Accessing local knowledge: action learning and organizational learning in Walsall

This paper addresses a central question in organizational learning, namely: how can local knowledge be accessed to improve organizational direction, performance and learning (Argyris 1957; Argyris and Schon 1978, 1996; Kim 1993)? It is partly provoked by Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) claim, via their 'Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation', that the knowledge of individual members can be systematically accessed and harnessed for corporate benefit. A related focus concerns the practice of action learning within a whole systems perspective and how it may serve to support local actors and promote a mutual learning exchange with their organizational leaders. A case study from local government centres on a group of 'neighbourhood facilitators' pioneering community regeneration and local democracy in the Borough of Walsall in the UK's West Midlands. The experiences and learning of this group, together with their interactions and dialogue with the leadership of the initiative and with the wider political system, are used to draw some lessons for facilitating organizational learning. The paper concludes that this is a hard-won and far from predictable accomplishment and questions the apparently reproducible process proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi.     

Understanding the Antecedents of Effective Knowledge Management: The Importance of a Knowledge‐Centered Culture*

Within the context of knowledge management, little research has been conducted that identifies the antecedents of a knowledge‐centered culture—those organizational qualities that encourage knowledge creation and dissemination. In this study, the existing literature on organizational climate, job characteristics, and organizational learning (in the form of cooperative learning theory) are linked with the current thinking and research findings related to knowledge management to develop a theoretical model explaining the relationships among organizational climate, the level of cooperative learning that takes place between knowledge workers, and the resulting level of knowledge created and disseminated as measured by team performance and individual satisfaction levels. The study goes on to empirically test the proposed research model by investigating the climate of organizations, and seeks to understand the linkage between a set of organizational and individual characteristics and knowledge‐related activities found in cooperative learning groups and the resulting work outcomes. The hypothesized research model is tested using LISREL with data collected from 203 information systems (IS) professionals engaged in systems development activities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications the results have for future research and managerial practice.     

Knowledge Management Using Information Technology: Determinants of Short‐Term Impact on Firm Value*

The importance of knowledge management (KM) processes for organizational performance is now well recognized. Seeking to better understand the short‐term impact of KM on firm value, this article focuses on public announcements of information technology (IT)‐based KM efforts, and uses cumulative abnormal return (CAR) associated with an announcement as the dependent variable. This article employs a contingency approach, arguing that the KM announcement would have a positive short‐term impact on firm value in some conditions but not in others. Thus, it pursues the following research question: What are the effects of contextual factors on the CAR associated with the announcement of an IT‐based KM effort? Specific hypotheses are proposed based on information‐processing theory, organizational learning theory, the knowledge‐based theory of the firm, and the theory of knowledge creation. These hypotheses link CARs to alignment between industry innovativeness and the KM process, alignment between firm efficiency and the KM process, firm‐specific instability, and firm diversification. The empirical study utilizes secondary data on 89 KM announcements from 1995 to 2002. The results largely support the hypotheses. Overall, this article provides empirical support for the theory‐based arguments, and helps develop a contingency framework of the effectiveness of KM efforts.     

知识创造的IDE-SECI模型--对野中郁次郎"自我超越"模型的一个扩展

企业知识的创造是一个完整的过程,既包括内部知识的自我超越,又包括外部知识的吸收与转化.野中郁次郎的SECI模型虽然对知识在企业内的动态演化有很好的解释力,但忽略了外部环境的力量.因此,本文从知识的分类与分布角度出发,以SECI为基础,提出了知识创造的IDE-SECI模型,以期对企业知识的动态产生过程更为全面地进行描述.     

知识型团队动态能力构建、团队体系模型与创新运作模式研究

知识型团队是现代组织执行复杂创新任务的重要组织形式.本文从分析知识型团队与知识工作任务的匹配关系入手,在引入知识链及知识链网络等概念的基础上,探讨了基于知识链的知识型团队的动态能力构建机制,分析了围绕知识链网络的知识团队结构体系模型及创新运作机理.     

Organizational Learning,knowledge creation,problem formulation and innovation in messy problems

This paper attempts to bring the discussion about knowledge creation, innovation and organizational learning to a level that addresses how messy problems are addressed and how the organizations must integrate the viewpoints of the key decision-makers, establish a process for testing their assumptions, include the context including the environment design, and to allow innovation and creativity to enter the choice of actions. It builds on the literature of problem formulation, innovation, and experimentation and on the articles in this special issue.     

企业研发团队内部技术知识转移的过程机理与途径研究

在有关知识转移过程机制的国内外研究基础上,着重从团队层面揭示了企业研发团队内部技术知识转移的一般过程和内在机理,进而借用NONAKA等的模型思想,设计了研发团队内部技术知识转移的途径框架,解析知识转移的具体途径和方式,从研发团队内部技术知识转移视角为我国企业自主性技术创新绩效提升提供了几点思路。     

6 Three Perspectives on Team Learning

Abstract

The emergence of a research literature on team learning has been driven by at least two factors. First, longstanding interest in what makes organizational work teams effective leads naturally to questions about how members of newly formed teams learn to work together and how existing teams improve or adapt. Second, some have argued that teams play a crucial role in organizational learning. These interests have produced a growing and heterogeneous literature. Empirical studies of learning by small groups or teams present a variety of terms, concepts, and methods. This heterogeneity is both generative and occasionally confusing. We identify three distinct areas of research that provide insight into how teams learn to stimulate cross-area discussion and future research. We find that scholars have made progress in understanding how teams in general learn, and propose that future work should develop more precise and context-specific theories to help guide research and practice in disparate task and industry domains.     

创新中的组织搜索:概念的重新架构

系统地回顾了2000年以来创新领域关于组织搜索的文献。主要解决2个问题:①组织搜索产生混乱的原因是什么?②怎样才能澄清这些混乱,减少研究中的模糊性?为了回答这2个问题,利用搜索广度和搜索深度2个不同的搜索方向对组织搜索建立了分类模型,发现产生混乱的根本原因在于对搜索广度范围的界定,以及与搜索深度的平衡路径存在不一致。针对以上2个问题,首先从知识类型和知识距离2个维度,提出了多维跨界搜索的概念;然后提出了一个演化式搜索的整合框架,为搜索广度和搜索深度的平衡提供具体的实现路径。旨在协调和整合现有研究中存在的不一致,并为将来的研究提供建议,同时对企业的实践活动提供指导。     

供应商参与新产品开发对企业自主创新能力的影响研究

本文以装备制造企业为实证研究对象,探讨了供应商参与新产品开发对企业自主创新能力的影响关系.同时,构建了包括供应商参与新产品开发、关系互动、知识创造、企业自主创新能力四个变量的概念模型,并提出相应的理论假设.通过结构方程模型的检验,表明供应商参与新产品开发对关系互动和知识创造均有显著的正向影响,进而通过两者对企业自主创新能力有显著正向影响.     

学习、知识整合与创新的关系研究

本文研究企业的学习导向、知识整合、技术创新和管理创新之间相互影响的机制和路径,并以我国华南地区的196家企业为样本进行实证研究.学术贡献在于明确了上述变量之间的影响路径和作用机制,我们也发现学习导向对知识整合有显著的直接正向影响,学习导向必须通过知识的整合才能促进技术创新和管理创新.本文的结果对于正确理解组织的学习与创新过程以及知识整合在企业的学习与创新实践中的作用有重要的参考价值.     

Learning How and Learning What: Effects of Tacit and Codified Knowledge on Performance Improvement Following Technology Adoption

This paper examines effects of tacit and codified knowledge on performance improvement as organizations gain experience with a new technology. We draw from knowledge management and learning curve research to predict improvement rate heterogeneity across organizations. We first note that the same technology can present opportunities for improvement along more than one dimension, such as efficiency and breadth of use. We compare improvement for two dimensions: one in which the acquisition of codified knowledge leads to improvement and another in which improvement requires tacit knowledge. We hypothesize that improvement rates across organizations will be more heterogeneous for dimensions of performance that rely on tacit knowledge than for those that rely on codified knowledge (H1), and that group membership stability predicts improvement rates for dimensions relying on tacit knowledge (H2). We further hypothesize that when performance relies on codified knowledge, later adopters should improve more quickly than earlier adopters (H3). All three hypotheses are supported in a study of 15 hospitals learning to use a new surgical technology. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Managing Knowledge Creation in High‐Tech R&D Projects: A Multimethod Study

R&D projects in high‐tech organizations bring together diverse knowledge domains to quickly develop new products and processes. The fast‐paced context of high‐tech organizations makes it challenging to create new knowledge and solve complex problems. Managing these R&D projects requires understanding both the mechanisms and the type of knowledge created to achieve project objectives. This research conducts a two‐phased multimethod study to understand knowledge creation in high‐tech R&D projects. The first phase uses qualitative data to develop a theory on knowledge creation in R&D projects. The second phase involves a survey that collects data from R&D projects to test the theory. Results from the case study find that R&D projects benefit from two types of knowledge – objective and intuitive. The case analyses show that intuitive and objective knowledge creation in high‐tech organizations occurs by creating not only diverse but also psychological safe project teams. The large‐scale survey finds that team diversity positively influences objective knowledge creation while psychological safety affects intuitive knowledge creation. Surprisingly, the results show that team diversity negatively affects intuitive knowledge creation. A post hoc analysis takes a more granular look at diversity and shows that different kinds of diversity have different effects on knowledge creation. This helps to better explain how to manage innovation across boundaries. Finally, the analysis shows that both objective and intuitive knowledge influence R&D project performance. Taken together, these results help explain how to manage innovation across functional boundaries to create knowledge and enhance R&D project performance.      

市场导向与组织绩效的关系:组织学习与创新的影响——珠三角地区企业的实证研究

近年来,市场导向的企业文化被认为是企业取得竞争优势的关键因素,但外国学者的实证研究却一直怀疑这一命题。改革开放以来,我国许多企业开始引入市场导向的管理观念,然而这种观念是否以及如何影响企业的绩效?国内外学术界尚未发表以中国内地数据为基础的实证结果,也就是说我国企业倡导以市场为导向的经营理念有一定的盲目性。本文以我国珠三角地区企业等为调查对象,对市场导向是否以及如何通过组织学习和组织创新影响组织的绩效进行实证研究。结果表明(:1)市场导向并不直接影响组织的绩效(;2)市场导向对组织学习有显著的直接影响,对组织创新没有显著的直接影响(;3)组织学习对技术创新和管理创新都有显著的直接影响(;4)市场导向通过组织学习对组织创新有显著的间接影响(;5)管理创新对组织绩效有直接正面的影响,技术创新并不直接影响组织的绩效(;6)组织创新可分为管理创新和技术创新,技术创新对管理创新有显著的正面影响(;7)组织学习通过影响组织创新进而间接影响组织绩效(;8)市场导向会通过影响组织学习,进而影响组织创新,并最终影响组织的绩效。管理创新在“市场导向—组织学习—组织创新—组织绩效”链中起到了至关重要的作用,是提升组织绩效的瓶颈。     

Configuring knowledge connectivity and strategy conditions for foreign subsidiary innovation

We argue that product innovation by foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations is a complex undertaking requiring a theoretical understanding of how managers combine subsidiary structural arrangements, knowledge connectivity, and contextual conditions into configurations that yield innovative products. Accordingly, we integrate relevant conditions from interrelated literature streams and explore their complementarities and substitutions in relation to subsidiary product innovation. Using a neo-configurational approach and data on 183 foreign subsidiaries operating in Europe, we identify six equifinal configurations associated with subsidiary product innovation. We leverage the configurational patterns to elaborate theory of how subsidiary product innovation is primarily driven by the interrelations among the relevant conditions, thus contributing novel insights to research on subsidiary management and global innovation.     

The Consolations of Organization Theory

The call for greater relevance in management research leads us to examine the remedies offered by organization theory to organizational problems. In contrast to Starkey and Madan (2001), we argue that research engagement with other academic disciplines helps produce broadly useful knowledge. Installing practitioners in central places in the research process may focus research on short-run rather than deep-seated processes. We illustrate the relevance of organization theory through two examples of how apparently esoteric knowledge (produced through cross-disciplinary collaboration) can have surprising application. First we show how the social network perspective proved useful in rescuing a manager from the perils of unpopularity. Second, we show how deconstruction can uncover the institutionalized routines that disempower managers and workers. Neither the management training centers nor the web-based learning initiatives admired by Starkey and Madan are likely to deliver insights that address deep-seated processes of change within society. Collaboration with academics across the university can further our goals of research relevant to practitioners.     

Supply Chain Knowledge and Performance: A Meta‐Analysis

Many firms make significant investments into developing and managing knowledge within their supply chains. Such investments are often prudent because studies indicate that supply chain knowledge (SCK) has a positive influence on performance. Key questions still surround the SCK–performance relationship, however. First, what is the overall relationship between SCK and performance? Second, under what conditions is the relationship stronger or weaker? To address these questions, we applied meta‐analysis to 35 studies of the SCK–performance relationship that collectively include more than 8,400 firms. Our conservative estimate is that the effect size of the overall relationship is  = .39. We also find that the SCK–performance relationship is stronger when (i) examining operational performance, (ii) gathering data from more than one supply chain node, (iii) gathering data from multiple countries, (iv) examining service industries, and (v) among more recently published studies. We also found that studies that embraced a single theory base (as opposed to using multiple ones) had a stronger SCK–performance relationship. Looking to the future, our meta‐analysis highlights the need for studies to (i) include lags between the measurement of SCK and performance, (ii) gather upstream data when examining innovation, (iii) examine SCK within emerging countries, and (iv) provide much more information relative to the nuances of the SCK examined.     

跨国公司全球学习——新角度审视跨国公司

全球经济环境正日益显现出动态、复杂、不确定性特征,顺应这一特征,全球学习能力成为跨国公司赢得竞争优势的关键。全球学习过程主要通过各子公司自主灵活的学习,创造新知识,并迅速有效地在整个跨国公司内部进行传递与整合来实现。本文着重分析了跨国公司海外子公司角色的转变,跨国知识流动的基本模式,以及影响流动的主要因素,进而指出跨国网络结构是支持其全球学习行为的组织选择。本文认为,与传统的跨国公司理论相比,全球学习理论对跨国公司行为的新变化更具解释力,也能够为应对经济全球化的中国企业带来新的启示。     

Integrating Knowledge through Information Trading: Examining the Relationship between Boundary Spanning Communication and Individual Performance*

With the global penetration of Internet technologies, individuals may now cross organizational boundaries to communicate efficiently with others regardless of time and space. Thus, when looking for help in solving work tasks, knowledge workers may just as easily contact individuals in rival firms across the globe as a coworker sitting at the next desk. As a result, management faces questions such as (1) How should firms manage employees' knowledge‐sourcing activities when they span both intra‐organizational and extra‐organizational boundaries, and (2) What is the relationship between different knowledge‐sourcing activities and individual performance? Grounded in the knowledge‐based view of the firm, we investigate these questions using data from Europe's largest information technology (IT) services and management consulting company. Our results provide evidence that organizations should support boundary spanning and knowledge sourcing from both internal and external sources. Results suggest (1) a positive relationship between boundary spanning communication and creativity and general performance, and (2) a negative relationship between a reliance on colocated coworkers as knowledge sources and creativity.     

双元文化、创新战略与科技企业创业绩效:一个知识流的视角

运用组织双元理论、战略管理理论和认知学习理论,构建了一个基于知识流动过程的双元文化机制、创新战略与科技企业创业绩效的关系框架,通过介入网络结构和领导调节因子来观察双元性三种前因机制的共同作用过程。对长江三角洲科技园区的283家小微创业型科技企业进行了实证调查,采用SPSS和AMOS软件进行统计分析,结果表明:双元文化通过改善企业创新战略的均衡实施来提高其创业绩效,其对突破及利润导向的战略行为均有正向影响;网络关系强度和权力距离在双元文化与创新战略之间产生调节作用,网络关系强度对利润导向行为产生正向调节,权力距离对利润导向行为的影响不显著,它们对突破导向行为均呈负向调节。研究将双元视角引入到组织与战略关系研究当中,对信息时代下的中国科技企业创业创新有一定的指导意义。