Chapter 1: Introduction

GUY MOORE HIGGINS, JR. “If You Build It, WILL They Come?” A Study of the Effect of System Structure on the Institutionalization of Knowledge Management within Organiza- tions (Under the direction of JAY E. ARONSON) The importance of knowledge in any venture has long been recognized. Long ago, Sir Francis Bacon (1597) wrote, “knowledge is power.” More recently, however, management theorists and corporate leaders have become almost stri- dent in their espousal of both the importance of knowledge and the need to care- fully manage it in the business process. Lew Platt, chief executive of Hewlett- Packard, may have best expressed this when he said, “If HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times as profitable” (Stewart, 1997a). To address the need to manage their “knowledge,” many organizations have adopted a variety of technologies under the general aegis of “knowledge management systems.” Some see these systems as simply a subset of information management and “…suspect that nothing more substantial than ‘terminological inflation’ is taking place…” (Davenport, 1999), while others see them as the natu- ral evolution of the earlier information management systems, but an evolution that is reaching a higher plane and that is more or less clearly delineated from their information management systems forebears. Orlikowski and Robey (1991) have proposed Giddens’ (1979; 1982; 1984; 1993) Theory of Structuration as a framework for investigating the interaction between organizations and information technology. This dissertation studied the effect of knowledge management system structure on the institutionalization of the process of knowledge management in three global professional services companies. A number of critical success factors for the development and implemen- tation of knowledge management systems were uncovered and support was found for using Giddens’ (1979; 1982; 1984; 1993) Theory of Structuration as a surrogate for a measure of a successful knowledge management system. The findings suggest that knowledge management systems do represent an evolution in information management and that significant future study is needed. INDEX WORDS: Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Systems, Structuration Theory, Institutionalization “If You Build It, WILL They Come?” A STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF SYSTEM STRUCTURE ON THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS by GUY MOORE HIGGINS, JR. B.S., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1973 B.S., East Carolina University, 1996 M.B.A., Texas A&I University, 1979 M.R.P., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1985 M.P.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1987 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2001 © 2001 Guy Moore Higgins, Jr. All Rights Reserved “If You Build It, WILL They Come?” A STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF SYSTEM STRUCTURE ON THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS by GUY MOORE HIGGINS, JR. Approved: Major Professor: Jay E. Aronson Committee: Kathleen P. DeMarrais Patrick G. McKeown Marie-Claude Boudreau William Lewis Electronic Version Approved: Gordhan L. Patel Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2001 for My Wife, Deb, Who worked harder to see this dissertation completed than even I did and without whose help, love, and devotion I would never have been able to finish thank you for supporting me through all of this and I love you so very much. iv Acknowledgements My Wife – Who has supported me for the last five years through two schools and three degrees; who transcribed all of my interviews; who proofread every single word of this dissertation more times than I can count; and, who has continued to love me when I have been so wrapped up in this project that I was not fit for human company. It will get better, I promise. My “TWO” Committee Chairs – Without the guidance and support from both of you, I never would have finished: Alan Dennis: Who got me started and saw me through my proposal de- fense. Jay Aronson Who was kind enough to step in and take Alan’s place when he went to Indiana University and who has guided me through the pitfalls (and there were many) of con- ducting this research and writing up the finished dissertation. My Committee – You have each shown me how to look at things in differ- ent ways and have challenged me to be better. Thank you Kathleen deMarrais, Pat McKeown, Marie-Claude Boudreau, Mark Huber, and William Lewis for put- ting up with all of the twists and turns of my dissertation journey. However, I have to say a special thank you to Kathleen deMarrais who single-handed guided me through writing every word of this thing. I am sure there were many times that she wondered how she had taken on a very old child to raise, but she saw me through. Thank you so very much, Kathleen! Additionally, I want to thank Dale Goodhue. While not on my committee, Dale both pushed me to do better and helped me understand how I could do bet- v vi ter. Dale, I may not have always shown it, but I really do appreciate all that you did for me. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the cooperation of the organizations who agreed to be my case studies. I don’t know “who” at each of these companies actually made the decision to open themselves up to me, but whoever those people were, and to everyone in each of the companies, I want to express my sincerest gratitude. Thank you very much, Accenture, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Finally, this time really, although I promised them confidentially, each of my respondents allowed me this one mention of their real names. So I want to once again thank Gary Abramson, Asif Afaq, Ruth Allee, Rick Baggenstoss, Shirley Bartle, Paul Beckham, Petar Bielovich, Gigi Cappello, Julia Collins, Chris Cooper, Carlton Crowley, Gussie Cusumano, Tarasa Davis, Howard Deane, Kaspar deBoer, Elizabeth Denison, Tim Earley, Carol Fausnaught, Deb- orah Gwinner, Richard Harris, Chad Holmes, Ibn Howard, Shalae Hughes, Afolabi Imoukhude, Omega Jefferson, Jolsna John, Joel Katzen, Mike Koffman, Doug Mackay, Melissa Marosso, Kristin McChesney, Rod McKay, Chris McManus, Sarah Melcher, Elizabeth Mueller, Katherine Palac, Chris Paladino, Gavin Quertier, John Rhoades, Jennifer Rowse, Randy Russell, Mercedeh Sanati, David Saul, Eric Schobel, Michael Sexton, Jill Smart, Ed Smith, Howard Smith, Kurt Steiner, Anne Stephenson, Pat Tambor, John Tesmer, Charlie Thompson, Teri Weingarden, and Erik Zahnen for your assistance in taking the time to let me interview you. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... v List of Figures............................................................................................................. ix List of Tables .............................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................... 1 1.2 Adoption of Innovation .............................................................................. 4 1.3 Knowledge Management and Organizational Change ............................. 4 1.4 Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems ........... 5 1.5 Potential Critical Success Factors............................................................. 6 1.6 Purpose of the Study................................................................................. 7 1.7 Questions of the Study.............................................................................. 8 1.8 Conceptual Frame for a Knowledge Management System ...................... 9 1.9 Significance of the Study........................................................................... 9 1.10 Research Methodology ........................................................................... 12 1.11 Overview of the Dissertation Document.................................................. 14 Chapter 2: Literature Review..................................................................................... 15 2.1 Definition of Terms Used in the Study..................................................... 15 2.2 Theoretical Framework of the Study ....................................................... 31 2.3 Conceptual Framework of the Study....................................................... 59 2.4 Research Model for the Study................................................................. 75 2.5 Study Objectives ..................................................................................... 78 Chapter 3: Methods................................................................................................... 81 3.1 Research Method.................................................................................... 81 3.2 Population and Sample ........................................................................... 83 3.3 Data Collection Method........................................................................... 87 3.4 The Researcher’s Role ........................................................................... 92 3.5 Data Analysis .......................................................................................... 93 3.6 The Study Protocol...............................................................................

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