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Understanding the role of representation in interorganizational knowledge integration: A case study of an IT outsourcing project
Abstract
Purpose
The current paper aims at contributing to the understanding of interorganizational knowledge integration by highlighting the role of individuals' understandings of the task and how they shape knowledge integrating behaviours.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a framework of knowledge integration as heedful interrelating. Knowledge integration is conceptualized as help seeking, help giving and reflective reframing, and the paper discusses how these knowledge integrating behaviors are shaped by actors' representations of the situation and their role in it. The framework is illustrated and refined in relation to a qualitative case study of an IT outsourcing project.
Findings
Narrow and separating representations of actors' roles, partly based on institutionalized ideas of the proper behaviors of “buyers” and “suppliers”, impede knowledge integration. Such representations render the knowledge integrating behaviors help seeking, help giving and reflective reframing illegitimate.
Research limitations/implications
Results call for attention to actors' representations of the situation and their role in it in order to understand knowledge integration. The interorganizational setting, with its institutionalized roles, provides unique challenges that need to be investigated further. As findings are based on a single case study, further research needs to extend the findings to other kinds of interorganizational collaboration.
Originality/value
The paper adds to the understanding of interorganizational knowledge integration by drawing attention to the importance of individual actors' representations and behaviors. Hereby, the dominant organizational and network levels of analysis in the literature on interorganizational knowledge integration are complemented by an individual level of analysis.
... For example, objectives (M. T. Hansen, 1999;Kalling, 2003a;Nickerson & Zenger, 2004;Nonaka, 1994;Ramesh & Tiwana, 1999;Simon, 1947;Spender, 1996), goals (Becker & Zirpoli, 2003;Brusoni et al., 2021;Ceci & Prencipe, 2017;Grant, 1996b;Johansson et al., 2011;Okhuysen & Eisenhardt, 2002;Postrel, 2017;Tsai & Ghoshal, 1998;Tsoukas & Vladimirou, 2001; Van de Ven & Zahra, 2017;Werr & Runsten, 2013;Willem et al., 2008;Zahra et al., 2020), purpose (L. Bengtsson et al., 2011;Tell et al., 2017a), mission (Huber, 1991;Rauniar et al., 2019;Tsoukas, 1996), and aspiration (Winter, 2000). ...
... First are conflicts of interest within the boundaries of a firm, often referred to as 'intra-firm' collaboration problems (Adler & Kwon, 2002;Andersson & Berggren, 2011;Bhandar et al., 2007;Lindkvist et al., 2011;Newell et al., 2004;Postrel, 2017;Runsten & Werr, 2020;Söderlund & Bredin, 2011;Söderlund & Tell, 2011;Willem et al., 2008). Secondly, there is research which focus on conflicts of interest beyond the boundaries of a specific firm, often referred to as 'inter-firm' collaboration problems Bergek et al., 2011;Johansson et al., 2011;Swan & Scarbrough, 2005;Werr & Runsten, 2013). ...
... Firms can be expected to attempt to apply a cost-benefit logic in such decisions (L. Bengtsson et al., 2017;Grandori, 2001;Werr & Runsten, 2013;Williamson, 1981). Note, however, that the implications of such cost-benefit judgments may transcend an agreement with a specific supplier. ...
This book offers new insights into the process by which individuals in
a firm combine their knowledge to create new products and services.
Typically, previous research have attempted to explain the management
of knowledge integration through the perspective of how various
problem characteristics make a problem more or less difficult to solve.
In contrast, this study explores the strategic dimension of knowledge
integration as a process of a purposeful combination of knowledge.
|| The study was undertaken with a case study research design, in which
the single case (“Omega”) was a joint venture between two participants
in the automotive industry. The purpose of Omega was to develop and
commercialize active safety technology for advanced driver assistance
systems (‘ADAS‘) and autonomous driving (‘AD‘), colloquially referred
to as ‘self-driving cars.’
|| A central theme in the empirical material was that individuals appeared to synthesize three thematic kinds of knowledge (technological, organizational, and commercial) to solve problems in alignment with the objectives of Omega. Moreover, this kind of knowledge typically involved references to both firm-specific and industry-specific aspects of how to manage knowledge integration. This prompted the approach of applying additional theory regarding the business idea (including business models) and industry recipe in a knowledge integration framework. The resulting analysis produced several findings which are quite novel, relative to prior research on knowledge integration. First, the study explores the knowledge-foundation of the business idea and the industry recipe. Second, the study illustrates how this kind of knowledge was applied by individuals for the purpose of solving problems in alignment with the objectives of a firm. Third, the novel
concepts of ‘business idea evolution’ and ‘industry recipe evolution’ were developed to capture how such knowledge was observed to continually evolve during the Omega-case. Fourth, the approach of applying literature on the business idea, business model, and industry recipe in a knowledge integration framework was found to have benefits in both directions.
|| The resulting picture is a more strategic perspective on the management of knowledge integration. A conclusion from this study, therefore, is that the conventional approach of studying the influence from various problem characteristics (the ‘characteristic-driven mode’) needs to be complemented by an alternative mode of explaining the management of knowledge integration: the ‘objective-driven mode.’ In this objective-driven mode, a firm’s ‘strategic context’ (i.e., the objectives and the circumstances for achieving these objectives) is central to the question of how and how not to integrate knowledge effectively.
... To protect their interests from being impaired, managers are likely to encourage employees to unite in the face of intense competition (Wieseke et al., 2012). A shared understanding of the pressure caused by intense competition enables employees to involve themselves in the task of integrating their individual knowledge more productively and actively (Werr & Runsten, 2013). Internal knowledge integration is mainly based on frequent contact, knowledge transfer, and knowledge sharing among employees (Enberg, 2012;Salunke et al., 2019). ...
New product development (NPD) is essential for the growth and success of firms facing intense competition. The pathways through which competitive intensity affects NPD have not been adequately examined. This study addresses the gaps by developing a research model investigating the relationships between competitive intensity, knowledge integration, organizational unlearning, and NPD outcomes (innovativeness and speed) and the contingency effect of firm size. Survey data from 242 Chinese firms reveal that competitive intensity is positively associated with knowledge integration and organizational unlearning, and these relationships are moderated by firm size. Firm size strengthens the competitive intensity and knowledge integration relationship and weakens the competitive intensity and organizational unlearning relationship. Comparing the relative effects of knowledge integration and organizational unlearning on NPD outcomes shows that knowledge integration has a stronger relationship with NPD speed than with NPD innovativeness. Organizational unlearning has a stronger relationship with NPD innovativeness than with NPD speed.
... The organizational capital is maintained in the structures and processes of an organization, which strives to preserve, use and retrieve the information of the company, for which these entities need specific knowledge, skills and abilities to be able to integrate and generate the utilities (Lee, Kim, & Joshi, 2017). Werr & Runsten (2013) point out that, in order for this knowledge integration process to take place, it is necessary to store information and daily experiences, so that they are part of the daily reports of the organizational processes. By socializing all this collective knowledge, it becomes clear that the mistakes that have been incurred before, will no longer be repeated, and managers will be in more favorable conditions to capitalize on this knowledge. ...
The objective of this research is to measure the effects of intellectual capital (human, organizational and technological) on financial performance. The data belong to the economic censuses of the years 2009 and 2014 in the field of tourism, with information on hotel activities in the 32 states of the Mexican Republic. The least squares methodology was applied with adjusted panel-type errors, analyzing the human, organizational and technological influence on financial performance. The results suggest that in the first place there is the technological dimension, as it is significant in its two indicators in relation to financial performance. Second, there is the human, with two of two significant indicators. Finally, the organizational one, with one of three significant indicators in relation to the dependent variable. According to the hypotheses, technological capitals and the human capital establish a significant and positive effect with financial performance. However, intellectual capital, jointly, does strengthen finances. This work contributes, with empirical evidence, to establishing links between the different types of intangibles and financial performance, as well as helping to understand the drivers of financial performance and therefore a sustainable competitive advantage.
... To protect their interests from being impaired, managers are likely to encourage employees to unite in the face of intense competition (Wieseke et al., 2012). A shared understanding of the pressure caused by intense competition enables employees to involve themselves in the task of integrating their individual knowledge more productively and actively (Werr & Runsten, 2013). Internal knowledge integration is mainly based on frequent contact, knowledge transfer, and knowledge sharing among employees (Enberg, 2012;Salunke et al., 2019). ...
... To protect their interests from being impaired, managers are likely to encourage employees to unite in the face of intense competition (Wieseke et al., 2012). A shared understanding of the pressure caused by intense competition enables employees to involve themselves in the task of integrating their individual knowledge more productively and actively (Werr & Runsten, 2013). Internal knowledge integration is mainly based on frequent contact, knowledge transfer, and knowledge sharing among employees (Enberg, 2012;Salunke et al., 2019). ...
... Clear roles and responsibilities decrease ambiguity and complexity in collaborative efforts (Hassan, 2013;Sarkar et al., 1998;Vangen & Huxham, 2003). To create CRR, at the outset of such efforts, members from participating organizations work to understand their roles and the expectations of other organizations (Davies & White, 2012;Kegerise, 1999;Wakerman & Mitchell, 2005;Werr & Runsten, 2013). In governmental contexts, CRR among participating organizations has been found to help achieve collaborative goals by reducing uncertainty and facilitating trust building among the members of CBIS initiatives (Pardo, Cresswell, et al., 2006). ...
Previous research has shown that clarity of roles and responsibilities (CRR) influences the performance of individual organizations as well as inter-organizational efforts. In the context of cross-boundary information sharing (CBIS), CRR has been found to enable other important determinants of success, such as building trust among members, increasing their willingness to participate, and mitigating some of their concerns about security, among others. However, few studies have attempted to understand the determinants of CRR in government CBIS initiatives. Sayogo, Gil-Garcia, and Cronemberger's (2016) analysis of results of a national survey identified three significant determinants of CRR in CBIS, (1) the extent participants use boundary objects, (2) participant skills in terms of collaboration, coordination, and communication, and (3) the diversity of the participating organizations and their goals. Seeking to expand on their findings in terms of new understanding about the influence of significant determinants of CRR in CBIS, this study draws on findings from eight U.S. state and local government public health and criminal justice CBIS cases. This study contributes to existing knowledge about CBIS in the public sector by characterizing the determinants and providing new understanding of the nature of the influence of the determinants of CRR on CBIS. In particular, it shows how the extent of boundary object use, collaboration, and the diversity of participants affect CBIS initiatives in different contexts. In practical terms, creating new understanding of the determinants of CRR has value for public managers and their leadership as they must increasingly collaborate and share information across the boundaries of organizations in the process solving increasingly complex public problems.
... Studies of micro-systems, either in the form of groups or meetings, shows that the variation in the degree of knowledge integration is high, both from quantitative and qualitative perspectives (Wheelan, 2005;Losada & Heaphy, 2004;Edmondson, 1999;Rico et al., 2008;Runsten, 2011;Werr & Runsten, 2013). Lately, these variations in the quality of micro-systems have started to be termed collective intelligence (see below under ...
The underlying change driving an increased use of groups and teams for coordination is the increasing specialization, and the number of experts and specialists needing to come together and coordinate. This, in turn, drives complexity, and the only way for organizations to deal with complexity in the long run is by intelligence, that is intelligent coordination. Essential in this intelligent coordination of organizations will be the group level. Teams or micro-systems is the operational unit in which the organization’s need of coordination becomes dependent of the intelligence, behavior, emotional and social skills of individuals. These factors create a variance in collective intelligence. Average collective intelligence at micro-system level is therefore a fairly new way of describing organizational performance. The purpose of this report, which is a literature review, is to give an overview of how collective intelligence at micro-system level has been defined, how it relates to organizational performance, what factors have been identified as causing variance and what types of interventions at team level have been discussed. A total of 92 articles and two dissertations were selected based on a search of EBSCO/Business Source Premier.
... The current study follows the latter, and measures absorptive capacity as an internal meta-routine in the recipient organization in terms of structures and cross-functional venues that enable employees to expose variations between fresh knowledge and existing practices. Furthermore, an internal meta-routine consists of individual boundary-spanner roles; that is, people who have access to different milieus within the organizations, which enable them to set learning agendas (Werr and Runsten, 2013). The extant research has identified a positive relationship between various facets of absorptive capacity and knowledge transfer across external boundaries (Awang et al., 2013;Chang et al., 2012;McIver et al., 2013), as well as transfer of best practice across units within a single organization (Szulanski, 1996). ...
Purpose
– This purpose of this article is to contribute to the research on the role of individual and group-level autonomy and absorptive capacity for inter-organizational knowledge transfer.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study investigated a field sample of 274 individual participants in 82 groups who were taking part in a large-scale benchmarking project in the Norwegian public sector. Hypotheses were developed and tested by using multiple regression, structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling and included an empirical test of moderator effects.
Findings
– The findings suggest that individual and group autonomy, along with individual experiences of absorptive capacity, supports complementarily inter-organizational knowledge transfer.
Research limitations/implications
– The study reinforces the idea that individual and group autonomy are enabling conditions for knowledge transfer from project settings to parent organizations. Absorptive capacity, in line with more recent theorizing, is conceived of and measured as an organizational meta-routine, and we recommend replication of this study in various multi-level settings using longitudinal designs.
Practical implications
– The study encourages managers to focus on distributing powers to individual facilitation and boundary-spanning roles and on creating cross-functional venues that promote the sharing of knowledge across different organizational units. The study also recommends that practitioners pay attention to the prominent role of autonomy at both the individual and group levels to support the dissemination of knowledge across boundaries.
Originality/value
– The study provides empirical evidence regarding the simultaneous role of individual autonomy, group autonomy and absorptive capacity that together provide the explanatory power required for knowledge transfer in inter-organizational settings.
... The current study follows the latter, and measures absorptive capacity as an internal meta-routine in the recipient organization in terms of structures and cross-functional venues that enable employees to expose variations between fresh knowledge and existing practices. Furthermore, an internal meta-routine consists of individual boundary-spanner roles; that is, people who have access to different milieus within the organizations, which enable them to set learning agendas (Werr and Runsten, 2013). The extant research has identified a positive relationship between various facets of absorptive capacity and knowledge transfer across external boundaries (Awang et al., 2013;Chang et al., 2012;McIver et al., 2013), as well as transfer of best practice across units within a single organization (Szulanski, 1996). ...
Drawing on identity theory, empowering leadership, and justice, this study investigates the link between organizational identification and bricolage, and the moderating role of leader's empowering style and interactional justice. Data were collected through a survey on 231 individuals in a media production company. Results supported the research model, illustrating that organizational identification positively predicts individual bricolage, and that the support from the leader, in the form of empowerment and interactive justice, makes this relationship stronger. Robustness checks were carried out, collecting additional longitudinal data from different industries with respect to the main study, and the supplementary analysis corroborated the research model.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic picture of how and to what extent Cohen and Levinthal’s (1990) seminal article on absorptive capacity was used in knowledge management (KM) and intellectual capital (IC) research from 1990 to 2013.
Design/methodology/approach
– In this paper, 186 articles extracted from eight KM and IC journals were reviewed by conducting both content and text analyses. To facilitate research comparison, content analysis followed the method used by Roberts et al. (2012) and thus was based on categories, conceptualizations, levels of analysis and, additionally, temporal evolution of absorptive capacity from 1990 to 2013 was looked at. Text analysis was performed to identify major research themes developing the absorptive capacity construct.
Findings
– Finding showed that absorptive capacity was largely underdeveloped in the KM and IC fields. KM, knowledge transfer and innovation were the top three research areas investigating absorptive capacity in the KM and IC fields.
Research limitations/implications
– This study had limitations related to time frame, covering a period from April 1990 to November 2013, and accessibility of articles due to specific restrictions in journal subscriptions.
Originality/value
– This paper is a first attempt to review absorptive capacity in KM and IC research. It represented a primary reference for those interested to research absorptive capacity in the KM and IC fields.
Research on entrepreneurship in professional services is rather limited. We argue that one reason why the two fields of professional services and entrepreneurship have operated in isolation rather than in mutual interaction is an inherent contradiction between
the very ideas of entrepreneurship and professionalism. Our perspective on entrepreneurship for this chapter is rather broad, focusing on new venture management
and renewal in professional service firms as well as embracing aspects such as learning,
innovation, and institutional change. Our chapter reviews previous work on entrepreneurship in professional services from three levels of analysis – the entrepreneurial team, the entrepreneurial firm, and finally the organizational field within which the creation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities take place.
Research into the management of interorganizational relationships has hitherto primarily focused on problems of coordination, control and to a lesser extent, legitimacy. In this article, we assert that partners cooperating in such relationships are also confronted with ‘problems of understanding’. Such problems arise from differences between partners in terms of culture, experience, structure and industry, and from the uncertainty and ambiguity that participants in interorganizational relationships experience in early stages of collaboration. Building on Karl Weick’s theory of sensemaking, we advance that participants in interorganizational relationships use formalization as a means to make sense of their partners, the interorganizational relationships in which they are engaged and the contexts in which these are embedded so as to diminish problems of understanding. We offer a systematic overview of the mechanisms through which formalization facilitates sensemaking, including: (1) focusing participants’ attention; (2) provoking articulation, deliberation and reflection; (3) instigating and maintaining interaction; and (4) reducing judgment errors and individual biases, and diminishing incompleteness and inconsistency of cognitive representations. In this way, the article contributes to a better understanding of the relationships between formalization and sensemaking in collaborative relationships, and it carries Karl Weick’s thinking on the relationship between sensemaking and organizing forward in the context of interorganizational management.
Abstract Although social interactions and exchanges between partners are emphasized,as imperative for alliance success, comprehensive examination of how social exchanges facilitate learning and knowledge,transfer in strategic alliances is lacking. Drawing on social exchange theory, we examined the effects of social exchange processes between alliance partners on the ,extent of learning and knowledge transfer in a strategic alliance. An empirical examination of data collected from alliance managers of144 strategic alliances revealed that social exchanges ,such as reciprocal commitment, trust, and mutual influence between partners are positively related to learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances. Keywords: strategic alliances, interfirm learning, social exchange theory, trust,
This article examines the developmental process of cooperative interorganizational relationships (IORs) that entail transaction-specific investments in deals that cannot be fully specified or controlled by the parties in advance of their execution. A process framework is introduced that focuses on formal, legal, and informal social-psychological processes by which organizational parties jointly negotiate, commit to, and execute their relationship in ways that achieve efficient and equitable outcomes and internal solutions to conflicts when they arise. The framework is elaborated with a set of propositions that explain how and why cooperative IORs emerge, evolve. and dissolve. The propositions have academic implications for enriching interorganizational relationships, transaction cost economics. agency theories, and practical implications for managing the relationship journey.
Begins with a critical review of the literature on knowledge management, arguing that its focus on IT to create a network structure may limit its potential for encouraging knowledge sharing across social communities. Two cases of interactive innovation are contrasted. One focused almost entirely on using IT (intranet) for knowledge sharing, resulting in a plethora of independent intranets which reinforced existing organizational and social boundaries with electronic “fences”. In the other, while IT was used to provide a network to encourage sharing, there was also recognition of the importance of face-to-face interaction for sharing tacit knowledge. The emphasis was on encouraging active networking among dispersed communities, rather than relying on IT networks. Argues for a community-based model of knowledge management for interactive innovation and contrasts this with the cognitive-based view that underpins many IT-led knowledge management initiatives.
Unstable market conditions caused by innovation and increasing intensity and diversity of competition have resulted in organizational capabilities rather than served markets becoming the primary basis upon which firms establish their long-term strategies. If the strategically most important resource of the firm is knowledge, and if knowledge resides in specialized form among individual organizational members, then the essence of organizational capability is the integration of individuals' specialized knowledge.
This paper develops a knowledge-based theory of organizational capability and draws upon research into competitive dynamics, the resource-based view of the firm, organizational capabilities, and organizational learning. Central to the theory is analysis of the mechanisms through which knowledge is integrated within firms in order to create capability. The theory is used to explore firms' potential for establishing competitive advantage in dynamic market settings, including the role of firm networks under conditions of unstable linkages between knowledge inputs and product outputs. The analysis points to the difficulties in creating the “dynamic” and “flexible-response capabilities” which have been deemed critical to success in hypercompetitive markets.
In an environment where favoring organizational learning is imperative, the option of business cooperation is considered an optimal means to transmit knowledge between companies and to encourage the generation of new ones. But differences in organizational cultures of the cooperation partners can make this process difficult. Through an empirical study of small and medium-sized companies that had established international cooperation agreements during 1997 and 1998 in the Valencian community (Spain), the influence of the differences in size and in national culture of the partners in organizational learning is observed.
The purpose of this work is to develop a systematic understanding of embeddedness and organization networks. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at 23 entrepreneurial firms, I identify the components of embedded relationships and explicate the devices by which embeddedness shapes organizational and economic outcomes. The findings suggest that embeddedness is a logic of exchange that promotes economies of time, integrative agreements, Pareto improvements in allocative efficiency, and complex adaptation. These positive effects rise up to a threshold, however, after which embeddedness can derail economic performance by making firms vulnerable to exogenous shocks or insulating them from information that exists beyond their network. A framework is proposed that explains how these properties vary with the quality of social ties, the structure of the organization network, and an organization's structural position in the network.
We argue in this paper that when the knowledge base of an industry is both complex and expanding and the sources of expertise are widely dispersed, the locus of innovation will be found in networks of learning, rather than in individual firms. The large-scale reliance on interorganizational collaborations in the biotechnology industry reflects a fundamental and pervasive concern with access to knowledge. We develop a network approach to organizational learning and derive firm-level, longitudinal hypotheses that link research and development alliances, experience with managing interfirm relationships, network position, rates of growth, and portfolios of collaborative activities. We test these hypotheses on a sample of dedicated biotechnology firms in the years 1990-1994. Results from pooled, within-firm, time series analyses support a learning view and have broad implications for future theoretical and empirical research on organizational networks and strategic alliances.•.
Given assumptions about the characteristics of knowledge and the knowledge requirements of production, the firm is conceptualized as an institution for integrating knowledge. The primary contribution of the paper is in exploring the coordination mechanisms through which firms integrate the specialist knowledge of their members. In contrast to earlier literature, knowledge is viewed as residing within the individual, and the primary role of the organization is knowledge application rather than knowledge creation. The resulting theory has implications for the basis of organizational capability, the principles of organization design (in particular, the analysis of hierarchy and the distribution of decision-making authority), and the determinants of the horizontal and vertical boundaries of the firm. More generally, the knowledge-based approach sheds new light upon current organizational innovations and trends and has far-reaching implications for management practice.
T his paper introduces a model of collective creativity that explains how the locus of creative problem solving shifts, at times, from the individual to the interactions of a collective. The model is grounded in observations, interviews, informal conversations, and archival data gathered in intensive field studies of work in professional service firms. The evidence suggests that although some creative solutions can be seen as the products of individual insight, others should be regarded as the products of a momentary collective process. Such collective creativity reflects a qualitative shift in the nature of the creative process, as the comprehension of a problematic situation and the generation of creative solutions draw from—and reframe—the past experiences of participants in ways that lead to new and valuable insights. This research investigates the origins of such moments, and builds a model of collective creativity that identifies the precipitating roles played by four types of social interaction: help seeking, help giving, reflective reframing, and reinforcing. Implications of this research include shifting the emphasis in research and management of creativity from identifying and managing creative individuals to understanding the social context and developing interactive approaches to creativity, and from a focus on relatively constant contextual variables to the alignment of fluctuating variables and their precipitation of momentary phenomena.
This paper compares alliance activity in Europe and the USA. By studying alliance experience and the quality of alliance management in both regions, insight is obtained into the effectiveness of companies in both regions in dealing with alliances. The USA has surpassed Europe both in number of alliances and in the quality of alliance management. American companies have implemented more alliance management techniques than European companies. Further anecdotal evidence and some long-term trends in the European economy suggest that Europe may be catching up soon.
As a complement to the literature on learning in firms, we investigate learning in markets, a nascent area of study that focuses on how learning occurs between, rather than within, firms. The core idea behind our framework is that networks shape knowledge transfer and learning processes by creating channels for knowledge trade and reducing the risk of learning. In developing our framework, we elaborate on the knowledge transfer capabilities of different types of social ties, the informational properties of public and private knowledge, and how types of knowledge transfer and forms of learning follow from the networks within which firms embed their exchanges. We conducted fieldwork at Chicago-area banks to examine our framework's plausibility and application to learning in financial lending markets, a setting relevant to most firms. Findings indicate that learning is located not only in actors' cognitions or past experiences, but also in relations among actors, and that viewing learning as a social process helps solve problems regarding knowledge transfer and learning in markets.
Purpose
– Resource‐and knowledge‐based authors claim that firms should focus on the creation and accumulation of knowledge‐based competencies in order to yield long‐term survival. Several authors have emphasized the added value of alliance relationships in the knowledge development and learning processes of organizations. Over the past decades, thanks to the opportunities provided by the inter‐firm co‐operations for knowledge transfer, knowledge access and learning, strategic alliances have become one of the most useful organizational forms for developing new knowledge for firms. The purpose of this paper is to identify and classify factors affecting knowledge transfer in strategic alliances.
Design/methodology/approach
– First, knowledge‐related issues in strategic alliance literature are reviewed. Second, the importance of recognizing factors affecting knowledge transfer through strategic alliances is considered. Finally, the paper suggests a classification of factors in a bibliographical manner, which should be considered by researchers in related academic researches and also by alliance managers involved in planning and executing inter‐firm alliances.
Findings
– Four categories are distinguished: the characteristics of knowledge; the factors related to absorptive capacity; the reciprocal behavior of the partners; and finally, the nature and form of alliance activity.
Originality/value
– The findings of this paper can help researchers to step forward in considering knowledge transfer in different typologies of alliances, because factors affecting knowledge transfer have varied effects on different types of alliances. Awareness of the existence of these factors is another contribution of this paper that helps practitioners analyze more attentively available options for decision‐making and their consequences.
How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.
- This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
Unstable market conditions caused by innovation and increasing intensity and diversity of competition have resulted in organizational capabilities rather than served markets becoming the primary basis upon which firms establish their long-term strategies. If the strategically most important resource of the firm is knowledge, and if knowledge resides in specialized form among individual organizational members, then the essence of organizational capability is the integration of individuals' specialized knowledge. This paper develops a knowledge-based theory of organizational capability, and draws upon research into competitive dynamics, the resource-based view of the firm, organizational capabilities, and organizational learning. Central to the theory is analysis of the mechanisms through which knowledge is integrated within firms in order to create capability. The theory is used to explore firms' potential for establishing competitive advantage in dynamic market settings, including the role of firm networks under conditions of unstable linkages between knowledge inputs and product outputs. The analysis points to the difficulties in creating the "dynamic" and "flexible-response capabilities" which have been deemed critical to success in hypercompetitive markets.
Due to technological convergence, complexes of interrelated industries are emerging. This paper presents a conceptual framework of the role different organizational forms and combinative capabilities play in the management of organizational knowledge integration in this context. The focus is on firms previously operating in one of the relatively stable constituting industries. We argue that a firm's organizational form has to be matched with appropriate combinative capabilities in order to integrate component knowledge into architectural knowledge that consequently serves as a platform for generating new product-market combinations. The framework is empirically illustrated using the example of two Dutch publishing firms moving into the multimedia complex, which is currently emerging around information and communication technologies. The empirical analysis shows that the framework offers strong potential for improving the understanding of the complex process of organizational knowledge integration, as the prerequisite for developing new business in an emerging industrial complex.
This paper provides an overview of the literature on interorganizational relationships. Although the literature on interorganizational relationships is extensive, a pervasive theme that is either explicit or implicit in the majority of the articles is the simple notion of whether interorganizational relationships make sense and whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. This article reviews six widely used theoretical paradigms that explain interorganizational relationship formation, including transaction costs economics, resource dependency, strategic choice, stakeholder theory, organizational learning, and institutional theory. Although each paradigm alone is insufficient to capture the complexities of interorganizational relationship formation, the fact that interorganizational relationships can be justified from such diverse theoretical backgrounds is impressive. The paper also reviews the six forms of interorganizational relationships most commonly pursued in practice and discussed in the literature, including joint ventures, networks, consortia, alliances, trade associations, and interlocking directorates. Through these discussions, we elaborate on the potential advantages and disadvantages of participation in interorganizational relationships.
Ikujiro Nonaka e Hirotaka Takeuchi establecen una vinculación del desempeño de las empresas japonesas con su capacidad para crear conocimiento y emplearlo en la producción de productos y tecnologías exitosas en el mercado. Los autores explican que hay dos tipos de conocimiento: el explícito, contenido en manuales y procedimientos, y el tácito, aprendido mediante la experiencia y comunicado, de manera indirecta, en forma de metáforas y analogías. Mientras los administradores estadounidenses se concentran en el conocimiento explícito, los japoneses lo hacen en el tácito y la clave de su éxito estriba en que han aprendido a convertir el conocimiento tácito en explícito. Finalmente, muestran que el mejor estilo administrativo para crear conocimiento es el que ellos denominan centro-arriba-abajo, en el que los gerentes de niveles intermedios son un puente entre los ideales de la alta dirección y la realidad caótica de los niveles inferiores.
The organizational problem firms face is the utilization of knowledge which is not, and cannot be, known by a single agent. Even more importantly, no single agent can fully specify in advance what kind of practical knowledge is going to be relevant, when and where. Firms, therefore, are distributed knowledge systems in a strong sense: they are decentered systems, lacking an overseeing ‘mind’. The knowledge they need to draw upon is inherently indeterminate and continually emerging; it is not self-contained. Individuals' stock of knowledge consists of (a) role-related normative expectations; (b) dispositions, which have been formed in the course of past socializations; and (c) local knowledge of particular circumstances of time and place. A firm has greater-or-lesser control over normative expectations, but very limited control over the other two. At any point in time, a firm's knowledge is the indeterminate outcome of individuals attempting to manage the inevitable tensions between normative expectations, dispositions, and local contexts.
The management and processing of organizational knowledge are increasingly being viewed as critical to organizational success. By exploring how firms access and exploit alliance-based knowledge, the authors provide evidence to support the argument that the firm is a dynamic system of processes involving different types of knowledge. Using data from a longitudinal study of North American-based joint ventures (JVs) between North American and Japanese firms, they address three related research questions: (1) what processes do JV partners use to gain access to alliance knowledge; (2) what types of knowledge are associated with the different processes and how should that knowledge be classified; and (3) what is the relationship between organizational levels, knowledge types, and the transfer of knowledge?
Although many generalizations have been drawn about the merits of knowledge-based resources and the creation of knowledge, few efforts have been made to establish systematically how firms acquire and manage new knowledge. Moreover, prior alliance research has not addressed in detail the nature of alliance knowledge and how knowledge is managed in the alliance context. The authors examine the processes used by alliance partners to transfer knowledge from an alliance context to a partner context. They identify four key processes—technology sharing, alliance-parent interaction, personnel transfers, and strategic integration—that share a conceptual underpinning and represent a knowledge connection between parent and alliance. Each of the four processes is shown to provide an avenue for managers to gain exposure to knowledge and ideas outside their traditional organizational boundaries and to create a connection for individual managers to communicate their alliance experiences to others.
Although all of the knowledge management processes are potentially effective, the different processes involve different types of knowledge and different organizational levels. The primary types of knowledge associated with each process are identified and then linked with the organizational level affected by the transfer process. From those linkages, several propositions about organizational knowledge transfer and management are developed. The results suggest that although a variety of knowledge management strategies can be viable, some strategies lead to more effective knowledge transfer than others.
Purpose
Relationship learning is a topic of considerable importance for industrial networks, yet a lack of empirical research on the impact of relationship governance structures on relationship learning remains. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of relationship governance structures on learning in partnerships.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper contributes to the closure of the research gap by examining sample data drawn from 42 interviews on the subject of 199 customer‐supplier relationships within the Finnish metal and electronics industries. As a method, the paper applies cluster analysis and analysis of variance mean‐comparison.
Findings
The results of this paper show that balanced hybrid governance structures explain learning in partnerships, which suggests that certain combinations of relationship governance mechanisms (price, hierarchical, and social mechanism) produce the best learning outcomes in partnerships. Results suggest that managers should use hybrid relationship governance structures when governing their supplier partnerships.
Research limitations/implications
The paper has some limitations such as limited sample size, cross‐sectional data, and difficulties due to measuring social phenomenon such as learning. Owing to the interview method being applied, research is bound to apply a sample data drawn from companies that operate in the west coast in Finland. These limitations need to be considered when applying the results.
Practical implications
The results encourage managers to use different governance mechanisms simultaneously when managing their company's supply chain partnerships. The result emphasizes the role of active relationship management.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the first to empirically show that relationship learning is best facilitated by using various relationship governance mechanisms simultaneously. Trust needs to be complemented by hierarchical and possibly by price mechanism.
Purpose
This paper aims to develop the understanding of how organizations can derive more value from participating in inter‐organizational learning collaborations.
Design/methodology/approach
The collaboration is viewed as one “level” within an extended organizational learning system and both feedback processes between levels and the dynamics within the collaboration itself are explored. Seven learning‐based inter‐organizational learning collaborations are studied using a qualitative exploratory research design. An extensive literature review is used to design the semi‐structured interviews undertaken with participants in the collaborations, as well as the convenor of each.
Findings
Multiple forms of value are evident (individual capacity building, operational value, affirmation, reputation and relationship building and learning about how to collaborate more effectively), though subject specific organizational capability building is rarely achieved. Two main factors seemed to influence this: individuals not translating the implications of the learning, and the organizations not transferring and amplify that learning. Building capability required a visible long‐term commitment by leaders to the collaboration.
Research limitations/implications
Confirmatory research is needed to refine the proposed framework of actions to develop the organizational capability to derive value from participating in this kind of collaboration.
Practical implications
A coherent set of actions is proposed for organizations wishing to build the capability to derive more value from participating in inter‐organizational learning collaborations. Recommendations are also generated for those wishing to convene a collaboration.
Originality/value
The contribution is the development of the concept of the organizational capability to participate effectively in inter‐organizational learning collaborations, and the identification of a coherent set of actions required to develop this capability.
Recent perspectives have focused on the role of the firm in the generation and use of knowledge. These perspectives suggest that, while knowledge is "owned" at the individual level, the integration of this knowledge to a collective level is necessary. This integration of knowledge typically takes place in groups. In our experimental study, we examine how individuals in groups engage in micro-level interactions to effectively integrate knowledge by examining the effects of using three formal interventions: Information Sharing, Questioning Others, and Managing Time. In particular, we observe that simple formal interventions can improve knowledge integration when they lead to "windows of opportunity" for group members to consider ways to improve their work process that go beyond the formal intervention instructions. The most effective groups used these formal interventions to focus their attention into organized clusters of activity, during which they significantly changed their work process and improved their subsequent knowledge integration. In particular, groups in the Questioning Others and Managing Time conditions exhibited greater knowledge integration than groups in the Information Sharing and Control conditions. Groups with high-knowledge integration paced their attention to both adaptive improvements to their process and task execution. Overall, this study identifies simple structures, interruptions, and time pacing as central to the emerging concept of group flexibility by which members enhance their performance on novel and/or ambiguous tasks. We note links to complexity theory and knowledge-based thinking as well.
This paper provides an overview of the literature on interorgani- zational relationships. Although the literature on interorganiza tional relationships is extensive, a pervasive theme that is either explicit or implicit in the majority of the articles is the simple notion of whether interorganizational relationships make sense and whether the advan- tages outweigh the disadvantages. This article reviews six widely used theoretical paradigms that explain interorganizational relationship for- mation, including transaction costs economics, resource dependency, strategic choice, stakeholder theory, organizational learning, and insti- tutional theory. Although each paradigm alone is insufficient to capture the complexities of interorganizational relationship formation, the fact that interorganizational relationships can be justified from such diverse theoretical backgrounds is impressive. The paper also reviews the six forms of interorganizational relationships most commonly pursued in practice and discussed in the literature, including joint ventures, net- works, consortia, alliances, trade associations, and interlocking direc- torates. Through these discussions, we elaborate on the potential ad- vantages and disadvantages of participation in interorganizational relationships. © 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Immersed in a global industry consolidation process, corporate managers are witnessing, in recent years, the proliferation of inter-organizational collaborative agreements, which aim to develop, manufacture and commercialize knowledge intensive products. The decision within a knowledge management (KM) framework to collaborate in knowledge sharing networks becomes a complicated issue, since such a decision needs to be made often under conditions of uncertainty and irreversibility. The present study deals with questions such as why, how, and when to be a member of a knowledge network and provides some empirical evidence about the formation of inter-organizational networks in knowledge intensive industries.
This paper develops a conceptual framework for the study of organization learning and applies it to learning in joint ventures (JVs). the framework presents a multilevel view of the phenomenon, suggesting that learning in organizations occurs at the individual, group and organization levels. the framework integrates behavioural and cognitive perspectives of organization learning and delineates both learning processes and outcomes. Four key elements of organization learning are addressed: the nature of managerial learning experiences, the sharing and integration of managerial learning within an organization, the insti-tutionalization of learning, and the relationship between organization learning and performance. In applying the framework to a study of learning and JVs, we observed firms with explicit learning objectives unable to put into place the appropriate mechanisms and systems to transfer knowledge from the JV to the parent. While individual managers in the JVs were often enthusiastic and positive about their learning experiences, integration of the learning experience at the parent firm level was problematic, limiting the institutionalized learning. the fundamental position in this paper is that a rigid set of managerial beliefs associated with an unwillingness to cast off or unlearn past practices can severely limit the effectiveness of organization learning.
Knowledge integration is an emerging discipline in organizational science where the central proposition is that the increasing complexity of products and services being developed and delivered, means that the knowledge required for production is increasingly specialized, varied (multi-disciplinary) and distributed across the organization’s internal boundaries, and as a result there is a need for organizations to continuously gather their knowledge resources in order to maintain their ability to innovate, and to sustain their competitive position in the market. In addition, the increasing scale and scope of organizational arrangements, such as multinational partnerships or multi-tiered prime-supplier arrangements commonly encountered in the aerospace, automotive and other complex product development industries, also give rise to environments of dispersed knowledge resources, thus necessitating the subsequent integration of this knowledge across external boundaries spanning large-scale organizational networks. Knowledge integration in this context is done through a process of transferring knowledge from multiple sources in the organizational network to where it is needed, combining it with existing knowledge, before it can be applied to accomplish complex tasks and to solve major problems.
The primary purpose of this paper is to define the powerful concept of knowledge integration in large-scale organizational networks using an extensive review of the pertinent literature on knowledge in organizations. An operational definition for knowledge integration is also proposed, followed by a systematic identification and classification of the different strategies, practices, channels and mechanisms for integrating different types of knowledge across a multitude of organizational boundaries and environments.
A project team, set up to design and implement a large-scope IT system, is essentially tasked with integrating distributed knowledge. This suggests that the social capital of members will be organizationally important. However, we suggest that in understanding the relationship between social capital and knowledge integration within a project team, it is necessary to distinguish between two forms of social capital – external bridging social capital and internal bonding social capital. We argue that for the effective mobilization of ‘weak’ social capital bridges for collective purposes, there is first a need to create ‘strong’ social capital bonds within the project team so that it becomes a cohesive social unit that will be able to effectively integrate knowledge that is acquired through members' bridging activity.
There is wide agreement in analyses of strategic alliances that, regardless of the purpose of the alliance, members of the partner organizations should engage in intensive mutual learning to make the alliance a success. In contrast to this view, the present article shows that in strategic alliances aimed at product innovations by recombining partners' extant technologies, learning between specialists can be reduced considerably without jeopardizing success. This is made possible through four interconnected mechanisms integrated into the concept of transactive organizational learning (TOL): (1) modularization, which allows specialists of different domains to develop modules to a large extent independently of each other and to concentrate communication between themselves on the design of interfaces between modules; (2) storing of knowledge in artifacts instead of in organizational members' memories; (3) localization of knowledge not present in the project team but for which a need has arisen through transactive memory; and (4) knowledge integration by prototyping (i.e., by repeated testing of modules and of interactions between modules until a satisfactorily working end product is achieved). Although these four mechanisms reduce the need for cross-learning between specialists of different domains, some common knowledge and some cross-learning between the partners' specialists is still required. Case studies on four of SAP's strategic alliances for product innovation with different partners lend empirical support to this study's concept. The article concludes with implications for practice: Companies should find out whether the TOL mechanisms that reduce time to market are present, to what extent their potential is exploited, and how well they work together.
Knowledge-intensive firms need to share knowledge held by employees if they are to gain the most from their intellectual capital and compete effectively in the marketplace. Sharing and integrating knowledge within the organisation depends partly on building social capital. However, there are obstacles to this integration because knowledge is often distributed throughout the organisation. This article draws on a detailed study of a single case to examine the ways in which HR policies and processes contribute to overcoming these barriers to sharing knowledge. We highlight the role of HR policies and processes as facilitators of the social capital that interconnects knowledge by focusing on the needs of knowledge workers.
Like all teams, knowledge teams must acquire and manage critical resources in order to accomplish their work. The most critical resource for knowledge teams is expertise, or specialized skills and knowledge, but the mere presence of expertise on a team is insufficient to produce high-quality work. Expertise must be managed and coordinated in order to leverage its potential. That is, teams must be able to manage their skill and knowledge interdependencies effectively through expertise coordination, which entails knowing where expertise is located, knowing where expertise is needed, and bringing needed expertise to bear. This study investigates the importance of expertise coordination through a cross-sectional investigation of 69 software development teams. The analysis reveals that expertise coordination shows a strong relationship with team performance that remains significant over and above team input characteristics, presence of expertise, and administrative coordination.
Summary Academic interest in absorptive capacity (ACAP), which has grown rapidly over the past two decades, has focused on ACAP's effect on organizational learning, knowledge sharing, innovation, capability building, and firm performance. Even though Cohen and Levinthal's work (1990) highlights the multidimensionality of ACAP, researchers have measured it as a uni-dimensional construct, often using a firm's R&D spending intensity as a proxy for this construct. This practice raises questions about the veracity of the claims made in the literature about the nature and contributions of ACAP. The present study develops and validates a multidimensional measure of ACAP, building on relevant prior literature, a series of pre-tests, and two large survey-based studies of German companies.
Summary Interunit knowledge flows provide opportunities for mutual learning, favour the running of local and global operations, and foster innovation processes. This paper investigates the social processes that underlie interunit knowledge flows as spontaneous practice sharing among peers belonging to different subunits. We explore how practice-based flows develop between individuals who are affiliated with different subunits of a given organization, and how such flows coexist with vertical structures, such as the headquarters. Through a field study employing semi-structured interviews and social network analysis in an Italian multiunit company running operations worldwide, we show how headquarters and practice-based flows respond to different organizational and individual needs, thereby laying the premises for their likely coexistence. In particular, we highlight how individuals' practice sharing is enrooted in the need to affirm a positive professional identity, while also benefiting the overall organizational coordination. We then discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings.
This paper reviews the use of case study research in operations management for theory development and testing. It draws on the literature on case research in a number of disciplines and uses examples drawn from operations management research. It provides guidelines and a roadmap for operations management researchers wishing to design, develop and conduct case-based research.
This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies-from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
This paper examines the conditions for successful knowledge sharing and learning in inter-organisational alliances. In order to improve competitive advantage, organisations try to learn and develop knowledge in alliances. But how do they ‘succeed’ in these processes? We present several factors that are important for the ‘successful’ knowledge sharing and learning in alliances where competing organisations co-operate. Whereas much alliance literature seems to have a bias towards conditions at the inter-organisational level, we suggest that attention should be paid to inter-personal conditions as well. Our two case studies located in The Netherlands present some inter-personal conditions for ‘successful’ knowledge sharing and learning in alliances.
A central function of organizational boundaries is to help people know what they are to do with whom and how, which enables them to work together. Sustained product innovation in very large organizations requires that perhaps thousands of people across the organization know how to join up, participate in, and move in and out of many new product teams, so a boundary that can keep all these roles and relationships sensible is especially important for innovation. Using grounded theory building, we find that a boundary of team play enabled heedful interrelating and thus the easy formation of multiple teams over time in the large organizations we studied, while a boundary of detachment thwarted organization-wide innovation. Play embodies open, improvised, fluid and energized relations, while team play reflects the emergent yet dynamic space of heedful interrelating. Our study details how team play vs. detachment enable or disable innovation teams, and suggests how managers can implement or maintain the heedful social relations that are necessary for sustained innovation.
The creation of new knowledge is a major challenge for all organizations. Knowledge provides the capacity for organizational action and new knowledge provides the capacity for organizational renewal. This article examines organizational learning and knowledge acquisition in the strategic alliance context. Alliances provide firms with a unique opportunity to leverage their strengths with the help of partners. In bringing together firms with different skills and knowledge bases, alliances create unique learning opportunities for the partner firms. The article first examines different knowledge conditions that influence the accessibility of alliance knowledge. Knowledge connections that facilitate alliance learning are then discussed. Finally, the article considers the question of why some firms are more effective than others at leveraging and exploiting alliance knowledge.
This paper examines the dynamics of knowledge integration in the context of cross-functional project implementation within four large organizations. Specifically, the research focuses on exploring and conceptualizing the efficiency, scope and flexibility of knowledge integration [Organization Science, 7(4) (1996), 375] of which limited empirical evidence has been offered. Through the comparative study, the findings suggest that knowledge integration in the context of cross-functional project implementation is in essence a process of engaging organizational members through the promotion of project benefits and the management of social networks. Also, our findings reveal that an organization's embedded practices, past integration experience and social capital plays a key role in shaping the level of coordination that in turn influences the efficiency and scope of integration. In particular, the development and nurturing of social capital within and beyond the project team is crucial, as is the promotion of project awareness through the creation of common knowledge.
Outsourcing has become a critical strategic decision that can allow organisations to develop and leverage the capabilities required to compete in today’s global business environment. This paper provides a practical framework that managers can use to identify suitable outsourcing strategies for their processes. In particular, the framework provides a mechanism for understanding, which processes should be kept internal and which should be outsourced based on both organisational capability and opportunism considerations. The logic of the framework and the sourcing strategies is illustrated through providing real case examples from organisations that participated in the research.
Knowledge-based activities are at the basis of sustainable competitive advantage in today’s economy. Resource- and knowledge-based theorists claim that firms should focus on the creation and accumulation of knowledge-based competencies in order to yield long-term survival. For SMEs, this can be a difficult task as their characteristics often hamper the leverage of the required competencies. This paper focuses on the role strategic alliances can fulfil within the knowledge acquisition and learning processes of SMEs. The empirical findings indicate that only a limited number of SMEs is involved in strategic ‘knowledge-sharing’ alliances. Several entrepreneurs do not cooperate because they fear transferring their know-how and losing their competitive advantage. However, SMEs involvement in strategic alliances resulted in improved firm performance.
Information systems (IS) projects involving multiple organizations are very common today. Knowledge integration in such projects is a complex task of integrating diverse knowledge bases across organizations that may possess distinct strategic goals and even conflicting interests. Prior research has indicated that social capital, a resource based on social relationships, positively influences knowledge integration and interorganizational relationships, but the exact nature of the interaction has been unclear. Based on an in-depth case study, this article examines a four-organization (three clients and one IT service provider) collaborative IS project wherein the clients were business partners for 7 years when they embarked on the project. The study explicitly identifies the roles through which social capital can be leveraged for knowledge integration in a collaborative IS project. Findings suggest that social capital can be leveraged as a motivator, an integrator, and a facilitator during the various stages of a collaborative IS project.
The concept of collective mind is developed to explain organizational performance in situations requiring nearly continuous operational reliability. Collective mind is conceptualized as a pattern of heedful interrelations of actions in a social system. Actors in the system construct their actions (contributions), understanding that the system consists of connected actions by themselves and others (representation), and interrelate their actions within the system (subordination). Ongoing variation in the heed with which individual contributions, representations, and subordinations are interrelated influences comprehension of unfolding events and the incidence of errors. As heedful interrelating and mindful comprehension increase, organizational errors decrease. Flight operations on aircraft carriers exemplify the constructs presented. Implications for organization theory and practice are drawn.