Behind the scene of knowledge sharing : the impact of task complexity

Numerous empirical studies on knowledge management have examined the relative effectiveness of various enablers, such as organizational structure, technology, culture, managerial system and strategy for knowledge creation and sharing in organizations. While these studies play a critical role in helping us to appreciate the importance of organizational enablers in knowledge management, they have neglected to examine the possible effects of task complexity on the nature and efficacy of knowledge sharing. This study investigates how task complexity influences the mode and effectiveness of knowledge sharing among professional accountants in Malaysia. In particular, it highlights the relationships between different task dimensions and modes of knowledge sharing, and the impact of knowledge sharing on professional competency. This study adopts a process oriented approach based on Nonaka’s (1994) knowledge sharing model. This study reveals that task complexity is significantly related to knowledge sharing. Tasks carried out by professional accountants vary from repetitive or clearly-defined procedural tasks to unstructured tasks that required professional judgment and expertise for successful task performance. While professional accountants are generally keen to gain access to knowledge databases to source for possible task solutions, they are generally hesitant to share their tacit knowledge by transforming the knowledge into explicit form. The finding suggests that there may be cultural-related factors that inhibit sharing of one’s tacit  knowledge totally and completely. This study also shows the existence of a  significant relationship between knowledge sharing and professional  competency, suggesting that the importance of the internalization mode of  knowledge sharing in sustaining the competitive edge of professional  accountants.

Amount of mental practice and performance of a simple motor task

The effects of different amounts of mental practice on the performance of a motor skill were studied. Research supports the effectiveness of mental practice on performance; however, little is known about how much practice is needed and whether there is an optimal amount for these practice effects. Participants, 209 students ages 18 to 44 years (M = 20.5, SD = 2.9), completed a pre- and posttest of dart throwing with the nonpreferred hand. In the practice phase, participants completed either 25 (Mental Practice 25), 50 (Mental Practice 50), or 100 (Mental Practice 100) trials of the darts task or 50 trials of a catching task (Catching Task). Performance for all groups improved from pre- to posttest. Improvements for the three mental practice groups were greater than for the Catching Task group; however, there were no differences for the three Mental Practice groups. The findings support the positive effect of mental practice over a control condition and suggest that small amounts of mental practice may be sufficient for performance improvements, at least for a simple motor skill.

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.

Descartes on the human soul : philosophy and the demands of Christian doctrine

By the 17th century Catholic orthodoxy had defined a range of propositions concerning the human soul as revealed by God and verifiable by natural reason. The writings of Rene Descartes display a consistent adherence to these orthodox propositions. The conclusion presents him as ultimately unsuccesful in convincing his contemporaries that his philosophy provided the rational demonstration of the key soul doctrines and that he was worthy of the title "Christian philosopher"

Task completion with partially-failed manipulators

An effort to maintain the availability of partially failed manipulator is addressed based on redundant trajectories obtained by primitive constraints. The objective is to facilitate the existing manipulators to continue their point to point motion tasks when a non catastrophic fault occurs into a joint. The fault is assumed as a joint locked failure. This is achieved through fault to primitive constraints mapping which gives the primitive constraints due to the faults. Then they are applied to update the manipulator constraints for the trajectory planning. Then it purposes a new trajectory in the case of availability. Finally the method is applied for a 6DOF manipulator and validated under a fault scenario within a simulation study and the results are presented.

On the effort of task completion for partially-failed manipulators

Adding to a previous work of the authors for task completion for partially failed manipulator, other aspects of the effort are discussed. The paper aims to investigate on the strategies of maximum effort for maintaining the availability of partially failed manipulators. The failures are assumed as the joint lock failures of the manipulators. The main objective is to facilitate the existing manipulators to continue their tasks even if a non catastrophic fault occurs into their joints. The tasks includes motion tasks and force tasks. For each group of tasks a constrained optimality problem is introduced. Then in a case study a required force profile on a desired trajectory using a 3DOF planar manipulator is indicated. Through this study the joint angles and joint torques for a healthy manipulator and a faulty manipulator are shown. It is illustrated that a failure in the second joint is tolerated on the trajectory of end-effector.