Management Support for Staff

Knowledge Sharing in Higher

Education Institutions

SPACE 201728th Annual SPACE Network Conference

Porto, Portugal – 27th April 2017

Niall Corcoran & Aidan Duane

“If HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times more productive.”

Lew Platt, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

• By nature:

▫ Knowledge intensive environments

• Exist to create and disseminate knowledge

▫ Teaching, learning and research activities

▫ Interaction with business and external bodies

Knowledge Sharing

Organisations can gain competitive advantage

through encouraging and promoting knowledge

sharing.

Very important in knowledge-intensive organisations,

such as public HEIs.

HEIs now need to compete in a global marketplace

Must share knowledge to gain the most from their intellectual

capital.

But do they……?

Social Media and Knowledge Sharing

Computer mediated tools that allow people to

create, share or exchange information, ideas and

media in virtual communities and networks.

Organisational applications are close to some of the

ideals of Knowledge Management.

Support group interaction towards stablishing communities.

Enable creation and sharing of content.

Can help improve collaboration and communication within

organisations.

Distinct technical features that are ideally suited for knowledge

sharing.

Fundamentally disrupting the way employees deal with

knowledge.

SM tools are the new means for sharing organisational

knowledge.

ESN alone isn’t a silver bullet for knowledge sharing…..

….staff need reasons and structure to share

Communities of Practice

Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger

(1991)

An important KM strategy

Groups of people who share a

passion for something

Loose and informal social structures

Largely voluntary entities that grow

organically

Suitable for sharing tacit knowledge

ESN and CoP

ESN can be used to create virtual

communities.

Tools that facilitate collective

intelligence…where participants are

engaged in a common goal.

The basic design principles of CoP live within

social media where members gather to

grow in knowledge and skills.

ESN support dynamic knowledge exchange

and support interaction, communication

and collaboration

Knowledge Sharing in HEIs

They don’t!

A number of studies have shown that KM

implementation and knowledge sharing in HEIs is at

a low level.

Why?

Organisational culture

Organisational structures

Bureaucratic characteristics

Divide/mistrust between faculty and support staff

(silos)

Would require substantial change of business

processes

Bureaucratic StructuresGoverning Authority

ExecutiveAcademic Councils

SubcommitteesSteering Groups

Poor service deliveryInadequate infrastructure

Not aligned with T&L

DisconnectMistrustDivide

DifferentValues &Priorities

Loose Coupling

Knowledge ManagementOrganisational culture

Knowledge sharingCommunities of PracticeWeb 2.0 (social media)

Quality service deliveryQuality infrastructure

Aligned with T&L needs

ConnectedTrust

SharedValues &Priorities

Working together

The practical problem……

Can ESN and vCoP Help?

vCoP in business have been shown to be

effective in increasing knowledge sharing

and reducing staff isolation.

ESN is seen as a key enabler for vCoP with

strong strategic potential.

ESN are useful mechanisms for creating

communities.

Can lead to corporate information structures

with the potential to bypass the rigid

bureaucracy of HEIs.

Bottom-up and organic approach.

Research Objective

The formal objective of the study

was to:

“investigate how enterprise social

networks can enable staff

knowledge sharing in virtual

communities of practice in higher

education institutions”.

Research Questions

A number of research questions have been

developed to examine the issues:

1. What are the antecedents for staff knowledge

sharing?

2. What are the dominant problems associated with

the implementation of ESN and participation in

vCoP?

3. What are the key motivators for staff to adopt the

use of ESN and participate in vCoP?

4. What are the perceived benefits of knowledge

sharing for both the organization and for staff

members?

Conceptual Model

A conceptual model was developed from the research

questions and the literature review.

Focuses on how a knowledge sharing environment can

be created by determining the antecedents and the

key motivators for staff to engage with it.

The dominant problems from both organisational and

individual perspectives are included so that they can be

managed.

The organisational and individual benefits are

determined as outputs from the model.

Research Approach

Contextual setting is Limerick Institute of Technology

Multi-campus; 7,000 students and 600 staff.

Researcher is a staff member with considerable

management and academic service.

Significant practical aspect to the study, requiring a

number of interventions that are led by the researcher.

=> Action Research is the most appropriate strategy

to adopt.

Qualitative study using:

Focus Groups

Semi-structured Interviews

Content Analysis

Reflective Journaling

Limerick Institute of Technology

7000 students600 staff

Courses and research from Levels 6 to 10

Research Approach

Adapted from Lewin’s Action Research Model (1956)

Reflective Journaling

Formalisation

Phase

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

Semi-structured Interviews

Content Analysis

Reflective Journaling

Pre

dic

ted

Use

Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3

Focus Groups

Reflective Journaling

Semi-structured Interviews

Content Analysis

Initiation Phase Contagion Phase

• The AR project ran from September 2015 to August 2016.

• It had three Cycles of four months each.

• The predicted use of the ESN is based on a stages of growth model.

Key Findings

Key Findings for Management Support

…but how does this work in practice?

Interdependencies of Findings

Management Action

Understand the organisational culture.

Recognise the existence of structural and

cultural problems, and the academic/staff

divide.

Determine the benefits of an active

knowledge sharing environment.

Develop a vision for a knowledge sharing

environment.

Lead a cultural change process through

organisational strategy.

Translate strategy into policy and processes.

Provide resources.

Some problems…..

Public sector hierarchical structures

Public accountability

Media scrutiny

Transactional leadership

Operational managers

Failure to recognise and address cultural

issues

Lack of executive buy-in and sponsorship

Can be overcome through transformational

leadership and the vision and actions of

creative managers.