About Fa

I graduated from the University of Otago MBA Programme in 2008 and I am currently a PhD candidate in the Management department conducting research on knowledge sharing in virtual environments.  I am eager to discuss research on related topics, so if you would like to contact me, please see my details below.

Cheers,
Fa

Fa Martin-Niemi
University of Otago
School of Business, Department of Management
Dunedin New Zealand

phone: +64 (0)3 479 8126 (Commerce 8.15 – postgraduate shared office)
mobile: +64 (0)27 452 2693
email: fa.niemi@otago.ac.nz

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Publications

Martin-Niemi, F., & Greatbanks, R. (forthcoming). The Ba of blogs: Enabling conditions for knowledge conversion in blog communities. Vine.

This paper analyses the relationship between the characteristics of a blog community and the enabling conditions of knowledge conversion using the knowledge creation cycle (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995, Nonaka et al., 2000) and the enabling context (ba) in which knowledge is converted from individual to collective and from tacit to explicit.  A literature review is used to identify environmental factors and enabling conditions for knowledge conversion and the sense of community within blog communities as well as a blog-based virtual ethnography of a blog community.  The paper proposes ten potential enabling conditions that influence the sense of community in blog environments, and which facilitate the ba of socialisation (originating ba) and externalisation (conversing ba) necessary for conversion of tacit knowledge between individuals. This study observed one blog community over a five-month period of time.  Future research could be extended to examine multiple networked blog communities from the inception of the communities.  Previous research on the ability of virtual environments to facilitate ba for tacit knowledge conversion is limited.  The paper develops an important connection between virtual environments and tacit knowledge conversion which have implications for organisations whose members of not physically co-located but must share knowledge.

Martin-Niemi, F. and R. Greatbanks (2008). SME Knowledge Transfer through Social Networking: Leveraging Storytelling for Improved Communication. International Conference on Computer Mediated Social Networking (ICCMSN – 2008). University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) require different techniques to facilitate communication and collaboration as they transition to larger organisations.  New knowledge management (KM) practices and tools enable an enhanced knowledge transfer by leveraging practices such as storytelling with a new generation of web 2.0 technologies providing an individualised and customisable user experience including virtual social interactions, shared collaborative portals, wikis, communication tools, and ‘folksonomies’.  This paper presents the findings of a case study on KM approaches to knowledge transfer through social networking systems.

Greatbanks, R. and F. Martin-Niemi (2008). Knowledge Management: Its Role in Supporting Sustainable Growth within a Service Sector SME Environment. 3rd European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, The University of Winchester, UK, Academic Publishing Limited.

This paper considers and explores the issues which arise from the development of a Knowledge Management (KM) strategy for a small knowledge intensive service organisation. The organisation has recently gone through a period of rapid growth, both in terms of head count, project variety, and geographic location. As a consequence of this growth new approaches to the organisation’s Knowledge Management were sought. Action research was used as the primary methodology for this work. A qualitative perspective of inquiry was adopted which utilized interviews and a survey with senior business managers and employees within the organisation. Secondary data was collected through non-participant observation of meetings and document analysis.