Intra-organizational networks of practice (NOPs) confront managers with a dilemma: they must manage NOPs to reap benefits from integrating geographically dispersed knowledge, but the inherently emergent nature of NOPs implies that management control may frustrate practice-related knowledge to be...

In today's knowledge-intensive society, organisations need to be able to effectively manage the increasingly important production factor 'knowledge' in order to thrive. In this article, an instrument is presented which enables organisations to diagnose their 'state of the art' regarding...

Turbulence within an organization 's environment often creates changes in the need for information and consequently in existing information systems. Coping with these changes can be extremely complicated. Part of our research which is addressed in this paper is to describe and analyze these...

In this paper we explore the relevance of the theory of autopoiesis for understanding the evolution of information systems. We use the theory as a metaphor which highlights three themes: (1) How systems construct their own environments, (2) how the system's organization of itself and its...

The concept of social capital, or the value that can be derived from social ties created by goodwill, mutual support, shared language, common beliefs, and a sense of mutual obligation, has been applied to a number of fields, from sociology to management. It is only lately, however, that...

This paper is an explorative journey into the design and use of information systems (IS) in organizations. We argue that conventionally IS are constructed from a perspective of Certainty which result in two major problems: the problem of rigidity and the problem of structural blindness. In order...

In this paper we explore the relevance of the theory of autopoiesis for understanding the evolution of information systems. We use the theory as a metaphor which highlights three themes: (1) How systems construct their own environments, (2) how the system’s organization of itself and its...

The paper introduces an alternative perspective on organizational learning which counters various assumptions within most of the writings on organizational learning. By posing who-, how-, when-, and why-questions while reviewing the literature, four biases within the literature on organizational...

This paper contributes to the discussion on information and communication technology (ICT) for educational purposes. Research was done on the use a virtual learning environment (VLE) based on Internet technology during a practical course for economic students at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam....

Turbulence within an organization ‘s environment often creates changes in the need for information and consequently in existing information systems. Coping with these changes can be extremely complicated. Part of our research which is addressed in this paper is to describe and analyze these...