Knowledge Sharing Mechanisms in Industrial Research

Previous research has firmly established the importance of knowledge sharing in Research and Development (R&D) settings. However, current theories provide only fragmented insights into the origination of knowledge sharing, and thus offer limited guidance for knowledge management practices in R&D. To integrate and extend these fragmented insights, we undertook two exploratory field studies of knowledge sharing in industrial research organizations. The contributions of this study are the following. First, we introduce three dimensions that differentiate origination mechanisms for knowledge sharing. Second, we show that some of these mechanisms correspond to mechanisms assumed in particular streams of literature, whereas others have been neglected till now. Third, based on our field studies, we show that each of these knowledge-sharing mechanisms have a different value for industrial research practices. Therefore, knowledge management in R&D should facilitate and stimulate a broad portfolio of knowledge-sharing mechanisms.

[1]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  What's your strategy for managing knowledge? , 1999, Harvard business review.

[2]  S. Collinson.  Knowledge management capabilities in R&D: a UK‐‐Japan company comparison , 2001 .

[3]  John R. Austin.  Transactive memory in organizational groups: the effects of content, consensus, specialization, and accuracy on group performance. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[4]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design , 1986 .

[5]  B. Kogut,et al.  What Firms Do? Coordination, Identity, and Learning , 1996 .

[6]  F. R. Jevons,et al.  Wealth from Knowledge , 1972 .

[7]  R. Keller,et al.  Technology-Information Processing Fit and the Performance of R&D Project Groups: A Test of Contingency Theory , 1994 .

[8]  O.A.M. Fisscher,et al.  Describing the issues of knowledge management in R&D: Towards a communication and analysis tool , 1996 .

[9]  Thomas E. Pinelli,et al.  An investigation of factors affecting how engineers and scientists seek information , 2001 .

[10]  R. Moreland.  Transactive memory: Learning who knows what in work groups and organizations. , 1999 .

[11]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  Collaborative Discovery in a Scientific Domain , 1997, Cogn. Sci..

[12]  Sue Newell,et al.  Knowledge integration processes and dynamics within the context of cross-functional projects , 2003 .

[13]  T. Allen.  Managing the flow of technology , 1977 .

[14]  A. Strauss.  Basics Of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[15]  M. Tushman,et al.  Resource recombinations in the firm: knowledge structures and the potential for schumpeterian innovation , 1998 .

[16]  J. Ende,et al.  Suggestion Systems: Transferring Employee Creativity Into Practicable Ideas , 2002 .

[17]  S. Fagerhaugh,et al.  Participant Observation , 1979 .

[18]  Peter H. Gray,et al.  Knowledge Sourcing Effectiveness , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[19]  H. Tsoukas.  The firm as a distributed knowledge system : A constructionist approach , 1996 .

[20]  R. Grant.  Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), pp. , 1996 .

[21]  M. Schulz.  THE UNCERTAIN RELEVANCE OF NEWNESS: ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE FLOWS , 2001 .

[22]  Aaron V. Cicourel,et al.  The integration of distributed knowledge in collaborative medical diagnosis , 1990 .

[23]  Michael L. Tushman,et al.  Information Processing as an Integrating Concept in Organizational Design. , 1978 .

[24]  A. Strauss,et al.  The Discovery of Grounded Theory , 1967 .

[25]  S. Mohammed,et al.  Team mental models in a team knowledge framework: expanding theory and measurement across disciplinary boundaries , 2001 .

[26]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning , 2007 .

[27]  Michael Lynch,et al.  Art and Artifact in Laboratory Science: A Study of Shop Work and Shop Talk in a Research Laboratory , 1985 .

[28]  A OkhuysenGerardo,et al.  Integrating Knowledge in Groups , 2002 .

[29]  G. Huber.  Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures , 1991 .

[30]  Rob Cross,et al.  A Relational View of Information Seeking and Learning in Social Networks , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[31]  J. Langrish.  Wealth from knowledge : studies of innovation in industry , 1972 .

[32]  Jj Hans Berends,et al.  Knowledge sharing in industrial research , 2003 .

[33]  Frank M. Andrews,et al.  Scientists in Organizations , 1968 .

[34]  Langdon Morris,et al.  Fourth Generation R&D: Managing Knowledge, Technology, and Innovation , 1999 .

[35]  Steven Postrel,et al.  Shared knowledge, “glitches,” and product development performance , 1999 .

[36]  R. Katz,et al.  Investigating the Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome: A look at the performance, tenure, and communication patterns of 50 R & D Project Groups , 1982 .

[37]  D. Norman,et al.  To Ask a Question, One Must Know Enough to Know What Is Not Known. Report No. 7802. , 1978 .

[38]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[39]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  The Search-Transfer Problem: The Role of Weak Ties in Sharing Knowledge across Organization Subunits , 1999 .

[40]  B. Kogut,et al.  Exploring internal stickiness : Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 2007 .

[41]  G. Stasser,et al.  Effects of information load and percentage of shared information on the dissemination of unshared information during group discussion. , 1987 .

[42]  M. Fischetti.  Working knowledge. , 2003, Scientific American.

[43]  D. Wegner.  Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind , 1987 .

[44]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  Integrating Knowledge in Groups: How Formal Interventions Enable Flexibility , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[45]  R. Garud,et al.  TRANSFORMATIVE CAPACITY: CONTINUAL STRUCTURING BY INTERTEMPORAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER , 1994 .

[46]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[47]  G. Stasser,et al.  Expert Roles and Information Exchange during Discussion: The Importance of Knowing Who Knows What , 1995 .

[48]  Geert Duysters,et al.  Culture and its perception in strategic alliances: does it affect the performance? : an exploratory study into Dutch-German ventures , 2003 .

[49]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[50]  Lynne P. Cooper,et al.  Knowledge Reuse for Innovation , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[51]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  Competing for Attention in Knowledge Markets: Electronic Document Dissemination in a Management Consulting Company , 2001 .

[52]  Gloria J. Leckie,et al.  Modeling the Information Seeking of Professionals: A General Model Derived from Research on Engineers, Health Care Professionals, and Lawyers , 1996, The Library Quarterly.

[53]  Michael L. Tushman,et al.  Technical Communication in R & D Laboratories: The Impact of Project Work Characteristics , 1978 .

[54]  Joseph L. Badaracco,et al.  The knowledge link , 1990 .

[55]  A. Hollingshead.  Communication, Learning, and Retrieval in Transactive Memory Systems☆☆☆ , 1998 .

[56]  Jay R. Galbraith.  Designing Complex Organizations , 1973 .

[57]  Gabriel Szulanski.  Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 1996 .

[58]  Andrew B. Hargadon,et al.  Technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm. , 1997 .

[59]  Stephen I. Cohen,et al.  Information Flow in Research and Development Laboratories. , 1969 .

[60]  H. M. Collins,et al.  The TEA Set: Tacit Knowledge and Scientific Networks , 1974 .

[61]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[62]  M. Gordon,et al.  PUBLICATION RECORDS AND TENURE DECISIONS IN THE FIELD OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1996 .

[63]  R. Grover,et al.  From Embedded Knowledge to Embodied Knowledge: New Product Development as Knowledge Management , 1998 .