Browsing by Author "Vartiainen, Matti; Prof."

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Designing practices for making use of tacit knowledge in a knowledge work environment
(2007) Ylihärsilä, Kari
Master's thesis
This thesis deals with making use of tacit knowledge in a knowledge work environment. Purpose of this research is to design practices, tools and ways of working for making use of tacit knowledge in a knowledge intensive corporation. Making use of tacit knowledge was researched in the areas of new employee introduction, using electronic workspaces and working with virtual teams. The practices were designed using a constructive research approach. 30 persons were interviewed within the study. The research questions are the following: 1) What is tacit knowledge? 2) What are best practices for making use of tacit knowledge in a knowledge work environment? 3) What are key issues to be taken into account when introducing these practices in a knowledge work corporation? In the literature study part tacit knowledge is defined and ways of sharing tacit knowledge are identified. Introducing practices for making use of tacit knowledge inside organizations are also examined. In the empirical part best practices were gathered from the organization, which were refined through theoretical understandings. Different maturity levels were reached in each area of research. Some of these are presented as tools to use and some as conceptual understandings. Concrete tools for transferring tacit knowledge in new employee introduction were designed. These were tested unofficially and have reached a level of maturity ready for pilot-testing. These tools deal mainly with making use of implicit knowledge, which the part of tacit knowledge that can be put into words. In the areas of electronic workspaces and virtual teams the results are presented as conceptual understandings. In addition to understanding and methods, making use of tacit knowledge was found to be mostly about enabling the employees' intrinsic motivation for sharing their knowledge. This can occur for example through stories, comments and concept creation. A model was empirically verified consisting of cultural, intentional, systemic and behavioural perspectives on motivation for knowledge sharing.
Tavoitteellisen johtamisen kehittyminen johtamisoppina ja käyttö suurissa suomalaisorganisaatioissa
(2008) Kulla, Jussi
Faculty of Information and Natural Sciences | Licentiate thesis
There were two research questions to be answered in this thesis: What is goal driven management and how has it developed, and what is the status of goal driven management (= performance management) in the biggest Finnish organisations? The first question was answered by carrying out an extensive literature review that covered a long time period and a wide range of issues. The research methodology used was history research. The second research question was answered by a survey that was directed to the biggest Finnish organisations, both private and public. The target group consisted of 326 largest organisations in Finland. The response rate was 29 %, i.e. 94 organisations returned the questionnaire. Goal driven management pays special attention to the setting of the targets and to their achievement: it covers all the activities needed to set goals and to achieve them. If the goals are met, management is called effective. The answering to the first research question begins from the industrial revolution and the new opportunities it gave in 18th and 19th century. When the companies grew, a need to develop management emerged. First it was required at the shop floor level (scientific management) but soon the whole organisation required enhanced management approaches. The development of management theories is reviewed till 1954, and their impact on Drucker's thinking and on the emergence of Management by Objectives is evaluated. Some themes were found in this research concerning the development of goal driven management: First, the development takes place when the environment is dynamic and provides opportunities for new operational solutions creating a need for corresponding management development. It seems that management development follows operational improvements slowly; in some cases the delay can be long. The second theme is that new solutions are developed in interaction and co-operation when several actors try to find new approaches for the practical management requirements. Thirdly, business leaders, not the researchers, have so far developed the most significant solutions in goal driven management. Fourthly, the life cycles of the various approaches to target driven management are long, even tens of years. As soon as they have once been established they change or loose ground only slowly, often adopting new features, which is a challenge to organisation and management development (change management). In this research three approaches (performance appraisal, management by objectives, performance management) of target driven management were analysed in detail by using a life cycle model as a framework. Their life cycles were long and their contents depend on the application environment. The developments of life cycles were different in the United States and Finland. However, the contents of the latest approaches are very similar in Finland and internationally. The adoption of new management theories, techniques or fads in Finland seems to take place very fast today, almost without delay. Still in the 1970's the delay was about five years. The other research question was about the current status of the goal driven management in Finland, where it is related to planning, not to motivation as in the United States. The status can be evaluated to be satisfactory: organisation based strategic and annual planning is well established and gives a reasonably good basis for the setting of individual targets. The public sector is a negative exception. A statistically significant connection between specific and measurable organisation targets and the financial performance of the company was found in this survey. Almost all participant organisations report that they have a clearly defined target setting and performance review procedure in use. However, there is space for improvement: The targets are not specific and measurable enough. Another challenge is that the target setting and performance review procedure is not followed to the extent the organisations have decided. Also, even if the procedure is in wide use, the respondents are not happy with its performance. A reason is, according to the respondents (HR leaders), that all line managers do not appreciate the procedure, don't carry out their role fully, and not in schedule. Neither the personnel is satisfied. The respondents report that the organisations do not have strong performance culture at all levels. The information created in the performance reviews is not collected and used in a systematic manner. As a whole there are major improvement opportunities in this area in the big Finnish organisations.