Plenary Lecture

The Strategic Role of New Education Technologies with Relation to Usage of ICT Supported Knowledge Management Models for Competitiveness and Performance Management Improvement

Professor H. C. Vladimir Simovic
Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Education
Savska cesta 77, Zagreb HR-10000
University of Zagreb, Croatia
E-mail: vladimir.simovic@zg.t-com.hr

Abstract: We live in a time of fast and big changes, accelerated communication and information exchange, which is inevitably reflected in the educational system and so often cold “the era of informatics and communication”. Accelerated changes demand quick response. Lifelong education has become an imperative for further survival on the market. This paper describes research done due to implementation of few different e-learning platforms, with the intention to have bigger productivity of knowledge exchange and the right to the access to information. During the process of developing this project, besides numerous advantages that an e-learning system offers, we (used in paper instead “my team”) have encountered some disadvantages. The greatest problem, it has turned out to be, is the protection against breach of copyright that occurs on a daily basis due to the speed and the simplicity of information exchange. Here one can see clearly the strategic role of these relatively new education technologies in one company or concrete educational system with relation to usage of ICT supported knowledge management models for competitiveness and performance management improvement.
Knowledge management can bring many benefits, like: the preservation of intellectual capital and better utilization of knowledge available within the company, improved effectiveness of employees due to development a unified knowledge database, stronger linkages and collaboration among experts in specific areas, better knowledge transfer following acquisitions of other companies, etc. Setting up a system that supports and enables knowledge management is a crucial prerequisite for enabling further KM (Knowledge Management) development, but this is not the end. Further stages should focus on embedding the associated practices and the corresponding values of cooperation and knowledge sharing with a loose network of distant collaborators throughout the organization. However, benefits achieved from the KM initiative, tend to outweigh costs and risks, therefore making these challenges worth facing. Every organization has its own identity and language. Therefore, the KM barriers and methods described in this paper should not be taken by organizations as the only, or the best way to do KM, but merely as a well-founded basis for discussion to help them with further definition of their own specific KM framework.
Keywords: strategy, communication, education, e-learning, copyright, knowledge management, performance management
This research was part of main Scientific research named “Analytical Model for Monitoring of New Education Technologies for Long life Learning“, and conducted by Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia (Registered Number 227-2271694-1699).

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Vladimir Simovic is a professor of Information Systems at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, where he is a dean at the Faculty of Teacher Education, and has also the scientific and professional responsibility for the development of various Information Systems. His main teaching and research interests concern various areas of information systems, project management and analysis. In these fields, he authored or co-authored over 5 books and 100 scientific papers published in reviewed journals or presented at international conferences. As the Fellow of the IIAS (The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics - University of Windsor - Canada, Ontario) he also received Dr. Honoris Causa in Economics and Informatics aspects of Financial Modelling. He was main project leader of professional information science project of an international character (based on the competition of World Bank and Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia) and also scientific researcher & lecturer at international EU TEMPUS program. He was editor, publisher and member of the organisational and editorial board of more than 7 editions of the international scientific journal in the area of the Communication, Information and Economic Sciences in the Knowledge Society (which was organised as a part of the International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics and Cybernetics - in Baden-Baden, Germany). He published articles for 12th WSEAS International Conference on SYSTEMS in Crete (Greece) and for 7th WSEAS transactions on computers, and article for IEEE Region 8, Eurocon 2007 Conference in Warsaw (Poland). He received mentions in international books, and he was honoured with Best Lecturer Medal Award, and with more than 6 Best Paper Awards from IIAS, etc. Above all he is member of HDOI (Croatian Society for Operational Research) based in Zagreb; HSUSESV (Croatian professional association of experts and court appointed experts) based in Zagreb; MH (Central Croatian Cultural and Publishing Society) based in Zagreb, and he is the director of ECNSI (European Center for Advanced and Systematic Research) with headquarters in Zagreb.