Effect of the Knowledge Representation Form on the Efficiency of Knowledge Sharing

The goal of this thesis is to estimate the effect of the form of knowledge representation on the efficiency of knowledge sharing. The objectives include the design of an experimental framework which would allow to establish this effect, data collection, and statistical analysis of the collected data. The study follows the experimental quantitative design. The experimental questionnaire features three sample forms of knowledge: text, mind maps, concept maps. In the interview, these forms are presented to an interviewee, afterwards the knowledge sharing time and knowledge sharing quality are measured. According to the statistical analysis of 76 interviews, text performs worse in both knowledge sharing time and quality compared to visualized forms of knowledge representation. However, mind maps and concept maps do not differ in knowledge sharing time and quality, since this difference is not statistically significant. Since visualized structured forms of knowledge perform better than unstructured text in knowledge sharing, it is advised for companies to foster the usage of these forms in knowledge sharing processes inside the company. Aside of performance in knowledge sharing, the visualized structured forms are preferable due the possibility of their usage in the system of ontological knowledge management within an enterprise.

Toimintolaskennan hyödyntäminen prosessijohtamisen tukena julkisen sektorin terveydenhuolto-organisaatiossa

Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on tutkia toimintolaskennan ja toimintojohtamisen käyttöä sekä hyödyntämistä prosessijohtamisen tukena. Työssä keskitytään tarkastelemaan ilmiötä julkisen sektorin terveydenhuoltoalalla. Tutkielmassa sovelletaan kvalitatiivista eli laadullista tutkimusmenetelmää. Tutkielma koostuu kahdesta osasta. Teoriaosassa käsitellään alan kirjallisuutta tieteellisten artikkelien valossa. Empiriaosassa selvitettiin tutkittavan organisaation kustannus- ja toimintolaskennan hyödyntämisestä prosessijohtamisen tukena. Aineistonkeruu empiirisen osion osalta toteutettiin avoimina ja strukturoimattomina haastatteluina. Tutkielman tuloksina muodostui ymmärrys organisaation kustannuslaskennan nykytilanteesta ja hyödyntämismahdollisuuksista prosessienkehittämisessä. Kustannus- ja toimintolaskentaa hyödynnetään nykyisin pääasiassa hinnoittelupäätöksiin. Kustannustietoja ei systemaattisesti hyödynnetä prosessienkehittämisessä eikä arvioitaessa potentiaalisia kehitys- ja parannuskohteita. Toimintolaskennan erityispiirteet tukevat kuitenkin sitä, että toimintolaskenta sopii terveydenhuolto-organisaatioon kustannuslaskentamalliksi. Voidaan todeta kustannuslaskennan tukevan Lean- kehitystyön kohdentamista ja tuloksien arviointia.

Adaptability, Transformation and Complex Changes in Namibia and Tanzania: Resilience and Innovation System Development in Local Communities

This thesis is a research about the recent complex spatial changes in Namibia and Tanzania and local communities’ capacity to cope with, adapt to and transform the unpredictability engaged to these processes. I scrutinise the concept of resilience and its potential application to explaining the development of local communities in Southern Africa when facing various social, economic and environmental changes. My research is based on three distinct but overlapping research questions: what are the main spatial changes and their impact on the study areas in Namibia and Tanzania? What are the adaptation, transformation and resilience processes of the studied local communities in Namibia and Tanzania? How are innovation systems developed, and what is their impact on the resilience of the studied local communities in Namibia and Tanzania? I use four ethnographic case studies concerning environmental change, global tourism and innovation system development in Namibia and Tanzania, as well as mixed-methodological approaches, to study these issues. The results of my empirical investigation demonstrate that the spatial changes in the localities within Namibia and Tanzania are unique, loose assemblages, a result of the complex, multisided, relational and evolutional development of human and non-human elements that do not necessarily have linear causalities. Several changes co-exist and are interconnected though uncertain and unstructured and, together with the multiple stressors related to poverty, have made communities more vulnerable to different changes. The communities’ adaptation and transformation measures have been mostly reactive, based on contingency and post hoc learning. Despite various anticipation techniques, coping measures, adaptive learning and self-organisation processes occurring in the localities, the local communities are constrained by their uneven power relationships within the larger assemblages. Thus, communities’ own opportunities to increase their resilience are limited without changing the relations in these multiform entities. Therefore, larger cooperation models are needed, like an innovation system, based on the interactions of different actors to foster cooperation, which require collaboration among and input from a diverse set of stakeholders to combine different sources of knowledge, innovation and learning. Accordingly, both Namibia and Tanzania are developing an innovation system as their key policy to foster transformation towards knowledge-based societies. Finally, the development of an innovation system needs novel bottom-up approaches to increase the resilience of local communities and embed it into local communities. Therefore, innovation policies in Namibia have emphasised the role of indigenous knowledge, and Tanzania has established the Living Lab network.