SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY FACULTY OF BUSINESS & LAW SEMESTER 1, 2023
INF30015 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT & ANALYTICS INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH CASE REPORT WORD LIMIT: 2500 WORDS 1. AIM
The aim of this assignment is to develop your information seeking, organisation and analysis skills and is aligned to learning objectives 1-3 for this unit of study:
1. Apply coherent and advanced knowledge of the concepts of knowledge and knowledge management, as well as their roles and applications in the contemporary organisational context.
2. Analyse the role of big data and analytics in organisational knowledge management in relationship to decision making.
3. Apply problem solving, design and decision-making methodologies to identify and provide innovative solutions to problems associated with organisational learning with intellectual independence.
The assignment is divided into two parts as below.
Canvas submission dates:
Part 1: Research proposal (Due Friday 24 March 2023, 11:59pm)
Part 2: Research report (Due Sunday 16 April 2023, 11.59pm.)
Marks: 40% of total Unit of Study marks
Part 1: Proposal (10%)
Part 2: Research Essay (report) (30%)
You are to take on the role of being the AUS analyst-researcher who has been assigned this task. Your report must address AUS business directly with context specific recommendations.
CASE STUDY: AUSTRALASIAN AUDIT SERVICES (AUS)
AUS is a small to medium sized consultancy with 120 specialists in IT audit advisory services working across the Australian and New Zealand seaboard. The company provides advisory services in, information systems audit and the mapping of information assets held by organisations in order to support their IT governance and security management. AUS assists organisations in managing their legal compliance obligations and risk management activities associated with the management of corporate information. AUS services are designed to support their client’s strategic readiness through the effective and productive use of information. AUS has been in operation for 15 years. It has grown slowly and concentrated on building up a constant client base. In recent years it has extended beyond its initial market in Australia and New Zealand and now has small offices in Singapore (12 Consultants and support staff) and Djakarta (14 Consultants and support staff). Counting all support staff, the company has just over 200 personnel including 120 Consultants. In addition to Singapore and Indonesia, it has offices in all Australian capital cities and in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. Head Office is in Melbourne.
AUS Consultants are highly trained, result oriented information management (IT & business) professionals brought together to build the unique market position AUS holds. The company relies on its team being self-motivated knowledge workers who will go that ‘extra mile’ in developing their expertise. They are typically young urban professions, the average consultant’s age is currently 34, the youngest is 25, the senior partner is 58. There are more men than women in the company, but the ratio is almost 50:50, of 120 Consultants 62 are men and 58 women.
Management of information resources within AUS organisation is valued highly but unfortunately this consultancy is a classic example of - the cobbler’s children having no shoes! knowledge sharing has remained mostly uncoordinated and informal as this outfit has grown; staff share internal directories for all forms and documents that they need access to and keep most of the material they need to work with on their own desktop computers and laptops. There is an internal email listserv where emails can be posted on different subjects. Staff can also distribute email directly, and a weekly Executive briefing newsletter is also distributed by email. Most knowledge exchange around the organisation happens in person, sometimes facilitated by training seminars, virtual meetings are held in MS Teams with the M365 suite fitting most of AUS’s technology needs. But unfortunately, all of this has developed informally inside a Business IT focussed organisation that just has very little or no sense about Knowledge Management and what it offers. As the company has grown Consultants in regional offices seem happiest just to work with their own information resources without any real interaction with others at all. However, the knowledge required by AUS Consultants changes rapidly and the way things are could be improved.
Following a recent executive planning day, AUS has decided to green light funding for an analystresearcher to undertake research into different aspects of state-of-the-art KM and advise on options for capturing and sharing knowledge at AUS.
You are to take on the role of being the AUS analyst-researcher who has been assigned this task.
2. YOUR RESEARCH TOPIC
You are required to complete a research report (essay format) on a topic related to knowledge management and/or knowledge management and KM strategies for capturing and sharing knowledge at AUS. In undertaking the assignment, you should aim to prepare your paper as though you are undertaking business research for AUS and prepare a report on state-of-the-art (what it is and what it is all about) for your chosen topic area with the objective of describing background, key purposes, issues, and recommendations for your chosen KM approach to an executive body. Your report must address AUS business directly with context specific recommendations.
A choice of 5 topics is available:
1. Enterprise Social Networks: Prepare a brief review of the current ‘state of the art’ for this approach to capturing and sharing knowledge in organisations.
2. Knowledge Bases: Prepare a brief review of the current ‘state of the art’ for this approach to capturing and sharing knowledge in organisations.
3. Communities of Practice: Prepare a brief review of the current ‘state of the art’ for this approach to capturing and sharing knowledge in organisations.
4. Business Intelligence: Prepare a brief review of the current ‘state of the art’ for this approach to capturing and sharing knowledge in organisations.
5. Big data, and emerging trends and technologies: choose one of the following sub-topics and prepare a review of the state of the art: (i) AI and KM (ii) Big data analytics and KM.
PART 1: PROPOSAL: INFORMATION SEEKING, SELECTION AND ORGANISATION Marks allocated: 10 of 40 marks.
1. Carry out a literature search and identify key journal papers, industry white papers and web sites relevant to your chosen topic for AUS.
2. Review the articles you find and select those most appropriate to your topic area. Your research proposal must identify at least three journal articles (and may include up to 5 information resources including additional journal articles).
3. Flag the most important article you have located at the time of writing the proposal in your submission. Briefly explain its importance
Your proposal must be limited to between 400-600 words and include the following:
1. Introduction: provide a brief justifying statement for your research proposal topic, describing the conceptual direction of the topic area you develop and why you think it is important for AUS – note that there is an expectation that you will develop the direction of your research within the encompassing topic-theme - and provide an outline of the main aim and key objective that you intend to pursue in this research topic area
2. Identification of the sources you have searched, the search terms you used and the criteria you used to select/reject the 3 key articles. A brief statement of one or two sentences on the value of your starting articles
Consultation and guidance will be provided following assessment of your student proposal.
PART 2: INFORMATION ANALYSIS, SYNTHESIS AND INFORMATION REPORT (ESSAY) Marks allocated: 30 of 40 marks.
In this part of the assignment, you will be involved in analysing, synthesising, and extending on the articles and papers you have gathered in Part 1 to complete your research report for AUS. Prepare the report for executive management outlining the background, key concepts, issues and challenges associated with the topic and include any recommendations you might make.
1. Undertake a critical review of the literature gathered in Part 1 and prepare a report that provides an overview of your topic. Identify: the background, key issues, debates, challenges & recommendations for the topic. Think about including examples, diagrams, tables to help illustrate your points.
2. Present the review in the form of a management report (limit to 1800- 2000 words in length). The report should be well-written and presented in a format appropriate to the target audience.
Marks will be awarded for:
o relevance to AUS and connection with AUS scenario.
o quality of the initial proposal - including the depth, breadth and currency of the publications selected.
o clear definition/s of, and introduction to the topic area.
o explanation of the key issues and challenges associated with the topic.
o appropriateness of the information presented and presentation of the key issues and findings.
Your work is expected to conform to appropriate standards for the presentation of a research essay: o A suitable referencing style (e.g., Harvard referencing systems, consult the University Library Web site for style guides and referencing standards).
o A high quality and standard for professional presentation of the work. o Your proposal and essay will be submitted online in CANVAS. o Generative AI tools including chatGPT may not be used to prepare your research report.
Use of Generative AI o For this assignment the use of ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools is not permitted.
o The use of ChatGPT and similar tools in INF20031 is restricted and under the guidance of the Unit Convenor and teaching staff. If you have any questions about this, please speak to Paul. o Please note that, the use of ChatGPT and similar generative AI tools for academic advantage without the support of the Unit Convenor or teaching staff will likely constitute a breach of academic misconduct regulations. Significant sanctions may be applied as a result, including unit failure or exclusion from the university.
An assignment rubric will be published soon.