Knowledge sharing in professional accountancy firms : the effects of task complexity and management control system

Numerous empirical studies on knowledge management have focused on effectiveness of enablers such as organizational structure (Bennett and Gabriel, 1999; Gold et al., 2001), technology (Gold et al., 2001; O’Dell and Grayson, 1998), culture (DeLong and Fahey, 2000; Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000), managerial system (Nonaka, 1994; Sveiby, 1997) and strategy (Bierly and Chakrabarti, 1996; Holsapple and Joshi, 2001) on knowledge sharing. These enablers are organizational infrastructure or mechanism for facilitating the sharing of knowledge in a firm. In knowledge-intensive firms, task complexity and management control systems (MCS) can potentially affect the mode and effectiveness of knowledge sharing. However, these two factors have not been distinctly and explicitly investigated and discussed in literature relevant to the domain of knowledge sharing and management. This study proposes to examine how task complexity and the design of MCS could be the key determinants of the mode and effectiveness of knowledge sharing in professional accounting firms or practices.

Cross-field effects and temporary social fields : a case study of the mediatization of recent Australian knowledge economy policies

This paper utilizes Bourdieu's conceptual frame to examine the mediatized effects of policy processes concerned with the growth and support of knowledge industries in Australia. These policies span education, science, research and other knowledge industries (such as venture capital firms and intellectual property law). The paper argues that some policy processes are best represented as temporary social fields. The nature of these fields can be described by the kinds of cross-field effects that they produce, A case study of an Australian knowledge economy policy, The chance to change, and associated policy processes demonstrates the broad analytic capacities of Bourdieu 's conceptual frame for policy analysis, when combined with the concepts of cross-field effects and temporary social field developed here.

Information communication technologies (ICTs) an knowledge sharing : the case of professional accountants in Malaysia

Based on the knowledge sharing model by Nonaka (1994), this study examines the relative efficacy of various Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) applications in facilitating sharing of explicit and tacit knowledge among professional accountants in Malaysia. The results of this study indicate that ICTs, generally, facilitate all modes of knowledge sharing. Best-Practice Repositories are effective for sharing of both explicit and tacit knowledge, while internet/e-mail facilities are effective for tacit knowledge sharing. Data warehousing /mining, on the other hand, is effective in facilitating self learning through tacit-to-tacit mode and explicit-to-explicit mode. ICT facilities used mainly for office administration are ineffective for knowledge sharing purpose. The implications of the findings are
discussed.

The Ad-venture of architecture

This research highlights the shortcomings of the way architects promote themselves and the profession of architecture. It also exposes the inadequate levels of knowledge and awareness of the general public in relation to architects and the practice of architecture. This research recommends that the ad-venture of architecture should be pursued.

Business ethics and accounting students : Australia, South Asia and East Asia

Recent corporate collapses around the world show that there are no national boundaries for these occurrences. Australian corporate collapses including HIH Insurance, One.Tel, Ansett Australia and Harris Scarfe have raised public expectations of investigation of the causes of collapses (Mirshekary, Yaftian & Cross, 2005). The main reason for the collapse of HIH was mismanagement, with an emphasis more on the directors’ personal qualities such as integrity, honesty and morality rather than tougher legislation and rules. Accounting students are our future business leaders. The teaching of ethics in the classroom to multicultural groups of students provides an opportunity to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, and to increase interaction and debate around different approaches to ethics among students from different countries.
This study uses previous literature to explain the attitudes of accounting students towards academic and business/accounting ethics at an Australian university which is a multi-campus institution undertaking programs and activities at regional, national, international levels and by distance education.
This study reports the results of cross-cultural investigations of students’ ethical perceptions on moral values, academic and accounting/business vignettes, given that all students share the same learning opportunities, knowledge of ethics and interaction with their peers and lecturers. The results indicate no significant differences in responses between the students from Australia, South Asia and East Asia.

Knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) and the HPV vaccine in a national sample of Australian men and women

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge has rarely been investigated in the context of a national vaccination program. The present study investigated HPV knowledge after the introduction of a national HPV vaccination program in Australia using a national sample of men and women. Methods: Questions assessing HPV knowledge were part of a broader national study of health and relationships administered via a computer-assisted telephone interview. These findings are from wave four of the study, conducted between 2007 and 2008. Knowledge questions about HPV included its association with cervical cancer, genital warts and abnormal Pap tests. Results: A total of 2634 women and 2556 men between the ages of 18 and 70 were interviewed. Overall, 62.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 60.8–64.7%) of women and 38.3% (95% CI: 36.3–40.4%) of men had heard of HPV. Of these, 66.0% (95% CI: 64.1–67.9%) correctly answered that HPV is associated with cervical cancer, 50.2% (95% CI: 48.2–52.1%) answered that HPV is associated with abnormal Pap tests and 44.5% (95% CI:42.5–46.5%) answered that HPV causes warts. Predictors of good knowledge included being female, aged between 26 and 45, holding higher education levels and older age at first sex. Ever having a Pap test was also associated with awareness about HPV. Conclusion: One of the highest levels of knowledge about HPV in Australia to date is reported in the present study. Knowledge about the association between HPV and cervical cancer was particularly high, especially when compared with knowledge of the association with genital warts. This appears to be a consequence of the marketing of the HPV vaccine as a vaccination against cervical cancer.

Managing negotiation knowledge with the goal of developing negotiation decision support systems

While Information Technology has been used to support negotiation there is little research in the domain of knowledge management in legal negotiation. In this paper we discuss the nature of negotiation knowledge and how such knowledge can be utilized to construct negotiation decision support systems. We conduct an in-depth examination of the notion of a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) and given a useful BATNA, how we can use issue and preference elicitation and compensation and trade-off strategies to provide negotiation decision support. We conclude by indicating how current negotiation support systems can be extended to support Online Dispute Resolution and haw we can extend the Family_Winner system in light of the need to more adequately manage negotiation knowledge.

A hermeneutic study of pattern mining as a knowledge creation process : exploring multimedia design practices

In this paper, we discuss a special case of knowledge creation via pattern mining that was studied using a hermeneutic approach. The reported study explores the nature of knowledge creation by domain practitioners who do not communicate directly. The focus of this paper extends the traditional view of a knowledge creation process beyond organisational boundaries. The proposed knowledge creation framework explains the facilitated process of knowledge creation by its qualification, combination, socialisation, externalisation, internalisation and introspection, thus allowing the transformation of individual experience and knowledge into formalised shareable domain knowledge.

A study on the accuracy of frequency measures and its impact on knowledge discovery in single sequences

In knowledge discovery in single sequences, different results could be discovered from the same sequence when different frequency measures are adopted. It is natural to raise such questions as (1) do these frequency measures reflect actual frequencies accurately? (2) what impacts do frequency measures have on discovered knowledge? (3) are discovered results accurate and reliable? and (4) which measures are appropriate for reflecting frequencies accurately? In this paper, taking three major factors (anti-monotonicity, maximum-frequency and window-width restriction) into account, we identify inaccuracies inherent in seven existing frequency measures, and investigate their impacts on the soundness and completeness of two kinds of knowledge, frequent episodes and episode rules, discovered from single sequences. In order to obtain more accurate frequencies and knowledge, we provide three recommendations for defining appropriate frequency measures. Following the recommendations, we introduce a more appropriate frequency measure. Empirical evaluation reveals the inaccuracies and verifies our findings. 

A model of organizational ethics education

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a model of ethics education for corporate organizations framed as an holistic approach to the problem of how to teach ethics.

Design/methodology/approach – As a conceptual/viewpoint piece, this paper recognizes that for ethics education to be successful, individuals and corporations must have an appreciation of their role in the society at large. In addition, there needs to be preparedness on the part of the corporation to engage in an ethical manner with the marketplace with which it interacts.

Findings – Ethics education should not exist in a vacuum, that is just within the organization, but it should reflect the values of the organization as they impact upon and are impacted upon by society in general.

Research/limitations/implications – This model is predicated on a belief that organizations must craft their ethics education program with as much care and enthusiasm as they craft their strategic plan. The employees are the organization's representatives and they need to be made as clear as one can make them as to the ethical philosophy of the company and what is expected of them. Adults have a capacity for greater reasoning and reflection on their life experiences than children and thus the concept of “andragogy” provides a more satisfactory method to fashion education programs for adults than some more traditional methods that focus on training and not education.

Practical implications – When considering the ethics education of its employees, corporations need to place that education in context as it relates to the organization and the wider society as a whole. It is suggested that an ethics education program needs to provide a framework for understanding the concepts of ethics and moral development. Using this framework as the basis for the education offered, the education program is then expanded into an examination of a range of ethical issues presented in a variety of ways.

Originality/value – This paper proposes an integrated way to approach ethics education that ensures that the antecedents of the program are considered in the context of the ethics of individuals, the society and in turn the organization, hence the holistic approach.

Formulating an organizational knowledge strategy : the influence of existing IT infrastructure

This paper questions the influence of a pre-existing information technology (IT) infrastructure on the formulation of an organizational knowledge strategy. We draw on a classification of four different strategic views of IT infrastructure and explore how the historic investment in IT infrastructure enables and constrains the formulation of knowledge strategy in four case organizations. The four case organizations are representative of different scenarios of historic investments in IT infrastructure and knowledge strategy formulation. Our findings indicate that an IT infrastructure that is minimal or fragmented constrains the formulation of an explicit knowledge strategy. We further find that an extensive existing IT infrastructure enables the pursuit of an explicit knowledge strategy, but that even an elaborate IT infrastructure can introduce some constraints on IT facilitated knowledge processes in the organization.

Renaturalising : Lacan's ethics and Nietzsche's critique of platonism

‬This thesis examines how Lacan's ethics of psychoanalysis might contribute to our understanding of Nietzsche's critique of Platonism.

The role of traditional knowledge and access to genetic resources in biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia

The article examines international treaties linking trade and environment, their governance models and implementation in the context of Southeast Asia. Particular attention is being paid to the role of intellectual property concepts, customary law and traditional knowledge as incentives for biodiversity conservation and to difficulties in defining the subject matter and communities of knowledge holders. Indonesia’s regulation of traditional knowledge and access to biodiversity is discussed as example. The article concludes that national development goals and interests in royalty collection frequently dominate the discussion and that key concepts are still insufficiently defined to avoid overlaps and conflicts. Genuine local support for the conservationist aims of the models will depend on whether a benefit flow to communities can be ensured and their original role to act as incentives can be realised. International collaboration is important to avoid disputes concerning biodiversity related knowledge held across borders.

Family holiday decision making : the knowledge and influence of adolescent children and parents

This paper investigates the influence adolescent children have over their parents with regards to holiday decisions. A dyadic method of analysis was used to determine the level of influence young people have on the decision making oftheir parents. Our research shows that the families in general do not see their adolescent children as more knowledgeable than the parents when it comes to holidays. However, the level of knowledge the family perceives the child to have is strongly related to how much influence the child then has over the parent. Also, the level of 'expertness' the family attribute to the child is strongly related to the family's attitude towards the child as a socialisation agent for the parent. Parents knowledge on the other hand, is not related to how influenced they are by their children. Finally, daughters have a larger impact on their parents' holiday decisions than sons.

Deepening the mathematical knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers who lack tertiary mathematics qualifications

A professional learning program for unqualified practising secondary mathematics teachers regarding senior secondary mathematics teaching is described in this paper. The VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) mathematics professional learning program for senior secondary mathematics was designed for practising secondary teachers of mathematics who had no experience of teaching advanced senior secondary mathematics and who had not completed the recommended qualifications. Professional learning episodes, artefacts and reflections of three teachers who participated in the program are analysed to identify the development of these teachers' mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The PCK framework developed by Chick et al. was used to analyse teachers' knowledge, and the cases of teachers' knowledge presented in the paper illustrate the entwining of knowledge of mathematics and knowledge of teaching and learning The findings indicate that a program designed for senior secondary mathematics can enable practising teachers to deepen and broaden their understanding of junior secondary mathematical pedagogy.