Hemsley & Mason, Chakarabarti, and Lucas

Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce Volume 23, Issue 1-2, 2013Special Issue: Knowledge Management and Social Media: The Challenges and Benefits

 This article looks at how viral events on social media platforms affects knowmledge management systems. It begins with a story of a band that had a guitar broken during the handling of their luggage by United Airlines. In the ensuing aftermath the band posted a YouTube video about the incident and it quickly became a viral event. The main jist ofg the article was how organization need to be aware of how social media can affect knowledge management and knowledge management systems. The article also looks at how viral events can be used as the "stimulus in forming interest networks." They go on to say that organizations that adhere to the older bureaucratic method of controlling knowledge will be at a disadvantage.

The impact of trust and reputation on the transfer of best practices Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 9, No. 4. (April 2005), pp. 87-101, doi:10.1108/13673270510610350 by Leyland M. Lucas

This article examines how knowledge is transferred within an organization and why problems exist in the transferring process. The author examine one organization and looks at its knowledge transferring process. The author claims that for knowledge transferr to happen successfully their has to be an understanding by those who use it on how the process works, what knowledge is available and the acceptance of failure as a possibility in the process of helping themselves and others. There also has to be a level of cooperation between those who use it along with the ability to change the way the normally do things tho ensure that the knowledge transfer process will continue to work and be effective. The author concludes that there must be cooperation and trust between the users if knowledge transfer is to happe successfully. 

Bounded awareness and tacit knowledge: revisiting Challenger disaster Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 16, No. 6. (2012), pp. 934-949, doi:10.1108/13673271211276209 by Ajith Kumar, Amaresh Chakrabarti

This article primarily focuses on 'bounded awareness', which is described by the authors as:  "bounded awareness essentially manifests as ‘‘focusing failures’’ that result from the misalignment between information ideally needed for a good decision and the information actually included in the decision-making process. Useful information – though readily available – remains out of focus of the decision maker." The authors follow this overview of 'bounded awareness' by looking at what factors make a manager's awareness bounded. The study done by the authors attempts to establish "... a link between trust, reputation, and knowledge transfer." The author's conclude that it is individual tacit knowledge that can create bounds on the knowledge they posses. The authors urge organizations to be aware of what tacit knowledge they posses along with how that very knowledge can negatively effect their ability to recognize new and different knowledge when it is required.

 

 

 

 

Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations
and Research Issues): Maryam Alavi and Dorothy E. LeidnerSource: MIS Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 107-136

This article was very in depth and provided review for much literature done on KM and KMS. While the information provided in the article was good, and the reader was presented with a good deal of background information on knowledge management and knowledge management in the organization, I still found myself loosing interest and concentration. The article itself is rather lengthy and I find it hard sometimes to maintain a focus when reading these long research articles. I had to re-read many sections but overall this may be the most comprehensive knowledge management article I have read so far.

A Confessional Account of an Ethnography about Knowledge Work

Ulrike Schultze

MIS Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Mar., 2000), pp. 3-41 

 

I like this article because it focused on what professionals do as opposed to just what they know. I enjoyed this view point because it really focuses in on the actions of tacit knowledge. By focusing on the work practices of professionals a glimpse of how their knowledge is put to use can be obtained. How these professionals go about their day-to-day performance is a great indicator of what they know and how they use it. While I do not believe that all knowledge can be transmitted or shared, paying closer attention to how people operate and the actions they take can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of their individual knowledge.

 

 

Yuan, Y. C., Zhao, X., Liao, Q. and Chi, C. (2013), The use of different information and communication technologies to support knowledge sharing in organizations: From e-mail to micro-blogging. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci., 64: 1659–1670.

I enjoyed this article quite a bit. The authors conducted 21 interviews with employees from a multinational corporation about media technologies and how they are applicable to knowledge management. What I found most interesting was their acknowledgment that while I CT's are valuable assets, without the proper planning and implementation the tools are never able to reach their full potential. My one gripe with this article in spite of the fact that I enjoyed it, was that I did not feel like I was necessarily being presented with much new information. I did find the interviews to be very intriguing though and how others perceived these KM tools and how to best use them.

 

 

Goggins, Wasko and Chua

Context Matters: The Experience of Physical, Informational, and Cultural Distance in a Rural IT Firm 

The Information Society, Vol. 29, No. 2. (27 February 2013), pp. 113-127 

Sean P. Goggins, Christopher Mascaro

This article looks at how factors such as informational, cultural and distance can effect the business practices and operating procedures of a rural based IT firm. I found this article and study to be very interesting and practical as well. With this class being my first experience and in depth look and knowledge management I constantly found myself being presented with new, exciting information. In regards to this paper, I enjoyed it because of how it focuses on and looks at how distance and other factors attributed to it effects and can in some cases dictate how information is shared and transmitted. I know that I personally would not have thought about these things right off the bat, and would not have noticed how these things can effect an organization until problems arose. A study like this can greatly help future business be able to best utilize informatio sharing that cover physical, international and cultural distance to improve how the operate and share knowledge. 

  Why Should I share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice 

MIS Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 1. (2005), pp. 35-57 

Molly McLure Wasko and Samer Faraj

While I enjoyed this article I did not find that I was being presented with new and interesting information. I understand the value of the study, and it is important for organizations to understand why their employees and constituencies use and share knowledge but I did not feel that this particular study made any advances with the subject in question. The electronic network they discuss made me immediately think of a chat room or forum which have been around and used by a large number of people for many years now. I also did n ot feel that why the employees share information to be that informative. I thought that it went without saying that the majority of people who would use this type of resource would do so only if they thought that it would in some way benefit them.

A tale of two hurricanes: Comparing Katrina and Rita through a knowledge management perspective

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 58, No. 10. (1 August 2007), pp. 1518-1528, 

Alton Y. K. Chua

This has been one of my favorite articles that I have read so far. For some reason I find myself to be vastly interested in how KM practices work during a crisis. I find all of the reasons that pop up dealing with why people still do not share information at these times to be very intriguing and what these decisions can tell us about the human character and how we think. One of my favorite aspects of the article was how the author compared knowledge management efforts during two different major natural crises.