Critical Review Inter Organizational Information Technology Systems

QUESTION

 

Write a Critical review on:

Topic:Knowledge sharing and Management through inter-organizational Information Technology Systems: recent advances and new perspectives.

The write up should be in the format below, with a Table of content inserted. In the opening paragraph of the chapter, discuss what the chapter is all about and how the content is laid out.

Referencing – Use of appropriate citation and referencing is compulsory, be sure to include references to any sources you have used. You should be familiar by now with the Harvard citation system. All sources must be cited using Harvard Referencing Style.

Your total submission should be approximately 3,000 words in length. (references not included)

Advice on word count: Submissions that range from 10% below to 10% above the recommended word count are acceptable. Students should recognise that assignment submissions that fall outside these parameters may be marked down. This restriction encourages the development of a concise writing style, as assignment quality is likely to suffer given the potential for overly verbose submissions

 

ANSWER

 

1. Introduction

Knowledge sharing is considered as an activity which is based on exchanges of thoughts between different individuals. Different types of organisations have considered it as an intangible asset for achieving sustainable advantages.  On the other hand, application of information technology has a greater effect on development of business process by involving knowledge sharing method. In this respect, the information technology can be applied effectively by enhancing the knowledge diversity among the individuals of an organisation.

The current assignment is focused on analysing the effects of knowledge sharing as well as information technology in an organizational perspective. The impacts of knowledge sharing on application of information technology are discussed in light of hypotheses formation.

2. Knowledge Sharing and Management

Knowledge sharing is an activity which is considered as a way to exchange relevant information among different individuals. As mentioned by Asrar-ul-Haq and Anwar (2016, p.13), an organisation considers knowledge sharing method as an intangible asset which is helpful to have competitive advantages. In this respect, technology is considered to be one of the essential factors that affect the knowledge shearing process in an organisation. It has been observed that knowledge sharing technique forms a challenge in terms of managing knowledge. As commented by Bentley et al. (2016, p.210), knowledge management in an organisation is crucial as some workers of an organisation are not willing to share their knowledge with the rest.

2.1 Tools of sharing knowledge

There is a number of software that is critically helpful to share knowledge within a workplace. It can be observed that information quality is developed when the employees of an organisation are able to access different internal knowledge based tools. In words of Donate and de Pablo (2015, p.361), efficient knowledge sharing methods are helpful to facilitate data discovery process. The effective tools that are used for knowledge management are named through the following table-

Names of tools	Uses
Zendesk	It is a full-fledged customer support management platform. This tool mainly aims to improve overall customer service efforts for any type of business process.  Organisation of huge number of databases is helpful to manage information according to preferences.
Bitrix24	It is considered as the complete system of social collaboration, communication as well as management of organisational team. It is mainly a cloud platform that is forced to involved self hosted activities (Gupta and Singh, 2018, p.432).
Zoho Desk	It is a online customer support platform that is essential for managing knowledge in an efficient manner. It is such a platform which can be accessed by both customers as well as agents of the concerned organisation.
Inkling knowledge	It is a useful tool to cover up all the spectrums of knowledge in terms of creation, storage as well as distribution.
Bloomfire	It is a knowledge management tool which is focused to democratise information. Besides, it helps to enable self sufficiency by removing the need of information hierarchies.

Table 1: Tools of sharing knowledge

(Source: Influenced by Eid and Al-Jabri, 2016, p.17)

2.2 Essential ways of knowledge management

Sharing and management of knowledge critically follow five steps. The steps are described in the following part-

• Designing workplace

In order to share proper knowledge and information it is essential to form a constructive workplace. As mentioned by Haddon (2016, p.52), formation of healthy and conflict free work environment is helpful to apply and share knowledge regarding a particular matter.

• Encouragement for sharing knowledge

Proper encouragement is essential for the employees of an organisation to share and distribute knowledge.

• Incentivise the process

Proper rewarding system is helpful to provide encouragement to the employees of an organisation to share information. In this regard, development of collaboration skills is advantageous to motivate the employees for sharing information and knowledge.

• Revamping training methods

It is considered as an effective way to manage and share knowledge in an organisation. In the view of Han et al. (2017, p.200), it is necessary to focus on training and on boarding methods for efficient enforcement of knowledge management.

• Involvement of knowledge sharing software in organisation

After completion of all the above mentioned steps it is essential to incorporate effective knowledge sharing software such as Zoho desk in to the organisational system. Thereby, the employees are able to gain and share knowledge.

Figure 1: Essential ways of knowledge management

(Source: Influenced by Hislop et al. 2018, p.84)

2.3 Benefits of knowledge management

Efficient knowledge is important for an organisation to have success in terms of leading the business process. As opined by Hottenrott et al. (2016, p.180), sharing and managing of knowledge are helpful to develop organisational performance level. In this respect, the other benefits are mentioned below-

Easy problem solving

Knowledge sharing is helpful to increase communication among the employees. In this respect, it appears as helpful to solve critical organisational problems.

Better decision making

As commented by Intezari et al. (2017, p.300), analysis of a huge numbers of people’s reviews is helpful in terms of enforce support activities in organisation. Thus the knowledge sharing method is helpful to apply effective decision making strategies.

Stimulating innovation

Effective knowledge sharing method is helpful to incorporate effective ideas for innovation.

Developing profit amount

 

By sharing knowledge on different organisational aspects the management is able to reduce the loss amount. This, in turn, helps to increase the amount of organisational profit.

3. Organizational Information Technology

3.1 Types of information system

Incorporation of a number of information technologies in business process helps to face various considerable challenges related to management of business process. As stated by Karlsson et al. (2016, p.420), application of digital technologies in business process is effective to achieve huge numbers of competitive advantages. Different types of information systems are mentioned in the following table-

Types of information systems	Types of information technologies	Their applications
Transaction processing system	Mobile technology	Involvement of mobile technology is helpful to manage transaction processing in a business process (Tarhini et al. 2015, p.750). In this respect, a number of banking applications are helpful to manage transaction process.
Decision support system	Cloud computing	In order to make effective decision for developing the business system involvement of cloud computing is critically effective. Is helps to maximise the amount of shared resources in a business system.
Executive support system	Online conferencing system	Conducting online conference is helpful to make effective decisions for enhancing executive support system of an organisation. Moreover, it is beneficial as a support system as it emphasises on analysing the critical problems of the concerned organisation.
Management of information system	Social media	Application of social media into the business process is helpful in terms of managing information in an efficient manner. It appears as an effective medium to know the current business environment as well.

Table 2: Types of information technology

(Source: Influenced by Kiantob et al. 2016, p.626)

3.2 Importance of information technology

Involvement of information technology into a business process is helpful to modify the process in a healthy manner. The importance are mentioned in the following-

• Re-engineering of work practices

Information technologies are helpful to reshape the business process which, in turn, helps to eliminate greater barriers of the business. As stated by Kremer et al. (2019, p.68), using databases is helpful to centralise information in a constructive manner which can make the organisation able to enhance customer care process.

• Development of performance speed

Information technology helps to enhance performance level. Effective computing is helpful to retrieve and access relevant information. Thus performance speed is increased.

• Maintenance of consistency

Involvement of information technology is helpful to maintain consistency in order to perform various organisational tasks. In words of Lee et al. (2016, p.465), an accountant can use QuickBooks which is helpful to manage tasks related to accounting.

• Maintaining reliability

Involvement of information technology is helpful to maintain reliability by reducing the working hours. In this respect, incorporation of remote banking system appears as effective to assess monetary activities effectively.

Figure 2: Importance of information technology
(Source: Influenced by Long, 2018, p.66)

3.3 Functions of information technology

Storage of information

Involvement of information technology is helpful to retain necessary information for future use. For example, face book is helpful to store information and advertise them according to the emergency. As described by Navimipour and Charband (2016, p.735), IT takes the lead to store huge information and reveal them in specific situations.

Retrieval of information

Incorporation of digital technology is helpful to store and copy data from trusted sources for future use and processing. According to the view of Omotayo (2015, p.10), Google, Yahoo are some kind of data centres that are useful in terms of retrieving data when needed.

Data processing

It mainly includes data conversion, analysis as well as restructuring of datasets. The information technology is helpful to process huge amount of data by reorganisation of the collected data.

4. Impacts of following factors

4.1 Effects of information technology in knowledge sharing

Information technology is helpful to enhance the process of knowledge sharing. As described by Power and Gruner (2015, p.1490), knowledge sharing is helpful to solve different types of problems. In this respect, the cloud computing technique can be applied by the authority of the organisation to enhance their business process. Moreover, executive support system is considered as an important information system which is helpful to deal with a huge numbers of employees. Thereby the knowledge sharing process is developed. In this regard, the online conferencing system is an information technology which helps to share and manage knowledge in an efficient manner.

4.2 Improvement of communication by using information technology

Incorporation of information technology is helpful to enhance the mode of communication within organisation. As commented by Soomro et al. (2016, p.220), practice software are helpful to maintain effective communication in a business community. In this respect, the social media is also considered as an essential information technology which helps to develop the knowledge sharing as well as communication in an organisation.

5. Hypotheses development

H_1: Knowledge sharing and management has a positive significant impact on involvement of organisational information technology.

H_0: Knowledge sharing and management has no significant impacts on involvement of organisational information technology.

6. Conclusion

Thus it can be concluded that sharing knowledge and information is essential to maintain a healthy business environment. Effective knowledge sharing is helpful to stimulate innovation process along with developing the business profit of an organisation. In this regard, the knowledge management process performs various duties such as enhancing communication in workplace as well as developing ideas related to business development. On the other hand, it can be stated that incorporation of information technology is essentially helpful to manage business activities in an effective manner. Besides, it is also helpful to increase the knowledge range by efficient knowledge sharing method.  Thus sharing and managing of knowledge in presence of information technology are helpful to develop organisational performance level.

 

Reference list

Asrar-ul-Haq, M. and Anwar, S., (2016). A systematic review of knowledge management and knowledge sharing: Trends, issues, and challenges. Cogent Business & Management, 3(1), pp.11-22.

Bentley, T.A., Teo, S.T.T., McLeod, L., Tan, F., Bosua, R. and Gloet, M., (2016). The role of organisational support in teleworker wellbeing: A socio-technical systems approach. Applied Ergonomics, 52, pp.207-215.

Donate, M.J. and de Pablo, J.D.S., (2015). The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), pp.360-370.

Eid, M.I. and Al-Jabri, I.M., (2016). Social networking, knowledge sharing, and student learning: The case of university students. Computers & Education, 99, pp.14-27.

Gupta, A. and Singh, V., (2018). Influence of organisational justice on intention to stay of IT professionals. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 17(4), pp.428-441.

Haddon, L., (2016). The social dynamics of information and communication technology. Abingdon: Routledge.

Han, J.H., Wang, Y. and Naim, M., (2017). Reconceptualization of information technology flexibility for supply chain management: An empirical study. International Journal of Production Economics, 187, pp.196-215.

Hislop, D., Bosua, R. and Helms, R., (2018). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hottenrott, H., Rexhäuser, S. and Veugelers, R., (2016). Organisational change and the productivity effects of green technology adoption. Resource and Energy Economics, 43, pp.172-194.

Intezari, A., Taskin, N. and Pauleen, D.J., (2017). Looking beyond knowledge sharing: an integrative approach to knowledge management culture. Journal of Knowledge Management, 21(2), pp.492-515.

Karlsson, F., Kolkowska, E. and Prenkert, F., (2016). Inter-organisational information security: a systematic literature review. Information & Computer Security, 24(5), pp.418-451.

Kianto, A., Vanhala, M. and Heilmann, P., (2016). The impact of knowledge management on job satisfaction. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(4), pp.621-636.

Kremer, H., Villamor, I. and Aguinis, H., (2019). Innovation leadership: Best-practice recommendations for promoting employee creativity, voice, and knowledge sharing. Business Horizons, 62(1), pp.65-74.

Lee, J.C., Shiue, Y.C. and Chen, C.Y., (2016). Examining the impacts of organizational culture and top management support of knowledge sharing on the success of software process improvement. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, pp.462-474.

Long, R.J., (2018). New office information technology: Human and managerial implications. Abingdon: Routledge.

Navimipour, N.J. and Charband, Y., (2016). Knowledge sharing mechanisms and techniques in project teams: Literature review, classification, and current trends. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, pp.730-742.

Omotayo, F.O., (2015). Knowledge Management as an important tool in Organisational Management: A Review of Literature. Library Philosophy and Practice, 1(2015), pp.1-23.

Power, D. and Gruner, R.L., (2015). Exploring reduced global standards-based inter-organisational information technology adoption. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 35(11), pp.1488-1511.

Soomro, Z.A., Shah, M.H. and Ahmed, J., (2016). Information security management needs more holistic approach: A literature review. International Journal of Information Management, 36(2), pp.215-225.

Tarhini, A., Hone, K. and Liu, X., (2015). A cross‐cultural examination of the impact of social, organisational and individual factors on educational technology acceptance between B ritish and L ebanese university students. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(4), pp.739-755.