Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs What is the contribution of personal information management systems (PIMS) to the Working Model and personal work system of knowledge workers? Thesis How to cite: Gregory, Mark Roger (2017). What is the contribution of personal information management systems (PIMS) to the Working Model and personal work system of knowledge workers? PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2016 The Author Version: Version of Record Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk What is the contribution of personal information management systems (PIMS) to the Working Model and personal work system of knowledge workers? Mark Gregory, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in Information Systems December 2016 The Open University Rennes School of Business Affiliated Research Centre ARC Supervisors: Prof. David Weir (Visiting Professor at York St John University) Dr. Renaud Macgilchrist (Rennes School of Business) Examiners: Prof. Trevor Wood-Harper (Manchester Business School) Dr. Tom Mcnamara (Rennes School of Business) 1 / 343 Abstract The thesis reports research into a phenomenon which it calls the personal working model of an individual knowledge worker. The principal conjecture addressed in this thesis is that each of us has a personal working model which is supported by a personal work system enabled by a personal information management system. For some people, these are well defined; for most they are not even explicit. By means of structured self-reflection aided by conceptual knowledge modelling within the context of a process of action learning they can be improved. That personal working model is predicted by Ashby's law of requisite variety and by the good regulator theorem of Conant and Ashby. The latter theorem states that the only good regulator of a system is a model of that system. The thesis and the work it reports result from a systemic approach to identifying the personal information management system and personal work system which together contribute to the personal working model. Starting with abductive conjecture, the author has sought to understand what models are and to explore ways in which those models can themselves be expressed. The thesis shows how a new approach to the conceptual modelling of aspects of the personal knowledge of knowledge worker was designed, built and then used. Similarly, the actual data used by a knowledge worker had to be stored, and for this purpose a personal information management system was also designed. Both these artefacts are evaluated in accordance with principles drawn from the literature of design science research. The research methodology adopted in the first phase of the research now ending also included a relatively novel approach in which the PhD student attempted to observe himself over the last five years of his PhD research – this approach is sometimes called autoethnography. This autoethnographic element is one of a number of methods used within an overall framework grounded by the philosophical approach called critical realism. The work reported in the thesis is initial exploratory research which, it is planned, will continue in empirical action research involving mentored action learning undertaken by professional knowledge workers. [Abstract 348 words; thesis 104566 words without index but with appendices] Declaration No part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or other qualification of the Open University or of any other university or institution. 2 / 343 Acknowledgements and dedication I am greatly indebted to my supervisors, Prof David Weir and Dr Renaud Macgilchrist, for their long-standing encouragement and knowledgeable contributions to my work. David Weir’s contributions have included an initial and ongoing belief that there was something to be gained from researching this area, although for a long time it was very unclear what. David also gave me permission and encouragement to include autoethnography as an element of my research. Renaud has never let me slacken intellectually and always pushed me towards a higher level of thinking and of achievement. His specific contribution includes introducing me to morphogenesis and in particular to semantic morphogenesis – this latter is a concept originated by Renaud, as is made clear later in this thesis. Renaud has inspired me to aim for excellence through team teaching and now through research. He has also generously bought lunch on a quite unreasonable number of occasions! Thank you David and thank you Renaud. I also wish to thank others who at various times have offered their support, advice and guidance, whether as internal supervisor within the Rennes School of Business or as adviser. I acknowledge the contributions made by the late Dr Wladimir Sachs of Rennes School of Business, Dr. Dirk Schneckenberg of Rennes School of Business, Dr Mario Norbis of Quinnipiac University and Dr Mounir Kehal of the Higher Technical Colleges of the United Arab Emirates. I extend special thanks to former colleagues at Rennes School of Business who have worked with me along the way, encouraged and helped me. In particular, but not exclusively, I thank Dr Mike Ward, Prof Phil Kitchen, Prof Rod McColl, Prof Bouchaïb Bahli, Dr Irena Descubes and Dr Tony Cragg. This thesis highlights and is based upon practical personal information management PIM which is informed by developments in industry. Practical PIM depends upon effective information management tools. I should like to thank Pierre Paul Landry of NeoTech Systems, Montréal, Canada for creating the InfoQube personal information management tool which forms the basis for the UnIQue PIMS which is one of the contributions of this research work. Pierre has on many occasions - online and in Montréal - helped me better to exploit this tool. He has even enhanced it in order to meet requirements which I have been able to highlight on the product forum. I am also grateful for his inspirational help to Menez Chapleau who consults in InfoQube alongside Pierre. My use of InfoQube is fully reported in this thesis. A third Montrealer who also gave help of a practical kind is Michel Léonard of the LICEF research centre of the Université de Québec à Montréal UQAM. Both online and face-to-face, Michel helped me to understand the G-MOT knowledge representation tool, a development of which is at the heart of this thesis. In similar vein, I would like to thank Randall Minter of Qrimp Inc. and Ismael Ghalimi of STOIC Inc. Both Randall and Ismael have offered lots of assistance at an earlier stage in the project when my research involved shared situational applications. This particular strand of my 3 / 343 research has in large part been omitted from this PhD thesis but continues to have its place in my plans for future work. I have had a great deal of support from academic, library and administrative support staff of the Open University, for which I thank them all very much. The template that I have used in the production of this document is based upon one produced by Malcolm Morgan and Kayla Friedman for the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Cambridge, UK – thank-you. I thank Neville Moray for making available a copy of his paper (Moray 1997). Thank you Patricia Fourel, administrator of postgraduate programmes at Rennes School of Business for your efforts above and beyond duty and as a dear friend. Thank you, Alan. Thank you, Caroline. Without the support of Caroline and that of Alan, I would never have been able to submit this thesis and to complete my PhD, which I dedicate to you both. Copyright acknowledgements The author acknowledges the copyright of all authors quoted. He believes that all use of copyrighted material is covered by fair use provisions. He thanks the following for specific permissions granted: Citation and usage Permission Reprinted from Omega, 28/3, Goles, Tim and Rudy Hirschheim, ‘The Paradigm Is Dead, the (Goles and Hirschheim 2000), quoted here in Paradigm Is Dead… Long Live the Paradigm: section 2.10 The Legacy of Burrell and Morgan’, 249-268, Copyright (2000), with permission from Elsevier 4 / 343 Table of Contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................................... 2 DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ 3 COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION TO A PERSONAL WORKING MODEL ................................... 14 0.1 THESIS THEMES: WHAT ARE YOU ABOUT TO READ? ................................................................................ 14 0.2 THESIS STRUCTURE: THE CLASSICAL STRUCTURE AND WHY I HAVE CHOSEN TO DEPART FROM IT23 0.3 KNOWLEDGE WORK AND THE MANAGEMENT OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ..................................... 27 0.4