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Mapping knowledge networks for organizational re-design in a rehabilitation clinic

Lorella Cannavacciuolo (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy)
Luca Iandoli (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy)
Cristina Ponsiglione (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy)
Virginia Maracine (Department of Economic Informatics and Cybernetics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania)
Emil Scarlat (Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Bucuresti, Romania)
Adriana Sarah Nica (Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania)

Business Process Management Journal

ISSN: 1463-7154

Article publication date: 3 April 2017

476

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a social network approach for identification of micro-organizational re-design interventions to make more efficient and fluid the knowledge flow in a rehabilitation multidisciplinary team. The structural information of different kinds of knowledge networks within a team is augmented with additional analyses aimed at collecting information about the ways through which participants use knowledge, the motivation behind knowledge exchange, and the non-human knowledge sources used by subjects to perform their work. This paperwork was supported by CNCSIS – UEFISCDI, project number PNII – IDEI 810/2008.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors propose a definition of knowledge network including human and non-human knowledge source (documents and knowledge repositories) as it is more adequate for the analysis of knowledge flows in multidisciplary medical teams. The mapping and analysis of the network are carried out through: elicitation of knowledge flows between people within and outside the team through a structured questionnaire; mapping of the knowledge flows toward non-human knowledge sources; and identification of critical aspects and proposal of re-engineering interventions to make knowledge flow more efficient and effective.

Findings

The analysis of the critical aspects emerged in the field study identifies a number of opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge sharing through the re-design of the team network. The re-design interventions concern three main features of knowledge network: “knowledge centralization,” “Over-reliance on External experts,” “Unshared knowledge tools and sources.”

Originality/value

The originality of the work resides in applying social network analysis (SNA) for healthcare management settings, proving evidence and guidelines to show how healthcare organizations can benefit from the adoption of SNA-based approaches.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paperwork was supported by CNCSIS – UEFISCDI, project number PNII – IDEI 810/2008.

Citation

Cannavacciuolo, L., Iandoli, L., Ponsiglione, C., Maracine, V., Scarlat, E. and Nica, A.S. (2017), "Mapping knowledge networks for organizational re-design in a rehabilitation clinic", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 329-348. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-01-2016-0028

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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