A Framework for Flexible Knowledge Management Processes in eNegotiations

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A Framework for Flexible Knowledge Management
Processes in eNegotiations

• Murali Mohan Narasipuram
• Associate Professor
• Department of Information Systems
• City University of Hong Kong
• Email ismohan_at_cityu.edu.hk
• http//www.is.cityu.edu.hk/staff/ismohan/

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What is Negotiation?

• A process in which participants bring their goals
  to a bargaining table, strategically share
  information, and search for alternatives that are
  mutually beneficial. (Robinson and Volkov, 1998)
• A special form of communication that centres on
  perceived incompatibilities and focuses on
  reaching mutually acceptable agreements. (Putnam
  and Roloff, 1992)

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Negotiation

• In a negotiation, there are two or more
  participants in a situation of some kind of
  interdependence, each having some individual
  goals which may be partially incompatible, and in
  some form of the negotiation process,
  alternatives are investigated, of which one is
  mutually agreed upon as the acceptable outcome of
  the process. (Hans Weigand et al, 2003)

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Flexibility Perspectives from traditional
manufacturing systems

• ability to change or react with few penalties in
  time, effort, cost, or performance (Upton, 1994)
  
• ability to implement changes in the internal
  operating environment in a timely manner at a
  reasonable cost in response to changes in market
  conditions (Watts et al., 1993)
• ability, in the short run, to adapt to changing
  conditions using the existing set and amount of
  resources while in the long run, to introduce new
  products, new resources and production methods,
  and to integrate these into the existing
  production system (Olhager, 1993)
• ability to respond effectively to changing
  circumstances (Gerwin, 1987 Gupta and Gupta,
  1991) and
• capacity of a manufacturing system to adapt
  successfully to changing environmental conditions
  and process requirements. It refers to the
  ability of the production system to cope with the
  instability induced by the environment
  (Swamidass, 1988).

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What creates Flexibility?

• The underlying paradigm under the manufacturing
  flexibility is the flexibility in knowledge
  management, i.e. recognition, acquisition,
  representation, manipulation and finally use, of
  the knowledge in the manufacturing system.
• Business system processes are by nature more
  knowledge-driven than manufacturing system
  processes.
• It is the knowledge management flexibility that
  facilitates the system process flexibility.

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Flexibility

• Flexibility is the ability to know that they have
  made assumptions, identify them and be ready to
  modify or drop them when they seem to be wrong or
  ineffective.

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Flexibility in Negotiations

• The movement from initial positions or the
  discovery of new solutions to the issues that
  divide disputants.
• Parties involved in a negotiation generally have
  some inherent flexibility as part of their
  negotiation strategy. (Druckman, 2004)

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Flexibility in eNegotiations

• In the context of eNegotiations, the flexibility
  by the parties is facilitated by the mediation
  provided by Information and Computer Technologies
  (ICT).
• If the business processes are defined well enough
  in order to identify the flexibility allowed by
  each of them, ICT will prove to be an effective
  eMediator.
• ICT helps to identify the scope for flexibility
  in the respective negotiation spaces of the
  parties and to enhance it.

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Business processes and ICT involved in
negotiations
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Knowledge involved in negotiations

• Public Knowledge Sources
• Shareable (SEK)
• Negotiators Knowledge
• Internal
• Shareable (NSK)
• Local (NLK)
• This internal knowledge needs to be externalized
  in order to be effectively useful

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Concept Map of Knowledge Management in
eNegotiations
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Measurement Model for Flexibility

• Dsouza (2000) model for manufacturing
  flexibility based on the multidimensional
  structure of Gerwin (1993)
• volume flexibility, the ability to change the
  volume of output of a manufacturing process
• materials flexibility, the ability of the
  manufacturing system to accommodate
  uncontrollable variations in the materials and
  parts being processed
• mix flexibility, the ability of the system to
  produce many different products during the same
  planning period
• modification flexibility, the ability of the
  system to incorporate design changes into a
  specific product
• changeover flexibility, the ability of the system
  to adapt to changes in the production process
• rerouting flexibility, the ability to change the
  sequence of steps in the production process
  through which the product must progress
• flexibility responsiveness, the ability to adjust
  emphasis on the above flexibility dimensions
  given changes in the internal or external
  environment.

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Measurement Model for Flexibility in KM Process

• volume flexibility, the ability to support a
  range of single decision or multi-decision
  negotiations
• representation flexibility, the ability to
  represent knowledge from disparate sources
• integration flexibility, the ability to combine
  different knowledge bases, identify and report
  the reconcilable and irreconcilable components of
  the knowledge bases
• mediation flexibility, ability to find solutions
  and rate them according to their respective
  levels of optimality using the reconcilable and
  as well the irreconcilable components of the
  knowledge bases and
• meta-flexibility, the ability to define and
  adjust the level of flexibility to be allowed or
  desired in a specific knowledge management
  process.
• (Broadly the materials, mix, modification, and
  changeover flexibilities in the Dsouza model
  correspond to the integration flexibility in the
  proposed model.)

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KM Processes in eNegotiations

• Knowledge Representation Process
• Knowledge Integration Process
• eNegotiation Process
• eMediation Process

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To model Flexibility in KM Process Definition

• A contractual norm
• whenever overdraft exceeds agreed limit
• then the bank
• is permitted
• to charge a fee.
• A corporate norm
• whenever overdraft exceeds agreed limit
• if the excess is unduly large
• then the bank manager
• is obliged
• to charge a fee.
• A corporate exception norm
• whenever overdraft exceeds agreed limit
• if the excess is small and it is a good customer
• then the bank manager
• is forbidden
• to charge a fee.
• (Liu, Narasipuram, et al, 2001)

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To model flexibility in negotiation process- a
generalised negotiation model
Based on (Kamel, Narasipuram, et al, 1997)
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A KR method to model negotiations

• P is a set of Parties, pi, involved
• O is a set of Objects, oi, exchanged
• E is a set of elementary exchanges of objects,
  oi(pi1, pi2)
• Example Consider transaction T ltP, O, Egt where
• P p1, p2, p3,
• O o1, o2, o3, o4, o5, o6, o7, and
• E o1(p1,p2), o2(p1,p2), o3(p2,p1), o4(p3,p1),
  o5(p3,p2), o6(p1,p3), o7(p3,p2)
• Ti time instant i