CLOUD Groupware - KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

CLOUD Groupware - KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

The concept of cloud became popular with the deployment of cloud computing. This reference is based on memory usage, storage and applications in a state outside organizations, and allow sharing and interconnection through the Internet universe.

Instead of using its own structure, with management and control of the server, locally, the organization chooses to put into external server, with access via the Internet. Therefore access by individuals from their organization can be held anywhere in the world and at any time of day or night, no longer depends on the organization to provide information.

The use of the word cloud means only that the concept and all its equipment, systems and applications are in another place, making an apology for the cloud that moves anywhere.

The term Groupware was created in the technological means and group work. The idea of ​​multiple people working on a particular subject with the help of information and communication equipment helping to connect these various people.

With the advent of computers, software and hardware words were introduced to explain the mechanics of the invisible parts of computers and programming, logic, production of communication and information solutions. Later the floor Peopleware was created to give a name to the group of people working with computers. Peopleware of groupware, was another step in the concepts that now requires a group of people connected by networks of information and communication and work together toward a common goal.

Before understanding the concept of CLOUD Groupware is necessary to explain how organizations structure and manage their assets. Within organizations there are formal groups called DEPARTMENTS. These departments are created as needed to follow the flow of information and communication. There are several sections and departments within organizations. Each has its duties with respect to the movement of processes, procedures, people, products, supplies, and services.

But beyond these formal groups within organizations, there are the so-called informal groups that modern business management calls communities of practice. Communities of practice are groups of people who come together around a common goal or interest. Among other tasks seeking to improve what they do, looking for solutions to problems and interacting with each other in promoting synergy in the organization.

This concept was introduced when he studied the social capital of organizations. Communities of practice have a strong influence on the internal networks of social relations promoting the acquisition of knowledge.

Among its features can be highlighted: the members are accepted in these communities have identical affinity or knowledge of some process. In general, communities are not official and informal exercise their fields. With strong appeal to the interactivity and collaboration, communities of practice in general seek to address the problems difficult to solve for formal groups.

The informal groups, or communities of practice can have members from several other communities, but in general its members participate in one or two communities. How are unofficial groups have no fixed structures and are highly volatile, changing with relative frequency of command or leadership genuinely constituted. The role of informal groups is now considered by large organizations as being of paramount importance, and studies are being conducted to gain a better diagnosis and its contribution to the success or failure of the administrative management.

According to theories of knowledge creation in organizations through the studies of Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi with respect to tacit knowledge, and work of Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak, in relation to explicit knowledge, knowledge is perceived through the interactions which occur between individuals. These meetings the communication of individuals is basically the exchange of tacit knowledge that each one of us experiences behind and past experiences at other times. These exchanges are born individual desires translated into ideas that communities of practice carefully observe, catalog and bring to the community meetings to be debated and studied.

After that, now transformed these desires and ideas are placed in structured formats didactic teaching, to become in courses, workshops, seminars for all individuals in the organization. These formal meetings are called explicit knowledge because individuals learn a concept or formal guidance.

Again individuals question the new information, internalize and reconstruct tacit knowledge. By getting together, individuals discuss again the new opinions and new ideas that will be formalized once again discussed by communities of practice that turn into new explicit knowledge platforms.

It is this spiral of knowledge understood by Oriental authors, which arises IDMBaC matrix. In this matrix explains well how is the knowledge within organizations. In general, individuals exchange information through learning spaces where individuals exchange these experiences and learn the concepts available. This course follows a method called SECI (socialization, externalization, combination and internalization) when the information exchanged by individuals reaching groups of formal organization, so they are discussed by the channel's structural organization and placed in resource availability through becoming known to explicit knowledge.

The creation of knowledge can then be viewed in the context that is enabling the set of favorable conditions that the organization created to enhance the learning and therefore the culture as a whole.

But for that exchange may exist between individuals, organizations around the world, first in Eastern countries, and then in the West, they found it necessary to create spaces that allow business people to exchange experiences and above all learn from each other. Thus, the formation of an environment for knowledge creation. Normally, all the environments of the organization are conducive exchanges. But in some environments the changes are made with greater vigor and purpose: living rooms, games room, entertainment, and others.

The Western companies understand the use and importance of (Ba), and created one after another, corporate universities, a place where they are discussed and disseminated with great speed to information and knowledge.

However the creation of knowledge is a long process that can not be stopped, and involves changing the culture of the organization and not only of technological tools, or places (Ba) to enable these actions. The communities of practice by informal groups are formed, have no direct mechanisms for decision making, weakening the contributions often worked. Arises, therefore, the figure in organizing the Times reported consisting of individuals from all levels of the organization with power to act in all segments. In these times that this author calls CLOUD Groupware.

CONCEPT OF CLOUD Groupware

CLOUD GROPUWARE is a group of individuals called Times reported, because they are not legally in the organizational structure, but appears to work with communities of practice putting them on an official channel of command, services, responsibilities, legal requirements, faster processes , search skills, abilities and attitudes, corporate education, organizational learning and investment in the capital of the organization. I use this term for the first time in March 2011, in a speech to local businessmen in the South.

Then, searching the Internet did not find any incidence that would clarify the term. But in general, is to put in the cloud of the organization, individuals with power for decision making, streamlining and substantially altering the speed at which the company is facing the challenges flexes.

Its existence is essential to not allow informal groups constitute a disorderly fashion, natural, but that may have expanded their spaces, available resources and demands met. It is also of paramount importance that the Times reported that the groups do not let it end up in informal organizations, always encouraging them to find space to develop. For the Times reported that invest in areas of knowledge creation through prerogatives as art spaces, sport, leisure, preoccupation with physical incentives for formal education, libraries containing the literature of the organization, development of intellectual works for participation in fairs and Congresses.

Where can we observe the existence of Times reported, that they can develop extremely relevant activities:
 Conflict in the information system and process flow in the interconnections between the formal and informal structures;
 Types of formal and informal networks - networks of trust and networks;
 departmentalization of information - seeking greater agility to the flow of information, data, production, customer contacts, contacts with suppliers;
 Vision integrated system, adherence to quality principles and norms;

Organizations in general are effective in dealing with problems that are provided by prepared for these events. But the problems are not covered by the Times reported are his best performance because they are adaptive in nature and with extreme speed and efficiency can view all of the problems to the particular, seeking to solve in the shortest possible time and with the desired efficiency, thanks to qualities found in the Times reported.

SECI MODEL CLOUD & Groupware

The Spiral of Knowledge can be understood and leveraged by the Times reported, four times in the model, namely:
SOCIALIZATION - The creation of the Times reports is a challenging, interdisciplinary, and its elements have a high level of articulation and propagation in decision-making. As components are made up of individuals who perform their natural functions, but are aware that the formation of informal groups and in some cases, are part of these informal groups.

The choices of individuals to belong to the framework of the Times reported are naturally leaders, interdisciplinary training, strong commitment to teamwork, knowledge of the organization, skills, attitudes and skills considered essential to the exercise of the work to be performed.

Organizations that do not have Times reported tend to depend on the speed of the informal groups to provide information through the channels of the organizational structure that, in general, are slower, cumbersome and sometimes ineffective. With stocks of the Times reported, its elements are aware of socialization in the organization realizes the growth areas and creation of knowledge and develop projects for reforestation in these areas.

It has the sensitivity to capture human qualities in the structure and prepare individuals to assume the highest positions, placing them in permanent study of corporate education, organizational learning and individual academic training. The elements of the Times reported observe, predict, advocates, act, under full although other duties in the organization.

EXETERNALIZATION - At a time when community groups receive information from individuals, communities of practice are responsible to work with information in such a way that might be useful to the organization. These actions will contribute to the emergence of new explicit knowledge.

With the participation of the Times reported, communities of practice are greater synergy and speed in decision-making from the behaviors and actions of formal groups. Organizational learning starts at exactly the time when the communities of practice of individuals receiving the information and leads to the Times reported proposals to build new explicit knowledge.

The primary function of the Times reported is the reorganization of the corporate culture and that its elements are directed in all their actions and participation. Outsource the individuals expose their concerns with their levels of learning and to diagnose the degree of interference that the Times reported should act.

COMBINATION - The synergy promoted by outsourcing will contribute to the Times reported meanings develop and manage explicit knowledge to the rest of the organization.

What will differentiate the organization that owns Times reported those who do not have is the speed with which information flows in informal ways and come to the points for decision-making construction of new explicit knowledge. The more such meetings are promoted and intensified, the greater the chances of establishing links with community groups with more inside information about the real needs of individuals in organizations. Learning organizations are those who can listen to these needs and transform them into explicit knowledge so that the whole organization to be acculturated more smoothly as possible.

INTERNALISATION - The process that resets the tacit knowledge in people again. This process takes place within individuals who have learning and actions that now need to internalize these new cultures and new tissue form of tacit knowledge, thus promoting new interaction of individuals in the middle.

The SECI model, with the Internalization, the process returns to the beginning when people were exchanging experiences, that is, tacit knowledge, and building needs and desires. Again community groups take this information to the communities of practice and these in turn translate to the Times reported that transform this knowledge into new tacit knowledge explicit, rearranging and acculturating the organization again. We call this, therefore, learning organizations.