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Knowledge Productivity

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Knowledge Productivity KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTIVITY DESIGNING AND TESTING A METHOD TO DIAGNOSE KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTIVITY AND PLAN FOR ENHANCEMENT CHRISTIAAN STAM PROMOTIECOMMISSIE Voorzitter Prof. dr. H.W.A.M Coonen, Universiteit Twente Promotor Prof. dr. J.W.M. Kessels, Universiteit Twente Assistent promotor Dr. D.G. Andriessen, Hogeschool INHOLLAND Leden Prof. dr. J.J.H. van den Akker, Universiteit Twente Prof. dr. R. de Hoog, Universiteit Twente Prof. dr. ir. J.E. van Aken, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Prof. dr. R.J. Tissen, Business Universiteit Nyenrode ISBN 978-90-365-2605-0 © 2007, Christiaan Stam All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTIVITY DESIGNING AND TESTING A METHOD TO DIAGNOSE KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTIVITY AND PLAN FOR ENHANCEMENT PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Twente, op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. W.H.M. Zijm, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 20 december 2007 om 15.00 uur door Christiaan David Stam geboren op 24 juni 1965 te Nieuwe Niedorp Promotor Prof. dr. J.W.M. Kessels, Universiteit Twente Assistent promotor Dr. D.G. Andriessen, Hogeschool INHOLLAND Preface and acknowledgements Knowledge productivity, the central theme of this thesis, is a tricky construct as it brings together two concepts which are difficult to combine. On the one hand, the concept of knowledge which predominantly refers to a human ability. On the other hand, productivity which refers to the amount of output per unit of input (labor, equipment, capital). To me, the anthropomorphic head 1 on the cover represents the ambiguity of the concept of knowledge productivity. If we take a close look at the picture, we see many different agricultural and manufacturing tools. Among other things, we see a carpenter’s set square, a farmer’s rake, several wood saws, a millstone for grinding wheat or other grain, a pair of tongs to cut or bend iron and a pair of bellows to stoke up the fire. If we take a look at the picture from a distance, we see the head of the person applying all these tools. Although the tools facilitate production, it is the person and his/her abilities and knowledge that determines the effectiveness of the usage of the tools. As it is very difficult to give expression to the knowledge and skills of a person, the artist ordered the instruments in the shape of a head to indicate that the one cannot be seen without the other. The same seems to be true for knowledge and productivity. This insight, which was the starting point for this research, first emerged from our book Knowledge productivity: the effect of investing in people, knowledge and learning (Stam, Evers, Leenheers, De Man, & Van der Spek, 2004). This book was the result of a call for papers and a conference among Dutch scholars, practitioners and consultants in the field of knowledge management and knowledge productivity. The aim of this book was to make sense of the relatively new concept of knowledge productivity. The experience of writing this book, made me decide to investigate the possibility of continuing to do research in the field of knowledge productivity. The opportunity to do Ph.D. research arose in 2004, when I was appointed as a Research Fellow at the Centre of Applied Research in Intellectual Capital at INHOLLAND University of Professional Education and De Baak – Management Centre VNO-NCW. It speaks for itself that I am very grateful to these two organisations for giving me the opportunity and support to fulfill my personal ambition. I could not have been more fortunate. Thank you. During the years, many people have supported my mission personally. I would like to thank all these people for supporting me, for motivating me at moments when I needed it, for their trust and respect, for their kind words and for all their constructive feedback. Several of them I want to thank particularly. My first and very warm gratitude goes to Harry Starren, Executive Director of De Baak. The story I always like to tell about Harry is the story about the first time we met, in June 1993 in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. As I was applying for a job at De Baak, I had prepared myself thoroughly in the sense that I had practised a lot of answers to typical interview questions. I put on my best suit, went to our meeting place and waited for Harry to arrive. As he was a few minutes late, I had some more time to practise my answers to his supposed questions. When he arrived we shook hands and the first thing he said was: “OK, let’s do it.” Although I heard what he said, it did not really occur to me that he meant what he said. So, I started to answer all the questions I had expected. He interrupted me half way and said: “Didn’t you hear what I said?” Only then did it begin to dawn on me that he had been serious and that I had the job. The trust I received at that moment was the starting point of many inspiring and exciting years at De Baak. It was hard work, but also very fulfilling as I was constantly challenged to further develop myself, both professionally and as a person. Harry, thank you so much for providing 1 Unknown artist, probably inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1527-1593 this opportunity, thank you for inspiring me, thank you for believing in me, thank you for continuously and unconditionally supporting my ambitions. I thank you for challenging me to become the person I am today. It is for this reason that I dedicate this thesis to you. Next, I want to thank my supervisors, Prof. dr. Joseph Kessels (Professor Human Resource Development Universiteit Twente and Dean TSM Business School) and Dr. Daan Andriessen (Lector Intellectual Capital, Hogeschool INHOLLAND) for guiding me through this research. Both of you have been inspiring examples to me. Working with you was challenging and a lot of fun. Thank you for “enticing” me to be knowledge productive. I also thank my colleagues at the Centre for Research in Intellectual Capital as the Centre has been a very stimulating and fertile environment in which to do research. Daan, Marien, Don, Linda, Josephine, Esther, Thomas, Henk, Marjan, Ad, Eja, thank you for providing the room to do my thing, thank you for supporting me and for giving all the invaluable feedback on my work. Many persons contributed to my professional development and to this Ph.D. thesis. For this I want to thank: Dr. Marc Zegveld; Prof. dr. Joan van Aken and the members of the Design Science Research Group; Rob van der Spek, Jan Kingma and the rest of the Master Class Knowledge Management team; Dr. Susana Menendez, Dr. Ineke van Halsema, Schelte Beltman and the members of the Community 4 Promovendi at INHOLLAND; Suzanne Verdonschot; Charles Savage; Jan Mouritsen. I also thank all the people and companies involved in the empirical part of this research: Agnes and Jurgen (Transfer Solutions); Maarten and Coen (Midfield); Martin and Valentijn (de Baak); Edwin and Bas (BSP); José (CPB); and Eelko (Health bv). In addition to these people, I also thank all the people that participated in the workshops and filled out the questionnaires. Without you, this design-based research would not have been possible. And finally, where do I find the words to express my gratitude and love to the persons most precious to me? My parents and my family, for supporting me in anything I do. Céline, for giving me the love and strength I needed to complete this mission. Susanna and David, for regularly holding up a mirror to my face. I am sorry for all the times I could not give you the attention you deserved. I love you. Christiaan Stam Naarden, The Netherlands September 2007 ii TO HARRY STARREN Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Knowledge is what we buy, sell and do ..................................................................... 1 1.2 Intellectual capital is the new wealth ......................................................................... 3 1.3 Knowledge productivity is the biggest challenge....................................................... 5 1.4 Research problem and question.................................................................................. 7 1.5 Structure of this study................................................................................................. 8 1.6 Research relevance................................................................................................... 10 2 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Design-based research.............................................................................................. 13 2.1.1 Reconciling the rigor-relevance dilemma ........................................................ 13 2.1.2 Solving field problems to develop solution concepts....................................... 15 2.1.3 Two parallel streams of knowledge production ............................................... 16 2.1.4 Justified by generative mechanisms and pragmatic validity ............................ 17 2.2 Research design........................................................................................................ 17 2.2.1 Phase 1: towards an initial design ...................................................................
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