262
H. E. Otto
However, as correctly pointed out in most of the recent literature on the energy
service concept, people are interested in and use energy not for its own sake, but for the
services it provides or enables together with other inputs and technology, to achieve
certain goals and ends. Recent developments in structuring, defining, and conceptualizing energy services (as reported and discussed, for example in (Fell 2017; Kalt et al.
2019; Jonsson et al. 2011)) provide promising definitions and frameworks that could
be used to translate the energy service concept into a boundary object used for energy
auditing and the energy audit report. It can be structured to be plastic enough to adapt
to the needs of the various parties employing it, while retaining its overall identity
and common understanding. It could also function as a kind of metaphoric boundary
object (see again (Koskinen 2005)). If it has a weak, less developed structure, it
may still support the coordination and sharing of a tacit, more general understanding
and perspective, while, if it has a relatively developed and thus stronger structure,
it can support a more explicit coordination and sharing of concrete knowledge and
perspectives. This variation in the degree of structural concreteness is an especially
useful feature in overcoming some of the pragmatic boundaries in the Asian context.
In vertical cultures (details are discussed in the next sub-section) the processing of
information takes place according to the hierarchical structure within all institutions
and organizations, and professionalism is not usually permitted to influence the relationship between educational background and actual job occupation. It is usually
the superiors who have first access to documents and information considered important. However, those superiors may not necessarily possess the technical knowledge
and expertise actually necessary to share (as a client) the perspective of the external
source, that is, the energy service company.
The approach as outlined could also support information transfer and educational
efforts from boundary organizations such as energy service company associations,
which still face serious hurdles in many emerging and developing economies in
Asia. For example, elements of successfully compiled energy audit reports which
pertain to externalized knowledge relating to energy services could be collected
and used to form another boundary object, namely repositories of objects that are
indexed in a standardized fashion. Those could then be administered by the energy
service company associations to support various information and knowledge intensive processes ranging from energy efficiency awareness campaigns for the industrial
and commercial sectors, and seminar-based education with practice relevance, to the
forming of communities of practice. However, these approaches also need to take
into account the socio-cultural dimension of the Asian context, where individuals
are more sensitive to context-specific information (see also discussion on contextualism, elsewhere in this paper), in particular when it concerns information about
the organization, community, or group they belong to. Those circumstances have a
considerable impact on attention, comprehension, and finally efforts to translate this
information into knowledge and action (see also discussions in (Kostka and Shin
2013; Tian et al. 2017; Zhang et al. 2018), and the relationship with uncertainty
avoidance in (Hofstede et al. 2010; Trompenaars and Woolliams 2003)).
Within the economic and financial settings, production and documentation of
economic knowledge are used to provide an informational background, required to
H. E. Otto
However, as correctly pointed out in most of the recent literature on the energy
service concept, people are interested in and use energy not for its own sake, but for the
services it provides or enables together with other inputs and technology, to achieve
certain goals and ends. Recent developments in structuring, defining, and conceptualizing energy services (as reported and discussed, for example in (Fell 2017; Kalt et al.
2019; Jonsson et al. 2011)) provide promising definitions and frameworks that could
be used to translate the energy service concept into a boundary object used for energy
auditing and the energy audit report. It can be structured to be plastic enough to adapt
to the needs of the various parties employing it, while retaining its overall identity
and common understanding. It could also function as a kind of metaphoric boundary
object (see again (Koskinen 2005)). If it has a weak, less developed structure, it
may still support the coordination and sharing of a tacit, more general understanding
and perspective, while, if it has a relatively developed and thus stronger structure,
it can support a more explicit coordination and sharing of concrete knowledge and
perspectives. This variation in the degree of structural concreteness is an especially
useful feature in overcoming some of the pragmatic boundaries in the Asian context.
In vertical cultures (details are discussed in the next sub-section) the processing of
information takes place according to the hierarchical structure within all institutions
and organizations, and professionalism is not usually permitted to influence the relationship between educational background and actual job occupation. It is usually
the superiors who have first access to documents and information considered important. However, those superiors may not necessarily possess the technical knowledge
and expertise actually necessary to share (as a client) the perspective of the external
source, that is, the energy service company.
The approach as outlined could also support information transfer and educational
efforts from boundary organizations such as energy service company associations,
which still face serious hurdles in many emerging and developing economies in
Asia. For example, elements of successfully compiled energy audit reports which
pertain to externalized knowledge relating to energy services could be collected
and used to form another boundary object, namely repositories of objects that are
indexed in a standardized fashion. Those could then be administered by the energy
service company associations to support various information and knowledge intensive processes ranging from energy efficiency awareness campaigns for the industrial
and commercial sectors, and seminar-based education with practice relevance, to the
forming of communities of practice. However, these approaches also need to take
into account the socio-cultural dimension of the Asian context, where individuals
are more sensitive to context-specific information (see also discussion on contextualism, elsewhere in this paper), in particular when it concerns information about
the organization, community, or group they belong to. Those circumstances have a
considerable impact on attention, comprehension, and finally efforts to translate this
information into knowledge and action (see also discussions in (Kostka and Shin
2013; Tian et al. 2017; Zhang et al. 2018), and the relationship with uncertainty
avoidance in (Hofstede et al. 2010; Trompenaars and Woolliams 2003)).
Within the economic and financial settings, production and documentation of
economic knowledge are used to provide an informational background, required to