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Juhani
Anttila
MODERN APPROACH OF INFORMATION SOCIETY
TO KNOWLEDGE WORK ENVIRONMENT FOR MANAGEMENT Abstract Conceptual foundation for collaborative knowledge-intensive work
is considered in this paper. Also a state-of-the-art realization of
Knowledge Work Environment (KWE) is described in details of applied
tools and technology, and practical experiences of using the solution
in business management applications are reported. An important application of a KWE is to support management of an organization. Therefore KWE is also a very promising new approach for quality integration. Introduction Competitiveness and success of all organizations is based on right business related knowledge to be used by management on time. Correspondingly wrong or incorrect information, as well as missing information or knowledge may cause serious business risks. Additionally to the key business leaders, continuous and efficient exchange of information is a necessity between all stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, business partners, and the great public. In today's business environments, both number and variety of stakeholders has increased, and communication between them has increased, intensified, diversified, and accelerated tremendously due to global telecoms networks and services [1] [2]. This applies to all types of organizations including business companies, public civil service organizations, and even the third sector not-for-profit organizations. Organizations that will prosper are the ones that most effectively take advantage of social collaboration networks and use those benefits to foster and further develop their competitive advantage. The knowledge work environment (later in this paper referred as KWE) supports such organizations and enables them to operate in and benefit from the surrounding digital networks. The KWE is a collection of proved software components and methodologies that support social collaboration networks. Its aim is to improve effectiveness and efficiency of working methods in knowledge intensive organizations. Therefore it is also useful in the work of management and leadership within any kind of organization and business communities. The KWE is based on the idea that nowadays all employees - particularly including executives and managers - are in all organizations knowledge workers in one way or another. Knowledge workers use their intellect and social networks to convert their ideas into useful products in their working processes. In general, knowledge working practices are core skills in the whole post-industrial society. To get things done, knowledge work requires human interaction in social context and utilization of modern knowledge infrastructure and tools to benefit of the reduced transaction costs for learning, communication and collaboration [23] [6] [13]. Traditionally management of organizations is based document repositories and physical meetings. People are mainly using telephone and email for communication. For searching information corporate intranet and Google are important means. Although email is good for one-to-one communication it is however unsuitable for group interaction and collaboration. Massive investments in ICT solutions have induced to difficult situations in many business cases. Modern electronic business solutions and ICT systems have become almost obligatory in all kinds of businesses. However, typically they have not made the total situation easier because, in fact, there are much more than only technological issues to solve information and knowledge problems in organizations [19]. One should also take into account thinking, understanding, competences, skills, commitment, and feelings of the users of the ICT systems. These things are linked to the tacit or implicit knowledge of people. In fact, the biggest and most important part of knowledge is not explicitly presented in writing but the knowledge is tacit by nature. Portal solutions may be useful to leverage the use of both explicit and tacit organizational knowledge. However, really beneficial corporate portals are rather extensive and expensive investments [19] [25]. A modern realization of the KWE [24] based on disruptive innovations [18] is server-based software system that is used by a group of users over the Internet through a standard web-browser. Environment might not be the right term to describe it, as KWE draws from the idea that knowledge work is actually a networked phenomenon. The related software can be seen as part of a global knowledge worker ecosystem, where access to knowledge is the primary unit of value. KWE is more like a landscape which utilizes a global network for the benefit of the knowledge worker. Knowledge-based business management An effective management is carried out in a systematic way and covers
the whole organization. Managerial levels include the whole organization,
its business units or functions, business processes, and individuals
and teams. Leadership emphasizes managers' personal and human aspects
in conducting business resources and actions, and is based on managers'
inherent understanding, knowledge and behaviours. A lot of explicit
information is available to business leaders particularly from measurements
of business processes. A great challenge is to combine explicit and
tacit knowledge in all managerial business decisions and to get knowledge
moved from individuals within the whole organization between different
actors, and from tacit domain to explicit domain and also vice versa.
Working collaboratively using intellectual capacity of the whole organization
is the target for business benefits.
KWE toolset The core of KWE consists of ability to lead knowledge workers into work areas, where they work in collaboration to build new knowledge. They have also all relevant explicit information easily available through related documents. The toolset that is available for use at work areas is meant to improve internal and external communication of such knowledge working in teams. The five basic tools of a modern KWE include aggregator, forums,
wiki, blog and files. These tools are based on modern proved social
software or Web 2.0 technology [7]. Also many additional tools, e.g.
email, Skype [10], calendar, and virtual meeting, may easily be added
to the toolset. Many organizations are already using these tools but
in the modern KWE these tools have been integrated as a comprehensive
knowledge working platform. Figure 2 summarizes tools and their roles included in an effective KWE.
An intelligent link may be one or more people who process, analyze and reflect on aggregated observations and experience to create value in form of new refined ideas which are socialized as inputs to other intelligent links. This way several intelligent links form a social knowledge building network that resembles the way organizations and people work in human interaction. This is resulting improved communication where ideas are not only communicated but processed and refined to support activities of the participants. This bottom-up nature of the system is much more efficient compared to former communication media like corporate intranet, as it creates a rich breeding ground for cultivating new innovations. Blog Blog operates as user's own or group's online journal, weblog or news site. Blog means a reverse chronologically ordered website of blog entries. Each entry has a link for easy reference and commenting ability. The latest blog entry is always the topmost and the earliest entry is in the end. Each entry has a title, release date, author, set of subjects or categories, hypertext content, ability to link to other websites or blogs, and comments that are relevant in the context of a blog entry. Since year 2003 blogs have gained increased momentum in the way people use the social web. Blogging can nowadays be considered as one of the corner stones for maintaining industry-specific expertise in a social context. Blogging is the most prominent tool for knowledge work and basic knowledge work skills. In January 2006 there were over 44 million blogs in the world according to statistics provided by Technorati, a company which follows the adoption of blogs world-widely. Blogs have already passed mass media in popularity. E.g. in USA there was blog visitors between January and March 2005 almost 50 millions, 30% of American Internet users. Growth of visitors in one year was 45%. Visitors of most popular blog hosts surpassed visitors of NYTimes.com or Washingtonpost.com. Blogs are an important part of media scene. Blog-visitors are from families of richer than average. "Blogosphere" covers all human aspects and activities [8]. Audio- and video-blogging are interesting new forms of blogging. They have become popular even among senior citizens [20]. The most important feature of a blog for knowledge work is the fact that it provides a place for observation, reflection in/on action and learning from experiences in a social context. The idea is to make one's reflections visible to others, thus making ideas visible in an organization to cultivate their growth into new ventures. Aggregator Aggregator is a tool which enables a user to combine a set of sources
like news, blogs, commentary, announcements etc. into a single unified
place. It is like a newspaper the user forms on need basis from multiple
sources. Aggregator syndicates information feeds that are machine
readable versions of information sources using techniques of XML-based
RSS (Real Simple Solicitation) [11] or Atom. Many services in Internet
provide RSS feeds and so does every part of the KWE. Examples of information
sources that provide RSS feeds include BBC, Yahoo, New York Times,
Google News, Bloglines, and del.icio.us. With an aggregator a knowledge
worker is able to speed up the process of reading and analyzing sources
for relevant up-to-date information. Aggregator combines a self-updating
information landscape, where a user is able to categorize various
feeds and read them in the way one likes. This changes the way we
use the web, as part of the slow and often useless browsing activity
is eliminated by a unified view provided by an aggregator. In the
past when you were able to follow up to 10 websites every day, nowadays
you can easily follow up to 100 different websites simultaneously
in the same amount of time. In KWE users are able to make it easier for them to follow up on ideas represented by several intelligent links. This has proven to be an invaluable tool for management and employees, if each business unit has a feed available. Wiki Wiki is a tool for collaborative document writing [14], where a group of people work simultaneously on various documents which are hyperlinked together through simple easy-to-use links. Wikis grow through these hyperlinks, as new links are added to pages that do not exist and then some users fill the initial versions when they access such documents. Each wiki page has a version history of edits, making the iterative nature of wiki editing visible. It is possible to roll-back into earlier versions or simply just see, what changes other users have made to a single document. Wikis have no pre-defined fixed structure, as it grows associatively through hyperlinking. As such, users then create their own navigation. There can be several tables of contents or pages that cluster pages together. The world's largest wiki is Wikipedia, which is also the world's largest encyclopedia [9]. Wikis operate as organizational memory and a way to capture knowledge assets in more easily manageable environment. All organizations are in fact like wikis, with information that is constantly shaping under labels like 'Customers', 'Strategy', 'Products', and 'Quarterly results'. The KWE-wiki makes this information easier to update. Information security The KWE needs a detailed and easily customizable system for managing
access rights. It is usually possible to provide access rights to
various areas in the system for visibility, read, create, modify,
and remove information. Compared to typical public blog, wiki and aggregation implementations, user groups can separate their own work area from other work areas and control the authentication of external parties for access to their own data. In this way blogs, wikis and aggregators become also safe for business critical communication. KWE is used through a web-browser through a secure HTTPS connection. Browser cookie authentication method can be tweaked to terminate user session based on idle timeout and immediate cookie termination in cases where the browser is closed. For increased security, VPN (Virtual Private Network)- and network-based access rules may be created. Some users want the software to be installed on their own servers for increased security and control, but in most cases this is not more secure than outsourcing the service through application service providing (ASP) by skilled operators and administrators who are specialized in securing KWE for business purposes. In these cases also server room is designed to fulfill standards of secure server space. Regular backups make sure that the data is not lost. Added stability and dependability are being provided through server clustering. Open source software technology for realizing a KWE Open source software community is the biggest resource in the world for developing software products. Therefore it is a challenging basis for realizing the KWE platform. It provides rapid application development. The software is also made available for users for easy modification and customization. MPL (Mozilla Public License) [12] is one of the most popular open source software licenses used by projects like the Firefox web-browser. Under the terms of the license everyone has the freedom to modify the source code of KWE and re-distribute the changes, as long as the next person receives the same rights. The structure of the user interface is based on the W3C web-standards [16], mainly XHTML/CSS, where in background the presentation logic has been completely separated from the application logic. This enables the modification of the interface layout quickly and easily, including colors, shapes, navigational images and navigation logic. The layout may be modified to match to the needs of the users. KWE makes it easy to include external web-based tools as part of
the system when needed. This provides for example possibility for: KWE platform can be built so that it is easy to integrate with almost any web service as part of the system quickly and easily. This enables possibility to extend the system independent of the software provider. Examples of systems to be integrated may include: CRM, ERP, LMS, LCMS, SMS, map services, web mail, calendars, synchronous virtual conferencing, web portal management, financial systems, and a wide range of freely available open source based tools. KWE makes it possible to import users from a wide variety of sources, including Excel worksheets, LDAP directories, and Active Directory. Open source ensures to apply experiences of extensive software engineering in a global environment. Also many users from various business areas, cultures, age groups and levels of technical expertise may contribute to the design of the usability in the system. The aim is to create a simple, usable and flexible user experience. This can be achieved by utilizing in the software development practices like: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, AJAX [17] and RIA (Rich Internet Applications) [15]. Features that require users to use certain operating systems, browsers, or installing new software on their computers must be avoided for implementing a KWE. An advanced KWE solution supports Internet-based telephony between two or more people through freely available Skype software [10]. Skype is easy to use, quick to install, free, platform independent, good quality and secure voice+webcam+chat application that usually works behind firewalls without any additional network configuration. Skype APIs may integrate Skype online awareness framework. For example, people working on work areas may see who other users are online and initiate a Skype conference call or a text chat with the online participants. If Skype is not possible, a Flash-based online virtual conference tool can be used seamlessly integrated with the KWE. Virtual conference supports voice+webcam+chat between two or more KWE users. It requires no additional software to be installed, as it is completely browser independent. Virtual conference also usually works behind firewalls without additional network configuration. Other tools to be integrated may include MSN Messenger, AIM, ICQ and Yahoo Chat that provide synchronous online presence. Applications Using KWE in strategic business management Strategic management is one of organizations' management processes. Its purpose is to strive for enhancing overall business performance of an organization for better competitiveness and success. Strategic management consists particularly of organizational change management. However, simultaneously also organization's current business results should be ensured as a whole as planned. Strategic management is strongly a knowledge-based collaborative and innovative activity where typically organization's board of directors, executing managers, selected experts, personnel representatives, and stakeholders' representatives are being involved. Figure 3 shows how the KWE tools are available at the user interface
of the system for collaborative strategic management. Other applications The KWE is useful in all kinds of networked collaborative knowledge-intensive cooperation and groupwork. Especially benefits are obvious in cases where participants are geographically scattered and where arranging synchronous meetings is difficult. An individual may easily contribute via the KWE to many simultaneously active groups which is a typical situation for individuals in business organizations. Typical cases where the KWE approach has proved useful in practice
include: Conclusions There are lots of problems in traditional practices in leveraging effectively usage of both explicit and tacit knowledge and extensive learning in organizations. A KWE solution based on modern proved social software or Web 2.0 technology offers simple, easy-to-implement/use/modify, and inexpensive solutions. It is particularly useful when organizations or people are operating in networks and work is knowledge-intensive. Organizations may develop their information and knowledge management from passive documentation-emphasized and information-chaotic situation of organizational intranet systems to effective leveraging the usage of information and knowledge for the purpose of managing effectively and efficiently business performance. This means that organizations may move in from all-governing and inhuman computerization ("Intel inside") on people-centered ("Human inside") solutions. Acknowledgement I would like to thank Mr. Teemu Arina, CEO of the Helsinki, Finland based company DiCoLe (Discover - Collaborate - Learn), for fruitful discussions and valuable information for this paper. References [1] J. Anttila, "Business
Integrated e-Quality - Innovative opportunity for modern advanced
organizations", EOQ Congress in Harrogate UK, 2002 [This text is based on a paper presented at the IEEE ICIT2006 conference
in Mumbai, India in 2006] |
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