The study aimed to identify the knowledge management processes and their role in achieving competitive advantage at Al-Quds Open University. The study was based on the descriptive analytical method, and the study population consists of academic and administrative staff in each of the branches of Al-Quds Open University in (Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin). The researchers selected a sample of the study population by the intentional non-probability method, the size of (70) employees. A questionnaire was prepared and supervised (...) by a number of specialists in order to obtain the results of the study. The study concluded that there is a positive direct relationship, that is, the higher the degree of application of knowledge management processes, the greater the degree of competitive advantage. Knowledge Technology came first with a score of 80.02% on all items. Competitive advantage came second with 81.74%. In the third place came "knowledge generation" where the total score on all paragraphs in this area (78.24%). In the fourth place, "knowledge transfer" (77.21%). "Developing and storing knowledge" came in fifth place (77.13%). "Acquisition of knowledge" came in sixth place (76.45%). Knowledge Organization ranked seventh (74.26%). The study recommended that the university should enable the employees to benefit from the experiences and expertise available to help generate knowledge. The University encourages the creation of knowledge through the system of incentives and open the way for creators to apply their creations and spread and invest in excellence and creativity. The university should design work performance levels based on the integration of knowledge and organize it according to policies that support freedom of research. The need for Palestinian universities to adopt a knowledge management approach. The need to adopt a system of incentives that rewards cognitive efforts, and give workers enough freedom to enable them to apply their knowledge. (shrink)

Innovation is considered to be a dominant cause for sustainable business success. Knowledge management and intellectual capital are powerful tools to promote innovation in the organization. Therefore, this study aims to explore the influence of knowledge management process and intellectual capital on innovation with the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation and moderating role of leader education level. Data were collected from a sample of 393 IT firms listed in the Pakistan Software Houses Association and applied a (...) partial least squares structural educational modeling technique. The results show that the knowledge management process and intellectual capital have a positive effect on innovation. Moreover, the study confirms that entrepreneurial orientation partially mediates the relationship between knowledge management and intellectual capital on innovation. Furthermore, the moderation effect of a leader’s education was confirmed for the knowledge management-innovation relationship whereas, the moderation effect of the leader’s education on intellectual capital and innovation relationship was insignificant. Recommendations for practitioners and future research directions were also discussed. (shrink)

In the contemporary world, frugal innovation is the most discussed area to enhance corporate sustainable performance in manufacturing firms. The knowledge management process is also a key determinant of FI. Existing literature is limited to knowledge management and its impact on CSP. This study aims to determine the effect of the KMP on sustainable corporate performance with the association of FI. The survey method was used to collect data from 356 small and medium enterprises in China. (...) Structure equation modeling was applied to obtain the results of collected data. Results show that all three dimensions of KM have a significant impact on CSP. Furthermore, FI also has a significant and positive impact on CSP. Results further show that FI partially mediates the relationship of the knowledge dissemination, knowledge application and sustainable corporate performance but no mediation role FI was found between knowledge acquisition and CSP. The findings of this study will provide useful insights for experts and manufacturers. It will help to understand the role of KM in their organizational behavior by being an economical manufacturing process. This study underscored the importance of the KMP to policymakers. In countries such as China that have global orders, KM is an essential determinant of FI. KM is a tool used to achieve CSP goals inside and outside of an enterprise, thus the development firms need to focus on KM. (shrink)

Various leadership styles have been widely studied to understand success. However, little research has empirically explored how entrepreneurial leadership influences entrepreneurial success. Moreover, the role of knowledge management processes and knowledge entrepreneurship have been overlooked. Thus, using a knowledge-based view theory, this study aims to determine the relationship between EL and ES, mediated through KMPs. In addition, for a better understanding, the study also used KE as a moderator. A quantitative survey method has been employed (...) to collect data from 390 entrepreneurial venture owners, co-founders, and managers in tech-oriented ventures operating in Pakistan. Smart partial least squares statistical software was used to analyze the impact mechanism of EL on ES through the structural equation model. The findings revealed that EL style positively influences ES. In addition, KMPs fully mediate the relationship between EL and ES. Furthermore, KE as a moderator, strengthens the relationships between EL and the knowledge management process. Theoretically, this study has complemented and enriched research on the influence mechanism between EL and ES. Practically, this study has important implications for leaders, managers, and founders to promote KMPs to achieve ES. (shrink)

Publication date: 29 September 2016 Source: Author: Samy S. Abu Naser, Mazen J. Al Shobaki, Youssef M. Abu Amuna This paper aims to measure knowledge management maturity in higher education institutions to determine the impact of knowledge management on high performance. Also the study aims to compare knowledge management maturity between universities and intermediate colleges. This study was applied on five higher education institutions in Gaza strip, Palestine. Asian productivity organization model was applied to (...) measure Knowledge Management Maturity. Second dimension which assess high performance was developed by the authors. The controlled sample was. Several statistical tools were used for data analysis and hypotheses testing, including reliability correlation using Cronbach’s alpha, “ANOVA”, Simple Linear Regression and Step Wise Regression. The overall findings of the current study shows that maturity level is in the second level. Findings also support the main hypothesis and it is sub- hypotheses. The most important factors effecting high performance are: Processes, knowledge management leadership, People, knowledge management Outcomes. Furthermore the current study is unique by the virtue of its nature, scope and way of implied investigation, as it is the first comparative study between universities and intermediate colleges in Gaza Strip that explores the status of knowledge management maturity using the Asian productivity Model. (shrink)

This paper aims to assess knowledge management maturity at HEI to determine the most effecting variables on knowledge management that enhance the total performance of the organization. This study was applied on Al-Azhar University in Gaza strip, Palestine. This paper depends on Asian productivity organization model that used to assess KM maturity. Second dimension assess high performance was developed by the authors. The controlled sample was (364). Several statistical tools were used for data analysis and hypotheses (...) testing, including reliability Correlation using Cronbach’s alpha, “ANOVA”, Simple Linear Regression and Step Wise Regression. The overall findings of the current study suggest that KMM is suitable for measuring and lead to enhance high performance. KMM assessment shows that the university maturity level is in level three. Findings also support the main hypothesis and it is subhypotheses. The most important factors effecting high performance are: Processes, KM leadership, People, KM Outcomes, Knowledge Process. Furthermore the current study is unique by the virtue of its nature, scope and way of implied investigation, as it is the first study at HEI in Palestine explores the status of KMM using the Asian productivity model. (shrink)

La gestión del conocimiento es un proceso relacionado con la producción, transmisión y utilización del conocimiento y su pertinencia para el desempeño organizacional; en la actualidad han aparecido diversidad de modelos que prescriben su configuración. El presente artículo describe el modelo que fundamenta teórica y metodológicamente la aplicación de la gestión del conocimiento en el Centro de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Sociales y Humanísticas en Salud. Esta entidad dedicada a la producción y transmisión del conocimiento científico en estas áreas de (...) conocimiento, no contaba con un modelo que permitiera estructurar el funcionamiento del proceso de su construcción y difusión en su interior y hacia el contexto. El modelo propuesto atiende la especificidad de los procesos de la entidad, y guía teórica y metodológicamente los flujos de información y conocimientos, las redes de actores presentes y los procesos de gestión de conocimiento que se integran en la dinámica de la organización. Knowledge management is a process related to the production, transmission and use of knowledge and its relevance to the organizational performance; nowadays there are several models that prescribe its configuration. This article describes a model that theoretically and methodologically bases the implementation of knowledge management on the Centre for the development of social and humanistic sciences in Health. This entity devoted to the production and transmission of scientific knowledge in these areas of knowledge, did not have a model that allow to structure the operation of its construction and diffusion process from inside and towards the context. The proposed model deals with specificities of the entity´ s processes, and theoretically and methodologically leads flows of information and knowledge, networks of actors and knowledge management processes that are integrated into the dynamics of the organization. (shrink)

Knowledge management hinges upon the presumption that workers within an organization possess knowledge that can be converted into concrete business improvements if the information is harvested and disseminated to others to whom it could be of use. True knowledge management must involve capturing the internal knowledge generated by a firm—its best thinking on products, customers, competitors and processes—and sharing it. Insofar as organizations are concerned, postmodernists argue that one view that has been in (...) appropriately privileged is that of the organization rather than the process of organizing. They draw our attention to the link between individual and collective identity. If there is a link between individual identity and how that individual behaves, there may also a link between collective identity and organizational action, for which a study on discourse ethics is essential. After considering the implications of knowledge management and the actual situation and work culture where the knowledge workers are in action, this paper raises and explores the questions wherein lies our individual identity and what its functional relation ship with the collective identity is. It has been envisaged in this article that through principles-driven cross-functional teams and innovative organizational mechanisms, sharing and conviction building need to be facilitated in modern organizations phasing out bureaucratic approaches and hierarchical power domination. Flexibility with a focused attitude is a must for organizations to adapt in a changing environment. (shrink)

Knowledge management hinges upon the presumption that workers within an organization possess knowledge that can be converted into concrete business improvements if the information is harvested and disseminated to others to whom it could be of use. True knowledge management must involve capturing the internal knowledge generated by a firm—its best thinking on products, customers, competitors and processes—and sharing it. Insofar as organizations are concerned, postmodernists argue that one view that has been in (...) appropriately privileged is that of the organization rather than the process of organizing. They draw our attention to the link between individual and collective identity. If there is a link between individual identity and how that individual behaves, there may also a link between collective identity and organizational action, for which a study on discourse ethics is essential. After considering the implications of knowledge management and the actual situation and work culture where the knowledge workers are in action, this paper raises and explores the questions wherein lies our individual identity and what its functional relation ship with the collective identity is. It has been envisaged in this article that through principles-driven cross-functional teams and innovative organizational mechanisms, sharing and conviction building need to be facilitated in modern organizations phasing out bureaucratic approaches and hierarchical power domination. Flexibility with a focused attitude is a must for organizations to adapt in a changing environment. (shrink)

The paper assesses Knowledge Management Maturity(KMM) in the universities to determine the impact of knowledge management on performance excellence. This study was applied on Al-Azhar University and Al-Quds Open University in Gaza strip, Palestine. This paper depends on Asian productivity organization model that used to assess KMM. Second dimension which assess performance excellence was developed by the authors. The controlled sample was (610). Several statistical tools were used for data analysis and hypotheses testing, including reliability Correlation (...) using Cronbach’s alpha, “ANOVA”, Simple Linear Regression and Step Wise Regression. The overall findings of the current study suggest that KMM is suitable for measuring performance excellence. KMM assessment shows that both universities maturity level is in level three. Findings also support the main hypothesis and it is sub- hypotheses. The most important factors effecting performance excellence are: Processes, KM leadership, People, KM Outcomes. Furthermore the current study is unique by the virtue of its nature, scope and way of implied investigation, as it is the first comparative study in the universities of Palestine explores the status of KMM using the Asian productivity Model. (shrink)

Knowledge is a productive resource having successful applications in almost every field and domain of human activities. With unprecedented growth in knowledge resources and explosion in data, such informative resources need effective organization for storage and efficient retrieval for future uses. The entire process involving organization, storage, and dissemination of knowledge falls under the auspices of knowledge management. Thus, Knowledge Management is an organizational practice. In this research paper, we provide a general outline (...) of some of the tools and technologies deployed in managing knowledge across organizations. -/- We believe that the practice of knowledge management - though considered to be a process - it is also a "method" by which organizations are able to management their knowledge and human resources. On this regard, this paper contributes to our further understanding of what organizational knowledge is, and how they should be proficiently managed that would contribute to organizational success. (shrink)

Understanding knowledge management in a higher education environment - knowledge as an intangible, social and ephemeral process cannot be directly “managed”.

Purpose of the article Knowledge has been considered as the strategic assets and become the source of competitive advantage in organizations. Knowledge management thus receives the extraordinary attention from the top management. Many organizational factors have influences on knowledge management practices. This paper attempts to explore the empirical relationship between knowledge management and organizational culture in the specific situation of China’s commercial banking industry. Methodology/methods The relationship between knowledge management and (...) organizational culture is quantitatively investigated by surveying bank managers. The scale of SECI modes is used to measure knowledge management process and the scale of Denison Organizational Culture Survey is used to measure organizational culture. We explore the underlying relationship by employing the statistical analyses such as correlation, regression and structural equation modeling. Scientific aim The research aims at testing the relationship between knowledge management and organizational culture, and furthermore if there exist linkages between cultural traits and SECI modes. Findings The results of the empirical study confirm the great and positive effect that organizational culture has on knowledge management. Different cultural traits contribute to different SECI modes. Conclusions For obtaining successful knowledge management practices in organizations, it is better to concern about the relationship between knowledge management and organizational culture. The limitation in the paper is the sampling size, which will be solved by an industry-wide survey in our future research. (shrink)

Knowledge management hinges upon the presumption that workers within an organization possess knowledge that can be converted into concrete business improvements if the information is harvested and disseminated to others to whom it could be of use. True knowledge management must involve capturing the internal knowledge generated by a firm—its best thinking on products, customers, competitors and processes—and sharing it. Insofar as organizations are concerned, postmodernists argue that one view that has been in (...) appropriately privileged is that of the organization rather than the process of organizing. They draw our attention to the link between individual and collective identity. If there is a link between individual identity and how that individual behaves, there may also a link between collective identity and organizational action, for which a study on discourse ethics is essential. After considering the implications of knowledge management and the actual situation and work culture where the knowledge workers are in action, this paper raises and explores the questions wherein lies our individual identity and what its functional relation ship with the collective identity is. It has been envisaged in this article that through principles-driven cross-functional teams and innovative organizational mechanisms, sharing and conviction building need to be facilitated in modern organizations phasing out bureaucratic approaches and hierarchical power domination. Flexibility with a focused attitude is a must for organizations to adapt in a changing environment. (shrink)

The socialization process in knowledge management has been in discussion for more than a decade, and most research has focused on socialization among employees in developing organizational knowledge. But this article tries to explore the socialization aspect in customer knowledge management in a customer-centric industry, retail using social media. The case study of a leading Indian retailer is implemented using netnography, a research technique that draws data from computer-mediated communication channels. The communications of the retailer (...) to and from customers through Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare are collected, codified and analysed. The findings explored the customer knowledge gaps in the social media interactions, based on which a CKG model was developed. The study gives a new insight for retailers which can be used to evaluate their strategies using customer knowledge from social media apart from customer relationship management and personal interactions. The information t... (shrink)

The relevance of the chosen topic of the article is determined by the fact that in the contemporary digital economy, society is growing increasingly reliant on information technologies, efficient data management and the necessity to transform knowledge management. The aim of the article is to study and substantiate the importance of transforming knowledge management to make it responsive to the volatile digital economy, highlight knowledge as a factor in the development of management systems (...) in the digital economy, elaborate on the information technology capacity in knowledge management, and analyze the knowledge management models applicable in the digital economy. The article analyzes the preconditions of an effective knowledge management model for the development of the quality management system and digital economy. It also studies the concept of the digital economy, and defines the role of human resources in digitalization. We have examined the prerequisites for knowledge management, relationships between human resources management processes, quality management systems and information technologies with the purpose of building an efficient quality management system inside an organization. At the present stage, information technologies are developing rapidly and their management requires continuous education and self-development. Thus, one of the priority tasks of economic development is the professional application of computer technology in all fields of activity. The formation of the computer literacy skill set of the general public will become an indicator of the readiness of society to comply with the up-to-date requirements. (shrink)

‘Semantic technologies’ are touted as the next big wave in Educational Technology and as the solution to many problems in this arena. Interdisciplinary work between the fields of Knowledge Management (KM) and Educational Technology (ET) is booming. But the crop of actual systems and semantically enhanced learning objects is still meager, maybe KM and EL they are lacking a consensus on the underlying notions e.g. of ‘semantics’, yielding specific problems in their interplay. In this paper we take a (...) look at semantic educational technologies and draw conclusions for their approach in KM. In particular, we (re)-evaluate the notions of ‘semantics’, ‘knowledge’, ‘learning’, their role for learning materials in ET, and how they interact with the contexts involved in the learning/teaching process. Based on this, we distill a list of conditions the underlying knowledge representation format must fulfil to support these. As these conditions are still rather abstract, we show how they can be realized in a concrete language design, taking in our OMDoc (Open Mathematical Documents) format as a point of departure. (shrink)

In recent years, knowledge management has been utilized as an essential strategy to foster the creation of organizational intellectual capital. Organizational intellectual capital can be derived both individually and collectively in the process to create, store, share, acquire, and apply personal and organizational knowledge. However, some organizations only focus on the development of public good, despite the concerns arising from individuals' self-interest or possible risks. The different concern of individual and collective perspectives toward knowledge management (...) inevitably leads to ethical conflicts and ethical culture in the organization (Jarvenpaa et al., J Manage Inf Syst 14(4): 29-64, 1998; Ruppel and Harrington, IEEE Trans Prof Commun 44(l): 37-52, 2000). The purpose of this study is to examine the ethical climate within the organization and its possible influence on members' evaluation, satisfaction, engagement, and job performance with respect to knowledge management practice. The research results reveal that several types of organizational ethical climate coexist in the organization and have different degrees of influence on employees' attitude as well as participation in knowledge management activities. In this article, we argue the importance of organizational ethical climate and highlight the implications of such a climate for facilitating knowledge management. (shrink)

In several studies, knowledge is witnessed as one of the foundations of long-term competitive edge and is also a basic source of new product development performance. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of knowledge management capabilities in new product development performance with the mediating role of organizational agility. Additionally, this study also intends to examine the moderating role of business model innovation on the relationship of KMC with organizational agility. This study was conducted (...) on the Chinese automobile sector, and the NPD project managers, supervisors, and engineers of the sector were respondents of this study. A survey questionnaire was used to collect the data from 201 respondents, and data were analyzed using the Smart PLS 3 software. The findings of this research, although limited to the automobile industries, indicate that knowledge sharing and knowledge application have significant and positive effects on the development of new products. Organizational agility significantly mediates the relationship of KMC with NPD. The results found that business model innovation has a significant moderating role in the relationship between KMC and organizational agility. Moreover, the results of this study will assist the managers in developing a modern competitive business environment by implicating KMC in the process of NPD. Lastly, organizations may improve the sustainability of their product and their overall performance by using organizational agility and modern ways of value delivery. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to identify the obstacles facing the application of knowledge management and its impact on performance at Palestine Technical University-Kadoorei from the point of view of employees and to detect the differences between the average views of the study sample on the subject of the study according to some variables such as (gender, nature of work, Education Level, specialization, years of experience). The study followed the descriptive analytical method and the questionnaire as a (...) tool for study. It was distributed to 74 employees. After the questionnaire was distributed, the data was collected and coded and entered into the computer and processed statistically using the SPSS program. The study found that the percentage of approval of the obstacles to the application of knowledge management at Palestine Technical University-Kadoorei differed between few and large, and the relative weight of the axis was complete (68.2). The degree of awareness of the workers of the reality of performance excellence at the University of Palestine Technical-Kadoorei was between medium and very large. There is an impact of the constraints of the application of knowledge management on performance excellence at Palestine Technical University-Kadoorei. In light of the results of the previous study, the researchers recommended that the importance of knowledge management should be taken into account in order to raise the university's reputation and reputation at home and abroad and improve its services to students and the local community. And to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge with local, regional and international universities in order to enhance the knowledge and preserve it and provide modern and sophisticated scientific techniques and use them in administrative and academic work at the university. (shrink)

Publication date: 24 January 2019 Source: Author: Ali Jamshidi, Omid Grey Present research’s goal is to study the relationship between knowledge management of Parsian Bank and its financial performance. The statistical population consists of 220 executives, assistants and postgraduate staff in banking and financial management. The statistical sample consists of 144 of them who were determined according to the Morgan Table. This research uses quantitative and survey method and it has a practical purpose. The results show that (...) there is a meaningful relationship between the research variables and that the relationship between them includes strength and weakness. (shrink)

The core theme of the special issue in which this article appears is the inherent impossibility of confining the knowledge required to build and sustain the instruments of travel to a single space or institution. This is certainly true for the ships that built empires – the large sailing and later steam ships produced by navies and companies in the process of European expansion. Ships traveled between polities and required repairs overseas, taking the construction knowledge and practices with (...) them. Skilled laborers – experienced shipwrights and increasingly also trained engineers – helped to transfer shipbuilding practices across oceans, and to adapt these practices to local conditions based on forms of “blended know-how.” This article explores how the circulation of shipbuilding knowledge and practices within and between maritime empires changed with the increasing pace of industrialization. It does so on the basis of three moments: the Dutch East India Company’s shipbuilding activities in Asia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the interaction between private industry and the Dutch state in advancing machine-manufacturing in both the Netherlands and on Java in the 1830s and 1840s; and the aid provided by Dutch engineers in laying the groundwork for Japanese industrial warship-construction in the second half of the nineteenth century. Such transfers put high demands on the capacities of states and naval administrators in controlling the flows of necessary resources and skilled labor, requiring complex arrangements between states and private capital. Industrialization did not change this basic fact, but it did change the nature of these arrangements. Although shipbuilding knowledge always remained practice-driven, highly mobile and susceptible to local adaptation, the increasing technological demands created by the transition from sail to steam and wood to iron, combined with the extension of the power of states and transnationally operating manufacturing companies, considerably changed the institutional embeddings and societal consequences of its circulation. (shrink)

This paper introduces an alternative approach to innovation: Emergent Innovation. As opposed to radical innovation Emergent Innovation finds a balance and integrates the demand both for radically new knowledge and at the same time for an organic development from within the organization. From a knowledge management perspective one can boil down this problem to the question of how to cope with the new and with profound change in knowledge. This question will be dealt with in the (...) first part of the paper. As an implication the alternative approach of Emergent Innovation will be presented in the second part: this approach looks at innovation as a socio-epistemological process of “learning from the future”. Keywords: Innovation, radical innovation, emergent innovation, knowledge creation, change. (shrink)

The increasing knowledge intensity of jobs, typical of a knowledge economy, highlights the role of firms as integrators of know-how and skills. As economic activity becomes mainly intellectual and requires the integration of specific and idiosyncratic skills, firms need to allocate skills to tasks and traditional hierarchical control results increasingly ineffective. In this work, we explore under what circumstances networks of agents, which bear specific skills, may self-organize in order to complete tasks. We use a computer simulation approach (...) and investigate how local interaction of agents, endowed with skills and individual decision-making rules, may produce aggregate network structure able to perform tasks. To design algorithms that mimic individual decision-making, we borrow from computer science literature and, in particular, from studies addressing protocols that produce cooperation in Peer-to-Peer networks. We found that self-organization depends on the structural features of, formal or informal, organizational networks embedding both professionals, holding skills, and project managers, holding access to jobs. (shrink)

Statistical methods used by healthcare entities enable the collection of various information about the structure and characteristics of treated patients. They are an important source of knowledge, and form a database that plays an important role in entity management theory. In the presented study, we analysed the hospital stays of patients treated in all hospital wards of the 3rd City Hospital in Łodź during 2012. The following, in particular, were taken into account: admittance procedure, discharge procedure, age and (...) sex of hospitalised persons. Patients in over 55% of cases were admitted using the sud- den admittance procedure. At the same time, over 3/4 of the stays ended with a referral for further treatment in ambulatory conditions, and death occurred in approx. 5% of hospitalisations. By comparing the discharge procedures, the percentage of deaths in the Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Wards can be seen clearly. Internal wards are next in turn. The biggest differences in the length of hospitalisation between the studied institution and the NFZ data concern the E77, A49, A48, A87, A33, D18, E16, E61 and G37 groups. (shrink)

Resumen. La presente investigación ofrece la oportunidad de pensar y dialogar sobre la estrategia, los objetivos, las personas y el futuro de la gestión municipal del H. Ayuntamiento de Navolato desde una perspectiva del conocimiento. Se trata pues de averiguar qué características deben cumplir esos recursos para adquirir un carácter estratégico. La información se obtuvo mediante una encuesta semiestructurada, aplicada a 181 individuos. Los datos recabados fueron objeto, en un principio, de dos tipos de tabulaciones. En algunos casos sólo se (...) efectúo una tabulación simple, que consistió en el conteo de una sola variable; en otros casos la tabulación fue cruzada contando dos o más variables de forma simultánea. Para el análisis de los datos se utilizó el programa de tratamiento de datos estadísticos SPSS versión 12 para Windows, que facilitó el tratamiento inferencial de los datos extraídos de la muestra seleccionada. El análisis de los resultados muestra que el Ayuntamiento presenta perfiles favorables para una gestión del conocimiento, óptima y eficaz, al alcanzar una puntuación total de 115, contando con una fortaleza estructural interna. Se concluye que las administraciones públicas no son ajenas a la sociedad del conocimiento, se están acomodando a estas nuevas exigencias, mejorando sus procesos para satisfacer las nuevas necesidades de los ciudadanos. Redefiniendo la función pública y el servicio público, a través de la búsqueda de mecanismos para conocer y medir el valor de la gestión del conocimiento, y así poder llevar a cabo una gestión eficiente y eficaz de estos recursos.Palabras Claves. Administración pública municipal, Gestión del conocimiento, Nueva Gestión Pública, Economía aplicada.. This research provides an opportunity to think and discuss the strategy, goals, people and future of municipal management of Navolato City knowledge perspective. It is about finding out what characteristics should meet those resources to acquire a strategic nature. The information was obtained through a semistructured survey applied to 181 individuals. The data collected were subjected, in principle, two types of tabs. In some cases only made a simple tabulation, which consisted of a single variable count, in other cases the cross tabulation was counting two or more variables simultaneously. For data analysis software was used for statistical data processing SPSS version 12 for Windows, which facilitated inferential treatment of the extracted data from the selected sample. The analysis of the results shows that the City has profiles favorable for knowledge management, optimal and efficient, to achieve a total score of 115, relying on internal structural strength. We conclude that public administrations are not foreign to the knowledge society, are arranging to these new demands by improving their processes to satisfy the new needs of citizens. Redefining the civil and public service, through the search for mechanisms to analyze and measure the value of knowledge management, and therefore be able to carry out a efficient and effective management of these resources.Keywords. Municipal public administration, knowledge management, new public management, applied economic. (shrink)

Adoption of integrated pest management(IPM) practices in the Guatemalan highlands has beenlimited by the failure of researchers andextensionists to promote genuine farmer participationin their efforts. Some attempts have been made toredress this failure in the diffusion-adoptionprocess, but farmers are still largely excluded fromthe research process. Understanding farmers'agricultural knowledge must be an early step toward amore participatory research process. With this inmind, we conducted a semi-structured survey of 75Cakchiquel Maya farmers in Patzún, Guatemala, tobegin documenting their pest control practices. (...) Theirresponses revealed that their understanding ofbiological and curative pest control is limited.However, their broad knowledge of cultural preventivepest control practices could explain why they hadfaced few pest problems in their traditionalmilpa (intercrop of corn, beans, and other edibleplants). The majority of these preventive practicesare probably efficient and environmentallyinnocuous. (shrink)

This paper has two main objectives. The first one is to reflect on the validity of data in analysis and projections that underpin the engineering asset management of organizations, considering, on the one hand, a certain resistance or even inadequate use of data and information of a subjective nature and; on the other hand, a consolidated reliance on quantitative approaches and decisions based on data series. The second objective is to contextualize the applicability of combining qualitative data based on (...) experts’ experience and on the tacit knowledge built in organizations, with approaches based essentially on quantitative data, according to the data availability and the decision scenario over the asset life cycle. We present two application of an approach combining quali and quanti data. One example interrelates Statistics with Psychology and the other combines elicitated data about asset indicators with parameters deterministically calculated. Both applications aiming at providing more realistic indicators and supporting the Asset Management process to make more assertive decisions. (shrink)

In workplace health interventions, engaging management and union decision makers is considered important for the success of the project, yet little research has described the process of making this happen. A case study of a knowledge-transfer process is presented to describe the practices and processes adopted by a knowledge broker who engaged workplace parties in discussions on research on physical and psychosocial factors important for employee health. The process included one-on-one interactions between the knowledge broker (...) and individuals to explain the research, to build trust and credibility, and to explore the applicability of the research to their work (sense making). It also included facilitated group sessions, where the groups explored how the research could solve problems within the workplace (social construction of knowledge). The workplace context offered multiple opportunities that helped and hindered the flow of research. Nevertheless, this intense, sustained, knowledge-transfer intervention noted conceptual, structural, and political knowledge use. (shrink)

Purpose of the article: Knowledge is increasingly importance for the economic well-being of businesses. Core competencies of management are the generation and processing of information, used to develop a competitive advantage. Information has become established as a commodity in its own right which can be bought and sold. Four out of five goods traded on the market now consist of services or relate to information in the broadest sense. Knowledge is created when different pieces of information are (...) linked on the basis of a particular intellectual background and meaningfully interpreted. Accordingly, knowledge incorporates not just information but also experience, - judgements, rules of thumb and worldviews. Knowledge is always associated with human beings. Methodology/methods: This article is based on literature research. The original article was written in German and translated into English, supported by a translation agency. Scientific aim: A questionnaire is being drawn up on the basis of the research results. This will allow the appraisal of these influencing factors and framework conditions by small and medium sized enterprises to be surveyed and evaluated. Findings: Social systems arise through and are sustained by communication. Actions of managers primarily consist of communication. For cognitive simplification, all humans repeat actions that have previously proved successful. Previously accumulated knowledge thus becomes a significant barrier to learning. An organisation’s ability to learn depends not only the general willingness of its workforce to learn but also on the newness and/or compatibility of knowledge acquired from a partner. Conclusions : Developing or acquiring competition-relevant knowledge is generally time-consuming and costly. As a complementary function to knowledge acquisition, the retention of knowledge carriers in the form of people and materials forms another component of knowledge management. It is important to recognise early on those knowledge carriers who promise high potential in the future. (shrink)

Globalization is often described as the spread of western culture to other parts of the world. How accurate is the depiction of "cultural" flow? In Counterworks , ten anthropologists examine the ways in which global processes have affected particular localities where they have carried out research. They challenge the validity of anthropological concepts of culture in the light of the pervasive connections which exist between local and global factors everywhere. Rather than assuming that the world is culturally diverse, this (...) book proposes that culture is itself a representation of the similarities and differences recognized between forms of social life. The authors address issues of globalization in terms of diverse histories and traditions of knowledge, which may include the construction of difference as cultural. In its attention to specific local situations, such as Bali, Cuba, Bolivia, Greece, Kenya and the Maoris in New Zealand, Counterworks argues that the apparent opposition between strong westernizing, global forces and weak concept of culture, which supposes cultures to be integrated and possessed of essential properties, need rethinking in a contemporary world where a marked sense of culture has become a wide-spread property of people's social knowledge. This book will have wide appeal to anthropologists, to students of comparative studies in history, religion and language, and to anyone interested in the phenomenon of postmodernism. (shrink)

Every organization has to deal with operational risks, arising from the execution of a company’s primary business functions. In this paper, we describe a legal knowledge management system which helps users understand the meaning of legislative text and the relationship between norms. While much of the knowledge requires the input of legal experts, we focus in this article on NLP applications that semi-automate essential time-consuming and lower-skill tasks—classifying legal documents, identifying cross-references and legislative amendments, linking legal terms (...) to the most relevant definitions, and extracting key elements of legal provisions to facilitate clarity and advanced search options. The use of Natural Language Processing tools to semi-automate such tasks makes the proposal a realistic commercial prospect as it helps keep costs down while allowing greater coverage. (shrink)

Every organization has to deal with operational risks, arising from the execution of a company’s primary business functions. In this paper, we describe a legal knowledge management system which helps users understand the meaning of legislative text and the relationship between norms. While much of the knowledge requires the input of legal experts, we focus in this article on NLP applications that semi-automate essential time-consuming and lower-skill tasks—classifying legal documents, identifying cross-references and legislative amendments, linking legal terms (...) to the most relevant definitions, and extracting key elements of legal provisions to facilitate clarity and advanced search options. The use of Natural Language Processing tools to semi-automate such tasks makes the proposal a realistic commercial prospect as it helps keep costs down while allowing greater coverage. (shrink)

Information management systems improve the retention of information in large collections. As such they act as memory prostheses, implying an ideal basis in human memory models. Since humans process information by association, and situate it in the context of space and time, systems should maximize their effectiveness by mimicking these functions. Since human attentional capacity is limited, systems should scaffold cognitive efforts in a comprehensible manner. We propose the Principles of Mnemonic Associative Knowledge (P-MAK), which describes a framework (...) for semantically identifying, organizing, and retrieving information, and for encoding episodic events by time and stimuli. Inspired by prominent human memory models, we propose associative networks as a preferred representation. Networks are ideal for their parsimony, flexibility, and ease of inspection. Networks also possess topological properties—such as clusters, hubs, and the small world—that aid analysis and navigation in an information space. Our cognitive perspective addresses fundamental problems faced by information management systems, in particular the retrieval of related items and the representation of context. We present evidence from neuroscience and memory research in support of this approach, and discuss the implications of systems design within the constraints of P-MAK’s principles, using text documents as an illustrative semantic domain. (shrink)

The notion that management knowledge is universal, culture-neutral, readily transferable to any country or situation, has come under mounting challenge. The Politics of Management Knowledge goes beyond such `broad-brush' assertions to explore in detail the relations between management knowledge, power and practice in a world where globalization highlights, rather than obscures, the locally specific character of many management recipes. The book recognizes the political nature of management knowledge as a discourse produced (...) from, and reproducing, power processes within and between organizations. This theme underpins discussion of the ways in which management ideas and practices `produce' managers of a particular kind. (shrink)

The paper explores the relationship between environmental knowledge and farming and fallowing strategies on degraded forest land in the Upper Manya Krobo district of southeastern Ghana. Changes in cropping strategies are related to the expansion and transformation of frontier agrarian settlement, increasing population density, social differentiation, and land hunger. As a consequence land degradation has become a serious problem among the smaller farmers with insufficient land to allow fallow recuperation. Small farmers' awareness and perceptions of the processes of (...) degradation are explored, as are possible innovative contributions to the development of agroforestry research. But labor constraints often prevent the farmer from developing practical systems of fallow management. Local environmental knowledge reveals important insights into the processes of fallow degradation, potentials for fallow management, constraints that farmers face, and some problems that might emerge with the transformation of current agroforestry technology to farmers' fields. It is suggested that this knowledge should not be abstracted from its socio-economic context. The problems that local farmers' knowledge reveal are in this respect as important as questions of its efficacy and potential as a resource. (shrink)

In this article we describe two core ontologies of law that specify knowledge that is common to all domains of law. The first one, FOLaw describes and explains dependencies between types of knowledge in legal reasoning; the second one, LRI-Core ontology, captures the main concepts in legal information processing. Although FOLaw has shown to be of high practical value in various applied European ICT projects, its reuse is rather limited as it is rather concerned with the structure of (...) legal reasoning than with legal knowledge itself: as many other “legal core ontologies”, FOLaw is therefore rather an epistemological framework than an ontology. Therefore, we also developed LRI-Core. As we argue here that legal knowledge is based to a large extend on common-sense knowledge, LRI-Core is particularly inspired by research on abstract common-sense concepts. The main categories of LRI-Core are: physical, mental and abstract concepts. Roles cover in particular social worlds. Another special category are occurrences; terms that denote events and situations. We illustrate the use of LRI-Core with an ontology for Dutch criminal law, developed in the e-Court European project. (shrink)

The social sciences lack concepts and theories for an understanding of what new information technology is doing to our society. The article sketches the outlines of a broad historical and comparative approach to this issue: ‘an anthropology of information technology’. At the base is the idea ofexternalisation of knowledge as a historical process. Three main epochs are characterised by externalisation of knowledge through a) spoken language and a social organisation of specialists, b) writing and c) computer programming. The (...) impact of expert systems on learning is also discussed. (shrink)

A decision-tree model of an indigenous forest management system centered around shamu (Cunninghamia lanceolata),an important timber species in China, was constructed from extensive interviews with peasants in two villages in Fujian Province, China. From this model additional interviews were conducted to elicit from these peasants their reasons for selecting among decision alternatives. Those reasons that were of an ecological nature were discussed in detail with the peasants to elicit indigenous interpretations of ecological processes in order to test an (...) hypothesis that a strong analogy exists between traditional indigenous and scientific knowledge of ecological processes.Three cases are presented that test this hypothesis. These three cases concern the effect of intercrops on the growth of shamu,the relative merits of seedlings and root collar sprout cuttings for forest regeneration, and the effects of repeated plantings of shamuon soil chemistry. All three cases provide strong support for the research hypothesis and suggest that, even in the absence of a formalized scientific method, humans exercise mental processes typical of scientific thinking. This phenomenon is called proto-science. (shrink)

This paper is an attempt to understand how social knowledge affects human economic decision making. The paper discusses the nature of social knowledge in today’s context with special reference to how social knowledge influences consumers’ sentiments and their economic decisions. Social networks are being continuously flooded with various kinds of information and disinformation. Some of the information becomes knowledge for social network users who browse various kinds of content that are either entertaining or related to products (...) and marketing. Although reliability remains a critical issue regarding online information from social networks, it, however, provides some knowledge about diverse things, goods, and products being in use in different societies around the world. Some products advertised on social networks like Facebook may affect consumer decisions or provide information about new products. This paper presents a formal discussion on what social knowledge is and how it is originated, and what use it might have for such consumers. The paper designs a simplistic mathematical model for a theoretical understanding of the assumption that has practical implications regarding its utility in society. It is found that social networks generate enough social information that can influence user choice and preferences. The study has implications for both the users and the developers of social networking sites. (shrink)

The main thesis of this article is that Western societies risk becoming Balkanized if they confront the superdiversity issue without sound management of intolerance. The Balkanization process has some essential features that allow the use of this term outside the area of origin (namely the Balkan Peninsula). Thus: It always affects a diverse political unit that comprises an inextricable medley of racial, ethnocultural, religious, ideological, or gender identities. It emerges only where neither the hegemony principle nor the confederacy principle (...) can sustain a divided population’s peaceful coexistence. It entails “antagonistic and conflict-oriented relationships resistant to resolution” between the groups or classes dissociated from a diverse political unit. It increases the density of physical and psychological boundaries between the formerly associated parts. It is perpetuated by the great sponsors of the dissociated parts. Any diverse political unit can enter a process of Balkanization, regardless of its degree of culture and civilization. Balkanization does not have a fatal course. Just as there is no society immune to Balkanization, there is no diverse society doomed to Balkanization. Balkanization can be prevented, checked, stopped, or reversed, depending on society members’ individual and collective actions. To survive, the superdiverse liberal democracies from the Euro-Atlantic area need an agonistic public sphere, where actionable truths emerge from a genuine clash of educated opinions. If intolerance management is the first step in preventing the Balkanization of a superdiverse political unit, promoting social and political tolerance towards all people who express educated opinions is the best starting point to genuine tolerance. The return to Enlightenment rationalism values that underpinned our freedom of thought and expression will help us meet the challenges inherent in current and future superdiversity. By feeding enlightened conversations and debates with genuine, educated opinions, people learn to have tolerance for “unpleasant” pieces of knowledge. Then, they spread general tolerance – as a by-product – across the entire society. (shrink)

In the tradition of classical pragmatism, one could contend there are two kinds of thinkers. The first kind, represented most notably by William James and John Dewey, could be labeled as enthusiastic and prolific writers to whom it posed no difficulty to articulate their ideas at remarkable length and with enviable wit. The pragmatists of the second kind like Charles S. Peirce and George H. Mead, for various reasons, never managed to put their ideas on paper in the form of (...) a longer, systematic treatise. Whereas for Peirce such an endeavor might have arguably been a drag given his rushing mind, exploding with new ideas, Mead seems to never have been quite aware of the pioneering.. (shrink)