Bulletin ofEducational Research June,2009, Vol. 55No.2 pp. 99-138
An Innovative Framework Applied to
Elementary Schools: A Case Study of the
Gaps Knowledge Management
Chien-Chin Chen
Ping-Jung Hsien
叫 n i---ryL niFO --TYL 吐,
rn
1.-cα
Abstract
While school principals and directors are putting more emphasis on knowledge management activities
,
it is the right time for elementary schools to put knowledge management (KM) into practice. The school administrators hope to improve school effectiveness through the activities KM. However,
when implementing KM,
there are some obstacles leading to gaps that may influence school effectiveness. In view of such problems,
this research proposed an innovative framework of‘
'the gaps KM" to fully illustrate the management gaps that might occur during the process of KM The content-analysis approach combined with the thematic analysis was implemented in the study. Through in-depth interviews with principals and directors of six schools,
we explored the cause of these gaps and approaches to reducing these gaps
This research identified a comprehensive set of factors according to the management point ofview that could potentially impact the magnitude or direction of these gaps and the corrective action for enhancing the success of the process of KM This frameworl支 is expected to provide a convenient way to verify gaps KM and
,
thus,
schools can make corrections anda吐justmentsaccordingly to enhance the chances of success when implementing KM
Keywords: knowledge management,the gaps of knowledge management,
school effectiveness,case study
Chien-Chili Chen
,
Doctoral Student,
Department ofEducation,
National Chengchi University Chi-Ting Su,
Administrator,
President's Staff Office,
Yieh Phui Enterprise Co.,
LTDPing-Jung Hsieh
,
Associate Professor,
Graduate Institute of Human Resource andKnowledge Managemer前,National Kaohsiung Nonnal UniversityChin-ho Lin
,
Professor,
Depar世lentof Industrial and Infonnation Management,
NationalChen巨 Kung UniversityE 曲ail: 96152508位 nccu.edu.tw
l AU l 教育研究集刊 第五十五輯第二期 2009年 6 月 頁 99-138
應用於國民小學的創新架構:
知識管理缺口之個案分析
陳建志、蘇琪婷、謝秉蓉、林 j青河 摘要 H 前國民小學正值大力推動知識管理之際,而且學校領導者也越來越注重知 識管理活動的實行,期望透過知識管理活動來提升學校效能。然而,當執行知識 管理時,卻會有一些類似缺U 的障礙因素影響學校效能。因此,本研院提!中!「知 識管理缺 UJ 之創新性架構,詳細闡述執行知識管理玲在管理上會遇到的缺U 。 運用主題之內容分不開立徑來加以研嘿,透過訪談6所學校的校長或主任,發覺這 些缺U的成出及消到這些缺U的方式。 根據管理的觀點定義1'+1可能會潛在影響這些缺U 強度及方向之完整出子,並 找!們附加知識管理有效性的相關作為。期許能提供學校定義知識管理缺U 更便利 的方式,使其執行知識管理時,自E據此找1'+1提升知識管理的有效方式及出應策略。 關鍵詞:知識管理、知識管理缺口、學校效能、個案研究 陳建志,國立政治大學教育學系博士班研究生 蘇琪婷,爆輝企業股份有限公司總經理室管理師 謝秉蓉,國正高雄師範大學人力與知識管理研究所副教授 林清河,國正成功大學工業與資訊管理學系教授 電子郵件為 96152508@nccu.edu.tw 投稿日期 2009 年 1 月 8 日,修正日期 2009 年 4 月 9 日,採用日期 2009 年 5 月 14 日1. Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Knowledge management (KM) has become an important strategy for improving organizational competitiveness and perfonnance (Sharkie
,
2003). Effectively organizing,
storing,
sharing,
and leveraging a finn' s knowledge can propel an organization towards becoming more adaptive,
innovative,
intelligent and sustainable The key KM challenges facing organizations today are to determine how robust KM is to implement,
whichuser 面叩dlyprocesses andpractic自Most previous studies show that knowledge can be classified as eith叮 tacIt or
explicit 個edlund, 1994). Tacit knowledge is experience-b品 ed knowledge 也 atresides
within an individual
,
whereas explicit knowledge is formally articulated and documented. In organizations,
knowledge is often embedded in 自posltones,documents
,
routines,
operational processes,
practices,
and nonTIS. It is generallyaccepted that knowledge also comes from the meaningfully organized accumulation of infonnation through experience
,
connnunication or inference (Zack,
1999)Explicit knowledge is clear
,
formally articulated and documented. Tacit knowledge is not easy to fonnalize,
making it difficult to communicate or to share with others (Nonaka& Takeuchi,
1995). In response to issues arising from the uncertainty over identifying the enablers and barriers to implementing KM,
a number of value studies have been published addressing this concern and introduced the idea of knowledge gap (Barney,
1995; Nonaka,
1991)1.
2 The Future ofKM in Elementary School
Forel目nentaryschools in Taiwan
,
the practices ofKM are particularly promising and appropriate (Wu & Huang,
2006). Teachers' professional development and the developing of schools' infonnation infrastructure will be the most advantageous陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 103
situations. The democratization of data and the sharing of infonnation induces people at every level to contribute
,
to participate,
to interact,
to grow,
and to learn,
and they do all this while mastering higher order skill sets. Making sense of information is a crucial step for organizational success; imparting what one learns and knows to others is even more difficult and rewarding(petrides & Nodine,
2003). Besides this,
according to the research of Stevenson (2001),
and Philip and Kamontip (2008),
KM can behelpful 宜。rbenchmarking progress
,
continuousql田lityimprovement,
improving students' learning perfonnance andmeas盯ing perfonnance as milestones in education 立lerefore, KM can really benefit school effectiveness. Thus,
this research aims to identifY
some obstacles leading to gaps which probably influence school effectiveness,
and explore the causes of these gaps and approaches to reducing these gapsInr臼ponseto1品uesarising:from the uncertainty over identifying the enablers and barriers to implementing KM
,
a number of value studies have been p叭u也創b叫lis站shed a吋dd世re臼ss剖III咚gt也hi站s c叩one叮凹n(但Bame叮y, 199仍5; Nonaka,
1991). Several s甜u阻l油die臼s have pro叩po倒se吋d the c叩oneep抖t ofC曰叩u盯r叮Ten叫tea叩pa油b趴bil山lit句yandth阻e ca叩pa油hi山lities req阻r間edforKM
Hall and Andriani (2002) identified gaps occurring between existing knowledge and knowledge requirements
,
partie叫 arly those that occur when an organization is trying to introduce new process or products.W徊,Griggs and Downing (2002) defined the knowledge gaps as the quantitative and qualitative differences between the knowledge needed the knowledge and available in the organization. Beyond the aforementioned knowledge gaps,
there exist different perceptions of KM activities and implementation amongst staff ofdi宜eringlevels and positionsThe inability to identify and resolve any gap prior to implementation will greatly impact the implementation process. Thus
,
it would be beneficial for schools to build a framework that would analyze the corporate knowledge needs,
evaluate theimplemen阻tion activities of KM and identify any inhibitors to success. Therefore
,
we propose this framework to identify an organization' s KM gaps that mightocc盯 duringimplementation. This stndy validates the construct of the proposed framework through data and infonnation obtained:from in-depth interviews with principals and directors This is necessary to understand the impact of these knowledge gaps
To the best of our knowledge
,
previous stndies have explored the gen叮ic and holistic structnre of knowledge gaps based on the aspect of management activities in elementary school. Thus,
we propose a holistic and innovative framework for“
KM gaps" to fully explain how they might occur during implementation. For years,
schools have strived to manage knowledge more effective旬, the primary motivation being improved school effectiveness (Stevenson,
2001). Therefore,
it is valuable to investigate how principals and directors can eliminate KM gaps through KM activities in order to enhance school effectiveness2. KM Gaps
Based on the literatnre ofHolsapple and Singh's (2001) knowledge value chain
,
extended research on KM gaps have been developed
,
including Nonaka's(1991) spiral ofknowledge,
Suba's(1 997) 申自lilyof education and the researches about KM gaps inbusin臼s management by Lin and Tseng (2005) and Lin
,
Yeh and Tseng (2005). FromHolsapple and Singh (2001)
,
KM activities are classified into knowledge acquisition,
selection
,
generation,
internalization and other supportive activities. Hence,
KM activities can be seen as processes that manip叫ate knowledge in an organization to improve perfonnanceThe spiral of knowledge is an influential concept in the KM field. Tacit and explicit knowledge consist in the organization. If the organization has an appropriate interaction
,
achieve innovative knowledge value will be much simpler. When there are more and more individuals participate in the process of interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge,
the organization's knowledge repertoire will be built. Therefore,
it may reduce the gap between individual and organization because of the knowledge陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 105
sharingproce品 (Nonaka, 1991)
Through these ideas
,
we can realize that knowledge is important in many sessions while implementing KM. As for quality of education,
students,
students' paren妞,communities
,
and the educational organs are included in this model to evaluate the effectiveness (Suba,
1997). This research proposes a holistic framework for the KM gaps to fully illustrate the management gaps that might occ盯 during the implementation ofKM in educationThese gaps initiate from lower degrees offitness between a school's KM activities and the external as well as int個lal environments confronting the organization. Since a generic and holistic structure of the knowledge gap based on the aspect of management activities has never been explored in elementary schools
,
we propose a holistic and innovative :framework for the“
KM gaps" to fully explain the KM gaps that might occur during implementation. As shown in Figme 1,
there are six KM gaps that can be viewed:fromfo盯 differentaspects: strategic aspect,
perception aspect,
planning aspect,
and implementation aspect. The concepn也I framework of the proposed KM gaps and the detailed descriptions of thefo盯 aspectsare stated as follows
I
studen旭 II 叫帥'parents
II
communitiesII
帥cati叫~ct
....•
也e knowledge required to自由由leeschool's effectiveness
E酬主
吐le knowledge required to到tlOll implementation of
••••••
e吐lance school's effectiveness
gapl
knowledge management gap6 as perceived by teachers and
4恥 。由 er a也mmstrat lOlls ~ gap3 吾 ;gap5 吐1e pI由l0fknowledge management gap2 主
aspect the knowledge required to
...
e出租ce school's effectiveness 同...as perceived by principals and directors implement aspect plan aspe strategIc asp perceptIOn
Figure 1 The KM Gaps Model Applied to Education Resource: modified from Lin et al.(2005: 211)
2.1
The Strategic AspectSchools should review their internal and external environment to detennine the
knowledge 自qm自dto enhance its effectiveness (Suba
,
1997). Fail to do it may result in a gap between the knowledge required to enhance the e宜ectivenessof a school as perceived by principals and directors and the knowledge ac阻allyrequired (i.e. gapl) The failure to evaluate the performance of KM or the ignorance to the influence from the stakeholders,
such as students,
students' parents,
communities,
and the educational陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 107
organs may result in a gap between the results of implementation and the knowledge required to enhance school's effectiveness (i.e. gap4)
2.2 The Perception Aspect
Principals and directors may not be able to define clearly which knowledge they need. This may result in a gap between the perception of principals and directors and the enhancement of KM plan (i.e. gap2). Within a school there may be gaps between the perceptions ofprincipals and directors and those ofthe teachers and staff due to the difference in positions
,
role,
andprofe品ionalknowledge (i.e. gapS). Inschool,
we say that“
staff' includes the principals,
directors,
teachers and other administrations2.3 The Planning Aspect
Understanding the school's internal and external environments may allow the principals and directors to implement a proper plan for KM implementation (petrides & Guiney
,
2002). If principals and directors cannot convey their knowledge into implementation phase,
then gap2 may happen. Most school depa的nents and 0伍 ces 翩翩nsources of data which rarely related to one another(petri如 &Gui峙, 2002)This featrue prev叩ts from the clearlyunderstandi月 ofthe use. Ifs阻ffdo not realize the KM plan while engaging in KM
,
then it may result in gap32
.4
The Implementation Aspect
Implementation should according to the plan
,
or Gap 3 will occur. Furth個nore, d盯ing implementation the faculty should have the right perception with regards to the knowledge required in order effectively enhancing the schools,
or gap4 will happen Finally,
a gap may exist between the knowledge implementation ofKM and knowledge required to enhance school's e宜ectivenessas perceived by staff (i.e. gap6). If the staff can not share their unique knowledge with each other,
the implementation of KM will meet some obstacles (Lin et aI.,2005)Thus
,
the definitions ofthe six KM gaps are stated as follows2.5 Gapl: The Gap ofthe Environment's Perception
It is the gap between the knowledge required to enhance the effectiveness of a
school 品 perceivedby the principals and directors 品 wellas the knowledge actually
required to enhance itse血ectiveness. Inshort
,
we can say it is the gap of environment's perception between principals and directorsThe role for the top managers in implementing KM is to review the internal and external environments of theorgani且tionin order to understand its strength
,
weakness,
opportumt1血, and threats in conducting KM activiti臼(Ndlela & Toit, 2001)
Depending on the outcome of the analysis of the organization's current position and capability with regard to the aspect of KM
,
the organization can address opportunities and threats to formulate a suitable KM strategy. Each organization has its own unique knowledge domain to specificprobl目nswhich it can be solved (Colleen& Leila,
2007) However,
without a suitable and clear goal and a blueprint of the added value which can be fostered from the KM,
the organization may not be able to launch its KM2.6 Gap2: The Gap ofthe KM Plan's Design
It is the gap between the knowledge required to enhance a school's effectiveness as perceived by the principals anddirectors 品 wellas the plan to implement KM. In short
,
we can say it is the gap of the KM plan' s design. Under the realization of the positions for the organization' s internal and external environments,
top managers are able to enact a proper plan for guiding the organizations in implementing KM (Rubenstein-Montano,
Liebowitz,
Buchwalter,
McCaw,
Newman,
& Rebeck,
2001) Although top managers recognize the need for the acquisition ofknowledge,
they may not be able to define the knowledge clearly due to their inability to effectively describe what they need. This results in gap2,
which is the obstacle between the perception of the top managers and theenac阻lentof the plan for the KM system陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 109
2.7 Gap3: The Gap of the KM Plan' s Implementation
Itis the gap between the plan toimpl目nentKM and the plan. Inshort
,
we can say it is the gap of the KM plan's implementation. Before an organi且tion decides to introduce the KM,
it should provide a reasonable and comprehensive plan for the entire organization (Ndlela& Toit,
2001). However,
staff may be afraid that their personal value might be negatively affected after sharing their knowledge2.8 Gap4:
Th
e
Gap
of the
Schoo
l'
s
Effectiveness
after
Implementing KM
Itis the gap between the result of implementing KM and the knowledge required to enhance a school's effectiveness. In short
,
we can say it is the gap of the school's effectiveness after implementing KM. Effective implementation of KM s位ateglesinclude a clear definition of what knowledge needs to be achieved and what motivations must be created (Campbell & Lucl凹, 1997). In addition
,
a complete measurement system needs to be developed well so as to evaluate the organization and it will reinforce the competitiveness of the organization after the implementation of KM activitiesKnowledge measurement involves the evaluation of knowledge resources and knowledge proce品 ors 立lis process consists of identifying and recognizing value-adding processors and resources
,
assessing and comparing the execution of KM activities,
and evaluating the impact of an organization's KM conducted based on bottom-line performance,
which must have taken place to completely understand the present position of the organization. The measurement approach includes students' parents,
communities,
and the educational organs (Su切,1997). Thus,
many companies fail to evaluate the results of KM to detennine whether it meets the expectations or not (Tiwana,
2001);“
how to evaluate knowledge" has always been an issue2.9 Gap5: The Gap ofthe Faculty's Position
It is the gap between the knowledge required to enhance a school's effectiveness as perceived by the principals anddirectors 品 wellas perceived by teachers and other administrations. Inshort
,
we can say it is the gap of the staff s position. Creating new knowledge is a common responsibility for each depa抽nent or group of experts in a knowledge- creating organization. However,
within an organization there may be gaps between perceptions of managers and that of members due to the difference of positions,
roles,
and professional knowledge (Nonaka,
1991; Paiva,
2003)Hence
,
staff's perceptions of what type of knowledge which they need will be different and depend on their positions and roles. Therefore,
to match the perceptions of all staff in di叮叮叮Itpositions,
the goals and the plan for all levels of the KM staff become critical in the implementation2.10 Gap6: The Gap ofthe School's Faculty
It is the gap between the knowledge required to enhance a school's effectiveness
品 perceivedby staff as well as the knowledge actually obtained after implementing
KM. In short
,
we can say it is the gap of the school' s staff. Staff spend much time to accumulate their personal knowledge for enhancing their effectiveness in the school,
and thus the school should foster an atmosphere that emphasizes sharing knowledge and innovation explicitly
As a result
,
staff will be hindered from sharing infonnation,
and the necessary knowledge acquisition becomes difficult. Members are used to explaining knowledge by their own situation and perspective,
and hence,
the content of the knowledge can continuously be altered during the diffi山on proce品 (Nonaka, 1991). Moreover,
knowledge workers usually do not want to share their intellectual property with others
,
and the competition between knowledge workers often obstructs the sharing of the knowledge. Based on the discussions gap6 above can easily occur in an organization
陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 An Innovative FrameworkApplied to ElementarySch 油 Is 111
3. Research Methodology
The main objective of this research is to build a framework of KM gaps with emphasis on the
“
contextual" factors suitable for further exploration in qualitative research (Berg,
2000). The case study represents one of the most common research designs for quali個tiveresearch. Case analysis is a goods阻rtingpoint in the inductiveproc臼 s of theory building (Yin
,
1994). Since literature 自gardingthese issues is rare,
this research is with exploratory andql田litativenature. In addition
,
case analysis is the method of choice for inductive or teleological studies since it pennits the 自searcherto observe and gath叮 infonnationabout new or never researched natural phenomenon The purpose of our case study is to explore the causes for these gaps and provide several fundamental approaches to bridge these gaps3.1 In-depth Interview
Interview is one of the useful methods of data collection (Bryman & Burgess
,
1999). A content analytical approach and a thematic analysis were used for qualitative data analysis. Essential themes were pre-detennined by literature review
,
including: the gap ofthe environment's perception,
the gap ofthe KM plan's design,
the gap ofthe KM plan's implementation,
the gap of the school's effectiveness aft叮 implem叩tmgKM
,
the gap of the staff's position,
and the gap of the school' s staffThe in-depth interviews which we conducted are face-to-face and semi-structured nature (Linberg& Rosenqvist
,
2003),
which is one ofthe most common approaches tomt叮viewingin qualitative research (Bryman& Burge品, 1999)
This type of intenriews involves the implementation of a nmnber of predetennined questions and/or specialtopics 立lesequestions are typically asked of each intenriewee in a systematic and consistentord叮,but the intenriewers are allowed to digress. That is
,
interviewers are pennitted to probe far beyond the answers to their prepared and standardized qu臼tions (Berg
,
2000). Khera,
Stroobant,
Primhak,
Gup阻 and Davies (2001) indicated that semi-structured interviews allow the respondents to determine the direction and content of the interview within a broader framework provided by the mtervIewer3.2 Data Collection
The primary data collection approach was collected bysemi-s個lcturedinterviews The interviews covered individual elementary school's background and experiences. In six cases
,
key individuals involved with the deployment of the core modules were interviewed,
and ana社emptedto capture perspectivesValidity involves the use of multiple sources ofeviden間, the establishment of a chain of evidence
,
and having key infonnants review the draft casestudy 自ports(Yin,
1994). In particular
,
multiple respondents provided evidence about thephenom叩on of KM gaps and the project documentation also provided evidence. A chain of evidence is established by linking the data,
the analysis,
and the results. Finally,
case sururnaries were documented after data collectionw品 completedof which is read and reviewed by key informants. After reading the sururnary of the KM process and 自questeda few minor changes to better disguise the school3.3 Data Analysis Method
First step
,
we categorize the data into various categories and concepts,
and next is used to g叩eratecross-subject comparison and develop the key themes. Besides,
there are several analytical techniques for analyzingql田litativedata suggested by Miles and Huberman(1994),
inclusive of: I) putting information into differentarra戶;2) making a matrix of categories and placing the evidence within such categories;3) 叮eatingdata displays - flowcharts and other devices - for examining the data; 4) tab叫at!月 the陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 113
their relationships by calculating second-order numberssuch 品 meansand variances; 6) putting infonnation in chronological order or using some othert目nporalscheme
In the study
,
the content analytical approach with the thematic analysis was used品r qualit叫ive data analysis. Essential themes were pre-detennined by a volume of
literature review. By using thematic ana加 is, the interview data w品 parsed into infonnation abundant quotations that were ultimately placed into th個lat1c categones (Anderson& Felsenfeld
,
2003)3
.4
Triangulation
Patton (1987) discussed 品盯 types of triangulation in doing evaluations. That is
,
the triangulation: I) of data sources (data triangulation); 2)among different evaluators (investigator triang叫 ation); 3) of perspectives on the same data set (theory
缸lang叫ation);and4)of methods (methodological triangulation)
To reduce the likelihood of misinterpretation
,
we choose various six elementary schools to be our samples and invite different evaluators to check our data,
including redundancy of data gather in and procedural challenges to explanations. Forql田litativecase works,theseproced盯自 a自 calledtriangulation(pa吐凹,1987).With triangulation,
thepot叩tialproblems of construct validity also can be addressed
,
because the multiple sources of evidence e品 entiallyprovide multiple measures of the same phenomenon(yin
,
1994)Therefore
,
we tested 0盯 proposed KM gaps model with multiple cases by checking their school management goals and managerial actions for KM. If empirically supported,
we may argue that the suggested KM gaps model would constitute a distinct context for managerial focuses and actions. These six case studies were chosen 宜。rtheoretical sampling reasons (Eisenhardt
,
1989)in that the requirements detennination phenomenon is obvious and observable,
facilitating this theory-building effortvd
d
u
4EIW CJ OU 的C
F、 J 勻、〕The case study represents one qualitative research designs. It investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context
,
especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident (Yin,
1994). A case stndy involves systematically gathering enough infonnation about a particular person,
socialseth月, event or group to pennit the researcher to effectively unders阻nd how it
operates or functions. It is not ac叫ally a data-gathering technique
,
but a methodological approach that incorporates a number of data-gathering measures (Hamel,
Dufour,
& Fortin,
1993)According to the governmental statistical data
,
there were 206 elementary schools in Kaohsiung (including City & County,
Public & Private). KM in the elementary school has been earned out in Kaohsiung for several years. However,
between small towns and big cities,
there were still great differences caused by the unbalanced education reso盯ces, such as the quality and quantity of teachers or schools' infonnation infrastructure,
etc. Therefore,
the KM implementation process in different areas deserves further investigation 立Ie reasons are: 1) these schools can offer ablU1dant infonnation of diverse principals and directors' belie函;and 2) to some extent,
they can represent all kinds of school KM situations. Hence
,
we choose six elementary schools,
including Public andPriva缸, City,
Village and Back County. The researchers缸 ied to identify all kinds of schools that could offer distinguishing and valuable
infonnation to the investigation
Stake(1998) suggested that the case should beselected 宜。mwhich the researcher feels that he can learn most
,
and which the researcher can spend the most time in. On the other hand,
Patton (1990) suggested that a case which would provide the most ablU1dant infonnation is the priority for selectionFollowing Stake's (1998) and Patton's (1990) sugg自tions, we selected school A to F as the cases. The case is selected based on several reasons. Firstly
,
these principals陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools lIS
and directors in school A to F are willing and able to implement KM. Secondly
,
these schools contains the most variety of characteristics (instruction with technology,
mt叮national school
,
geography and history teaching,
teaching students in accordance with their aptitude,
and community serving) and different kinds of elementary schools妙的lie and private)
,
and a自 expectedto provide su伍 cient infonnation toward 0盯research goals. Third
,
these principals and directors in school A to F are willing tosha自 theirknowledge and having quite a few opinions afterimpl目nentingKM
Next
,
these schools have already put KM into practice,
but they lacked the ideas of how to evaluate the perfonnance of KM,
so it is right time for us to instill theide品to them.Finally and the most importantly
,
these schools show high interests toward our research and are willing to facilitate the study. Therefore,
six schools were chosen,
and we interviewed the principal or the director in each school because they tend to play key roles in school's activities (Mangin,
2007). As total,
we interviewed 3 principals and 3 directors in these schools. Table I shows the general descriptive features of the participants. In the following,
we provide background and a profile for the six schoolsTable 1 General Descriptive Features of the Participants
Theparticip個ltwe interviewed Gender Theye訂"Sof his/her service in
education (up to 2009)
school A Director of Counseling 孔1ale 12
school B Director of StudentAff:扭扭 Office 孔1ale IS
school C Principal 孔1ale 29
school D Director of General Affairs 孔1ale 11
school E Principal Female 25
school F Principal Female 22
The history of school A presents an interesting story
,
dating back more than 60 years. The school initiated the implementation of KM in 2005. School A should be very clear on one fact; pupils are always at the center of all teaching concerns. So thisschool had to keep asking itselfwhere it was actnally leading its pupils. Due to the low homogeneity of the core knowledge owned by different office uni妞, the school separated the units into different clusters based on the possibility ofco自 knowledge
sharing
SchoolB 這 temporaryheadquarters were established on June I
,
1981. The school buildings were completed on January 30,
1983. The school is one ofthe Kaohsiung's leading providers of instruction with technology. Ith品 astrong culture,
which unites everyone in the organization with an emphasis on respecting humanity,
encouraging dedication,
and enabling involv個lent and team work. The school hasp叫“documentmanagement" into practice since 1999
,
but it initiated the implementation of KM in 2005School
C
was founded in 1920. The school initiated the implementation ofKM in 2005. Its goal is to provide an instructional program that fosters the intellectnal,
emotional
,
social and physical development of each child. By providing teaching that infonns,
inspires and challenges,
School C hopes to instill a love of leami月 thatcontinues throughout child's life. The staff are confident that by working together to build a positive collaboration between home and school
,
we can offer quality educational experiences in thefu阻reSchool D was establishedin 鉤。4. In 1997
,
President Lin decided to establish a primary-to-middle school. In this school,
education is the foundation of socialprog扭扭and national strength
,
with the primary-to-middle school program being the basis of education. With P品sian and love for our people in mind,
School D aims to make substantial contributions to experimental curriculum and educational refonnSchool D initiated the implementation of KM in 2003 during its preparatory period. Its vision is to become a school that is characterized by its educational insights Ittranslates this vision into the creation of its curriculum. Moreover
,
it also consults the professionals,
experts,
and principals and chiefs in other schools,
and follows the five directions of“
education modernization" to construct itsCI盯lC叫urn陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 117
School E was founded in 1977. The school initiated the implementation ofKM in 2002. It is characterized by
“
geography and history teaching." In order to implement the activities of geography and history teachi月 in the co盯se standards in 1993,
the education bureau of Kaohsiung city started compiling teaching materials in these fields and established the Center of Geography and History in 1992. The center used to belong to the seminar center of social studies of City Kaohsiung Advisorycommi吐eebefore 2000
,
which was located in Primary School F in Nan Zi District. After that,
the center of local geography and historyw品 established independ叩tlySchool F was established in 1953. The school initiated the implementation ofKM in 2004. Because of its joint venture with the Department of Elementary educati凹,
National Pingtuug University of Education
,
School F is one of the public schools to have nonnal subjects associated with KM fors阻ff. Its mission is to educate all students by building self-confidence in a safe,
enthusiastic andr臼pectfi吐 enVIronment4. Case Findings I - School Aspect
In the following we provide a description of our findings and describe the main theoretical constructs and 自lated variables associated with the six schools and KM gaps. The results ofint叮viewswith these six schools are summarized in Table 2 and are used to develop a form that shows the demographic characteristics and summary of school's KM gaps in Table 3
Table 2
The Summary with the Semi-structured Interview to Principals
and Directors (Excerpted from Complete Table)
Item Comment and source Conceptuallabel Categorγ
School A
“
Sometimes,we can notensure 也econsIstencyτ'hegap oftheK瓦1plan's Gap2between 也e school goal and knowledgedesi厚1
strategy which made us feel troubled in the
desi厚ling of the KM plan." by Director 0
Counseling
“
Our school's purpose was to generate andτ'hegap oftheK孔1plan's Gap3 engender closerlinksbet九,\Teen sta虹、 toencouragelIT>lplementationknowledge to be shared more infom>ally,
P缸ticul缸 ly between the a也ninistration and
teaching. Howev間, it is a little difficult to connect a也ninistration and teaching because we can not offer an atmosphere providing a friendly and effectively environment." by Director of Counseling
‘
There were some great ideas in our schoolτ'hegap ofthe school's Gap6 proposed,which were helped by the fact 也atstaff,staff were from di叮叮entoffices in the school and we were just trγing to share 阻 much
knowledge 阻 possible 由ldbouncing off each
other. But in fact, we can not let staff share
也eir knowledge wi也 honest." by Director 0
Counseling
School B The school had established a workshop inτ'hegap oftheK孔1plan's Gap3 SCTNet (h仕p:llsctnetedu'!w),也e teacherslIT>lplementation
did血 't like it and had no willingness to take
P缸t in it." by Director of Student Affairs Office
陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 119
Table
2
(continued)Item Comment and source Conceptuallabel Category
“ Sometim自由e educational organs' policiesτ'he gap of the school's Gap4
were toopreCIpItant,由ldthey wanted to check effectiveness after
吐lequantitative data immediately. In this time
,
implementingK瓦4 吐le school's effectiveness after implementingK孔'.1 can not be measured correctly" by
Director of Student Affairs Office
“τ'he school administration and 也e teachingτ'he gap of the school's Gap6
system blamed each 0也叮 if 也e ‘K瓦1 goal' faculty
吐lat imposed by the school was not achieved Each held on to infonnation that might have been of benefit to the other because they did not trust each other. Staff had no willing to share and apply new knowledge wi也 others."
by Director of Student Affairs Office
School C “τ'he principal expressed that staff did notτ'he gap of 也eGap1 build up 吐1e broader
,
more generalist environment's perception understanding of the required to make morestrategic decisions because they were narrowly focused." by Principal
“τ'heprincipal indicated 也叫出erewas limitedτ'he gap of the sta缸'sGapS
database usability for staff in the initial stages posItIon of KM. Because it was not difficult for the
staff to find useful knowledge in its websi阻, 吐le staff was not interested in se缸·ching for knowledge over the interest."by Principal
Table 2
(continued)
Item Comment and source Conceptuallabel Categorγ
School D ''Because students' 加III凹的出e pnm旺y τ'hegap ofthe KM plan's Gap2 source to n>amtam school's operatIOn desi厚1
Sometimes we must 甘y to earn the trust 0
studen阻 'p缸'entsandmake 也embelieve inOUI
ideas on education. Maybe KM goal is not relevant to 也e school's obj郎llv間 and
difficulty ill tr由lsferring 也e necess旺y
knowledge to the KM pi由1 due to non-standardization." by Director of General Affairs
‘
The main pu中ose of our school was toτ'he gap of the school's Gap4如nish students wi也 an open mind and a effectiveness after
global v凹的n 也rough bilingual education and implementingK瓦4 也e accompanying educational activities. We
hoped to become benchmark in educational
industr弘 butwe are just a private school."by
Director of GeneralAff:扭扭
School E
‘
There is so much that we need to do toτ'hegap oftheK瓦1plan's Gap2 Improve0叮 KMactivities. Because0叮 school Desi厚1can not provide an achievable and convenient repository to store knowledge." by Principal
‘
Teachersp血iicipatedin courses to gain moreτ'hegap ofthe KM plan's Gap3 knowledge aboutK孔'.1, and learned how to uselIT>lplementationa convenient repository to store knowledge However,the schoolc血1not provide sufficient courses." by Principal
陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 121
Table
2
(continued)Item Comment and source Conceptuallabel Category
“
If teachers comprehended 也e benefit ofK孔4 τ'he gap of the school's Gap4 but could notimplement 且也eysometimes felt effectiveness after disappointed. Because they lack knowledge implementingK瓦4me阻urement systems to evaluate K瓦f
activities. "
“τ'here was not existing measurement system
available for us to evaluate the in>lprovement of
school effectiveness after implementingK孔1."
by Principal
School F
“
Alignment of the strategy with core schoolτ'he gap of 也eGapl needs and 也e schoors objectives: We need to environment's perception keep focus onwho 缸e 也emain stakeholdersBecause0叮 schoollocatesin backcoun甘扎 so
it is difficult to get enough infonnation as
C1旬 's 由ldvillage's schools." by Principal
“
Developing a system to evaluate K瓦4 τ'he gap of the school's Gap4 activities is hard for us." by Principal effectiveness afterimplementingK孔4
“
Staff's efforts can make 也e implementationτ'he gap of the sta旺'sGapS of KM smoothly. Because the environment posItIonprevented our teachers pursumg fur出自
education,their teachers lacked opportunities to share their professional knowledge and teaching philosophy wi也出e principal and directors after attending some research and study courses."
“
If a principal wanted to push an innovativestrategy 由ld implement it, but no one can
realize 也e benefits of this strategy,也e staff might ignore it."by Principal
Table
3
Demographic Characteristics and Summary of School'sKM
Gaps Location Sector Gap1 Gap2 Gap3 Gap4 Gap5 Gap6School A City Public
。
。
。
(Ling-Ya District)
School B City Public
。
。
。
( Ciau-Ihen)
School C City Public
。
。
( Hsiao-Kaug)
School D Village Private
。
。
(Da-She)
School E City Public
。
。
。
(Nau-Zih)
School F Back County Public
。
。
。
(Mei-Nong)
4.1
SchoolA
School A experienced a gap in the KM plan' s design and implementation
,
and a gap concerning the school's staff. The KM plan in this school was designed by principal and the Counseling 0伍ceo This led to two problems in the school: 1) the principal and the director of Counseling designed the plan of KM in 2005,
but sometimes they could not fully comprehend the situation of the school; 2) the staff ofoth叮 offices could not approve their ideas. Its KM plan focused on fa盯 parts: 1)
knowledge collecting; 2) knowledge applying; 3) knowledge sharing; and 4) knowledge dissemination and applying
Inknowledge sharing
,
this school had unexpected results. After teachers attended research and study courses,
they did not tend to share their knowledge with each otherAccordi月 tothe director
,
there were at least two reasons for this: 1) the school did not provide a friendly environment to encourage e血ectivesharing; 2) the staff did not share their knowledge with honesty. The director proposed to ensure consistency between the陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 123
school goal and knowledge strategy
,
establishing an atmosphere that provided a :friendly and effective sharing environment. In addition,
the school student management system in this school could not sha自 datawith the health office system or with the system to collate enrichment services for children. This also made the staff lose interest in the implementation ofKM4.2 School B
School B experi叩ceda gap in the KM planimplem叩tation,a gap in the school's effectiveness after implementing KM
,
and a gap concerning the school' s staff. Why did this school experience these gaps?Itwas because sometimes the educational organs' policies were too precipitant,
and they wanted to check the quantitative data immediately. For the perfonnance to be observed clearly,
it needed time to prepare and perfonn. The other problem was the constrncting of staff s knowledge communities Although the school had established a workshop in SCTNet1 (http://sctnet.edu.tw),
the teachers did not like it and had no willingness to take part in itThe director indicated that the perfonnance of KM activities could improve through staff's cooperation in SCTNet. Therefore
,
the director tried to encourage teachers through welfare inducements if they attended the workshop and interacted well with others. The school administration and the teaching system blamed each other if the‘
KM goal' imposed by the school was not achieved. In some departments oro伍 ces of this school
,
individuals were able to work together,
sha自 knowledge, and mutnally further their profi臼 sional development,
whereas in others they had rna自trouble in doing so. Each held on to infonnation that might have been ofbenefit to the other because they didnot 仕listeach other
1 日CTNetis a website for teachers to connect teacher professional social networks
,
itc品1 help teachers to establish educationfon間,bulletin board,
special interest group4.3 School C
School C experienced a gap in environment perception and a gap in the staff's position. The principal indicated that there was limited database usability for staff in the initial stages of KM. Because it was not difficult for the staff to find useful knowledge in its website
,
the staffwas not interested in searching for knowledge over the internet. To solve the problem,
the staff developed alternative ways to communicate their ideas with each other faster,
and to find knowledge more easilyThe principal requested the Infonnation Executive Secretary to collect infonnation after each semester. Next
,
the school developed a KM system that contained all the in宜。nnationabout the activities in each semester. All data were then stored and serviced by the provider and were accessible to secure users via an Internet browser by using appropriate passwords. Teachers could use the KM system established by the Infonnation Executive Secretary. By doing so,
they could obtain knowledge more quickly. Overcoming these gaps,
the principal indicated these innovations were useful communication tools and could help strengthen teamwork in the staff.4
.4
School D
School D experienced a gap in the KM plan design and a gap in the school' s effectiveness after implementing KM. The cause was that School D is a private school from Kaohsiung County which is not funded by the county's Educational Bureau Therefore,stud叩妞,tuition is the primaryso盯ceto maintain school's operation. Hence,
School D must earn the trust of students' parents and make them believe in its ideas on education. Through this process
,
its student numbers and popularity can increaseThe mainpu中 oseof this school was tofi江nish students with an open mind and a global vision through bilingual education and the accompanying educational activities This school promised ongoing educational refonn with multiplicity. By doing so
,
the陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 125
size of gaps 2 and 4 should be carefully handled. The director indicated his goals were diagnosing crucially and knowing what the value will be
,
learning to be a benchmark in Kaohsiung,
and interacting well with their stakeholders4.5 School E
School E experienced a gap in the KM plan design and implementation and a gap in the school's effectiveness after implementing KM. It began its KM implementation on the examination papers created by computer. Is not the difficulty in implementing KM was teachers hoped that KM can bring more convenience to them
,
not justc自atmgexammatIon pap叮s by computer
,
so they anticipated a吐叩ding 品 many research and study courses as they could. Teachers participated in courses to gain more knowledge about KM,
and learned how to use a convenient repository to store knowledge However,
the school could not providesu伍 cientcourses,
and thus gap 3 occurredIf teachers comprehended the benefit of KM but could not implement it
,
they sometimes felt disappointed. Because they lack knowledge measurement systems to evaluate KM activities,
schools and educational organs should develop a knowledge measmement system to evaluate KM activities.The principal pointed out that there had been some issues with the measur個lent systems. If the school wanted to gain full support :from the staff,
it is necessary for the principal or director to communicate to the staff the added value of implementing KM activities. However,
there was no eXIstmg measurement syst個1 available for us to evaluate the improvement of school effectiveness after implementing KM4.6 School F
School F was located in the country
,
so it was difficult to get the same amount of infonnation as in city and village schools. In this si叫ation, it experienced a gap in environment perception,
a gap in the school's effectiveness after implementing KM,
prevented their teachers pursuing further education. Therefore
,
their teachers lacked opportunities to share their professional knowledge and teaching philosophy with the principal and directors after attending research and study coursesIf a principal wanted to push an innovative strategy and implement it
,
but no-one realized the benefits of this strategy,
the staff might igno自 it. This reveals that some types of innovation cannot be achieved by individuals,
but only by a team 立Ieprincipal indicated her goals were trying to understand its orientation and finding comparisons with other schools
,
developing a system to evaluate KM activities,
and making sure the staff's efforts could translate into successful implementation ofKM5. Case Findings II - Gap Aspect
5.1 Gap1
立Ie interviewees indicated that schools usually import a substantial part of their knowledge from outside sources. Relationships with students' parents
,
communities and educational organs have considerable potential for providing knowledge Interviewees find it di伍 cult to gain a clear understanding of what knowledge is relevant for success,
and how this knowledge should be distributed across the school and its staff A concise summary of the causes for gap I from the thematic analysis of the review is brieflydescribed 晶晶llowsI) fail to realize the school' s position;
2) lack ofawa自nesson what coreknowledge 也 atthe school possesses
Based on thesefindin咎, principalsand directors need to comprehend the school's internal
,
external environments and make a SWOT analysis to successfully adopt KM by enacting proper impl目nentation strategies. Schools need to adapt to external competitive demands(i.e. statewide assessment),
andr臼pondingto a clientb品 e, such as local taxpayers who wish to see a yield on their inves阻lent, is crucial in a陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 127
competitive global education market. Following concise issues may be a good reference to eliminate gap 1
1) useful communication. Staff in the school need to have useful communication
,
so that the principals and directors can have the latest and usefulin五onnationabout the enVIronment;
2) core orientation. The school needs to unders阻nd its orientation and compare itself with other schools. The knowledge map is useful for the distribution of knowledge concerning the organization's core capability. By doing so
,
school can find its diversity and strength with others5.2 Gap2
Interviewees indicated that all a社empts to manage knowledge must start with an honest self-diagnosis. The results of this assessment can be checked by consultants
,
customers or stakeholders. The principals and directors must translate concretely their core knowledge into the KM implementation plan due to the non-standardization problem ofknowledge. To speed up access tothe 自quiredinfonnation
,
a standard code should be provided. A concise summary of the causes for gap2 is described as followsI) inability by the school to describe or recognize its core knowledgerequired 宜。r
competItIveness;
2) KM goal is not relevant to the school's objectives
,
and there is di伍culty in transferring the necessary knowledge to the KM plan due to non-standardization;3) difficulty in transferring the necessary knowledge to the KM plan
The principals and directors may be unable to recognize the core knowledge that the school needs
,
or even ifthey do,
they may not be able to gain this knowledge due to an inability to describe what they need. Inconclusion,
the level of gap2 will depend on how effectively the following activities are conductedI) self-diagnosis. In 臼阻blishing a KM plan
,
it is crucial to diagnose and understand the plan's value and how suitable the plan is for building KM for theschool
2) goal setting. The ultimate goal of KM is to create value through knowledge usage. A strong emph品 ison KM in the organization's development plan indicates the importance of well-developed strategies for establishing a program to achieve the school's overall objective
3) knowledge standardization. The effective translation of 阻cit knowledge into explicit knowledge depends on the degree to which knowledge can be made standard or routine(D自ouza, 2003)
5.3 Gap3
The intervieweesrecognized 也 at schools must create the right staff management conditions and culture essential to enabling large-scale change initiatives. To gain full support from the principals and di自ctors, it is vital for knowledge managers to communicate to them the added value and necessity of KM implem叩tationefforts. A concise summary of the primary causes for gap3 is described as follows
I) lack of awa自ness, comprehension or willingness by the staff to share their knowledge. In other words
,
we can say that the school does not offer a friendly and effectively environment for the staff to share their knowledge;2) lack of commitment to KM. If one of the staff feels that KM can not bring any benefit to them and has no willing to implement KM. Itcould lead to gap3
The results reveal that staff may not fully understand the value of the KM or are
concerned 也 at their personal value in the school might be negatively affected after sharing their knowledge. As a result they are unwilling to sha自 their knowledge Principals and directors must encourage teachers and staff to accept this new culture
Thl區,the size of gap3 in any school will determined by research and study course and sharing purpose
,
and the two following key issues should be carefully considered for bridging the gap陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 129
combination of factors
,
such as increased familiarity with technology,
technological enhancements that ease ofuse oftechnology,
and expanded interactions with others in both the private and public sector throughtechnologyσe!rides& Guin句, 2002);2) sharing purpose. The school should establishes an a加osphere providing a :friendly and effective sharing environment. Ifthere is an absence oftotal management
comml阻lent,then KM cannot be implemented successful
5
.4
Gap4
Interviewees indicated that there is limited database usability for staff in the initial stages of KM. Besides this
,
sometimes the school neglects the importance of stakeholders,
and this caused another obstacle of KM. In the internal environment of a school,
students are the most important stakeholders. In the external environment,
sluden妞, pa自n妞, communities and educational organs play important roles (Suba,
1997)
Due to the tacit and dynamic nature of knowledge
,
it is di伍白白 to measure knowledge assets with existing educational systems. Many schools fail to evaluate the results ofKM to detennine whether or not it meets expectations. Therefore,
a complete measurement system should be developed to evaluate whether the KM activities will enhance or decrease the school's effectiveness after implementation. Based on theres叫tsofthe analysis
,
three key reasons for theOCCI盯enceof gap4are 品 followsI) educationalindl區的 doesn'tprovide a benchmark for schools tole帥,
2) schools lack interactions with their stakeholders;
3) there is a failure to evaluate the res叫ts of KM to detennine whether or not it meets the expectations.Mo自over, existing educational systems are not appropriate for
me品uringknowledge assets
Several studies argue that a robust set ofme阻 cs that evaluates the value of the KM must be developedbefo自 the initial database is built for an effective knowledge repository (Tiwa凹, 2001). It can be inferred that gap4 will occ盯 ifschools either
unable to have suitable interaction with environment
,
or build a suitable knowledge repository and knowledge measurement systemI) environment interacting. School h品 essential int叮actions with their stakeholders;
2) benchmark.Learn how to become a benchmark in educationalindus仕y;
3) knowledge measurement system. A comprehensive measurement system needs to be developed in order to evaluate KM activities
5.5 Gap5
The intenriewees indicated that there was daily sharing of experiences within their group in which the staff behaved interdependently
,
and this can only be explained in tenus of group interactions. This suggests that some types of innovation and creativity cannot be achieved by individuals,
but only by a team. Furthennore,
school structures are not generally formed to suit the needs of KM. This analysis reveals the followi月concise summary to describe the reasons why gapS occurs
I) different perceptions ofKM between thes阻ffdue to difference in position
,
role,
andprofi臼 sionalknowledge;
2) the staff at different levels have distinct attitudes toward planning
,
responsibility
,
and authorityIt is easy to see that there are gaps between the perception of the staff due to differences in position
,
role,
and professional knowledge in an organization (Nonaka,
1991). Hence
,
the staff s perceptions of what type of knowledge they need will be different and will depend on their positions and roles. To reduce the probability of gap5OCCI盯ing, briefly speaking
,
we have to avoid breakdowns in teamwork and staff'ssupport
I) teamwork. In general
,
implem叩ting a KM system usually requires the combination ofrnany individuals' specialist knowledge. Ifthe school wants to achieve effective integration while knowledge 位ansfening, staff must have teamwork concept陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 131
and a cross-learning idea;
2) staff's support. Staff's efforts can make the implementation ofKM smoothly
5.6 Gap6
The interviewees indicated that the KM activities could be facilitated by cooperation and collaboration between staff. If sharing the knowledge with others would impair benefit
,
efficient sharing of knowledge is usually impossible. Principals and directors should convey simple and definite me品略目 to all teachers and staff,
demonstrating that sharing knowledge is a critical requirement in day-to-day jobs as well as for obtaining rewards. The following summarized issues may provide a good reference for eliminating gap 6
I) staff do not feel that theya扭曲couragedto share the existingknowled詐,
2) staff are not encouraged to organize communities
The power of knowledge for each staff comes from what one knows. So the knowledge workers usually do not want to share their intellectual 品 sets with each other. The interview reveals that gap6 will happen if a school cannot build a suitable knowledge communities and sharing system
,
which are described as followsI) knowledge sharing. Staff can share their knowledge without self-interest; 2) knowledge communities. The organization should establish an atmosphere providing a:friendly and effective communication channel
As candidates for
“
something" to be managed,
various components have been identified in the knowledge management gap literature. The most commonly mentioned components are as followsFirst
,
the gap between the knowledge required to e址lance the effectiveness of a school as perceived by the principals and directors,
and the knowledge actually自qm自dto enhance its effectiveness (Ndlela et aI.,2001);
Second
,
the gap between the knowledge required to enhance a school'sKM(Rubenstein-Montano et aI.,2001);
Third
,
the gap between the plan to implem叩t KM and the plan itself,
the gap between the knowledge obtained after implementing KM and the knowledge 自qm自dto enhance a school's effectiveness (Campbell et aI., 1997);
Fourth
,
the gap between the knowledge required to enhance a school's effectiveness as p叮ceived by the principals and directors and that perceived by teachers and staff(Nonaka,
1991; Paive,
2003);Finally
,
the gap between the knowledge required to enhance a school's effectiveness as perceived by staff and the knowledge actually obtained after implementing KM (Nonaka,
1991)We propose that there are six KM gaps. Those are the gaps about environment perception,the gap about KM plan design,the gap about the KM plan implementation,
the gap about the school' s effectiveness after implementing KM
,
the gap about thes阻宜'sposition and the gap about the school's staff(see Table 4) Table 4 Summary of
KM
GapsItem Cause Propositions
l.F血 lure to realize 也e school's l.Useful communication. Staff in 也e school
posItion need to have useful communication
Gap! 2.Lack of awareness on what core 2.Core orientation. The school needs to
knowledge 也eschool possesses understand its orientation and compare itsel
to other schools
1. Inability by the school to describe l.Self-diagnosis. Be crucial to diagnose and or recognize its core knowledge know what the value will be
required for competitiveness 2.Goal setting. The ultimate goal ofK瓦'.1 is to 2.Difficulty m standardizing createvalue 吐1Youghknowledge usage Gap2
knowledge 3.Knowledge stand缸dization Using 3.Difficulty 立1 tr由lsferring 吐1e infonnation technology to provide a
necessarγknowledge to the KM convenient repository to store knowledge
陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 133
Table
4
Summary ofKM
GapsItem Cause Propositions
1.I.ack of awaren帥, I.Research and study course. School provides comprehension or willingness by enough courses to teachers so 也at they can
Gap3 staff toshare 也eirknowledge learn knowledge aboutK孔4
2.Lack of commitment toK瓦4 2.Sharing purpose School establishes an atmosphere providing a friendly 由ld
effectively environment
I.Educational indus甘y does not I.Environment interacting. School has essential provide a benchmark for schools mteractlOllsWI也出 eirstakeholders
to learn 2.Benchmark I.e缸n how to become a
Gap4 2 日 chaols lack interactions with benchrr>ark in educationalindus甘y
吐leirstakeholders 3.Knowledge measurement system. Developing
3.Knowledge assets lack t缸 gets to a system to evaluate KMactiviti自
n>easure
l.Staff in the school can not l.In general, implementing a KM system communicate and work toge出自 usually requir自由e combination of m血可
well individuals' specialist knowledge. If 也e
2.The staff members at different school wants to achieve effective integration GapS
levels have distinct attitudes while knowledgetransferrin臣, staff must have teamworkconcept 由lda cross-learning idea 2.Staffs support. Staffs efforts can make the
implementation ofKM smoothly
l.Staff do not feel 也at 也可缸e I.Knowledge sharing. Staff can share 也en
encouraged to share eXIstm巨 knowledgewi吐lOUtself-interest
Gap6 knowledge 2.Knowledge communities. The org由1日前的n 2.Staff are not encouraged to should establish an atmosphere providing a
org由1日ecommunItIes friendly and e立、ectIve commUll1CatlOn
channel
The pmpose of this research was to propose a management-oriented concep叫al :framework todes叮ibethe problems that may occur in implementingKM. Our research includes theoretical and practical implications. The framework provides a fully holistic framework of the KM activities to illrrstrate the management gaps that might occ盯 when implementingKM. Furthennore
,
we collect the propositions from the principals and directors and connect these propositions with KM gaps to increase the possibilitywhen schools implement
KM
(Figure 2)ezlVIronmezltkHnItoewmlsetdmgge,
一戶otzzlr斗
knowledgeshar 血 g, research and studybenchmarl 玄,
measure>nent system knowledge commlUlitites course,shar血 gpurpose
L
(心叫')-
knowledge一代:hers 叫
knowledge effectiveness management gap knowledge management planusefulcomnnmicatio 缸,
~\jprulClphalsowalldeddglerec個"')一
teanlwork,sseelstf-ttmmdlgadε,MbZIdClzoSIwahtllegodon
gaelcore orientation faculty's support
Figure 2
KM
Gaps and School Approaches6. Conclusion
From the aspects of strategy, perception,planning and implementation, we have derived six management gaps in implem叩tingKM. After interviews with principals and directors
,
a clear pic叫re was obtained. We identified the major theoretical cons仕uctsand their relevant problems associated with these six KM gaps.Through the conclusion,
the model can be continued. The results reveal that6.1
From the Strategic AspectTo reduce gap! and gap4
,
the principals and directors should address the school's strength,weakness,opportunities,and threats,and then develop a suitable KM strategyFurth叮more, they should be equipped with information about the KM activities and
school effectiveness
6.2
From the perception aspect陳建志、最主琪婷、謝秉蓉、林清河 AnInnovative FrameworkApplied to Elementary Schools 135
identi
fY
the co自 knowledge 自quired 恥 maintain a competitive advantage. Principals,
directors
,
teachers,
and staff worktogeth叮 fora common goal,
thus,
the staffc扭曲surea successful implementation ofKM.Therefo間,a school should providesuitable 自search
andr自 ources to the sta
ff,
and use infonnation technology to provide a cony叩1個trepository to standardize and store knowledge. By doing so
,
the staff will realize 也ebenefit ofKM
,
and will the make an effort to support theimplem祖祖tionofKM6.3 From the planning aspect
The action plan should include a schedule
,
the people involved and the resources required,
although it is di伍 cult to transfer the necessary knowledge to the KM plan due to non-standardization. Members' orientation toward KM,
including the awareness of the importance and benefits of KM and infonnation technology skills for KM process,
should be completely communicated. Then,
gap2 and gap3 can be reduced Knowledge-oriented staff 品sessments can also fail if they are not linked closely to existing incentive systems. The schools should take steps to build the trust of knowledge owners by associating knowledge sharing with pay and incentives6
.4
From the Implementation Aspect
A robust set of metrics that evaluates the value of KM after implementation will need to be developed. Itis essential that the principals and di自ctorsinstill in the staff an awareness ofthe importance and benefits ofKM. Staff often fear that ifthey pass on their knowledge to others