This article proposes a Knowledge Networking approach to the development of Workplace Health & Safety Knowledge in order to overcome the limits and obstacles associated with the more traditional linear model of Knowledge Transfer in organisations. The province of Québec has developed a Network approach to managing workplace health and safety that is highly regarded by health & safety practitioners and researchers throughout Canada. Its research arm, the Robert Sauvé Research Institute on Workplace Health & Safety (IRSST) also uses a Knowledge Network approach to guide its research agenda. The success of those network initiatives has led the Eastern Canada Research Consortium on Workplace Health & Safety to create a Knowledge Transfer Research Laboratory (KTLab) to support research on the transfer of WHS best practices develop in Québec and elsewhere to Atlantic Canada using a networking approach.
Keywords: Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Networks, Virtual Team, Workplace Health and Safety, Information Technology
Coaching From Afar: How Ubiquitous Information Technology Was Used to Develop a Successful Semi‑Virtual Team pp65-74
This study analyzed the communication between a national rowing team and their 'virtual coach' over a period of 18 months. An exploratory analysis of 1500+ emails provided insight into how the coach successfully leveraged ubiquitous information technology to build a high performance team. Zaccaro's (2002) framework of functional leadership and Weick and Robert's (1993) framework of collective mind were applied to understand the coach's approach for developing a non‑traditional semi‑ virtual team; the primary role of Coach was likened to that of "sense‑giver" given the charge of developing a "collective mind." This study works to illustrate how ubiquitous technology like e‑mails can be strategically used in the development of a high performing semi‑virtual team.
Volume 3 Issue 2 / Dec 2005 pp65‑138
Keywords: Absorptive capacity, Capabilities, Case study, Coach, Computer-mediated communication, Developing countries, Dynamic learning, Email, Information and Communication Technologies, Innovation, Intangible Assets, Intellectual Capital, Inter-organizational project team management, Knowledge creation and sharing, Knowledge Economy, Knowledge management (KM), Knowledge management systems (KMS), Knowledge transfer, Lotka-Volterra system, Organizational Learning, Organizational receptivity, Organizational Relation, Resource-based view of the firm (RBV), Sustained competitive advantage, Virtual team