Discussion Questions for the Case Studies

The case studies presented offer several perspectives from which to better understand knowledge management in higher education. The questions provided below may be used with any of the case studies, or the chapters contained in this book. When asking students to answer the questions, it may be helpful for them to consider similar issues in their own institutions.

Wiring Watkins University

This case describes the “wiring” of Watkins University (a fictional name for a real Midwestern university) between 1997 and 2003 as the university responded to competitive pressures in the higher education market. After describing the University and the competitive challenges it faced, the case takes the student into a strategy session between the organization’s CFO, CTO and Provost as they review progress on four key initiatives: Web based teaching, student laptop program, a Web based ERP implementation and a proposed “one card” system. Questions are raised as to acceptance of the technology, the impact of these initiatives on the organization’s strategic posture and competitiveness, IT budget planning, and future steps for the organization to take.

Enterprise System Development in Higher Education

“One system for everyone” has been an ideal goal for information technology (IT) management in many large organizations, and the deployment of such systems has been a major trend in corporate world under the name of enterprise systems (ES) (Brown & Vessey, 2003; Davenport, 2000; Markus, Petrie, & Axline, 2000). Benefits from ES use are claimed to be significant and multidimensional, ranging from operational improvements through decision-making enhancement to support for strategic goals (Shang & Seddon, 2002). However, studies (Hanseth & Braa, 2001; Rao, 2000; Robey, Ross, & Boudreau, 2002) of the deployment of ES in private sector organizations show that the ideal is difficult to accomplish. This chapter reports a case in which a major university system in the U.S. attempted to develop an in-house enterprise system. The system is currently used by more than 4,000 individual users in almost 20 universities and state agencies. This case offers a historical analysis of the design, implementation and use of the system from its inception in the mid 1980s to the present. This case indicates that ES design and implementation in higher education are quite challenging and complex due to unique factors in the public sector—including state mandates/requirements, IT leadership/resources, value systems, and decentralized organizational structure among other things—that must be taken into account in planning, designing and implementing ES (Ernst, Katz, & Sack, 1994; Lerner, 1999; McCredie, 2000). This case highlights (1) the challenges and issues in the rationale behind “one system for everyone” and (2) some differences as well as similarities in IT management between the private and public sectors. It offers some unique opportunities to discuss issues, challenges and potential solutions for the deployment of ES in the public arena, particularly in higher education.

Ontologies in Higher Education

This chapter provides an introduction to the use of ontologies and taxonomies in higher education. After a brief introduction to the nature of ontology, examples of ontology in higher education are reviewed. Issues in creating taxonomies, including their incorporation into search engines and concept maps, are then discussed. Software solutions for developing and utilizing taxonomies are presented next, along with problems and issues for implementation. Finally, future trends in the development of KM strategies for ontology are discussed.

Challenges of Complex Information Technology Projects

Although painstaking planning usually precedes all large IT development efforts, 80% of new systems are delivered late (if ever) and over budget, frequently with functionality falling short of contract. This case study provides a detailed account of an ill-fated initiative to centrally plan and procure, with the aim to homogenize requirements, an integrated applications suite for a number of British higher education institutions. It is argued that because systems are so deeply embedded in operations and organization and, as you cannot possibly foresee and therefore plan for environmental discontinuities, high-risk, ‘big-bang’ approaches to information systems planning and development must be avoided. In this context the case illustrates the level of complexity that unpredictable change can bring to an information technology project that aims to establish the ‘organizationally generic’ and the destabilizing effects it has on the network of the project’s stakeholders.

The Politcal Economy of Knowledge Management in Higher Education

In this chapter, I discuss the economic and political implications of knowledge management in higher education. First, I examine the linkages between KM and capitalism, with the help of theoretical frameworks that connect increasing managerialism in higher education with the promises of profit-making in the New (Knowledge) Economy. Next, I discuss the politics of information and the ways in which knowledge is stratified in postsecondary institutions. Third, the social dynamics of information and communications technologies (ICT) are explored in the context of higher education institutions. These perspectives provide a counter-balance to the decidedly functionalist views of much of the knowledge managementliterature. The intent of the chapter is to provide a foundation for the rest of the volume and the more specific studies of KM in higher education to follow.

A Case of an IT-Enabled Organizational Change Intervention

This case study documents an organizational change intervention concerning the implementation of a novel information technology at a university-owned research foundation (URF). It evidences the disparate expectations and reactions by key actors toward the change event, marking a mismatch between a new paradigm required by the new technology and existing information technology practices. Drawing upon change management and management information systems (MIS) literature, we discuss the perceived change management issues hindering the change process at URF. Our discussion is tempered by a theoretical lens that attempts to integrate the literature bases drawn upon in this research. In particular, resistance from in-house IT specialists was observed as the strongest force obstructing the novel IT implementation. This study offers a forum to stimulate both researchers and practitioners to rethink the necessary elements required to enact change, especially with respect to novel IT implementations.

Toward Technological Bload and Academic Technocracy

While the strategic goals of Knowledge Management might seem new to the academy, higher education has been central to the growing Knowledge Economy and the Information Age for some time. As electronic communications and information systems have been widely adopted in colleges and universities, little scholarship has reflected upon the organizational and social changes that these technologies bring to the academic workplace. This chapter provides the theoretical groundworkfor understanding three key transformations in higher education: the digital restructuring of academic labor; the use of technology as basis for efficiency arguments; and the unintended consequences of IT accretion, which we call “technological bloat.” As a consequence of these transformations, a new organizational structure may be emerging in higher education.

Policy Processes for Technological Change

Universities, among the oldest social institutions, are facing enormous pressures to change. There have always been debates about the university, its purpose, its pedagogical program, and its relationship to other social and political structures. Today, these debates have been given renewed vigor and urgency by the availability of advanced information and communication technologies for teaching and learning. These include computers and computer networks, along with the software and telecommunications networks that link them together. When these technologies are used to connect learners at a distance, they are called “telelearning technologies.” When referring to their use more generally, to include local as well as remote teaching innovations, they are sometimes called “technology mediated learning” (TML). Despite much media attention and recent academic criticism, pressures on universities are facilitated, but not caused, by telelearning technologies. Change in universities is not simply a result of forces acting upon universities, but is the result of a complex interaction of internal and external drivers. The use of telelearning technologies intersects with a host of social, political, and economic factors currently influencing university reform. Technology, in this context, has become the catalyst for change, reacting with other elements in a system to spark a reaction and a change in form and structure. This chapter examines policy processes for the introduction of technology-mediated learning at universities and colleges. It is based on the results of a two-year research project to investigate policy issues that arise with the implementation of telelearning technology in universities and colleges. The focus was on Canadian institutions of higher learning, but the issues raised are common to higher educational institutions in other countries. The study scanned a large number of institutions, reviewed documents, and interviewed key actors including government and institutional administrators, faculty, and students, to discover the range of issues raised by the implementation of telelearning technologies. This chapter discusses these issues and findings. CASE Questions • What policies or processes are in place to guide change in colleges and universities? Who knows about these policies and participates in them? • What are the forces behind technological change in higher education organizations? Are they external or internal? • Can technology be used as a tool for achieving meaningful and positive change or is it an end to itself? • In what ways can technology be used to increase access to education?

Revealing Unseen Organizations in Higher Education

Structuration theory, which examines the relationship between local and institutional structures, and organizational theory specific to the higher education setting, are utilized to formulate an analytical framework appropriate for “reading” educational technologies as social phenomena. Wanda Orlikowski’s (2000) technology-in-use model, (a contemporary revision of Poole and DeSanctis’ [1990] adaptive structuration model) and Burton Clark’s (1984) taxonomy of higher education organization are applied as the foundation for the inquiry.