Knowledge work continuously seeks new and more productive ways of organizing. The dynamics of modern business environment possess challenges that both necessitate and enable new ways of working.
Organizations carry out different sociotechnical initiatives in the areas of human resources management (personnel performing the task), information technology (the tools used for the task) and ways of doing the work (working environment). Novi wants want to promote knowledge management as a holistic and strategic management approach – it should not be treated as a separate management function. The success in knowledge work relies in organizations ability to create a knowledge strategy and culture that touch and undertake each knowledge worker.
Novi participates in developing knowledge work performance in several ways. Our theoretical understanding, the derived conceptualizations and recognition of situational value drivers form a starting point for our research projects. From these we typically proceed to individuals’ goals and motivational factors. These lay in a center of human perspective of knowledge management. With the approaches like intellectual capital management and organizational learning we aim to capture the essence of human capital. This is an increasingly important aspect to be taken into account in a situation where knowledge workers are incresingly suffering with their increasing work load and wellbeing at work.
Technology influences knowledge work in many ways. Design of information or enterprise architectures are in an essential role in streamlining organizations’ knowledge processes. These processes often dictate how efficiently knowledge workers are able to conduct their tasks. Usability issues and the ability to share and transfer information with different technological solutions are crucial success factors of knowledge work. New ways of working in a form of, for example, social media might provide those groundbreaking innovations that help to ease work load and to find more productive ways of organizing.
Novi aims to develop managerially relevant solutions in different areas of business performance. By combining our expertise in different approaches of knowledge management we are supporting individual knowledge workers as well as managers who are struggling, for example, with the following questions:
- How to motivate knowledge workers to perform better?
- How to capture the full potential of individuals’ knowledge resources?
- How to manage highly qualified and independent professionals in a manner that they contribute to organizational targets?
- How to capture, manage, and distribute information and knowledge within the organization?