| 1. |
- Alwazae, Meshari, et al.
(author)
-
A synthesized classification system for best practices
- 2014
-
In: Vine. - 0305-5728 .- 1474-1032. ; 44:2, s. 249-266
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose – The aim of the study is to propose a classification system for best practices (BPs). The system is intended for organizations that are interested in indexing, storing and retrieving large quantities of BPs. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature survey to identify relevant articles by searching e-resource databases, including international journals and conferences related to the use of BP was conducted. A content analysis was conducted on selected articles to identify how BPs can be indexed. Findings – The authors are concerned with identifying what BP frameworks exist in literature and how BPs can be classified based on the features of these BP frameworks. Subsequently, they reviewed the identified frameworks within the literature and built a BP classification system. This classification system consists of a number of features, referred to as variables, where each variable is associated with a set of possible values. Originality/value – The proposed BP classification system is intended to provide a guideline for recognizing general characteristics for all BPs in any domain or organization to aid stakeholders in classifying BPs.
|
|
| 2. |
- Alwazae, Meshari, et al.
(author)
-
Applying a Template for Best Practice Documentation
- 2015
-
In: Procedia Computer Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-0509. ; 72, s. 252-260
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Knowledge Management has become a key instrument for creating, identifying and sharing knowledge assets in organizations. Best Practice (BP) is a useful means for organizations to improve knowledge sharing. However, low quality of BP documentations can hinder a successful implementation of BPs, since practitioners may not be able to correctly and efficiently use them, or even trust them. In this paper, a BP Document Template (BPDT) for high quality documentation is presented. The final BPDT is a result of the combination of two templates, the first one created based on interviews with knowledge management experts and the second one based on a literature review using grounded theory. The final BPDT has been applied in three real-life organizations for demonstrating its benefits, drawbacks, completeness, ease of use, and whether it also supports both the design of BPs and the evaluation of already designed BPs. The demonstration showed promising results but also some drawbacks. The identified drawbacks can be used as input for future research.
|
|
| 3. |
- Alwazae, Meshari M. S., et al.
(author)
-
An empirical investigation of how best practices can be created : A case study from Saudi Arabia
- 2012
-
In: Advances in Business-Related Scientific Research Conference (ABSRC). - 9789619291740
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper investigates the identifying of best practices in Saudi Arabia. We adopted an established theoretical framework that is used as a basis for developing questions for the study. In Saudi Arabia, there are efforts for sharing best practices that can be viewed a positive step forward. Interviews were held with selected informants at a number of large companies. The results from the interviews that analyzed and the analysis showed that organizations are not acquainted with the formal BP framework. They linked identification of BP to documented practices, to communities of knowledge, or to specific publications. We suggested that a BP team can obtain some direction toward evaluating and sharing candidate best practice. Hence, we propose that a contribution of best practices from an online network of best practices is a recommended most useful approach for supporting the collaboration between promoting the sharing of knowledge between business enterprises.
|
|
| 4. |
- Alwazae, Meshari M. S., et al.
(author)
-
Creating Best Practices in Saudi Arabia
- 2013
-
In: Advances in Business-Related Scientific Research Journal. - 1855-931X. ; 4:2, s. 113-125
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper investigates identification of best practices (BPs) in Saudi Arabia. We adopted an established theoretical framework as a basis for developing questions and conducting the study. Interviews were held with selected informants at a number of large organizations. The analysis of interview results showed that organizations are not acquainted with the formal BP framework. They linked identification of BP to documented practices, to communities of knowledge, or to specific publications. However, Saudi Arabia's attempts at sharing BPs can be viewed as a positive step forward. We suggested that a BP team is needed to obtain some direction toward evaluating and sharing BP. Our study revealed the need for having a clear working template for creation and documentation procedures of BP. Also, we suggested that a contribution from an online network of BPs is a recommended, and most useful, approach for supporting the collaboration between business enterprises in terms of sharing BP.
|
|
| 5. |
- Alwazae, Meshari M. S., et al.
(author)
-
Evaluation of a Classification System for Best Practices
- 2015
-
In: Proceedings of the 48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. - : IEEE. - 9781479973675 ; , s. 3702-3711
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The practical problem addressed in this paper is that it can be problematic to find appropriate best practices (BPs) in a large collection of BPs, covering many different domains, within an organizational database. Our goal was to propose a classification system of BP documentation to facilitate effective use and retrieval of BPs documents in such a large collection of BPs, independent of any domains. We have designed such a domain independent classification system and evaluated it with practitioners and academic experts. We found that all the BP characteristics and labeled values in the proposed classification system were recognized and applied by practitioners as well as academic experts. However, it turned out that some of the characteristics were particularly useful. These characteristics were: implementation area, level of formalization, completeness of description, Balanced Scorecard perspectives, and management process.
|
|
| 6. |
- Alwazae, Meshari M. S., et al.
(author)
-
Quality Measures for Documentation of Best Practices
- 2014
-
In: 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). - : IEEE Computer Society. - 9781479925049 ; , s. 3410-3419
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research has identified a set of factors that may impact the success of implementing a best practice (BP). One such factor is to properly document the BP. Without a high quality documentation of BPs it might be difficult to understand and implement BPs within an organization. Therefore, we propose a set of quality measures (QMs) for BPs categorized in the form of a template, aimed at supporting the quality enhancement of documented BPs. The proposed template can be applied during the design of BPs in order to support the construction of high quality documentation of BPs, but can also be applied during the evaluation of already designed BPs. A tentative template was designed based on both a literature review and our own experiences in the area of Knowledge Management. We evaluated the tentative template by presenting it to practitioners and academic experts in the area of BP. Based on their evaluation we refined the model in an iterative approach, adjusting the QMs after each practitioners’ and academic experts’ input until we reached a final template. In this paper, we present the final template of QMs, and demonstrate its feasibility by applying it to existing BPs from a real- life organization. The research methodology applied was design science research.
|
|
| 7. |
- Alwazae, Meshari M, et al.
(author)
-
Template-driven Best Practice Documentation
- 2020
-
In: Knowledge Management Research & Practice. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1477-8238 .- 1477-8246. ; 18:3, s. 348-365
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Knowledge Management has become a key instrument for identifying, creating and sharing organizational knowledge assets. An attractive means for sharing knowledge is Best Practices (BPs), which are proven as well as efficient and effective solutions to recurring problems. BPs can offer significant benefits, including improved performance, reduced re-work and cost savings. However, the implementation of BPs raises several challenges, one of which is that the low quality of BP documentation can impede the use of BPs. One way to address this challenge is by supporting designers in structuring BP documents so that they become complete, uniform and easy-to-use. This support can take the form of a BP Document Template that prescribes the structure of BP documents by defining relevant attributes for describing BPs. This paper proposes a comprehensive and practical BP Document Template for supporting the creation, use and evaluation of BP documents. The design of this template is an example of design science research including requirements elicitation, artifact development, demonstration, and evaluation. The development is based on a combination of expert interviews and a literature study using Grounded Theory, while the demonstration applies the proposed template in three real-life cases, and the evaluation is based on expert interviews. The proposed BP Document Template consolidates, integrates and extends previous work on BP documentation. It thereby offers an effective tool for BP designers, managers, and users that can support them in the design, evaluation and application of BPs.
|
|
| 8. |
- Alwazae, Meshari, 1981-
(author)
-
Template-driven Documentation of Best Practices
- 2015
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Knowledge Management has become a key instrument for identifying, creating and sharing organizational knowledge assets. An attractive means for sharing knowledge is Best Practices (BPs), which are proven as well as efficient and effective solutions to recurring problems. BPs can offer significant benefits, including improved performance, reduced re-work and cost savings. However, it is challenging to share and use BP Documents (BPDs) in organizations, which is the overall problem addressed in this thesis. More precisely, the thesis focuses on two sub-problems: 1) The difficulty of finding and selecting appropriate BPs in large collections of BPs impedes the use of BPs, and 2) The low quality of BPDs impedes the use of BPs. Related to these problems, the thesis addresses two sub-goals. The first one is to design a BP Annotation Template for supporting the identification and selection of BPs in BP repositories. The template can be used for organizing and indexing the contents of BPDs independent of domain. The second sub-goal is to design a BP Document Template for supporting the creation, use and evaluation of BP documentation. The BP Document Template offers a structure for describing BPs in a detailed and systematic way. The research methodology applied is design science, which is the scientific study and creation of artifacts as they are developed and used by people with the goal of solving practical problems. The first artifact, the BP Annotation Template, has been designed and developed based on a literature study and evaluated using expert interviews. The second artifact, the BP Document Template, has been designed and developed based on a literature study using grounded theory as well as on interviews with KM experts. The BP Document Template has been evaluated using expert interviews and demonstrated by being applied in three real-life cases. By basing the two artifacts on literature studies, the two artifacts consolidate, integrate and extend previous work on BP documentation. The evaluations indicate that the BP Annotation Template provides a strong foundation for identifying and selecting BPs, independent of domain, and that the BP Document Template can support the structuring of BP documents so that they become complete, uniform and easy-to-use. An identified drawback of the two artifacts is the need for extensive resources for implementing and applying them since they may be complex and time-consuming to use. The artifacts are expected to support BP designers as well as BP managers and BP users.
|
|
| 9. |
- Alwazae, Meshari, et al.
(author)
-
Verifying the Usefulness of a Classification System of Best Practices
- 2013
-
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Information Retrieval and the International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Sharing. - : SciTePress. - 9789898565754 ; , s. 405-412
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Transfer of best practices (BPs) within an organization can significantly enhance knowledge transfer. However, in order to manage a large number of BPs within an organization, there need to be some structure for how to classify the BPs. In this paper, we present a best practice (BP) system for classifying BPs and evaluate how easy the system is to use for classifying best practices. The research approach applied was design science, which is characterized by designing an artifact in this case a BP classification system, and evaluating it. The evaluation was carried out by asking Master’s students to collect two BPs from organizations and subsequently having them classify the BPs according to the BP classification system. They were also asked to motivate their choices during their act of classification. The results of the evaluation are promising: the BP system could be used for classifying BPs since students utilized all possible values of the BP system during the act of classification. Also, it was easy for the students to justify their classifications, which might be interpreted as an ease of using the BP classification system.
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
