Joel Kline presentation

Knowledge Transfer between Practitioners and Academics in New Zealand.

Joel A. KlineAssociate Professor of Business and Digital CommunicationsLebanon Valley CollegeJune 4, 2008

Joel A. Kline, Lebanon Valley College 2

Overview

What I did… Why the Conversation? Literature Review What did I research? Methods Quantitative Results Qualitative Results Metaphorically Speaking Audience Engagement


What I did…

Researched Technical Communication practitioners in New Zealand (NZ)

Focused on the transfer of knowledge between academic and practitioner communities

Pilot study for future research Important to the conversation between the

communities


Why NZ?

Much smaller overall population A sample size of about a 100 would be much

more representative than in US Stratification of academic institutions between

research Universities and applied Institutes Very little research has been done on the TC

community – accommodating subjects I was there…


Why the Conversation?

Mirel and Spilka note “…professionals from both worlds contribute to the substance and identity that technical communicators hold dear…”

Many TC professors have never practiced TC (or taken coursework in TC)

To build our own BOK Who cites us? Excess vs. Incest


External A/I Conversation

“Moving outside of the organizational sciences, Louis, Blumenthal, Gluck, and Stoto (1989) and Cohen and coauthors (1998) reported that the most successful academic researchers in the biological and physical sciences also tend to have the highest levels of interaction with practitioners…

…Similarly, Pelz and Andrews (1976) found that corporate researchers who spent at least part of their time working on assigned (rather than self-chosen) problems and who took boundary-spanning roles (in management, for example) in addition to conducting research were also the most productive...

…Thus, a preponderance of the evidence suggests that collaborations between researchers and practitioners increase research productivity and, in some cases, quality as well.”

Rynes, Bartunek, et al.


Literature Review

Literature is non-existent on the 2 communities in NZ

Limited research on TC knowledge transfer (Palmer and Killingsworth, Mirel and Spilka, Windsor)

Extended organizational sciences research on the gap between communities from Beyer & Trice (also Rynes, Bartunek, et al)


My WhoGARA Moment

Began as a quantitative and qualitative study of TC practitioners in NZ

Assumed the exchange of information between the communities is valuable

That lasted until one practitioner asked “why should I care what academic researchers are doing?”


Methods – Survey & Interviews

Online survey Recruited members of Technical Communicators Assoc. of NZ

(TCANZ) Interview Sample size of 90 Questions: Demographics, Knowledge Transfer, Metaphor

25 Qualitative Interviews Seek more detail on why the two communities don’t exchange

information Has led to insight on mechanisms of transfer (i.e. alumni events) End interview with questions about whether an online or virtual

solution could improve the exchange of information


A/I Interaction Locus Model

Academia Industry

Face-to-FaceInteraction

Publications

VirtualInteraction

Figure 1: Academic/Industry Interaction Locus Model


Sample Quantitative Results

Most common answer for virtual meeting place between communities (blogs, wikis, etc) was “None of These” (43%)

Highest scoring academic journal read by practitioners was Technical Communication with only 28%

Practitioners rated academic sources of knowledge as the lowest


Virtual Intersection between A/I

Virtual Intersection

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STC VirtualChapters

Message orDiscussion

Boards

NewsGroups

Email ListServLists

IM NONE ofTHESE

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Sources of Knowledge

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Metaphorically Speaking

Building Bridges 12 15.6%

Narrowing Gaps and Differences

16 20.8%

Meeting in Overlapping Spaces

23 29.9%

Finding Unity in Difference

10 13.0%

My own metaphor (enter below)

16 20.8%


Locations Preferred by Industry

Location Practitioners Prefer

Conferences 22.2%

Membership Organizations 20.1%

Seminars 17.5%

None of these 10.8 %

Teaching Papers (courses)

Serving on Advisory Board

Mentoring College Students

Academic Consultants in your Workplace

Each Less than 10%


Qualitative Results

Interviews conducted over the telephone All practitioners agreed that good relationships

with the academic community was important Most felt that there was a significant disconnect,

especially with the research universities Asked about metaphors from Mirel and Spilka

book Reshaping Technical Communication for the 21st Century…


Reward Systems

“Practitioners are bottom line oriented. This doesn’t encourage innovation. Academics perform research that is innovative”

Interviewee #1

“Sometimes it seems like academics get rewarded more easily than practitioners. And the rewards are not appropriate. Maybe it’s a wee bit of jealousy between practitioners and academics.”

Interviewee #2


Briefly Characterize…

“Hmm. I suppose there is some, but not a lot of communication between the two camps.”

“I would say my first thought is that there is none. But then I would say that there must be, surely teachers would want to go and socialize with other Tech Comm. people, especially the ones that are out there practicing it. But, as far as I know, except for say TCANZ, there is no interaction. I’ve certainly never interacted with an academic.”

“I’m not sure if it is all that tight. “


A Typical Qualitative Quote

“I have to admit I have no contacts to academics at the moment, personally. And it’s just, you never thought of it actually. I think it’s an important thing to have and it would make life easier. I think as a technical writer, I get my information mostly from management within the company. It would be fruitful to connect to academics outside this – beyond the company level.”


Self-made Metaphors (direct quotes)

Joining theory and practice Binding agent in

cement/plaster Walk AND Talk Making the usable out of the

incomprehensible Living together Walk in each other's shoes Research-based practice Transitions: from the theory to

the practice

I LOATHE this kind of thing Communities of Practice

(CoP), term from Organisational Development

Providing Resource twin pillars supporting

business working together Ships in the night Marriage Inhabiting seperate [sic]

planets


Conclusions

The practitioner community does not read much of what is written by the academic community in NZ

NZ practitioners do not believe the academic community is a resource for their work

The use of online or virtual communities for exchanging information between the academic and practitioner communities is not productive


What Can We Do?

Knowledge portal project A/I communication initiatives Computer Mediated Platform Acquire more data Recognize then overcome the obstacles a intersections:

• Physical

• Virtual

• Publications

Work towards an integrated model and set of best practices

Build a case for strong A/I community interaction


Bibliography

Beyer, J. M., & Trice, H. M. (1982). “The utilization process: A conceptual framework and synthesis of empirical findings.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 27. 591-622.

Palmer, J. and Killingsworth, M.J. (2002). Research and Consulting in Technical Communication. Technical Communications Quarterly 11.4. 389-409

Maxwell, J. A. (2005). Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach (2nd Ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Mirel, B. and Spilka, R., Eds.(2002). Reshaping Technical Communication. New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Inc.

Reynolds, A. (2002). “Ashes or Phoenix? Technical Communication or Information Design?” STC 2002 Conference Proceedings. Retrieved online from: http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2002/PDFs/STC49-00002.pdf

Rynes, S.L., Bartunek, J.M., & Daft, R. (2001) “Across the great divide: knowledge creation and transfer between practitioners and academics.” Academy of Management Journal, 44(2). 340-355.


Questions/Feedback

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Joel Kline presentation