cct 355: e-business technologies
DESCRIPTION
CCT 355: E-Business Technologies. Class 2: Technology in Context. Administratrivia. Networking opportunities Article analysis scheduling – later today Case study brainstorming – later today. Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom. Data - raw bits (e.g., 0’s and 1’s, many computer controls) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
CCT 355: E-Business Technologies
Class 2: Technology in Context
Administratrivia
• Networking opportunities• Article analysis scheduling – later today• Case study brainstorming – later today
Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom
• Data - raw bits (e.g., 0’s and 1’s, many computer controls)
• Information - data organized into chunks that have semantic value
• Knowledge - Application of information to tasks and goals of value and importance
• Wisdom - Ethical and political judgements regarding tasks of importance
What is IT, then?
• IT transmits data - but data alone is rather difficult for use to process
• Information is generally central role (why IT has an I in it, I guess.)
• While knowledge is mostly human domain, IT increasingly supports knowledge communities, making knowledge creation easier
• Relation to wisdom?
Input Process Output (IPO)
• Data is provided, computer transforms, data is generated
• Output data usually then become inputs for other processes (including processes that make us understand data as information)
• Garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) - badly formatted inputs break processes, wrong inputs generate incorrect results
• What’s garbage? Depends on the problem.
Open Systems
• Inputs - various sources of data/information, human resources, money, tech, raw materials
• Outputs - Services/products – but also waste and its costs
• Process – must deal with available inputs and create desirable outputs as efficiently as possible
• Feedback loops – outputs are usually inputs for other processes – coordination of processes is key
• Balance – hard to predict – complex systems issues
Competitive Advantage of IT?
• IT can increase speed and lower cost of distribution and production of information
• IT and the productivity paradox - for years, the above was true, but return on investment (ROI) was stagnant or even negative - why?
• Paradox solved - IT now trends positive ROI - why?
Automation
• IT to automate scheduled, simple repetitive tasks
• Increases efficiency, reduces human error • Implemented for years in manufacturing and
logistics management - increasingly common in knowledge work (e.g., tax preparation)
• Examples?
A Balance…
• IT alone doesn’t do much - it must be used intelligently by intelligent people
• People, business process, technology, end objectives, market dynamics, partners and competitors, ethical concerns, legal concerns - all interact to determine success or failure of implementation
• IS types/functions blend – create information ecology usually as robust as weakest link
• Right balance? Well, that’s where knowledge and wisdom come in.
Cui bono?
• Literal translation: who benefits?• Figurative: to what good purpose?• Both excellent questions in any technology
implementation• Technology has potential to shape/be shaped
by existing social structures in an organization
Stakeholder Analysis
• Who stands to win/lose? Whose interests are compromised by corporate action/inaction?
• Suppliers, customers, government, shareholders, managers, information workers - all have varying interests - failure to consider usually leads to unbalanced system
• Not a technology question – but important in any technology implementation and change management situation
Org Types, Stakeholders and IT
• Differing relations among stakeholders in various org. types might enable or frustrate technology projects
• On hierarchy, matrix, decentralized organizations
• Different technologies fit better with different org. types – examples?
On “ba”
• KM framed as managing context – not technology
• Ba = “the context where knowledge emerges and is socially constructed.”
• Paper looks at different constructions of “ba” – a challenging and contentious concept (why?)
No creation without place
• Ba as a contextual space – either physical (e.g., office spaces, watercooler conversations) or virtual (e.g., email, intranets, IM, etc.)
• OL as “the process of making available and amplifying knowledge created by individuals as well as crystallizing and connecting it to an organization’s knowledge system” – and “ba” is where it happens
Tacit and explicit knowledge
• Tacit – informal, innate, cultural, “how things are done around here”
• Explicit – formal, recorded, storable• Tacit and explicit media – examples?
SECI Process
• Socialization – transfer of tacit knowledge• Externalization – conversion to explicit
knowledge• Combination – integration/synthesis of
explicit knowledge• Internalization – reembodiment of new
knowledge as standard practice
Four types of “ba”
• Originating – where people share stories• Interacting – a more consciously designed
structure of social interaction, transfer of tacit stories to explicit knowledge
• Cyber/systemizing – role of IT in integrating explicity knowledge
• Exercising – synthetic application
An analysis of literature
• Social/behavioural• Cognitive/epistemic• Information systems/management• Strategy/structure
Social/Behavioural
• Organization norms and culture• Tolerance of difference/diversity/error• Social networks and connections
Cognitive/epistemic
• Collection of diverse range of opinions/experiences (e.g., requisite diversity)
• Creative integration of different epistemic frames/cultures/communities of practice
• Production and sharing of knowledge, both tacit and explicit
Information Systems
• Design and implementation of e-business technologies
• Simulation, decision support, problem-solving systems, intranets, KM systems, collaboration systems, etc.
Strategy/Vision
• Organizational strategy to maximize value of knowledge
• Effects of org. structure• Learning/sharing incentives• Supporting knowledge leaders and leadership
Case assignment
• Where to get companies of interest?• Who to talk to?• How to approach?• What questions to ask?• Elements of a good narrative?• Proposal in a week – one page of approach,
questions and possibilities notes
Article Analysis
• Scheduling (don’t move spaces please!)• Sources• Presentation Tips and Mechanics – template
up online
Next Week
• A look at basic types of e-business technologies