collaborative work among professionals with a
plurality of backgrounds and a high level of
knowledge acquisition and development.
3.3 Knowledge Development and
Innovation
Development, sharing and exploitation of knowledge
are processes strongly related. Knowledge
development is associated with innovation, as the
creation of new knowledge has the potential to propel
the organization into new venues. While the
development of knowledge or of new ideas can be
done individually, more and more frequently this
process is undertaken in groups (Carrier & Gélinas,
2011; Fisher & Amabile, 2008). Knowledge sharing
is then a process that influences knowledge
development. Among other reasons, knowers might
share developed knowledge in order to validate this
knowledge (Mokyr, 2000), a process that also occurs
with knowledge acquired by an individual outside the
organization. Knowledge validation is necessary for
the subsequent application of this knowledge. Once
the knowledge has been embedded in processes,
services or products, it can be said to be exploited. In
the case of the evaluation of technological solutions
involving Artificial intelligence, knowledge
surrounding artificial intelligence, technology
evaluation and relating themes must be sought outside
the organization or developed internally and then
validated. These processes might occur before or
during the process of design of an actual technology
evaluation approach or tool.
3.3.1 Supporting Knowledge Acquisition
Knowledge from outside the organization can be
acquired through a structured organizational
initiative, but it can also enter the organization
through an employee that acquired that knowledge on
their own (Shoham & Hasgall, 2005). This employee
may act as a sponsor of this knowledge and advocate
its integration into the organizational knowledge.
There are many initiatives that can support
knowledge acquisition. Direct support can include
providing access to academic resources or training
and allowing employees time to explore those
resources. The knowledge acquisition process can
also be supported indirectly through the
organizational endorsement of the whole knowledge
management cycle, particularly development, sharing
and exploitation stages. If employees are allowed and
encouraged to validate knowledge externally
acquired, they will feel also encouraged to seek future
acquisition of knowledge.
One important element when validating
knowledge that was acquired outside the organization
is to acknowledge its provenance. Provenance holds
a symbolic weight that might be useful when
advocating for the acquired knowledge. This
symbolic weight might indicate, among other aspects,
maturity of scholarship, interdisciplinary points of
view, importance of the subject or the practical
potential of the knowledge in question. It is therefore
interesting to include provenance in knowledge
management tools designed to support the validation
of acquired knowledge.
3.3.2 Supporting Knowledge Development
Knowledge developed inside the organization might
combine acquired knowledge with previously
internally developed knowledge. Therefore,
knowledge management tools supporting knowledge
development should include the elaboration of the
new idea or statement and the possibility of
mentioning the provenance of both externally
acquired and internally developed knowledge.
3.3.3 Supporting Knowledge Application
Once a particular knowledge claim has been validated
(McElroy, 2011), it is then time to validate the
application of this same knowledge claim. Statements
explaining the application of knowledge tend to be
prescriptive and respect practical constraints. They
are therefore different in nature from the statements
describing the knowledge at their origins, which can
be more abstract or general.
In the design of an evaluation tool, the
presentation of the knowledge acquisition or
development statement beside the knowledge
application statement allows the reader to understand
the reasoning behind the application statement and
imply the organizational constraints that were
considered along with the knowledge acquired or
developed. It is the knowledge about knowledge, or
metaknowledge, helping the understanding of the
knowledge itself.
The promotion of the understanding of the design
process, beyond the end result, is one of the most
important elements in supporting the creation of
evaluation approaches and tools of technological
solutions involving artificial intelligence.
As the technology evolves and more of its impacts
and possible mitigation solutions are known, it is
important to facilitate the identification of which
areas of the evaluation tool are less current or