Email and knowledge creation: supporting inquiring systems and enhancing wisdom

The real promise of organizational communication technologies may lie in their potential to facilitate participative discourse between knowledge workers at all levels in distributed locations and time zones. Such discourse enables the exchange of sometimes conflicting viewpoints through which resolution and symbiosis, organizational knowledge can be built. This chapter presents a case study of a Singerian inquiring organization which illustrates how afluid dynamic community of employees can use email to build knowledge, learn, make decisions, and enhance wisdom through a cycle of knowledge combination (divergence) and knowledge qualification (convergence). The chapter offers new theoretical perspectives on the enhancement of wisdom in inquiring organizations and provides practical insights into the use of email for supporting effective knowledge creation in inquiring organizations.

Collaborative knowledge creation in electronic mail

With organisational work increasingly performed by the collaboration of distributed groups, an improved understanding is needed of the co-creation of knowledge in emerging virtual structures. We explore the potential of the ubiquitous organisational tool, electronic mail (e-mail), for supporting collaborative knowledge creation in such settings. This research draws on a case study of knowledge creation occurring in e-mail conversations in a large Australian university and adopts a discourse analysis research approach. We describe a model of collaborative knowledge creation derived from the study and identify a preliminary set of key factors for organisational knowledge tools and their use by groups to support collaborative knowledge creation. The paper also provides insights into the role of e-mail in collaborative knowledge creation, not only in facilitating this process, but in shaping a participatory, multi-perspective, team-based approach to knowledge building. Organisational implications arising from this type of knowledge creation are also discussed in the paper.

Knowledge creation in export trading

In this research, we investigate how knowledge in the export trading industry is created. Prior research focuses on general businesses in local market environment. This research specifically focuses on export trading with overseas market needs. These needs require attention to different types of control and requirements beyond that of a local market. In this paper, Nonaka et al.'s theory of organizational knowledge creation is explored. We specifically examine the processes of knowledge creation through four modes of knowledge conversion. Empirical investigations in export trading organizations are conducted. We examine how export firms obtain new knowledge for innovations based on collective knowledge being used in export trading. The findings indicate that the knowledge management processes in export firms allow for the creation of new knowledge. The collective knowledge (from groups and individuals) forms a basis for innovations and competitive intelligence. This collective knowledge also creates foresight, insight and hindsight in the export trading context.

Supporting knowledge creation with e-mail

Currently, Nonaka's (1994) knowledge spiral, and Spender's (1996) and Blackler's (1995) respective frameworks, are considered important for understanding knowledge creation. In this paper, we illustrate how a relatively simple and ubiquitous technology, namely e-mail, can be used to support, enable and even enhance knowledge creation, and thereby actualise these frameworks.

Knowledge creation in an application domain : a hermeneutic study

In this paper we discuss a special case of knowledge creation (pattern mining) that was studied using a hermeneutic circle. Hermeneutics assists the oscillation between tacit and explicit knowledge through the process of knowledge qualification, combination, socialization, externalization, internalization and introspection. Our investigation of the knowledge creation process lead to the enrichment of the knowledge creation framework proposed by Wickramasinghe and Lichtenstein, allowing us to reflect on activities and aspects of knowledge elicitation across an application domain and involving practitioners who do not communicate directly.

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.

Using intranet technology to foster organizational knowledge creation

Many organizations have embraced intranets with the intent to harness 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 organizations can use to conceptualize 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.

Harnessing intranet technology for organisational knowledge creation

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.

Academic mobility, intercultural encounters and cosmopolitan knowledge creation

In this presentation, I examine contemporary international encounters and intercultural interactions in academia as a researcher and recent participant in the ever-expanding global academic mobility programs. Academic mobility is a part of the modern continuing changes in the teaching and learning processes that higher educational institutions are undergoing globally. These changes are often termed ‘internationalization of education’ and they are expressed in the transformations in both the curricula and recruitment practices of students and staff. Global scale of academic mobility opens up prosperous opportunities for intercultural knowledge interchange, knowledge creation, and knowledge enrichment, all leading to the broadening of cultural imagination and creation of shared cosmopolitan cultural meanings.

Knowledge development and creation in email

Newly created knowledge is increasingly viewed as a highly valuable source of competitive advantage for business. Email is explored in its recently recognized role as a place of organizational knowledge development and creation, employing discourse analysis of email conversations as the research approach. This paper describes a knowledge development lifecycle derived from the empirical study, and provides insight into the nature of knowledge development and creation in organizations. We found that in selected email conversations, employees naturally and intuitively build purpose driven new knowledge incrementally and iteratively, crystallizing knowledge under construction by submitting it repeatedly to a range of key stakeholders for comment, until a 'consensus' is reached regarding the outcome. Our findings identify the process of knowledge qualification in organizational knowledge creation, and suggest that organizational knowledge may be politically constructed. The research results have the potential to assist organizations in understanding and facilitating processes and conditions for knowledge creation and development. The study also highlights the potential for email as a key component in a company's formal KM strategy.

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.