FAH3455 Knowledge Supportive Culture 7.5 credits

The course starts with a definition of Culture. For this purpose, the main trends and theories in cultural studies are outlined: culture as semiotic system, culture as values, culture as a means to meet human needs. Attention is given to intercultural communication and a role of dialogue.

All reasoning is brought together in the context of Knowledge Management in order to advance reflection, learning, communication and collaboration.

This course explains why fostering knowledge supportive culture is crucial for implementation of Knowledge Management, which in turn is needed for safe and economic operation of safety critical technologies. After completion of the course, students must prove that they have understood main trends, theories and notions and can apply new knowledge to their own work.

"The symbolic construction of reality: the legacy of Ernst Cassirer", edited by Jeffrey Andrew Barash, University of Chicago Press, 2008. (Electronic resource).

Cassirer Ernst "An essay on man: an introduction to a philosophy of human culture", New Haven 1962, ISBN 991-098087-8.

Stan Oliver and Kondal Reddy Kandadi ”How to develop knowledge culture in organizations? A multiple case study of large distributed organizations.” Journal of Knowledge Management, vol 10, no 4, 2006, pp 6-24.

J-C Spender “Getting value from Knowledge Management”, The TQM Managzine, vol 18, no 3, 2006., pp 238-254. (Electronic resource, available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0954-478X.htm)

Hala Sabri “Knowledge Management in its context: adapting structure to a knowledge creating culture”, IJCM, vol 15(2), 2005.

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

Active participation during teaching occasions.

A project exercise must be presented and discussed at the last seminar.

Finally, the project exercise must be completed in a written form and supplied to the teachers.

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.