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John Edwards

Aston University, Operations and Information Management, Emeritus

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My interest has always been in how people can and do (or do not) use models and systems to help them do things. At present my principal research interests include how knowledge affects risk management, investigating knowledge management strategy and its implementation

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Orlando Cattini Junior

Getulio Vargas Foundation (Fundação Getulio Vargas)

Haitham El-Ghareeb

Mansoura University

Abd Rahman Ahlan

International Islamic University Malaysia

Kansas State University

Aswani Kumar Cherukuri

VIT University

Macquarie University

University of Tübingen

Nader Ale Ebrahim نادر آل ابراهیم

Alzahra University

Kati (Katalin) Prajda

University of Vienna

Graduate Center of the City University of New York

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Papers by John Edwards

Developing Intrinsically Motivated Information Systems - A Critical Systems Approach

by Dr. Petros Panagiotidis and John Edwards

This paper deals with the problematic of development methodologies for organisational information... more This paper deals with the problematic of development methodologies for organisational information systems and especially with their application to business systems. Historically, information systems development methodologies tend to fail, because either they take the organisational purposefulness for granted, or they do not analyse it thoroughly. This paper"s position is that the analysis, and the definition or redefinition of the systemic purpose are regarded as the utmost expression of the system"s purposefulness. This is to be achieved by ensuring the participation of all the stakeholders who affect, or are affected by, a particular business system"s operations. The nature of participation, defined as a process of the stakeholders" perceptual exchanges, is deemed to be problematic in itself, due to the influence exerted upon it by organisational power, coercion and false consciousness. The paper highlights the philosophical reasons for the failures of information systems development methodologies, and provides a conceptual solution to this problematic as well as a strategy for the development of intrinsically motivated organisational information systems. The intrinsically motivated information systems methodology outlined here (BSPA) is intended to yield organisational information systems that demonstrably improve coordination of organisational activities, by enabling the development and maintenance of a single/multifaceted view of purpose throughout organisations.

Organisational learning—a critical systems thinking discipline

by Dr. Petros Panagiotidis and John Edwards

European Journal of Information Systems, 2001

Enhancing discrete-event simulation with big data analytics: A review

Journal of the Operational Research Society, Nov 20, 2019

This article presents a literature review of the use of the OR technique of discrete-event simula... more This article presents a literature review of the use of the OR technique of discrete-event simulation (DES) in conjunction with the big data analytics (BDA) approaches of data mining, machine learning, data farming, visual analytics and process mining. The two areas are quite distinct. DES represents a mature OR tool using a graphical interface to produce an industry strength process modelling capability. The review reflects this and covers commercial off-the-shelf DES software used in an organisational setting. On the contrary the analytics techniques considered are in the domain of the data scientist and usually involve coding of algorithms to provide outputs derived from big data. Despite this divergence the review identifies a small but emerging literature of use-cases and from this a framework is derived a DES development methodology that incorporates the use of these analytics techniques. The review finds scope for two new categories of simulation and analytics use: an enhanced capability for DES from the use of BDA at the main stages of the DES methodology as well as the use of DES in a data farming role to drive BDA techniques.

Proposing a systems vision of knowledge management in emergency care

Journal of the Operational Research Society, Feb 1, 2005

This paper makes a case for taking a systems view of knowledge management within health care prov... more This paper makes a case for taking a systems view of knowledge management within health care provision, concentrating on the emergency care process in the UK National Health Service. It draws upon research in two case-study organisations (a hospital and an ambulance service). The case-study organisations appear to be approaching knowledge (and information) management in a somewhat fragmented way. They are trying to think more holistically but (perhaps) because of the ways their organisations and their work are structured, they cannot "see" the whole of the care process. The paper explores the complexity of knowledge management in emergency health care and draws the distinction for knowledge management between managing local and operational knowledge, and global and clinical knowledge.

Group perceptions of knowledge management

European Conference on Knowledge Management, 2002

This paper reports preliminary results of a project investigating how staff in UK organisations p... more This paper reports preliminary results of a project investigating how staff in UK organisations perceive knowledge management in their organisation as a group. The group setting appears to be effective in surfacing opinions and enabling progress in both understanding and action to be made. Among the findings thus far are the importance of the knowledge champion role and the state of the "knowledge management life cycle" in each organisation, and continuing confusion between knowledge, information and mechanisms.

Knowledge managementsans frontières

Journal of the Operational Research Society, Feb 1, 2003

Knowledge management is a topic that crosses borders of various kinds, such as those between depa... more Knowledge management is a topic that crosses borders of various kinds, such as those between departments, between organisations or between countries. In this paper we will consider various issues relating to knowledge management, in the context where more than one department/organisation/country is involved. To do this, we place an emphasis on knowledge management as a process, rather than as an organisational system or, worse, as a piece of technology. This process involves trust, negotiationand indeed some technological support. In this paper we wish to introduce the concept of "triangles of trust", and to focus on where "the top meets the bottom" in terms of knowledge management and organisational learning. Partial examples will be offered in support of our views, but no full and complete examplesknowledge management simply is not well enough understood or documented for that yet. Our overall conclusion is that there is no one best way to "do" knowledge management, but there are principles that ought to be applied.

Integrating Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence Processes for Empowering Government Business Organizations

International Journal of Computer Applications, 2015

System Dynamics Applications to European Health Care Issues

The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1999

Taking a European perspective, a review is made of some system dynamics models which address heal... more Taking a European perspective, a review is made of some system dynamics models which address health care issues. Suggestions are made for the types of role which these models should take, bearing in mind the strategic orientation of system dynamics modelling. Examples are described of qualitative models where in¯uence diagrams are the main analytical tool. Quantitative system dynamics models have a contribution to make in epidemiological studies and have been used to analyse the AIDS epidemic. A detailed example of one aspect of model formulation is given. This concerns the AIDS incubation time distribution and shows how real-world complications arising from virological staging and treatment effects are handled in a model of AIDS spread.

“Strategic and Operational Risk in an International Cooperation Agency: A Knowledge Management Solution”

The International Cooperation Agency (identified in this article as IDEA) working in Colombia is ... more The International Cooperation Agency (identified in this article as IDEA) working in Colombia is one of the most important in Colombian society with programs that support gender rights, human rights, justice and peace, scholarships, aboriginal population, youth, afro descendants population, economic development in communities, and environmental development. The identified problem is based on the diversified offer of services, collaboration and social intervention which requires diverse groups of people with multiple agendas, ways to support their mandates, disciplines, and professional competences. Knowledge creation and the growth and sustainability of the organization can be in danger because of a silo culture and the resulting reduced leverage of the separate group capabilities. Organizational memory is generally formed by the tacit knowledge of the organization members, given the value of accumulated experience that this kind of social work implies. Its loss is therefore a strategic and operational risk when most problem interventions rely on direct work in the socioeconomic field and living real experiences with communities. The knowledge management solution presented in this article starts first, with the identification of the people and groups concerned and the creation of a knowledge map as a means to strengthen the ties between organizational members; second, by introducing a content management system designed to support the documentation process and knowledge sharing process; and third, introducing a methodology for the adaptation of a Balanced Scorecard based on the knowledge management processes. These three main steps lead to a knowledge management "solution" that has been implemented in the organization, comprising three components: a knowledge management system, training support and promotion of cultural change.

Remedies against bias in analytics systems

Journal of Business Analytics, 2019

Advances in IT offer the possibility to develop ever more complex predictive and prescriptive sys... more Advances in IT offer the possibility to develop ever more complex predictive and prescriptive systems based on analytics. Organizations are beginning to rely on the outputs from these systems without inspecting them, especially if they are embedded in the organization's operational systems. This reliance could be misplaced if the systems contain bias. This could even be at best unethical and at worst illegal. Data, algorithms and machine learning methods are all potentially subject to bias. In this article we explain the ways in which bias might arise in analytics systems, present some examples where this has happened, and give some suggestions as to how to prevent or reduce it. We use a framework inspired by the work of Hammond, Keeney and Raiffa (1998, reprinted 2006) on psychological traps in human decision-making. Each of these traps "translates" into a potential type of bias for an analytics-based system. Fortunately, this means that remedies to reduce bias in human decision-making also translate into potential remedies for algorithmic systems.

Using Knowledge Management to Give Context to Analytics and Big Data and Reduce Strategic Risk

Procedia Computer Science, 2016

A KM perspective on implementing an Electronic Patient Record within an NHS hospital

The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is being developed by many hospitals in the UK and across the... more The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is being developed by many hospitals in the UK and across the globe. We class an EPR system as a type of Knowledge Management System (KMS), in that it is a technological tool developed to support the process of knowledge management (KM). Healthcare organisations aim to use these systems to provide a vehicle for more informed and improved clinical decision making thereby delivering reduced errors and risks, enhanced quality and consequently offering enhanced patient safety. Finding an effective way for a healthcare organisation to practically implement these systems is essential. In this study we use the concept of the business process approach to KM as a theoretical lens to analyse and explore how a large NHS teaching hospital developed, executed and practically implemented an EPR system. This theory advocates the importance of taking into account all organizational activities-the business processes-in considering any KM initiatives. Approaching KM through business processes allows for a more holistic view of the requirements across a process: emphasis is placed on how particular activities are performed, how they are structured and what knowledge demanded and not just supplied across each process. This falls in line with the increased emphasis in healthcare on patientcentred approaches to care delivery. We have found in previous research that hospitals are happy with the delivery of patient care being referred to as their 'business'. A qualitative study was conducted over a two and half year period with data collected from semistructured interviews with eight members of the strategic management team, 12 clinical users and 20 patients in addition to non-participant observation of meetings and documentary data. We believe that the inclusion of patients within the study may well be the first time this has been done in examining the implementation of a KMS. The theoretical propositions strategy was used as the overarching approach for data analysis. Here Initial theoretical research themes and propositions were used to help shape and organise the case study analysis. This paper will present preliminary findings about the hospital's business strategy and its links to the KMS strategy and process.

Creating innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises: evaluating the short-term effects of the creative credits pilot

Creative Credits is a new way of supporting innovation in SMEs Creative Credits is a new business... more Creative Credits is a new way of supporting innovation in SMEs Creative Credits is a new business-to-business voucher mechanism designed to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to innovate. SMEs receive credits worth £4,000, which they can use to purchase a variety of creative services from creative businesses. This working paper looks at the short-term impact of the Creative Credits pilot which operated in Manchester City Region in the North West of England from September 2009 to September 2010. Future research will address whether the innovation capacity of SMEs is improved by the transfer of knowledge, skills and working practices from the creative businesses. Creative Credits differs from other enterprise support schemes in key ways. First, it is the only dedicated business-tobusiness innovation vouchers scheme in the UK. Previous innovation voucher schemes have focused primarily on stimulating knowledge transfer from universities to businesses. Second, Creative Credits makes use of an online 'Creative Gallery' to market potential creative service providers to the SMEs receiving credits. As such, the scheme is substantially cheaper to run than other business support schemes which rely on costly administration and brokerage. Third, the evaluation of the Manchester pilot is as innovative as the scheme itself: it is structured as a randomised control trial, with credits being randomly allocated to eligible businesses. Applicants not allocated credits are also tracked over time, which provides a control group, enabling the extent to which Creative Credits genuinely added value to be evaluated rigorously. Creative Credits is intended to address barriers to innovation in SMEs Creative Credits-like other innovation voucher schemes-is intended to address barriers to innovation in SMEs which result in inadequate collaboration. These may reflect behavioural failures which are prevalent in smaller businesses, including inertia, excess levels of risk aversion and a tendency towards myopia. Theory suggests that creative businesses may be less prone to such behavioural failures, and there is some empirical evidence suggesting that firms that make greater use of services from the creative industries have superior innovation performance. Creative Credits aims to boost innovation in SMEs by directly linking them to creative businesses. Creative Credits has proven popular with Manchester's businesses This working paper assesses the impacts of the Creative Credits pilot as they stood at the end of the four to five-month period over which the Creative Credits projects had to be completed under the rules of the scheme. Many firms receiving credits indicated that they expected the benefits of their Creative Credits projects to increase, in some cases substantially, in the future. At the same time, the surveys suggest that in the longer term a number of SMEs awarded credits would have proceeded with their creative projects in any case. How these two effects net out in quantitative terms, and what this means for the long-term additional impact of Creative Credits, is something we will uncover in our future research.

Creative Credits: A randomized controlled industrial

nesta operating Company is a registered charity in england and Wales with company number 7706036 ... more nesta operating Company is a registered charity in england and Wales with company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. registered as a charity in scotland number sC042833. registered office: 1 plough place, london, eC4a 1de www.nesta.org.uk © Nesta 2013. 7 CREaTiVE CREDiTS a randomized controlled industrial policy experiment dependent variable: whether or not firms undertook their project Number of observations 451 Adjusted R-squared 0.653 variable Coefficient Std. Err. t-statistic Signif. Creative 0.840 0.028 29.11*** 0.000 Credit Constant 0.119 0.017 7.18*** 0.000 term Table A: likelihood of firms undertaking their innovation project Notes: analysis is based on respondents to the initial baseline survey undertaken immediately after the allocation of Creative Credits. *** denotes significance at the 1 per cent level.

Examining the strategy development process through the lens of complex adaptive systems theory

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2011

The development of strategy remains a debate for academics and a concern for practitioners. Publi... more The development of strategy remains a debate for academics and a concern for practitioners. Published research has focused on producing models for strategy development and on studying how strategy is developed in organisations. The Operational Research (OR) literature has highlighted the importance of considering complexity within strategic decision making; but little has been done to link strategy development with complexity theories, despite organisations and organisational environments becoming increasingly more complex. We review the dominant streams of strategy development and complexity theories, our theoretical investigation results in the first conceptual framework which links an established Strategic Operational Research model, the Strategy Development Process (SDP) model with complexity via Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory. We present preliminary findings from the use of this conceptual framework applied to a longitudinal, in-depth case study, to demonstrate the advantages of using this integrated conceptual model. Our research shows that the conceptual model proposed provides rich data and allows for a more holistic examination of the strategy development process.

Organisational learning—a critical systems thinking discipline

European Journal of Information Systems, 2001

Are the Knowledge Management Times “A-Changin’”?

Proceedings of 21st European Conference on Knowledge Management, 2020

Knowledge management (KM) is no longer the new kid on the block. The term has been in use for ove... more Knowledge management (KM) is no longer the new kid on the block. The term has been in use for over 30 years, it has been an established field of study for over 25, and this is the 21 st ECKM. But how much has KM changed in that time? This paper considers that question by briefly comparing articles dated 1999 in the Web of Science database with those in 2019, and then looking in depth at practical case studies of KM published in 2019 according to that same database. It is common knowledge that the technology available has improved vastly during KM's history, but how has this impacted on other aspects of KM? Major themes from the earliest days of KM, such as repositories and communities of practice, are still highly visible in the literature. The approach taken in this paper is to use a people-processes-technology framework, separate the business processes from the knowledge processes that support them, and examine the linkages between the three elements of the people-processes-technology framework for both types of process. Current research shows processes to be the most studied of the three elements, especially the link whereby people help to design and then operate processes. The technological advances that have had most effect on KM are in technologies for general application. This is in contrast to the focus of technology research in KM in the 1990s, which had been on specific technologies for KM. Whether the latest technologies for artificial intelligence and analytics are general or specific to KM is a moot point, and probably depends on the background of the person you ask. The weakest current linkages are clearly those in which people should be helping to design the technology in use. Analytics developments in particular are as likely to be inflicted on the users/customers as to be designed by them. Artificial intelligence developments for KM in 2019 do not even include practical case studies, which is worrying.

An expert systems approach to simulating the human decision maker

Web-based expert systems: benefits and challenges

Information & Management, Sep 1, 2005

Convergence of technologies in the Internet and the field of expert systems has offered new ways ... more Convergence of technologies in the Internet and the field of expert systems has offered new ways of sharing and distributing knowledge. However, there has been a general lack of research in the area of web-based expert systems (ES). This paper addresses the issues associated with the design, development, and use of web-based ES from a standpoint of the benefits and challenges of developing and using them. The original theory and concepts in conventional ES were reviewed and a knowledge engineering framework for developing them was revisited. The study considered three web-based ES: WITS-Advisorfor e-business strategy development, Fish-Expert-For fish disease diagnosis, and IMISto promote intelligent interviews. The benefits and challenges in developing and using ES are discussed by comparing them with traditional standalone systems from development and application perspectives.

An investigation of SMEs’ inter-organisational knowledge transfer needs in Internet marketing

Operational Research Society eBooks, 2006

Internet marketing, as a key area of e-commerce, plays an important role in SMEs' e-commerce succ... more Internet marketing, as a key area of e-commerce, plays an important role in SMEs' e-commerce success. It is the use of Internet technologies in facilitating and supporting marketing activities. Its implementation and success require expert knowledge and extensive experience. SMEs admit that they are willing to embrace Internet marketing to enhance their business competitiveness, but do not know where to start and suffer from a lack of guidance. Evidence suggests that Internet marketing analysis is one of the most needed areas of training in e-commerce for SMEs. It is therefore evident that SMEs need to acquire Internet marketing knowledge from external sources. However, the majority of the literature fails to study what specific knowledge they need and from whom they should acquire the knowledge. This paper has addressed these issues through a questionnaire survey of UK SMEs in the service sector. It identifies SMEs' specific transfer needs for Internet marketing knowledge, and discusses strategic issues for improving SMEs' effectiveness of leveraging knowledge.

Developing Intrinsically Motivated Information Systems - A Critical Systems Approach

by Dr. Petros Panagiotidis and John Edwards

This paper deals with the problematic of development methodologies for organisational information... more This paper deals with the problematic of development methodologies for organisational information systems and especially with their application to business systems. Historically, information systems development methodologies tend to fail, because either they take the organisational purposefulness for granted, or they do not analyse it thoroughly. This paper"s position is that the analysis, and the definition or redefinition of the systemic purpose are regarded as the utmost expression of the system"s purposefulness. This is to be achieved by ensuring the participation of all the stakeholders who affect, or are affected by, a particular business system"s operations. The nature of participation, defined as a process of the stakeholders" perceptual exchanges, is deemed to be problematic in itself, due to the influence exerted upon it by organisational power, coercion and false consciousness. The paper highlights the philosophical reasons for the failures of information systems development methodologies, and provides a conceptual solution to this problematic as well as a strategy for the development of intrinsically motivated organisational information systems. The intrinsically motivated information systems methodology outlined here (BSPA) is intended to yield organisational information systems that demonstrably improve coordination of organisational activities, by enabling the development and maintenance of a single/multifaceted view of purpose throughout organisations.

Organisational learning—a critical systems thinking discipline

by Dr. Petros Panagiotidis and John Edwards

European Journal of Information Systems, 2001

Enhancing discrete-event simulation with big data analytics: A review

Journal of the Operational Research Society, Nov 20, 2019

This article presents a literature review of the use of the OR technique of discrete-event simula... more This article presents a literature review of the use of the OR technique of discrete-event simulation (DES) in conjunction with the big data analytics (BDA) approaches of data mining, machine learning, data farming, visual analytics and process mining. The two areas are quite distinct. DES represents a mature OR tool using a graphical interface to produce an industry strength process modelling capability. The review reflects this and covers commercial off-the-shelf DES software used in an organisational setting. On the contrary the analytics techniques considered are in the domain of the data scientist and usually involve coding of algorithms to provide outputs derived from big data. Despite this divergence the review identifies a small but emerging literature of use-cases and from this a framework is derived a DES development methodology that incorporates the use of these analytics techniques. The review finds scope for two new categories of simulation and analytics use: an enhanced capability for DES from the use of BDA at the main stages of the DES methodology as well as the use of DES in a data farming role to drive BDA techniques.

Proposing a systems vision of knowledge management in emergency care

Journal of the Operational Research Society, Feb 1, 2005

This paper makes a case for taking a systems view of knowledge management within health care prov... more This paper makes a case for taking a systems view of knowledge management within health care provision, concentrating on the emergency care process in the UK National Health Service. It draws upon research in two case-study organisations (a hospital and an ambulance service). The case-study organisations appear to be approaching knowledge (and information) management in a somewhat fragmented way. They are trying to think more holistically but (perhaps) because of the ways their organisations and their work are structured, they cannot "see" the whole of the care process. The paper explores the complexity of knowledge management in emergency health care and draws the distinction for knowledge management between managing local and operational knowledge, and global and clinical knowledge.

Group perceptions of knowledge management

European Conference on Knowledge Management, 2002

This paper reports preliminary results of a project investigating how staff in UK organisations p... more This paper reports preliminary results of a project investigating how staff in UK organisations perceive knowledge management in their organisation as a group. The group setting appears to be effective in surfacing opinions and enabling progress in both understanding and action to be made. Among the findings thus far are the importance of the knowledge champion role and the state of the "knowledge management life cycle" in each organisation, and continuing confusion between knowledge, information and mechanisms.

Knowledge managementsans frontières

Journal of the Operational Research Society, Feb 1, 2003

Knowledge management is a topic that crosses borders of various kinds, such as those between depa... more Knowledge management is a topic that crosses borders of various kinds, such as those between departments, between organisations or between countries. In this paper we will consider various issues relating to knowledge management, in the context where more than one department/organisation/country is involved. To do this, we place an emphasis on knowledge management as a process, rather than as an organisational system or, worse, as a piece of technology. This process involves trust, negotiationand indeed some technological support. In this paper we wish to introduce the concept of "triangles of trust", and to focus on where "the top meets the bottom" in terms of knowledge management and organisational learning. Partial examples will be offered in support of our views, but no full and complete examplesknowledge management simply is not well enough understood or documented for that yet. Our overall conclusion is that there is no one best way to "do" knowledge management, but there are principles that ought to be applied.

Integrating Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence Processes for Empowering Government Business Organizations

International Journal of Computer Applications, 2015

System Dynamics Applications to European Health Care Issues

The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1999

Taking a European perspective, a review is made of some system dynamics models which address heal... more Taking a European perspective, a review is made of some system dynamics models which address health care issues. Suggestions are made for the types of role which these models should take, bearing in mind the strategic orientation of system dynamics modelling. Examples are described of qualitative models where in¯uence diagrams are the main analytical tool. Quantitative system dynamics models have a contribution to make in epidemiological studies and have been used to analyse the AIDS epidemic. A detailed example of one aspect of model formulation is given. This concerns the AIDS incubation time distribution and shows how real-world complications arising from virological staging and treatment effects are handled in a model of AIDS spread.

“Strategic and Operational Risk in an International Cooperation Agency: A Knowledge Management Solution”

The International Cooperation Agency (identified in this article as IDEA) working in Colombia is ... more The International Cooperation Agency (identified in this article as IDEA) working in Colombia is one of the most important in Colombian society with programs that support gender rights, human rights, justice and peace, scholarships, aboriginal population, youth, afro descendants population, economic development in communities, and environmental development. The identified problem is based on the diversified offer of services, collaboration and social intervention which requires diverse groups of people with multiple agendas, ways to support their mandates, disciplines, and professional competences. Knowledge creation and the growth and sustainability of the organization can be in danger because of a silo culture and the resulting reduced leverage of the separate group capabilities. Organizational memory is generally formed by the tacit knowledge of the organization members, given the value of accumulated experience that this kind of social work implies. Its loss is therefore a strategic and operational risk when most problem interventions rely on direct work in the socioeconomic field and living real experiences with communities. The knowledge management solution presented in this article starts first, with the identification of the people and groups concerned and the creation of a knowledge map as a means to strengthen the ties between organizational members; second, by introducing a content management system designed to support the documentation process and knowledge sharing process; and third, introducing a methodology for the adaptation of a Balanced Scorecard based on the knowledge management processes. These three main steps lead to a knowledge management "solution" that has been implemented in the organization, comprising three components: a knowledge management system, training support and promotion of cultural change.

Remedies against bias in analytics systems

Journal of Business Analytics, 2019

Advances in IT offer the possibility to develop ever more complex predictive and prescriptive sys... more Advances in IT offer the possibility to develop ever more complex predictive and prescriptive systems based on analytics. Organizations are beginning to rely on the outputs from these systems without inspecting them, especially if they are embedded in the organization's operational systems. This reliance could be misplaced if the systems contain bias. This could even be at best unethical and at worst illegal. Data, algorithms and machine learning methods are all potentially subject to bias. In this article we explain the ways in which bias might arise in analytics systems, present some examples where this has happened, and give some suggestions as to how to prevent or reduce it. We use a framework inspired by the work of Hammond, Keeney and Raiffa (1998, reprinted 2006) on psychological traps in human decision-making. Each of these traps "translates" into a potential type of bias for an analytics-based system. Fortunately, this means that remedies to reduce bias in human decision-making also translate into potential remedies for algorithmic systems.

Using Knowledge Management to Give Context to Analytics and Big Data and Reduce Strategic Risk

Procedia Computer Science, 2016

A KM perspective on implementing an Electronic Patient Record within an NHS hospital

The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is being developed by many hospitals in the UK and across the... more The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is being developed by many hospitals in the UK and across the globe. We class an EPR system as a type of Knowledge Management System (KMS), in that it is a technological tool developed to support the process of knowledge management (KM). Healthcare organisations aim to use these systems to provide a vehicle for more informed and improved clinical decision making thereby delivering reduced errors and risks, enhanced quality and consequently offering enhanced patient safety. Finding an effective way for a healthcare organisation to practically implement these systems is essential. In this study we use the concept of the business process approach to KM as a theoretical lens to analyse and explore how a large NHS teaching hospital developed, executed and practically implemented an EPR system. This theory advocates the importance of taking into account all organizational activities-the business processes-in considering any KM initiatives. Approaching KM through business processes allows for a more holistic view of the requirements across a process: emphasis is placed on how particular activities are performed, how they are structured and what knowledge demanded and not just supplied across each process. This falls in line with the increased emphasis in healthcare on patientcentred approaches to care delivery. We have found in previous research that hospitals are happy with the delivery of patient care being referred to as their 'business'. A qualitative study was conducted over a two and half year period with data collected from semistructured interviews with eight members of the strategic management team, 12 clinical users and 20 patients in addition to non-participant observation of meetings and documentary data. We believe that the inclusion of patients within the study may well be the first time this has been done in examining the implementation of a KMS. The theoretical propositions strategy was used as the overarching approach for data analysis. Here Initial theoretical research themes and propositions were used to help shape and organise the case study analysis. This paper will present preliminary findings about the hospital's business strategy and its links to the KMS strategy and process.

Creating innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises: evaluating the short-term effects of the creative credits pilot

Creative Credits is a new way of supporting innovation in SMEs Creative Credits is a new business... more Creative Credits is a new way of supporting innovation in SMEs Creative Credits is a new business-to-business voucher mechanism designed to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to innovate. SMEs receive credits worth £4,000, which they can use to purchase a variety of creative services from creative businesses. This working paper looks at the short-term impact of the Creative Credits pilot which operated in Manchester City Region in the North West of England from September 2009 to September 2010. Future research will address whether the innovation capacity of SMEs is improved by the transfer of knowledge, skills and working practices from the creative businesses. Creative Credits differs from other enterprise support schemes in key ways. First, it is the only dedicated business-tobusiness innovation vouchers scheme in the UK. Previous innovation voucher schemes have focused primarily on stimulating knowledge transfer from universities to businesses. Second, Creative Credits makes use of an online 'Creative Gallery' to market potential creative service providers to the SMEs receiving credits. As such, the scheme is substantially cheaper to run than other business support schemes which rely on costly administration and brokerage. Third, the evaluation of the Manchester pilot is as innovative as the scheme itself: it is structured as a randomised control trial, with credits being randomly allocated to eligible businesses. Applicants not allocated credits are also tracked over time, which provides a control group, enabling the extent to which Creative Credits genuinely added value to be evaluated rigorously. Creative Credits is intended to address barriers to innovation in SMEs Creative Credits-like other innovation voucher schemes-is intended to address barriers to innovation in SMEs which result in inadequate collaboration. These may reflect behavioural failures which are prevalent in smaller businesses, including inertia, excess levels of risk aversion and a tendency towards myopia. Theory suggests that creative businesses may be less prone to such behavioural failures, and there is some empirical evidence suggesting that firms that make greater use of services from the creative industries have superior innovation performance. Creative Credits aims to boost innovation in SMEs by directly linking them to creative businesses. Creative Credits has proven popular with Manchester's businesses This working paper assesses the impacts of the Creative Credits pilot as they stood at the end of the four to five-month period over which the Creative Credits projects had to be completed under the rules of the scheme. Many firms receiving credits indicated that they expected the benefits of their Creative Credits projects to increase, in some cases substantially, in the future. At the same time, the surveys suggest that in the longer term a number of SMEs awarded credits would have proceeded with their creative projects in any case. How these two effects net out in quantitative terms, and what this means for the long-term additional impact of Creative Credits, is something we will uncover in our future research.

Creative Credits: A randomized controlled industrial

nesta operating Company is a registered charity in england and Wales with company number 7706036 ... more nesta operating Company is a registered charity in england and Wales with company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. registered as a charity in scotland number sC042833. registered office: 1 plough place, london, eC4a 1de www.nesta.org.uk © Nesta 2013. 7 CREaTiVE CREDiTS a randomized controlled industrial policy experiment dependent variable: whether or not firms undertook their project Number of observations 451 Adjusted R-squared 0.653 variable Coefficient Std. Err. t-statistic Signif. Creative 0.840 0.028 29.11*** 0.000 Credit Constant 0.119 0.017 7.18*** 0.000 term Table A: likelihood of firms undertaking their innovation project Notes: analysis is based on respondents to the initial baseline survey undertaken immediately after the allocation of Creative Credits. *** denotes significance at the 1 per cent level.

Examining the strategy development process through the lens of complex adaptive systems theory

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2011

The development of strategy remains a debate for academics and a concern for practitioners. Publi... more The development of strategy remains a debate for academics and a concern for practitioners. Published research has focused on producing models for strategy development and on studying how strategy is developed in organisations. The Operational Research (OR) literature has highlighted the importance of considering complexity within strategic decision making; but little has been done to link strategy development with complexity theories, despite organisations and organisational environments becoming increasingly more complex. We review the dominant streams of strategy development and complexity theories, our theoretical investigation results in the first conceptual framework which links an established Strategic Operational Research model, the Strategy Development Process (SDP) model with complexity via Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory. We present preliminary findings from the use of this conceptual framework applied to a longitudinal, in-depth case study, to demonstrate the advantages of using this integrated conceptual model. Our research shows that the conceptual model proposed provides rich data and allows for a more holistic examination of the strategy development process.

Organisational learning—a critical systems thinking discipline

European Journal of Information Systems, 2001

Are the Knowledge Management Times “A-Changin’”?

Proceedings of 21st European Conference on Knowledge Management, 2020

Knowledge management (KM) is no longer the new kid on the block. The term has been in use for ove... more Knowledge management (KM) is no longer the new kid on the block. The term has been in use for over 30 years, it has been an established field of study for over 25, and this is the 21 st ECKM. But how much has KM changed in that time? This paper considers that question by briefly comparing articles dated 1999 in the Web of Science database with those in 2019, and then looking in depth at practical case studies of KM published in 2019 according to that same database. It is common knowledge that the technology available has improved vastly during KM's history, but how has this impacted on other aspects of KM? Major themes from the earliest days of KM, such as repositories and communities of practice, are still highly visible in the literature. The approach taken in this paper is to use a people-processes-technology framework, separate the business processes from the knowledge processes that support them, and examine the linkages between the three elements of the people-processes-technology framework for both types of process. Current research shows processes to be the most studied of the three elements, especially the link whereby people help to design and then operate processes. The technological advances that have had most effect on KM are in technologies for general application. This is in contrast to the focus of technology research in KM in the 1990s, which had been on specific technologies for KM. Whether the latest technologies for artificial intelligence and analytics are general or specific to KM is a moot point, and probably depends on the background of the person you ask. The weakest current linkages are clearly those in which people should be helping to design the technology in use. Analytics developments in particular are as likely to be inflicted on the users/customers as to be designed by them. Artificial intelligence developments for KM in 2019 do not even include practical case studies, which is worrying.

An expert systems approach to simulating the human decision maker

Web-based expert systems: benefits and challenges

Information & Management, Sep 1, 2005

Convergence of technologies in the Internet and the field of expert systems has offered new ways ... more Convergence of technologies in the Internet and the field of expert systems has offered new ways of sharing and distributing knowledge. However, there has been a general lack of research in the area of web-based expert systems (ES). This paper addresses the issues associated with the design, development, and use of web-based ES from a standpoint of the benefits and challenges of developing and using them. The original theory and concepts in conventional ES were reviewed and a knowledge engineering framework for developing them was revisited. The study considered three web-based ES: WITS-Advisorfor e-business strategy development, Fish-Expert-For fish disease diagnosis, and IMISto promote intelligent interviews. The benefits and challenges in developing and using ES are discussed by comparing them with traditional standalone systems from development and application perspectives.

An investigation of SMEs’ inter-organisational knowledge transfer needs in Internet marketing

Operational Research Society eBooks, 2006

Internet marketing, as a key area of e-commerce, plays an important role in SMEs' e-commerce succ... more Internet marketing, as a key area of e-commerce, plays an important role in SMEs' e-commerce success. It is the use of Internet technologies in facilitating and supporting marketing activities. Its implementation and success require expert knowledge and extensive experience. SMEs admit that they are willing to embrace Internet marketing to enhance their business competitiveness, but do not know where to start and suffer from a lack of guidance. Evidence suggests that Internet marketing analysis is one of the most needed areas of training in e-commerce for SMEs. It is therefore evident that SMEs need to acquire Internet marketing knowledge from external sources. However, the majority of the literature fails to study what specific knowledge they need and from whom they should acquire the knowledge. This paper has addressed these issues through a questionnaire survey of UK SMEs in the service sector. It identifies SMEs' specific transfer needs for Internet marketing knowledge, and discusses strategic issues for improving SMEs' effectiveness of leveraging knowledge.