that describe and present measures of individuals ’ competencies. Even though the implemented competence systems are seemingly well-designed, it is apparent that such systems are only sporadically used in competence management practice. In spite of the fact that competence systems are aimed at supporting knowledge-based organizations, it seems that the systems do not fit this type of organization. This thesis is about how to design competence systems so that they achieve their intended effects in knowledgebased

Many people claim that e-learning is a waste of time. High dropout rates from e-learning courses, low learner satisfaction, ambiguous performance, seem to justify their opinion. But to the other extreme knowledge is recognized as a critical resource (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995), (Wiig 1993), (Hahn and Subramani 2000), time and place limitations are abolished through e-learning technologies. So there is a definitely need to promote a critical consideration of this new concept. Academic Institutions in Higher Education as well as Corporations face a dilemma: to follow the traditional way of delivering training and education or to establish innovative approaches. Innovation many times implies simple and clear approaches, not obscure concepts and vague terms. Our paper concentrates on clear ideas. E-learning is a waste of time only if we dont believe it as a value adding process that challenges the way of teaching.

Abstract: This paper concerns the need for methodological support in providing Knowledge Management (KM) IT solutions. Due to the distributed nature of knowledge, the support of KM often requires complex, distributed IT systems, which are inherently difficult to design. We propose an agent-oriented methodology for the analysis and design of KM systems that offers appropriate abstractions for modelling and designing the characteristics of the organizational setting of the system. The method is illustrated using a fictitious scenario where a newcomer in a knowledge organization decides to join an existing Community of Practice (CoP) in order to share knowledge and adjust to his new working environment. Our proposal uses the Tropos methodology to analyze an organizational setting and to elicit the requirements for a KM system, and proposes the Agent-Object-Relationship Modelling Language (AORML) for the architectural and detailed design. Aside of this primary goal, we also intend to point out needs of extending the expressiveness of the current agent-oriented modelling language we are using and to check where the methodology could be improved in order to make it more usable.

Information technology is arguably an important tool for knowledge management, facilitating learning in a business context. However, the current use of information technology in this area often fails to take into account the multifaceted and dynamic nature of knowledge creation, knowledge transfer and learning. In order to address this issue, the paper proposes a dynamic learning model that is based on three complementary dimensions: knowledge management, technology-supported learning pedagogy and application integration. We argue that this multidimensional model illustrates how technology-supported learning can work as a value-added process that supports the different needs of learners and businesses.

Many organisations have embraced intranets with the intent of harnessing the technology to support knowledge management initiatives. Despite the promise that intranet technology holds in this regard, many of the early research studies indicate rather disappointing results. In this paper we propose a model that organisations can use to conceptualise and reflect on their intranet applications with a view towards more fruitful results, specifically in terms of knowledge creation. We do so by drawing upon Nonaka's well-known framework of knowledge creation and combining that with a taxonomy of five intranet use modes. For each of Nonaka's four knowledge creating activities we associate and describe the corresponding primary intranet use mode that we argue can foster the knowledge creation process. We illustrate the arguments with findings from our own empirical intranet field studies and other documented intranet-related knowledge management research. We conclude with some implications of the model and we suggest avenues for further research.

Ever since man first shared the knowledge of how to make fire with his fellow human beings, the management of knowledge has been employed by masters training their apprentices and by parents teaching their children. Managing knowledge is hence no new phenomenon. In recent years, however, the importance of knowledge in business and industry has risen dramatically, and shifted from being one resource amongst many to becoming

The salient features of organizational knowledge and its manipulating activities make it difficult for traditional systems development methodologies to be directly applicable. Therefore, there is a need for a new generation of knowledge management support systems (KMSS) development methodologies that take into consideration such features. By extending the “information system design theory ” of Walls et al this paper proposes a “design theory ” for constructing development methodology for knowledge management support systems. The proposed design theory addresses the two aspects of design, namely, the product (methodology) and the process (meta-methodology). It also includes the existing features of KMSSs and theories from the natural and social sciences that used to inform their development methodology description and construction process. The theory of autopoiesis, as a system-grounded way of thinking with biological foundations, is used to characterize the required features of KMSS development methodology, i.e., methodology meta-requirements.

Knowledge is a fundamental asset for firms in the contemporary economy. Increasingly, knowledge is distributed across individuals, teams, and organizations. Therefore, the ability to create, acquire, integrate, and deploy distributed knowledge has emerged as a fundamental organizational capability (Takeishi 2001; Teece 1997). To be successful, firms must not only exploit their existing knowledge, but must also invest in continually exploring new knowledge as strategic options for future strategies and competitive advantage (Sambamurthy et al. 2003). The centrality of knowledge in firms is reflected in the emergence of the knowledge-based view (Conner and Prahalad 1996) as an important