Self-Regulation and Mental Model Forming for Knowledge Worker’s Task-Oriented Knowledge Acquisition

• Main Author: 李世亮
• Other Authors: 吳美美
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/33256858941075924046

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 圖書資訊學研究所在職進修碩士班 === 98 === Knowledge workers play different roles in current for-profit and non-profit(including the government) organizations. They use different methods to seek information in fulfilling their needs for task implementation in a rapidly changing environment. Knowledge workers have two different procedures when performing tasks. One is the original mental model, also known as experience, and the different paths of information seeking and knowledge construction form the other one. Building on the major theories of mental model, approaches of knowledge acquisition, and individual and social cognitive development, this study aims to understand knowledge workers’ cognitive development in knowledge construction processes, and how motivation and self-regulation can affect and enhance knowledge acquisition. This research applied the semi-structured interview technique to elicit the experiences of knowledge workers who are from different social contexts, with different task implementation and histories of knowledge acquisition. A total of ten subjects are recruited and their jobs fall into the following three categories: (1) information professionals, (2) education professionals, (3) planning and promotion of professionals. The findings reveal goals, motivation and other issues in the task implementation process affect that self-regulation. The operation of self-regulation involves four procedures, (1) cognitive regulation, (2) method egulation, (3) regulation of goals and motivation and (4) the regulation of other factors. Except for the goals and motivation factors, other factors include (a) timeliness, (b) emotion, (c) knowledge acquisition development and (d) knowledge-sharing approach. When tasks are perceived more difficult during the implementation of tasks, it is more likely to seek help from experienced people within the social network to obtain information regarding problem-solving methods, task priorities and ordering. To enhance their knowledge acquisition and the task execution results, knowledge workers will seek help from the social environment by (a) peer discussions, (b) question-asking and imitation, (c) formal learning and (d) engagement with communities. The research findings suggest that knowledge workers could self improve their knowledge acquisition through self-regulation and mental model forming strategies. Evaluation and further examination of such strategies are proposed for future research.