Applying wikis to managing knowledge
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This document summarizes a case study on how an engineering organization successfully incorporated internal wikis. The organization understood the surrounding community's needs and continuously adapted the wiki by making technical modifications, providing guidance and support, and branding the tool. It also cultivated a supportive organizational culture and leveraged informal networks. The study demonstrates the importance of a socio-technical view for adopting online collaboration technologies, considering how the technology interacts with the social environment. Organizations seeking to create sustainable value through knowledge should take a comprehensive approach addressing both technological and social factors.
Applying wikis to managing knowledge
- 1. ECKM 7.9.2007 Applying wikis to managing knowledge – A socio-technical approach Miia Kosonen & Aino Kianto Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland School of Business
- 2. Why to study wikis in KM? • The development towards virtual forms or organizing and collaboration, and increasing need to manage distributed knowledge • Many organizations in state of confusion – ’could we use them?’ how? is it any good for us?’ • Web 2.0 tools such as wikis and weblogs to support multitude of knowledge-work processes simultaneously • Close connection with the community-based knowledge sharing and creation: when successfully embedded in communities, these tools reach beyond the individual, codified bases of knowledge
- 3. Research gap and questions • Social software – though ’social’ – has been approached mostly from individual perspective or by providing managerial how-to-do guidelines • Current research lacks practical examples on how to implement social software in organizations, particularly in the corporate context • How internal wikis have been incorporated into the organization? • How does the incorporation of wikis reflect the socio- technical dimension of knowledge management?
- 4. Methodology • A single case study in one engineering organization from the ICT industry • A successful organization within its industry and a forerunner in developing communication technologies; a fruitful breeding ground for social software adoption and thus a revelatory case • Group interviews (2) resulting in a total textual dataset of 41 pages, informal conversations with the informants and company-internal presentation materials • Analysis the data first inductively (sorting into categories based on occuring regularities) and then identifying the relevant parts that required further analysis, mapping them and reflecting the findings with the existing theory
- 5. Results How have internal wikis been incorporated into the organization? Corporate champion Technical support Informal networks Internal branding and marketing Social support Supportive organizational culture Word-of- mouth Individual motivations, seeing the benefit Easiness of useindividual technical social
- 6. Conclusions • The success of wiki implementation relied in – understanding the surrounding community’s needs – continuously adapting to them (making technical modifications, giving guidance and support, branding the tool) – cultivating a supportive organizational culture – taking advantage of the informal, unplanned organization
- 7. Conclusions The importance of a socio-technical view: the close and complex interactions between the technology and the surrounding organizational context both 1) in wiki adoption 2) in managing dispersed knowledge generally
- 8. Theoretical and managerial contribution • Understanding on successful adoption of wikis by providing a case example from the ICT industry • Demonstrating the importance of a socio-technical view towards adopting online communication and collaboration technologies in organizations (cf. Huysman & Wulf, 2006, Zack & McKenney, 1995) • If organizations want to create sustainable value through knowledge, they should opt for a comprehensive approach, which takes into account both the technologies and the social environment in which they are to be utilized.
- 9. Thank you! Miia Kosonen Doctoral Student, M.Sc. (Econ.) Lappeenranta University of Technology School of Business Finland miia.kosonen@lut.fi
- 10. Thank you! Miia Kosonen Doctoral Student, M.Sc. (Econ.) Lappeenranta University of Technology School of Business Finland miia.kosonen@lut.fi