PUAD626 Implementing Data Knowledge Management Practices and Principles Memo Instructions There are THREE parts to this week’s assignment. Prepare a writ
PUAD626 Implementing Data Knowledge Management Practices and Principles Memo Instructions
There are THREE parts to this week’s assignment. Prepare a written document. Complete the following parts by writing your responses and then submit the document per the instructions provided below.
1. Part 1: Interview with Public Sector Information Technology manager/supervisor
Provide a brief statement indicating who you will interview. Provide their name, organizational affiliation, job title and brief overview of what they do and their management/supervisory responsibilities. Indicate that you have contacted the individual and asked for permission to conduct a telephone or face-to-face interview.
2. Part 2: Cloud Computing Case Study
Select one case study from this week’s reading (State of cloud computing also available at Files Directory/Week 3) that most closely resembles your current or former organization. If you are not employed select one that is most interesting to you. Provide a one-page description indicating why you picked the case, provide a few highlights from the case, and describe your perspective regarding how Cloud computing is likely to help the organization.
3. Part 3: Knowledge Work in a Michigan School District
Read and analyze the following case study related to knowledge work.
You work as a principal at a high-performing high school in the Mid-Land Michigan area and recently read the article titled: public specter……. (also available at Files Directory/Week 3). The article motivated you to attempt to convince your School District Administrator of the need to take action regarding improving data and knowledge management across the school district.
Write a memorandum addressed to the Mid-Land Michigan School Administrator describing the key points from the article and any other research that you elected to do and offer a persuasive argument and specific actions for developing and implementing a knowledge management program in the district. Use facts and persuasion to convince the Administrator that Mid-Land can move to the forefront in education administration and effectiveness by adopting knowledge management practices and principles. Address key challenges that must be addressed in order to move forward. topics. DO NOT copy and paste content from Internet websites. Write the memorandum using your own thoughts and words.
In order to submit your memorandum, go to ASSIGNMENTS on the left menu and select Week 3 Assignment in order to upload it so that it can be reviewed and assessed.
Writing Guidance
For our purposes this semester all written submissions should generally adhere to the following:
1. There is no need to include a separate cover page. Provide a title for the assignment and your name at the top of the first page.
2. Although APA calls for double spacing everything but the cover page, you are granted ane exception to that requirement and can single space your written assignments.
3. Use 1″ margins (left, right, top and bottom).
4. Indent all paragraphs (APA style).
5. Use standard 11-pitch or 12-pitch fonts.
6. For citations, use APA style. If you need some help understanding how to cite using APA format, go to this site.
7. All writing should be expository format, with proper grammar, spelling and effective use of the English language.
8. Use sub-titles to organize your writing. However, your writing should not include one-sentence paragraphs or one-paragraph sub-sections.
9. Use bullet lists sparingly. We are not writing outlines.
10. Do NOT copy and paste content from the Internet. I want your thoughts. Points will be subtracted for content that is copied and pasted. Along those lines, do not plagiarize. Cite your sources. If I think something has been plagiarized I will check and if true I will direct you to the ethics policy.
11. For the best possible grade demonstrate that you have spent sufficient time on the assignment. Often it is necessary to do Internet searches to obtain additional background material. For the assignment I would like to see that you have done sufficient background research, that you have read the instructions and that you have spent time reflecting on the task and thoughtfully constructing your written response to questions and issues. Powerful public sector knowledge
management: a school district example
Karen Edge
Karen Edge is Lecturer in
Education Leadership and
Management at the London
Centre for Leadership in
Learning, Institute of Education,
University of London. She is also
an educational consultant and
has recently completed her PhD
in knowledge management and
educational reform. Her clients
have included international
organizations, universities,
school districts and non-profit
organizations. Her research and
publications focus on policy
implementation, knowledge
management, organizational
learning, school improvement
and reform. She is co-author of
Educational Accountability:
State of the Art (Bertlesmann).
E-mail: k.edge@ioe.ac.uk
Abstract
Purpose Drawn from a recent research study of the Toronto District School Board, this paper aims to
examine how the District employs knowledge management to initiate and improve early literacy
instruction and achievement.
Design/methodology/approach This study draws on Nonaka and Takeuchis framework to explore
how focusing on tacit-to-tacit knowledge-sharing strategies influence early literacy-based knowledge
sharing within and across schools. Data collection involved the collection and analysis of documents
used and designed by Early Years Literacy Project (EYLP) staff members. The second phase engaged a
cross-section of 34 EYLP teachers, administrators and senior TDSB superintendents and EYLP
management team members in individual semi-structured interviews. Participants commented on their
experience vis-a?-vis the various knowledge management strategies used to support its implementation.
Data from the interviews was codified, analyzed and summarized and summaries were shared with
participants for comment.
Findings The District has employed a comprehensive strategy designed to build instructional and
leadership capacity via the use of in-school knowledge activists and informal professional networks.
This paper explores the impact of these strategies on school and district-level teacher and leader
learning and organizational culture.
Originality/value The overall impact of these strategies for professional and organizational learning
and the challenges associated with employing knowledge management within education and the
broader public sector are presented.
Keywords Knowledge management, Public sector organizations, Tacit knowledge, Education
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The business community has developed a growing interest in recognizing, formalizing and
mobilizing employee knowledge in support of innovation and competitiveness (Drucker,
1993; Earl, 1994; Nonaka, 1991). Not surprisingly, much of this literature explores corporate
applications of knowledge management including: different conceptions of organizational
and personal knowledge (Brown and Dugid, 2000; Hansen et al., 1999); strategies for
managing knowledge (Davenport and Prusak, 1998; Nonaka, 1991; Nonaka et al., 2001);
and, case studies of the impact of knowledge management on organizational success
(Kreiner, 2002; Morey and Frangioso, 1998; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995, 1997; Smith, 2001;
Weick and Roberts, 1996).
At the same time, there has also been a growing interest in public sector applications of
knowledge management. Within this limited body of academic research, the potential
benefits of public sector adoption of knowledge management include: improving
organizational quality and efficiency (McAdam and Reid, 2001); reducing costs (McAdam
and Reid, 2001); and, decreasing interagency fragmentation (Ardichvili et al., 2003). While
there are strong arguments for the strategic use of knowledge management to improve
public sector performance, several endemic challenges stand in the way of most public
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DOI 10.1108/13673270510629954
While there are strong arguments for the strategic use of
knowledge management to improve public sector
performance, several endemic challenges stand in the way of
most public sector KM initiatives.
sector knowledge management initiatives. These challenges are not limited to but include
the isolated nature of most public sector work (Murray, 2001), worker desire to maintain and
protect their own personal knowledge (Murray, 2001), and the seemingly perpetual
reduction of centrally allocated resources (McAdam and Reid, 2001).
While the potential value of public sector knowledge management is evident,
implementation challenges not withstanding, public sector organizations have often been
reluctant to explore the possibilities of knowledge management. For example, within
education, there has been little research or discussion of knowledge management as a
strategy for improving organizational practice, program implementation and teaching and
learning (Fullan, 2001). Many of the potential benefits of knowledge management within the
public sector, as stated above, apply equally to education. Similarly, the overall challenges
facing the introduction and implementation of knowledge management strategies within
education are similar and include: the technological limitations in schools and school
systems; the independent nature of schools and teaching; the lack of teacher time outside
the classroom; and, the ever-worsening budgetary constraints.
Acknowledging the similarities between education and other public sector organizations,
this paper presents examples from a recent case study of a large urban North American
school district. While the Toronto District School Board does not have a formal knowledge
management strategy, within its efforts to improve early literacy achievement it has
employed knowledge management strategies to mobilizing teacher and administrator tacit
knowledge in support of improving literacy teaching and learning. Even though many in the
District remain unfamiliar with current knowledge management theory, employing a
knowledge management framework to examine their efforts clearly highlights the successes
and challenges of applying knowledge management thinking within education, and the
ramifications for other public sector organizations will feature prominently in the discussion.
Scope of the paper
This paper is drawn from a recent research study exploring the Toronto District School
Boards efforts to initiate and improve early literacy instruction and achievement. More
specifically, this paper highlights the Districts focus on creating and enhancing
opportunities for literacy-based knowledge sharing between teachers and leaders.
Beginning with an introduction of the Toronto District School Board and their Early Years
Literacy Project, this paper reviews applicable knowledge management literature and
provides the context for the discussion of the various knowledge strategies being employed
throughout the District. In turn, the paper focuses on tacit-to-tacit knowledge conversion via
the use of in-school knowledge activists and informal professional networks. A discussion of
the impact of these strategies on teacher and leader learning and organizational culture
precedes a more general discussion of the challenges in developing and implementing
comprehensive education knowledge management initiatives.
The Toronto District School Board
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is the fourth largest school District in North
America and is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (population five million). Each year, the
TDSB educates over 200,000 kindergarten to grade five students in its 451 elementary
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schools. In the District, 41 percent of elementary students speak English as their second, or
third, language. To complicate matters, many schools experience high student turnover,
which in some cases has reached 40 percent within a given academic year.
At the same time, the provincial government has introduced province-wide standardized
literacy testing for all grade three students. Serving many students who are learning English
for the first time, the District faces significant challenges in getting students to achieve on the
one-size-fits-all student literacy performance test.
In support of improving their overall achievement in literacy, the District designed the Early
Years Literacy Project to improve literacy overall instruction and student achievement. While
the District does not specifically name knowledge management as a driver of their early
literacy-related activities, the design of its professional development activities,
communication strategies and infrastructure reflect elements of knowledge management
theory (Edge et al., 2001). It is for this reason that the TDSB was selected as a site for this
research.
The Early Years Literacy Project
In 1999, the TDSB initiated 93 schools into Early Years Literacy Project. In 2003, there are
103 schools in the Project. The Early Years Literacy Project (EYLP) targets kindergarten to
grade three classrooms and strives to ensure that all EYLP students are reading and writing
at their grade level. The EYLP maintains cohesive school-level and classroom-level literacy
foci and requires that all EYLP schools must maintain a two-hour literacy block and employ
specific instruction and assessment strategies. In addition to school-level resource
injections for literacy supplies, other EYLP components include:
B
in-school teacher leaders known as literacy coordinators; and
B
a strategic professional development strategy for teachers and leaders within EYLP
schools.
Literacy coordinators
Literacy coordinators (LCs) are teachers who are appointed as half time in-school literacy
experts and half time as classroom teachers. Traditionally, LCs are selected by their
principals on the basis of their early literacy expertise and ability to work with their peers. As
professional development leaders, LCs work across the school to coach their peers by
modeling of teaching strategies, supporting team teaching and working with individual
teachers to expand their instructional repertoire. In support of their own learning, LCs
participate in mandatory professional development sessions focused on literacy instruction,
leadership and educational change.
EYLP professional development
The EYLP professional development strategy develops both leadership and instructional
capacity among Principals, literacy coordinators and teachers. The annual, mandatory
EYLP Summer Institute brings whole school teams together for one week of literacy
sessions. A unique feature of the on-going series of EYLP training is the specific and
deliberate focus on both the process and theory of educational change.
The knowledge management literature
This literature review builds support for knowledge management as a strategy for improving
individual and collective outcomes within the education sector. It also provides the rationale
for assuming that education case studies provide valuable insight for the public sector as a
whole. The review includes an overview of:
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B
the current status of knowledge management within education research;
B
the role of knowledge management in public sector organizations; and
B
the knowledge management framework that guided this research and analysis.
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The framework specifically focuses on tacit and explicit knowledge conversion (Nonaka and
Takeuchi, 1995) that, in turn, frames the presentation of the key knowledge management
strategies at work within the district.
Knowledge management in education
While one would suppose that educational organizations are relatively knowledge-intense
organizations, there has been little discussion of knowledge management as a strategy for
improving organizational practice, program implementation and teaching and learning
within education (Fullan, 2001). Much of educational knowledge management research
focuses on information management systems (Hannum, 2001), libraries and information
technology (Barron, 2000) and pilot projects within higher education (Cistone and
Stevenson, 2000). At the moment, there is a lack of discussion within education of the
potential of scaling-up these opportunities to create more systematic and systemic
strategies for codifying and cataloguing knowledge and improving teaching and learning
outcomes in schools and school districts.
Knowledge management in the public sector
Knowledge management has the potential to greatly influence and improve the public sector
renewal processes (Fullan, 2001; McAdam and Reid, 2001). McAdam and Reid (2001)
believe that knowledge management is especially important in the public sector as staff
have long been identified as the key knowledge depository (McAdam and Reid, 2001,
p. 20). As many government agencies are dealing with excessive attrition and retirement,
capturing the knowledge of experienced and departing employees is of strategic
importance. McAdam and Reid also found that public sector employees expressed a
greater appreciation of knowledge construction, as being both scientific and socially
constructed relative to their private sector counterparts. This provides an interesting
discussion point in the context of the TDSB case and the potential for its applicability to other
public sector organizations as it demonstrates the potential of bringing individuals together
for opportunities to develop and share their knowledge.
Current examples of public sector knowledge management are often narrowly focused and
do not provide rich data on the strategies and experiences of those engaged in the process
at the organizational level. This research often focuses on the role of technology or
e-government services (Ling, 2002). Other areas of the literature highlight knowledge
management in specific branches of the public sector including police (Dale, 2001; Luen
and Al-Hawamdeh, 2001) and health care (Van Beveren, 2003). While there is growing
interest in public sector knowledge management as a whole there are still few articles
exploring the relevant and challenging issues that are applicable across all public sector
organizations.
The integration of knowledge management within any public sector organization faces
challenges. Svieby and Simons (2002) report that two of the most significant challenges are
the culture of resistance and culture of hoarding knowledge that are found in most public
sector organizations. Public sector organizations have more significant challenges than their
private sector counterparts in establishing collaborative cultures (Svieby and Simons, 2002).
Other challenges to implementing knowledge management within the public sector include:
the inherent challenge of many different and incompatible operating systems that often exist
within different government organizations and across different levels of government (Murray,
2001).
This brief overview of the recent research suggests that public sector knowledge
management initiatives are valuable but face uphill sector-specific challenges. It also
highlights the personal and cultural challenges public sector employees face regarding
sharing their knowledge and expertise.
Conceptualizing knowledge management
Knowledge management theories focus on both the technological infrastructures organizing
individual and collective knowledge and the structures that nurture the social conditions
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encouraging employee sharing of knowledge and expertise. Marshall et al. (1997) expand
on Von Krough et al.s (2000) conception of knowledge management and suggest:
The management of knowledge goes far beyond the storage and manipulation of data, or even of
information. It is the attempt to recognize what is essentially a human asset buried in the minds of
individuals, and leverage it into an organizational asset that can be accessed and used by a
broader set of individual on whose decisions the firm depends (Marshall et al., 1997, p. 229).
While the overall research project explores the tacit and explicit knowledge conversion
strategies being utilized within the EYLP, this paper will focus solely on the tacit knowledge
conversion strategies being employed within the Project to support teacher and leader
learning.
Tacit knowledge
An organizations success is greatly influenced by its ability to mobilize and capitalize on
internally held tacit knowledge (Fullan, 2001; Von Krough et al., 2000). Nonaka and Takeuchi
(1995, 1997) view tacit knowledge in two forms: cognitive and technical. While the cognitive
aspects (mental models, perspectives, beliefs, schemata) assist individuals in
understanding their world and refer to conceptions of what is and what ought to be
(p. 60), the technical aspects of tacit knowledge (know-how, crafts, skills) assist individuals
in completing their day-to-day duties and tasks. Conversion of tacit knowledge occurs
between individuals and may involve verbal and/or non-verbal communication. Examples of
non-verbal communication include observation, modeling, imitation and job shadowing.
Given these definitions of tacit knowledge, the potential value of creating strategies and
methods to support the conditions for sharing of tacit knowledge between public sector
employees, in our case teachers, administrators and District level officials becomes, clear.
The conceptual model for this research
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995, p. 3) define knowledge creation as the capability of a
company as a whole to create new knowledge, disseminate it throughout the organization,
and embody it in products, services, and systems. They state that the key to knowledge
creation lies in the mobilization and conversion of tacit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi,
1995, p. 56).
During knowledge creation the main information process is the conversion of knowledge.
Members share their personal knowledge through dialogue and discourse, and articulate
what they intuitively know through analogies, metaphors as well as more formal channels
(Choo, 1998, p. 3). Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995, p. 61) stress the social nature of knowledge
conversion and creation by stating that it is a social process between individuals and not
confined within an individual that is anchored to a critical assumption that human
knowledge is created and expanded through social interaction. To this end, Nonaka and
Takeuchis model includes four stages of knowledge conversion. For the purpose of this
paper, the first stage of the model, tacit-to-tacit will be highlighted.
Based on this brief overview, it becomes clear that knowledge management within public
and education sectors can contribute to improvements in both individual and organizational
performance. This paper focuses on the application of strategies to promote tacit-to-tacit
knowledge sharing within the EYLP and their impact on teacher and leader learning and
school and district culture.
Within education, there has been little research or discussion
of knowledge management as a strategy for improving
organizational practice, program implementation and teaching
and learning.
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Research methodology
This study employed a knowledge management framework to explore how focusing on
tacit-to-tacit knowledge sharing strategies influences early literacy-based knowledge
sharing within and across schools. Nonaka and Takeuchis (1995) knowledge conversion
model guided the three phases of data collection and analysis. The first phase of the
research involved the collection and analysis of documents used and designed by EYLP
staff members. The second phase engaged a cross-section of 34 EYLP teachers,
administrators and senior TDSB superintendents and EYLP mana…
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