Knowledge Management in Times of Change: Tacit and Explicit
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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN TIMES OF CHANGE: TACIT AND EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE TRANSFERS Heather Leigh Hall, M.L.I.S., PMP Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2005 APPROVED: Samantha Hastings, Chair and Major Professor Brian O’Connor, Committee Member and Program Coordinator Linda Schamber, Committee Member Greg Jones, Committee Member Herman L. Totten, Dean of the School of Library and Information Sciences Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Hall, Heather Leigh. Knowledge management in times of change: Tacit and explicit knowledge transfers. Doctor of Philosophy (Information Science), December 2005, 336 pp., 19 tables, 43 figures, references, 93 titles. This study proposed a look at the importance and challenges of knowledge management in times of great change. In order to understand the information phenomena of interest, impacts on knowledge workers and knowledge documents in times of great organizational change, the study is positioned in a major consolidation of state agencies in Texas. It pays special attention to how the changes were perceived by the knowledge workers by interviewing those that were impacted by the changes resulting from the reorganization. The overall goal is to assess knowledge management in times of great organizational change by analyzing the impact of consolidation on knowledge management in Texas’s Health and Human Services agencies. The overarching research question is what happened to the knowledge management structure during this time of great change? The first research question was what was the knowledge worker environment during the time of change? The second research question was what was the knowledge management environment of the agencies during the time of change? The last research question was did consolidation of the HHS agencies diminish the ability to transition from tacit to explicit knowledge? Additionally, the study investigates how the bill that mandated the consolidation was covered in the local media as well as the actual budget and employee loss impact of the consolidation in order to better understand the impacts on knowledge workers and knowledge documents as a result of major organizational restructuring. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications for information science, knowledge management and project management. Copyright 2005 by Heather Leigh Hall ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to my dedicated committee who spent countless hours reviewing, advising, and guiding me in this process. Your wisdom and encouragement made this endeavor worthwhile. A special thanks to my committee chair, Dr. Sam Hastings. From the very first day we met in our first class together, your faith in me never waivered. Your enthusiam in teaching, learning and mentoring is invaluable to your students. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with you for so many years. I especially appreciate all of my friends and family who have supported me through the years. I dedicate this work to my Mom. From a very young age, you always made a point to instill character values in me both in word and in deed. Among these values are dependability, responsibility, and determination which were all important on this journey. Your unending love, devotion and support helped me accomplish this goal and all the goals in my life. I thank you and love you very much! iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................ix Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................... 1 Information and Knowledge .......................................................... 2 Tacit and Explicit Knowledge ........................................................ 3 Knowledge Management .............................................................. 3 Statement of the Problem ............................................................. 4 Purpose of the Study..................................................................... 6 Importance of the Study ................................................................ 7 Research Questions...................................................................... 8 Methods ........................................................................................ 9 Assumptions and Limitations ...................................................... 10 Overview of Results .................................................................... 11 Summary..................................................................................... 13 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 14 Introduction ................................................................................. 14 The Data Information Knowledge Wisdom Hierarchy.................. 14 Knowledge Management and Information Science..................... 17 Knowledge Management as a Practice....................................... 19 Knowledge Management in Times of Change ............................ 20 Tacit and Explicit Knowledge ...................................................... 21 Knowledge Workers and Knowledge Documents ....................... 22 Lost Knowledge........................................................................... 23 Knowledge Retention .................................................................. 25 Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques ........................ 26 iv Knowledge Management in State Agencies................................ 28 Knowledge Projects .................................................................... 30 Reorganization in the Public Sector ............................................ 31 Reorganization of Texas Health and Human Services................ 35 HHS Agencies Before HB 2292 .................................................. 36 Oversight and Accountability....................................................... 38 House Bill 2292 Opponents ........................................................ 38 Communication is Key for Stakeholders in Times of Great Change .................................................................................................... 39 Losing Employees Identified as a Risk of HB 2292 Implementation .................................................................................................... 40 Summary..................................................................................... 41 3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ...................................... 42 Introduction ................................................................................. 42 Researcher Background ............................................................. 43 Knowledge Worker Interviews..................................................... 44 Overview of Interview Method Process ............................ 44 Method and Design .......................................................... 44 Interview Method .............................................................. 47 Advantages and Disadvantages of Interview Method ............................................................................... 48 Standardized Open-Ended Interviewing ................ 49 Advantages of Telephone Interviewing and In-Person Interviewing ........................................................... 49 General Rules for Interviewing .............................. 51 Pilot Group ....................................................................... 54 Interview Questions.......................................................... 55 Target Respondents Interviews........................................ 61 Coding Scheme................................................................ 62 Interview of Other Key Stakeholders ................................ 62 Content Analysis ......................................................................... 63 Content Analysis of Newspaper Articles ..................................... 64 Theory and Rationale ....................................................... 64 v Conceptualization............................................................. 65 Variable Selections for Newspaper Content Analysis....... 66 Operationalizations (Measures)........................................ 73 Coding Schemes .............................................................. 74 Population ........................................................................ 74 Sampling .......................................................................... 75 Method and Design .......................................................... 76 Methodological Issues...................................................... 79 Results of Newspaper Content Analysis .......................... 87 Reliability Calculations of Newspaper Content Analysis... 87 Reliability for Interview Response Coding ........................ 92 Tools for Reliability Calculations....................................... 92 FTE and Budget Data Collection................................................. 98 Assumptions and Limitations ...................................................