Knowledge Management: An Analysis from the Organizational Development

Rodrigo Valio Dominguez Gonzalez; Manoel Fernando Martins

doi:10.4067/S0718-27242014000100011

Authors

Rodrigo Valio Dominguez Gonzalez School of Applied Science - University of Campinas
Manoel Fernando Martins Departament of Production Engineering - Federal University of São Carlos

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242014000100011

Keywords:

Knowledge Management, Human Resources, Teamwork, Organizational Culture, Organizational Structure.

Abstract

This research develops a theoretical framework on the implications of the organizational characteristics on the knowledge management (KM). The organizational characteristics are handled in this work as constructs, as they are complex concepts. This paper is based on a theoretical research, considering original and classic articles on KM. From a broad theoretical-conceptual research, the paper presents as a result five organizational constructs that support the KM process: human resources, team work, organizational culture, organizational structure and development and absorption of knowledge. The article presents the implications of these constructs in relation to the four phases of the KM process (acquisition, storage, distribution and use of knowledge).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

ALAVI, M., Leidner, D.E. (2001). Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: conceptual Foundations and Research Issues. MIS Quarterly, 25(1), 107-136. doi: 10.2307/3250961

ALVESSON, M., Kärreman, D. (2001). Odd couple: Making sense of the curious concept of knowledge management. Journal of Management Studies, 38(7), 995-1018. doi: 10.1111/1467-6486.00269

ANAND, J., Oriani, R., Vassolo, R.S. (2010). Alliance activity as a dynamics capability in the face of a discontinuous technological change. Organization Science, 21(6), 1213-1232. doi: 10.1287/1090.0502

ANDREWS, M.C., Kacmar, K.M. (2001). Discriminating among organizational politics, justice, and support. Journal of Organization Behavior, 22(4), 347-66. doi: 10.1108/00483480710773981

BHATT, G.D. (2002). Management strategies for individual knowledge and organizational knowledge. Journal of Knowledge Management, 6(1), 31-39.

BROWN, J.S., Duguid, P. (2001). Knowledge and Organization: A social-practice perspective. Organization Science, 12(2), 198-213. doi: 10.1287/orsc.12.2.198.10116

CARDOSO, L., Meireles, A., Peralta, C.F. (2012). Knowledge management and its critical factors in social economy organizations. Journal of knowledge management, 16(2), 267-284. doi: 10.1108/13673271211218861

CHEN, C.J., Huang, J.W. (2007). How organizational climate and structure affect knowledge management: the social interaction perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 27(2), 104-18. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2006.11.001

CHEN, C.J.and Huang, J.W. (2009). Strategic human resource practices and innovation performance: The mediating role of knowledge management capacity. Journal of Business Research, 62, 104-114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.11.016

CHEN, C.J, Huang, J.W., Hsiao, Y.C. (2010). Knowledge management and innovativeness: The role of organizational climate and structure. International Journal of Manpower, 31(8), 848-870. doi: 10.1108/01437721011088548

COHEN, W.M., Levinthal, D.A. (1990). Absorptive Capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 128-152. doi: 10.1177/1350507608096037

COLLINS, C.J., Clark, D.C. (2003). Strategic human resource practices, top management team networks, and firm performance: The role of human resource practices in creating organizational competitive advantage. The Academy of Management Journal, 46(6), 740-751. doi:10.2307/30040665

CORMICAN, K., O’Sullivan, D.A. (2003). Collaborative knowledge management tool for product innovation management. International Journal of Technology Management. 26(1), 53-68. doi: 10.1504/..003144

CROSS, R., Sproull, L. (2004). More than an answer: Information relationships for actionable knowledge. Organization Science, 15(4), 446-462. doi:10.1287/orsc.1040.0075

CROSSAN, M., Lane, H.W., White, R.E. (1999). An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 522-537. doi:10.5465/AMR.1999.2202135

CUMMINGS, J.N. (2004). Work groups, structural diversity, and knowledge sharing in a global organization. Management Science, 50(3), 352-264. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.1030.0134

DAMANPOUR, F. (1991). Organizational Innovation: a meta-analysis of effects of determinants and moderators. Academy of Management Journal, 34(3), 555-590. doi: 10.2307/256406

DAVENPORT, T.H., De Long, D.W., Beers, M.C. (1998). Successful knowledge management projects. Sloan Management Review, 43-57.

DAVENPORT, T.H., Prusak, L. (1998). Working Knowledge: How organizations manage that they know, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

DELONG, D.W., Fahey, L. (2000). Diagnosing cultural barriers to knowledge management. Academy of Management Executive, 14(4), 113-127. doi:10.5465/AME.2000.3979820

EISENHARDT, K.M., Martin, J.A. (2000). Dynamic capabilities: What are they? Strategic Management Journal. 21(10), 1105-1121. doi: 10.1002/1097-0266

FARAJ, S., Sirkka, L.J., Majchrzak, A. (2011). Knowledge Collaboration in online communities. Organization Science, 22(5), 1224-1239. doi: org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0614

FEY, C.E., Denison, D.R. (2003). Organizational culture and effectiveness: can American theory be applied in Russia? Organization Science, 14(6), 686-706. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.14.6.686.24868

GERMAIN, R. (1996). The role of context and structure in radical and incremental logistics innovation adoption. Journal of Business Research, 35, 117-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0148-2963(95)00053-4

GOLD, A.H., Malhotra, A., Segars, A.H. (2001). Knowledge management: an organizational capabilities perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(1), 184-214. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.33.4.525

GONZALEZ, R.V.D., Martins, M.F. (2014). Mapping the organizational factors that support knowledge management in the Brazilian automotive industry. Journal of Knowledge Management, 18(1), 152-176, doi: 10.1108/JKM-08-2013-0300.

GRANT, R.M. (1996). Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 109-122. doi: 10.2307/2486994

HOLMQVIST, M. (2004). Experiential learning processes of exploration and exploitation within and between organizations: An empirical study of product development. Organization Science, 15(1), 70-81. doi: 10.1287/orsc.1030.0056

HUANG, C.C. (2009). Knowledge sharing, group cohesiveness on performance: An empirical study of technology R&D teams in Taiwan. Technovation, 29, 786-797. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2009.04.003

IRANI, Z., Sharif, A.M., Love, P.E.D. (2009). Mapping knowledge management and organizational learning in support of organizational memory. International Journal of Production Economics,122, 200-215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2009.05.020

JIMÉNEZ-JIMÉNEZ, D., Sanz-Valle, R. (2007). Managing human resource in order to promote knowledge management and technical innovation. Management Research, 5(2), 83-100. doi: 10.2753/JMR1536-5433050202

KANE, G.C., Alavi, M. (2007). Information technology and organizational learning: An investigation of exploration and explotation process. Organization Science, 18(5), 796-812. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1070.0286

LAURSEN, K., Foss, N.J. (2003). New human resource management practices, complementarities, and the impact on innovation performance. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 27(2), 243-263. doi: 10.1093/cje/27.2.243

LEE, C.C., Grover, V. (2000). Exploring mediation between environment and structural attributes: the penetration of communication technologies in manufacturing organizations. Journal of Management Information System, 16(3), 187-217.

LEE, C., Yang, J. (2000). Knowledge value chain. The Journal of Management Development, 19(9), 783-794. doi: 10.1108/02621710010378228

LEE, J.H., Kim, Y.G. (2001). A stage model of organizational knowledge management: A latent content analysis. Expert System with Applications, 20(3), 299-311. doi: 10.1177/0165551506076395

LEE, P.K.C., To, W.M., Ty, B. T.W. (2013). Team attributes and performance of operational service teams: An empirical taxonomy development. International Journal of Production Economics, 142, 51-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2012.05.005

LEE, S., Kim, B.G., Kim, H. (2012). An integrated view of knowledge management for performance. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(2), 183-203. doi: 10.1108/13673271211218807

LEIDNER, D.E., Elam, J.J. (1995). The impact of executive information systems on organization design, intelligence, and decision making. Organization Science, 6 (6), 645-664. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.6.6.645

LEONARD-BARTON, D. (1998). Wellspring of knowledge, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

LIAO, C., Chuang, S.H., To, P.L. (2011). How knowledge management mediates relationship between environment and organizational structure. Journal of Business Research, 64, 728-736. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2010.08.001

LIEBOWITZ, J., Ayyavoo, N., Nguyen, H., Carran, D., Simien, J. (2007). Cross generational knowledge flows in edge organizations. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 107(8), 1123-1153. doi: 10.1108/02635570710822787

LIN, H.F.A. (2007).A stage model of knowledge management: an empirical investigation of process and effectiveness. Journal of Information Science, 33(6), 643-659. doi: 10.1177/0165551506076395

LONDON, M., Sessa, V.I. (2007). How groups learn, continuously. Human Resource Management, 46(4), 651-669. doi: 10.1002/hrm.20186

LÓPEZ, S.P., Peón, J.M.M., Ordás, C.J.V. (2006). Managing Knowledge: The link between culture and organizational learning. Journal of Knowledge Management, 8(6), 93-104. doi: 10.1108/13673270410567657

LYTRAS, M., Pouloudi, A. (2006). Towards the development of a novel taxonomy of knowledge management systems from a learning perspective: an integrated approach to learning and knowledge infrastructures. Journal of Knowledge Management, 10(6), 64-80. doi: 10.1108/13673270610709224

MARCH, J.G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science, 20(1), 71-87. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2.1.71

MORGAN, G. (1996). Imagens da Organização, Editora Atlas, São Paulo.

NELSON, R., Winter, S. (1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change, Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

OKHUYSEN, G.A., Eisenhardt, K.M. (2002). Integrating knowledge in groups: How formal interventions enable flexibility. Organization Science, 13(4), 370-386. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.13.4.370.2947

ORLIKOWSKI, W.J. (2002). Knowing in practice: Enacting a collective capability in distributed organizing. Organization Science, 13(3), 249-273. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.13.3.249.2776

PANDEY, S.C., Duta, A. (2013). Role of knowledge infrastructure capabilities in knowledge management. Journal of knowledge management, 17(3), 435-453. doi: 10.1108/JKM-11-2012-0365

POYNDER, R. (1998). Getting to the nuts and bolts of knowledge management. Information World Review, 135(135), 20.

QUIGLEY, N.R., Tesluk, P.E., Locke, E.A., Bartol, K.M. (2007). A multilevel investigation of the motivational mechanisms underlying knowledge sharing and performance. Organization Science, 18(1), 71-88. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1060.0223

RAMEZAN, M. (2011). Intellectual capital and organizational organic structure in knowledge society. International Journal of Information Management, 31, 88-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.10.004

ROWLEY, J. (2001). Knowledge management in pursuit of learning. The learning with knowledge cycle. Journal of Information Science, 27(4), 227-237. doi: 10.1177/016555150102700406

SCHULTZE, U., Leidner, D. E. (2002). Studying knowledge management in information systems research: discourses and theoretical assumptions. MIS Quarterly, 26(3), 213-242. doi: 10.2307/4132331

SCHURING, R.W. (1996). Operational autonomy explains the value of group work in both lean and reflective production. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 16(2), 171-182. doi: 10.1108/01443579610197120

SKERLEVAJ, M., Stenberger, M.I., Skrinjar, R., Dimovski, V. (2007). Organizational learning culture: The missing link between business process change and organizational performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 106, 346-367. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2006.07.009

SPARKES, J.R., Miyake, M. (2000). Knowledge transfer and human resource development practices: Japanese firms in Brazil and Mexico. International Business Review, 9, 599-612. doi:10.1016/S0969-5931(00)00021-4

SWAN, J., Newell, S., Scarbrough, H., Hislop, D. (1999). Knowledge management and innovation: networks and networking. Journal of knowledge management, 3(4), 262-275. doi: 10.1108/13673279910304014

TEECE, D.J. (2007). Explicating dynamic capabilities: The nature and microfondations of (sustainable) entreprise performance. Strategic Management Journal, 28, 1319-1350. doi: 10.1002/smj.640

TEECE, D.J., Pisano, A., Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509-533. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266

TERZIOVSKI, M., Fitzpatric, P., O’Neill, P. (2003). Successful predictors of business process reengineering (BPR) in financial services. International Journal of Production Economics, 84(1), 35-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(02)00378-X

TSAI, W. (2002). Social structure of cooperation within a multiunit organization: Coordination, competition, and intra-organizational knowledge sharing. Organizations Science, 13(2), 179-190. doi: 10.1287/orsc.13.2.179.536

VLACHOS, I. P. (2008). The effect of human resource practices on organizational performance: evidence from Greece. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(1), 74-97.doi: 10.1080/09585190701763933

VOLBERDA, H.W., Foss, N.J., Lyles, M.A. (2010). Absorbing the concept of absorptive capacity: How to realize its potential in the organization field. Organization Science, 21(4), 931-951. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1090.0503

WALSH, J. P., Ungson, G. R. (1991). Organizational Memory. Academy of Management Review, 16(1), 57-91. doi:10.5465/AMR.1991.4278992

WILKINSON, I., Young, L. (2006). On cooperating firms, relations and networks. Journal of Business Research, 55 (2), 123-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(00)00147-8

ZANGISKI, M.A.S.G., Lima, E.P., Costa, S.E.G. (2013). Organizational competence building and development: Contributions to operations management. International Journal of Production Economics, 144, 76-89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2013.01.02

ZARIFIAN, P. (2001). Objetivo competência: por uma nova lógica, Editora Atlas, São Paulo.

ZHENG, W., Yang, B., Mclean, G.B. (2010). Linking organizational culture, structure, strategy, and organizational effectiveness: Mediating role of knowledge management. Journal of Business Research, 63(7), 763-771. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.06.005

ZOLLO, M., Winter, S.G. (2002). Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Organization Science, 13(3), 339-351. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.13.3.339.2780