Business Commons^™

The Effects Of Web-Based Technologies On Knowledge Transfer, Waymond Rogers, Solomon Negash

Faculty Articles

The article discusses the effects of Web-based technologies on knowledge transfer, specifically examining whether the use of Web-based services can increase problem-solving skills. Because knowledge transfer has shown a direct correlation with industrial productivity, many organizations are actively trying to create services that encourage it. The authors present a study of the effects of Internet technology on knowledge transfer and the ways that organizations can use technology related to knowledge transfer.

Relational Space: Creating A Context For Innovation In Collaborative Consortia, Hilary Bradbury, Benyamin B. Lichtenstein, John S. Carroll, Peter M. Senge, Edward H. Powley

College of Management Working Papers and Reports

Corporations are collaborating to meet complex global challenges heretofore considered beyond the mandate of business leaders. These multi organizational consortia are not philanthropic efforts but operate within market parameters with limited input from Non Governmental Organizations. In order to examine some dynamics of successful collaborative processes, we pursue an in-depth multi-method case study of “The Sustainability Consortium,” which has convened numerous Fortune 50 senior managers since 1999. We uncover the primacy of “relational space” – a rich context of trust and inquiry – within which participants create innovative projects for doing business in a sustainable way. Our analysis uncovers the …

Democratising Organisational Knowledge: The Potential Of The Corporate Wiki, Helen Hasan, Charmaine Pfaff

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Attempts to impose knowledge management often ignore the vast organisational resource of workrelated tacit knowledge possessed by knowledge workers. Our research reveals that activities supported by social technologies such as Wikis, may provide a more appropriate capability for tacit knowledge management where a network centric focus is adopted. A corporate Wiki has the potential to engage the collective responsibilities of knowledge workers to transfer their collective experience and skills into a dynamic shared knowledge repository. However, the traditional organisational culture can be reluctant to allow this power shift which surrenders the monopolistic control of the few over the creation and …

Collaborative Knowledge At The Grass-Roots Level: The Risks And Rewards Of Corporate Wikis, Charmaine Pfaff, Helen M. Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The open source movement is founded on the concept of democratising knowledge to freely collaborate and exchange information at the grass-roots level. As Wikis are philosophically grounded in this movement, the use of corporate Wikis in the collaborative creation and operation of knowledge management systems holds considerable potential. However, the impact of using corporate Wikis in the business environment has uncovered some challenging issues such as licensing, accountability and liability regarding copyright, which may require a change in the way we think about intellectual property and licensing in this connected world.

Who Knew? Admissibility Of Subsequent Remedial Measures When Defendants Are Without Knowledge Of The Injuries, Mark G. Boyko, Ryan G. Vacca

Law Faculty Scholarship

Federal Rule of Evidence 407 prohibits the introduction of subsequent remedial measures for the purposes of demonstrating negligence, culpable conduct, or product defect. But the rule breaks down, in application and purpose, when a defendant undertakes the new safety measure after the plaintiff's injury, but before the defendant had knowledge of the loss. Such a situation is not uncommon. Would-be defendants frequently improve their products and product safety for a variety of reasons. Toxic exposure cases, where exposure often predates diagnosis of the injury by a decade or more, represent a prime example of cases where defendants are likely to …

Beyond Ubiquity: Co-Creating Corporate Knowledge With A Wiki, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche, Charmaine Pfaff, David Willis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Despite their reputation as an evolving shared knowledge repository, Wikis are often treated with suspicion in organizations for management, social and legal reasons. Following studies of unsuccessful Wiki projects, a field study was undertaken of a corporate Wiki that has been developed to capture, and make available, organizational knowledge for a large manufacturing company as an initiative of their Knowledge Management program. A Q Methodology research approach was selected to uncover employees subjective attitudes to the Wiki so that the firm could more fully exploit the potential of the Wiki as a ubiquitous tool for tacit knowledge management.

How Generic Are Project Management Knowledge And Practice?, Lynn Crawford, Julien Pollack

Lynn Crawford

At the heart of managing projects is a complex paradox: Projects are widely considered unique endeavors, yet the effort to implement a project usually involves using a generic set of standardized practices. This article examines the complexity involved in relying on standardized practices to manage projects, focusing on conflict of using generalized processes to realize unique endeavors. In doing so, it identifies three types of standards and overviews the literature on the benefits and the problems involved in standardizing project management practices and in implementing these practices to manage projects. It then outlines the responses to a survey that the …

Knowledge, Technology Trajectories, And Innovation In A Developing Country Context: Evidence From A Survey Of Malaysian Firms, Deepak Hegde, Philip Shapira

Philip Shapira