seminar
Managing Enabling Contexts in Knowledge Organizations
Investigation and analysis of KM processes effectively implemented in Brazilian organizations. The study is a result of more than a decade of research in brazilian and world class organizations such as Siemens, PwC, Embrapa, ONS, Nokia and CTC - Sugarcane Technology Center, among others. The main objective of FDC’s research group on KM is to investigate and analyze the conceptions, motivations,model, practices, implementation processes and results of KM in business organizations. The qualitative research strategy used was the study of multiple cases with incorporated units of analysis and three criteria were observed for the judgment of the quality of the research project: validity of the construct, external validity and reliability. Multiple sources of evidence were used and data analysis consisted of three flows of activities: data reduction, data displays and conclusion drawing/verification. The results confirmed the presuppositions and the conclusions suggest that organizational knowledge cannot be managed, it is just promoted or stimulated through the creation of a favorable organizational context, namely "enabling context" or "Ba". It was also identified that the main challenges facing organizations committed to KM in Brazil have its focus on change management, cultural and behavioral issues and the creation of an enabling context that favors the creation, use and sharing of information and knowledge. Two special Brazilian cases will be highlighted - Embrapa ( The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation)and ONS (The National Operator of the Interconnected Power System) - where the results revealed a robust KM model made of four dynamic axes: (i) strategy (a strategic conception of information and knowledge use), (ii) environment - four different groups of enabling conditions (social-behavioral, information/communication, cognitive/epistemic and business/managerial), sine qua non conditions for successful implementation, (iii) tool box - sets of IT tools and managerial practices and (iv) results - in terms of outputs, being both tangible and intangible assets. Embrapa’s KM Model is more inclined to be a knowledge-based view of organization than merely a KM model. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
<p>Dr.
Rivadávia Correa Drummond de Alvarenga Neto is Professor at Fundação Dom
Cabral, a Brazilian business school ranked the 6th best business school in the
world and the best one in Latin America according to the Financial Times
Executive Education ranking 2010. He holds a PhD in Information Science from
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Federal - UFMG, Brazil.</p>
<p>Rivadávia
speaks regularly on the subject of knowledge management and he conducted the
first in depth qualitative study within the Brazilian organizational context in
2005. Since 2001 he’s been working with many international firms, such as
Petrobras, Embrapa, ONS, Astra Zeneca, Linde, ABN Amro Bank, Anglo American,Siemens,
SugarCane Technology Center (CTC) and PricewaterhouseCoopers, among others.</p>
<p>His newest
book has just been released in Brazil (Knowledge Management in Organizations,
Editora Saraiva, São Paulo, Brazil, 2008).</p>
<p>He was a
postdoc and visiting professor at the Faculty Information Studies at the
University of Toronto, hosted by Dr. Chun Wei Choo. He is also a guest
researcher of KRMC - Knowledge
Management Research Centre, FIS/UofT. In
2010, he participated of Harvard Business School’s GCPCL and alo interviewed
Professor Michael Porter for ManagemenTV, Brazil.</p>
<p>Research
interests: Knowledge Management, Organizational Knowledge and Knowledge
Creation in Organizations, Organizational Learning, Intellectual Capital,
Information Systems and Information Strategic Management, Praxis Communities,
Innovation Management, Organizational Theory, Educational Planning and
Management, Marketing and Competitive Intelligence.</p>
<p>Faculty web
page at FDC:<br /><a href="http://www.fdc.org.br/pt/corpo_professores/paginas/professor.aspx?COD_PROFESSOR=78539&COD_IDIOMA=pt-BR">http://www.fdc.org.br/pt/corpo_professores/paginas/professor.aspx?COD_PROFESSOR=78539&COD_IDIOMA=pt-BR</a></p>
<p>Biography
page at ICICKM 2010: <br /><a href="http://www.academic-conferences.org/icickm/icickm2010/icickm10-biographies.htm">http://www.academic-conferences.org/icickm/icickm2010/icickm10-biographies.htm</a></p>
<p>E-mail: <a href="mailto:rivadavia@fdc.org.br">rivadavia@fdc.org.br</a> </p>
<p>Dr
Rivadávia Alvarenga was Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Information, January
- June 2009.</p>