CCT 355: E-Business Technologies

1. CCT 355: E-Business Technologies Class 2: Technology in Context

2. Administratrivia • Networking opportunities • Article analysis scheduling – later today • Case study brainstorming – later today

3. 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

4. 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?

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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?

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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?

13. 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?)

14. 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

15. Tacit and explicit knowledge • Tacit – informal, innate, cultural, “how things are done around here” • Explicit – formal, recorded, storable • Tacit and explicit media – examples?

16. 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

17. 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

18. An analysis of literature • Social/behavioural • Cognitive/epistemic • Information systems/management • Strategy/structure

19. Social/Behavioural • Organization norms and culture • Tolerance of difference/diversity/error • Social networks and connections

20. 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

21. Information Systems • Design and implementation of e-business technologies • Simulation, decision support, problem-solving systems, intranets, KM systems, collaboration systems, etc.

22. Strategy/Vision • Organizational strategy to maximize value of knowledge • Effects of org. structure • Learning/sharing incentives • Supporting knowledge leaders and leadership

23. 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

24. Article Analysis • Scheduling (don’t move spaces please!) • Sources • Presentation Tips and Mechanics – template up online

25. Next Week • A look at basic types of e-business technologies