The influence of cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence on conflict occurrence and performance in global virtual teams

The role of different types of intelligence in the occurrence of conflict in global virtual teams (GVTs) has largely been overlooked in the literature. As suggested by the theory of multiple intelligences, this study explores how cultural intelligence (CQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) influence the occurrence of interpersonal, task and process conflicts in GVTs. Furthermore, by drawing on the contingency theory of task conflict and performance in groups and organisational teams, we examine the impact of these different types of conflict on the performance of GVTs. Utilising multilevel analysis, we tested the research model using a sample of 810 graduate and undergraduate business students from 38 different countries who worked in 232 GVTs. The results show that the CQ and EQ of the team members reduce the occurrence of the three different intragroup conflicts in GVTs. We also demonstrate that process conflict negatively affects GVT performance. We discuss the implications for research and practice.     

Routines and transactive memory systems: Creating,coordinating, retaining,and transferring knowledge in organizations

This chapter compares and contrasts the effects of two knowledge repositories, routines and transactive memory systems (TMSs), on knowledge creation, coordination, retention and transfer. We provide overviews of research on the two knowledge repositories, with particular attention to how they form and change. We then discuss the relationship between routines and TMSs. We also compare and contrast routines and TMSs in terms of their capabilities to promote knowledge creation, coordination, retention and transfer in organizations. Routines can transfer across organizations, and they are resilient to member turnover. Although routines can be a source of inertia, they can also enable change. TMSs are susceptible to member turnover and are not easily transferred to other organizations. TMSs promote innovation and are particularly valuable under conditions of uncertainty. We argue that TMSs and routines are reciprocally related. Routines can seed TMSs and TMSs can crystalize into routines. We hope that our chapter stimulates future research on the interrelationship between routines and TMSs and their effects on knowledge creation, coordination, retention, and transfer in organizations.     

Peer performance evaluations in global virtual teams: A longitudinal analysis of surface- and deep-level attributes

Most research on peer performance evaluations (PPEs) has been conducted using co-located teams, assuming that PPEs are static, and focusing on the effects of PPEs, while ignoring how attributes of the evaluated individual influence PPEs, and if PPEs may vary over time. The present study advances this line of research by applying theory on impression formation and Tuckman's team stages model to explore the varying relevance of surface-level and deep-level individual attributes on PPEs across the team's life, and specifically in the context of global virtual teams (GVTs). We used longitudinal data across ten weeks of 831 individuals from 34 countries working in 239 different GVTs. We found that surface-level attributes, such as age and home country reputation, affect PPEs in the early stages of the team project, while the deep-level attributes, such as cognitive ability and English language proficiency, influence PPEs in the late phase of a GVT's life. We also found that cultural intelligence impacts PPEs relatively early on, and emotional intelligence is only relevant for PPEs when the GVT hits critical turning points, while gender influences PPEs throughout the project. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings and provide directions for future research on PPEs in GVTs.     

Brokering knowledge: Linking learning and innovation

This paper presents a model of innovation, knowledge brokering, that explains how some organizations are able to routinely innovate by recombining their past knowledge in new ways. While existing theories of organizational learning and innovation are useful, the links between them are crucial for understanding how existing knowledge becomes the raw materials from which individuals in organizations construct innovative solutions. This model develops these links by grounding processes of learning and innovation in the larger social context within which they occur. Using a microsociological perspective, this article draws together research spanning levels of analysis to explain innovation as the dissembling and reassembling of extant ideas, artifacts, and people. Previous research has suggested that firms spanning multiple domains may innovate by moving ideas from where they are known to where they are not, in the process creating new combinations of existing ideas. This paper more fully develops this process by linking the cognitive, social, and structural activities it comprises. Knowledge brokering involves exploiting the preconditions for innovation that reside within the larger social structure by bridging multiple domains, learning about the resources within those domains, linking that knowledge to new situations, and finally building new networks around the innovations that emerge from the process. This article also considers the origins of knowledge brokers as firms committed to this innovation strategy, the structural and cultural supports for the knowledge brokering process, and several obstacles to the process that these firms experience. Finally, I discuss the implications of this model for further research on innovation and learning, and the implications for other organizations seeking to establish their own capabilities for brokering knowledge.     

Darwinism,organizational evolution and survival: key challenges for future research

How do social organizations evolve? How do they adapt to environmental pressures? What resources and capabilities determine their survival within dynamic competition? Charles Darwin’s seminal work The Origin of Species (1859) has provided a significant impact on the development of the management and organization theory literatures on organizational evolution. This article introduces the JMG Special Issue focused on Darwinism, organizational evolution and survival. We discuss key themes in the organizational evolution research that have emerged in recent years. These include the increasing adoption of the co-evolutionary approach, with a particular focus on the definition of appropriate units of analysis, such as routines, and related challenges associated with exploring the relationship between co-evolution, re-use of knowledge, adaptation, and exaptation processes. We then introduce the three articles that we have finally accepted in this Special Issue after an extensive, multi-round, triple blind-review process. We briefly outline how each of these articles contributes to understanding among scholars, practitioners and policy makers of the continuous evolutionary processes within and among social organizations and systems.     

Building Bridges in Global Virtual Teams: The Role of Multicultural Brokers in Overcoming the Negative Effects of Identity Threats on Knowledge Sharing Across Subgroups

Global virtual teams experience difficulties in knowledge sharing, often related to identity threats that emerge across subgroups. In this conceptual paper we adopt the integrative model of subgroup relations to explore the role of multicultural brokers, i.e. team members or leaders who transcend different cultural boundaries and help to bridge differences among colleagues in different subgroups, in positively influencing the relationship between identity threats and knowledge sharing. We propose that identity threats across subgroups of global virtual teams have a negative impact on knowledge sharing quality and quantity. We contend that the presence of multicultural brokers help alleviate the negative effects of identity threats over knowledge sharing through a curvilinear moderating effect. We further propose that role (leader versus member), type of appointment (formal versus emergent), situated coworker familiarity with different subgroup members, and level of cultural intelligence of the multicultural broker play unique moderating roles on the relationship between identity threats and knowledge sharing quality and quantity. Our research offers theoretical contribution to the literature on subgroup relationships and knowledge sharing in global virtual teams and practical implications for managers and MNEs, helping guide management efforts.     

Exploring how complex solution-based capabilities (CSC) are developed and integrated in engineering companies

Abstract

This paper explores how engineering companies develop and integrate solution-based capabilities for complex ‘one-off’ or small-batch production. Although there is extant literature on developing a stand-alone service, product and process capabilities, an integrated solution-based capability for effective execution of complex ‘design-build’ projects is currently underdeveloped. For such firms to be successful in delivering complex solutions, there is the need for organisational structured routines and processes which we conceptualise as complex solution-based capabilities (CSC). The study was based on a multiple case study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with managers and engineers. Primary data collected were complemented by documentary evidence, for triangulation and validity. The data were analysed using thematic analysis to develop a framework of CSC. The findings show that the case study companies have developed and integrated CSC through organisational routines and processes of make-to-concept approach, value creation and strategic coordination. Implications and future research are discussed.     

Inclusive innovation and the role of technological capability-building: The social business Grameen Danone Foods Limited in Bangladesh

This article examines how a least developed country-based social business first creates operational capabilities (OCs) and then, over time, builds innovative capabilities (ICs) to fulfil a social need, be self-sustainable and achieve inclusive innovation. This relationship is examined in Bangladesh's Grameen Danone Foods Limited (GDFL) by integrating the technological capability and inclusive innovation theoretical frameworks and by using data gathered through extensive fieldwork. Broadly, our findings show how GDFL built and accumulated basic and intermediate ICs to undertake innovative activities in all areas of operation. Specifically, our findings scrutinize the process in which a social business develops and organizes its resources to initially build OCs and engage in the creation of ICs through various learning mechanisms to deliver inclusive innovation. From this process, we also observe a set of unpredicted positive spillovers to the community, which expands the inclusiveness effect. The findings also suggest that having a social orientation, triggers the use of different resources from within and outside the firm to achieve inclusive innovation. We conclude by discussing the study's implications for scholars, policy-makers and managers of multinational's social businesses. We also highlight future research areas, and crucially those related to key emerging conceptual limitations of inclusive innovation and development.     

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Value Creation among Large Firms: Lessons from the Spanish Experience

Can corporate social responsibility (CSR) be a source of good and a wellspring of innovation, competitive advantage and value creation for the firm? Although CEOs and government leaders insist in public that CSR projects create value for the firm, privately they admit that they do not know if CSR pays off. To address this question and drawing on experience for the Spanish context, we test one of the few efforts to model how the strategic management of CSR may contribute to improving firm profitability (Burke and Logsdon, 1996). To do this, we examine the impact of three strategic CSR variables – visibility, appropriability, and voluntarism – on value creation among large Spanish corporations. The conclusions from these findings suggest that managers need to understand how CSR is similar to and different from other traditional corporate market activities if they are to pursue value creation through CSR. We also suggest avenues for future research to explain how CSR may be integrated into firm processes to create resources (assets) and capabilities (routines) that may lead to competitive advantage and superior economic performance.     

Pre-merger acquisition capabilities: A study of two successful serial acquirers

The aim of this paper is to provide new insights into the pre-merger phase of M&A. It examines capabilities of serial acquirers, that is, expertise and routines. This is done by conducting a study of two successful serial acquirers. The study identifies and describes what elements expertise and routines consist of and how they are related, explaining how both are needed for a successful pre-merger phase. Moreover, it consolidates present knowledge on expertise and routines in the pre-merger phase and adds new empirical and theoretical insights. The result is the pre-merger capability typology showing in a fine-grained manner which capabilities and elements are important. Arguably, the study provides a holistic view of acquisition capabilities of successful serial acquirers in the pre-merger phase.     

Cognition and Capabilities: A Multi-Level Perspective

Research on managerial cognition and on organizational capabilities has essentially developed in two parallel tracks. We know much from the resource-based view about the relationship between capabilities and organizational performance. Separately, managerial cognition scholars have shown how interpretations of the environment shape organizational responses. Only recently have scholars begun to link the two sets of insights. These new links suggest that routines and capabilities are based in particular understandings about how things should be done, that the value of these capabilities is subject to interpretation, and that even the presence of capabilities may be useless without managerial interpretations of their match to the environment. This review organizes these emerging insights in a multi-level cognitive model of capability development and deployment. The model focuses on the recursive processes of constructing routines (capability building blocks), assembling routines into capabilities, and matching capabilities to perceived opportunities. To date, scholars have focused most attention on the organizational-level process of matching. Emerging research on the microfoundations of routines contributes to the micro-level of analysis. The lack of research on capability assembly leaves the field without a bridge connecting the macro and micro levels. The model offers suggestions for research directions to address these challenges.     

Replication of Routines in Organizations: Existing Literature and New Perspectives

Replication of existing routines in new contexts is an important value‐creating strategy for organizations. This paper synthesizes the state of research on replication and organizes the literature around two broad themes: forward knowledge flows (i.e. from a replicator to a replicatee) and reverse knowledge flows. The authors show that the theoretical assumptions of existing research leave important questions around the replication of routines unaddressed. More specifically, they identify research gaps in regard to micro‐level processes of replication. Little is understood about the performance of routines in practice and, related to that, the processes through which routines change during replication. Drawing on recent theorizing on organizational routines, in particular the relationship between the ostensive and performative aspects, helps the authors to unpack the micro‐level processes of forward and reverse knowledge flows. This paper opens two new trajectories for research on replication: (1) a focus on the actions of individual actors in the enactment of organizational routines provides new possibilities for understanding how replication is an inherently political process; (2) conceptualizing change as endogenous within the performance of routines offers a route to a more nuanced understanding of change and deviation in the process of replication. The paper closes with a summary of major theoretical arguments, questions for further research and implications for practitioners.     

Working Across Boundaries: Current and Future Perspectives on Global Virtual Teams

Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) are a commonplace in contemporary organizations, and an already established topic of research in international management. While we have a good understanding of advantages and challenges associated with this ubiquitous form of work groups, this special issue aims to contribute to theory development by focusing on key drivers that influence the success of GVTs, along with ways for mitigating their challenges. We briefly review current knowledge on GVTs and propose a structuring framework that can help with both organizing what we know about GVTs, and with guiding the conversation on where the research on this topic might focus next. We then introduce four special issue articles that illustrate avenues for generating new empirical evidence towards uncovering key characteristics and dynamics underlying GVTs complexities, providing useful insights for both theory development and managerial practice.     

Structural determinants of team performance: the mutual influences of learning culture,creativity, and knowledge

This study examined the effects of supportive learning culture, team creativity, and collaborative knowledge creating practices on team performance. A survey was used to collect data from a total of 228 knowledge workers from nine Korean organizations. Analyses included measuring item internal consistency, validating proposed constructs, and examining structural relationships using Structural Equation Modelling. The proposed research model was validated in terms of item internal consistency and a model-fit in the Korean business context. Supportive learning culture had a positive and direct influence on team creativity and on the teams' collaborative knowledge creation practices; however, it had an indirect influence on the team performance through the variables of team creativity and knowledge creation practices. In the conclusion, limitations, implications, and further research suggestions are discussed.     

Strategies for Knowledge Creation in Firms *

We extend the knowledge‐based view by providing an explanation of how firms develop the capability to create knowledge. We take the view that firms are distributed knowledge systems composed of individuals who embody knowledge, and theoretically identify and empirically test the existence and effectiveness of two strategies – organization and project team – that promote their interactions to develop this capability. On the one hand, building on what we call the organization‐level innovation literature, we identify the organization strategy, which suggests investment in organization‐level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals situated in different parts of the system, independently of when a knowledge‐creation task is established and individuals are organized to create knowledge. On the other hand, building on what we call the team‐level innovation literature, we identify the project team strategy, which suggests investment in project team‐level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals once a knowledge‐creation task is defined and individuals are placed into teams to create knowledge. The two strategies are substitute approaches for the development of the capability, although the organization strategy appears to better predict outcomes of the capability. However, this approach might be more costly, so not all managers will choose to follow it.     

产学研合作对学术团队建设影响的实证研究——团队特征差异的调节效应检验

本文从学术团队核心能力建设的动态角度,利用广东省高校学术团队的数据,从产学研合作的广度和深度两个维度,研究探讨了产学研合作对学术团队核心能力影响的作用机理,深入剖析了学术团队的研究偏好、成员的互补性等团队特征的差异性特征对该影响作用的调节效应。研究结果表明,产学研合作对学术团队的建设具有积极的影响,产学研合作会对学术团队建设的正式化和学习能力产生正向的影响,而产学研合作的深度较广度相比,会对学术团队的学习能力影响更为突出。当进一步考虑到学术团队特征的异质性时,产学研合作对学术团队建设的影响效应也将随学术团队特征的异质性而体现出内在的差异性。其中,学术团队的研究偏好与产学研合作项目越匹配,产学研合作将有助于提升团队的学习能力。而学术团队人员的互补性越强,产学研合作广度的增加将有利于形成团队的互动与逐渐正式化,随着团队产学研合作深度的增加,其对学术团队文化氛围的影响也就越有利。     

Leveraging tacit knowledge in alliances: The importance of using relational capabilities to build and leverage relational capital

Effectively managing existing tacit knowledge stocks and transferring knowledge between partners contributes to firm capabilities that allow them to differentiate their goods and services from those of their competitors. Because it also helps them to provide greater value to customers, it contributes to the development of a competitive advantage. In highly competitive industries, firms need to focus on proactively managing their knowledge resources to ensure survival. However, the knowledge management process is at times complex especially because of the difficulty involved in conveying tacit knowledge. Due to its latent potential for enabling firms to achieve potential competitive advantage, how firms utilize and transfer stocks of tacit knowledge requires enhanced understanding. In specific, we explain how firms use relational capabilities to build relational capital with partners. In turn, relational capital facilitates the transfer of tacit knowledge between collaborating partners. We develop several propositions regarding the factors likely to influence the transfer of a firm's tacit knowledge resources in strategic alliances. The importance of social capital's relational dimension, relational capital, in this process is highlighted.     

团队社会资本与知识转移关系的实证研究:交互记忆系统的中介作用

团队社会资本被认为是促进团队知识转移的关键因素,但已有研究对社会资本如何影响团队知识转移的作用机理还缺乏系统的理论分析和实证研究。本文引入交互记忆系统作为中介变量,对社会资本是否通过交互记忆系统对团队知识转移产生影响进行实证研究。基于对23家软件外包承接企业的93个项目团队的问卷调查数据,通过结构方程模型方法发现,交互记忆系统在社会资本与团队知识转移的关系中发挥显著的完全中介作用,团队通过社会资本促进交互记忆系统的形成,是提高知识转移绩效的有效途径。