Knowledge-Sharing in Cross-Functional Virtual Teams

The emergence of cross-functional virtual teams has presented both benefits and challenges to organisations. However, the unique characteristics of virtual teams make the sharing of knowledge among the geographically separated members difficult. This paper attempts to address this issue by looking at how the process of knowledge transfer cakes place in a cross-functional virtual team. A case study is conducted to interview various cross-functional virtual team members in one local subsidiary of a multinational telecommunication corporation as well as two of its hardware vendors. The findings indicate that four knowledge-sharing mechanisms are being employed, including shared understanding, learning climate, job rotation and coaching. Among them, shared understanding and learning climate are thought to be able to solve the challenge related to the unwillingness among the virtual team members to participate in the knowledge-sharing process, whereas coaching and job rotation are argued to be the solutions for the lack of collective competence required for performing the co-operative works. Some practical implications are also suggested for the effective management of cross-functional virtual teams.

[1]  Mark Easterby-Smith,et al.  Transferring Organizational Learning Systems to Japanese Subsidiaries in China , 2006 .

[2]  Anne T. McCartt,et al.  Evaluating group decision support system effectiveness: A performance study of decision conferencing , 1989, Decis. Support Syst..

[3]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[4]  G. Hamel.  Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances , 1991 .

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

[6]  Lucy Gilson,et al.  Virtual Teams: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here? , 2004 .

[7]  J. Storck,et al.  Knowledge Diffusion through “Strategic Communities” , 2000 .

[8]  Judith N. Martin,et al.  Behavioral categories of intercultural communication competence: Everyday communicators' perceptions , 1989 .

[9]  Leonard M. Jessup,et al.  Better planning using group support systems , 1990 .

[10]  Paul Hildreth,et al.  Communities of practice in the distributed international environment , 2000, J. Knowl. Manag..

[11]  S. Sackmann.  Culture and Subcultures: An Analysis of Organizational Knowledge , 1992 .

[12]  Mariano Corso,et al.  What Knowledge Management for Mobile Workers , 2006 .

[13]  M. Friedrich,et al.  Practice Makes Perfect , 2002 .

[14]  Debra L. Shapiro,et al.  Maximizing cross-functional new product teams' innovativeness and constraint adherence: A conflict communications perspective. , 2001 .

[15]  D. Robey,et al.  Going Global: Using information technology to advance the competitiveness of the virtual transnational organization , 1998 .

[16]  Daniel Robey,et al.  Situated learning in cross-functional virtual teams , 2000 .

[17]  Bernard L. Simonin.  An Empirical Investigation of the Process of Knowledge Transfer in International Strategic Alliances , 2004 .

[18]  Jessica Lipnack,et al.  Virtual Teams: People Working Across Boundaries with Technology, Second Edition , 2000 .

[19]  E. Wenger.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[20]  Davide Nicolini,et al.  Toward a Social Understanding of How People Learn in Organizations , 1998 .

[21]  C. Cramton.  The Mutual Knowledge Problem and Its Consequences for Dispersed Collaboration , 2001 .

[22]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[23]  Anne P. Massey,et al.  Getting It Together: Temporal Coordination and Conflict Management in Global Virtual Teams , 2001 .

[24]  Gabriel Szulanski.  The Process of Knowledge Transfer: A Diachronic Analysis of Stickiness , 2000 .

[25]  Lauge Baungaard Rasmussen,et al.  Work in the virtual enterprise—creating identities, building trust, and sharing knowledge , 2006, AI & SOCIETY.

[26]  J. Brown,et al.  Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation , 1991 .

[27]  José J. M. Sampaio.  Virtual Teams@Work , 2010 .

[28]  Terri L. Griffith,et al.  Supporting Technologies and Organizational Practices for the Transfer of Knowledge in Virtual Environments , 2006 .

[29]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[30]  John D. Politis.  The connection between trust and knowledge management: what are its implications for team performance , 2003, J. Knowl. Manag..

[31]  B. Delahaye,et al.  Influences On Knowledge processes In Organizational Learning: The Psychosocial Filter , 2000 .

[32]  J. Levine,et al.  Knowledge Transfer in Organizations: Learning from the Experience of Others☆ , 2000 .

[33]  Andrea Hornett.  Varieties of Virtual Organizations and their Knowledge Sharing Systems , 2004 .

[34]  Anne P. Massey,et al.  Getting It Together: Temporal Coordination and Conflict Management in Global Virtual Teams , 2001 .

[35]  M. Maznevski,et al.  Bridging Space Over Time: Global Virtual Team Dynamics and Effectiveness , 2000 .

[36]  Suprateek Sarker,et al.  Using an adapted grounded theory approach for inductive theory building about virtual team development , 2000, DATB.

[37]  G. Currie,et al.  The Limits of a Technological Fix to Knowledge Management , 2004 .

[38]  K. D. Joshi,et al.  Knowledge transfer in virtual systems development teams: an exploratory study of four key enablers , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

[39]  Shauna Wilson.  Forming Virtual Teams , 2003 .

[40]  Daniel C. Smith,et al.  Cross-Functional Product Development Teams, Creativity, and the Innovativeness of New Consumer Products , 2001 .

[41]  Jim Suchan,et al.  The communication characteristics of virtual teams: a case study , 2001 .

[42]  Raymond Grenier,et al.  Going Virtual: Moving Your Organization Into the 21st Century , 1995 .

[43]  M. Sawhney,et al.  Communities of Creation: Managing Distributed Innovation in Turbulent Markets , 2000 .

[44]  Line Dubé,et al.  The Multi-Faceted Nature of Virtual Teams , 2004 .

[45]  Robert N. Lussier,et al.  Leadership: Theory, Application, Skill Development , 2000 .

[46]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[47]  Catherine C. Marshall,et al.  Designing Qualitative Research , 1996 .

[48]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Knowing in practice: Enacting a collective capability in distributed organizing , 2002, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[49]  A. Edmondson,et al.  Situated Knowledge and Learning in Dispersed Teams , 2002 .

[50]  John Seely Brown,et al.  Internet technology in support of the concept of “communities-of-practice”: the case of Xerox , 1998 .

[51]  K. Lagerström,et al.  Creating and sharing knowledge within a transnational team—the development of a global business system , 2003 .

[52]  Anthony R. Hendrickson,et al.  Virtual teams: Technology and the workplace of the future , 1998 .

[53]  M. Barrett,et al.  Learning in Knowledge Communities:: Managing Technology and Context , 2004 .

[54]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[55]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges , 2007 .

[56]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Concept of “Ba”: Building a Foundation for Knowledge Creation , 1998 .