KM Most Cited Karthik Gaekwad Graduate Student, Computer Engineering

Papers Covered Today o Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice with the firm. o Organizational Memory: Review of concepts and Recommendations for Management. o The firm as a distributed knowledge system: A constructionist approach.

Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice with the firm Gabriel Szulanski, 1996

Exploring Internal Stickiness o Summary o By Gabriel Szulanski, Wharton School of Business (1996) o Introduction o Stages in the transfer process o Origins of Stickiness o Research Results and Conclusions

Introduction and Definitions o Transfer of Best Practices o Transfer: o Movement of knowledge within the organization is a distinct experience o Practices: o Organizations of use of knowledge o Contains Tacit components embedded

Stages in the Transfer Process o Initiation o Implementation o Ramp-Up o Integration

Initiation Stage o All events that lead to the decision to transfer o Begins when a need and the knowledge to meet that need coexist in the organization (possibly undiscovered) o Could take months of information collection and evaluation

Implementation Stage o Resources flow between a source and recipient and maybe a 3 rd party o Activities diminish after the recipient beings using the transferred knowledge.

Ramp Up Stage o Concerns of the Recipient o Identifying/solving unexpected problems o Likely to use the new knowledge ineffectively.

Integration Stage o After the recipient achieves satisfactory results with the transferred knowledge. o In time, new practices become institutionalized.

Origins of Internal Stickiness o Factors that impede knowledge transfer: o Characteristics of o Source of Knowledge o Recipient of Knowledge o Knowledge Transferred o Context

Characteristics of Source o Lack of motivation - may fear losing ownership, privilege, resent not being rewarded for sharing success o Not seen as reliable, trustworthy, knowledgeable

Characteristics of Recipient o Lack of motivation o the "not invented here" syndrome o Lack of Absorptive capacity o Lack of ability to value, assimilate and apply new knowledge successfully to commercial ends o Lack of Retentive Capacity o Lack of persistence to make it work instead of giving up and reverting to status quo

Knowledge Transferred o 2 Factors: Casual Ambiguity, Unproven ness o Some knowledge is easier to transfer than others. o Difficult to transfer practices that have a high proportion of indefinable knowledge due to the tacit components o (human skills involved, collective nature of the information, idiosyncratic features of the context ) o Knowledge that does not have a proven track record will be harder to "sell"

Characteristics of Context o barren organizational context – o hinders gestation and evolution of transfers. o It would be nice to have a fertile context o Arduous relationship between unit – o if the communication is fluid and the overall relationship is "intimate," the transfer will go more smoothly than if the relationship is laborious and distant.

So, the question is o Out of all the factors mentioned above, which ones are most impede the transfer of knowledge?

Research Results o The three factors that most impede Knowledge Transfer are: o Causal Ambiguity of the Knowledge Transferred o Lack of Absorptive capacity of the recipient o Arduous relationship between the units

Discussion of Results o Contrary to conventional wisdom that blame only motivational factors o Knowledge-related barriers dominate rather than motivation-related barriers o Fundamental question: Why organizations do not know what they know? o It may be less because organizations do not want to learn but rather because they do not know how to

Organizational Memory: Review of concepts and recommendations for management E. W. Stein, 1995

Summary o Introduction and Definitions o Contents of Organizational Memory o Process of Organizational Memory o Recommendations and conclusions

Introduction o Definition: Organizational Memory o Means by which knowledge from the past is brought to bear on present activities, resulting in higher / lower levels of organizational effectiveness. o Organizational Memory is persistent

Introduction o Reasons to explore the concept: o Provide insight into organizational life (as a metaphor) o Embedded in other management theories o Relevant to management practices o Assist managers in solving issues related to retention of knowledge in the organization

As a metaphor o Can steer an organization by using o Information from the outside world o Information from the past o Information about itself o Implies that long term autonomy is dependant on memory

Relevance to management theories o Relates dialectics of o Learning vs. unlearning o Flexibility vs. stability o Human resources vs. info resources o Required for the decision making and planning process!

Relevant to management practices o Significant during times of restructuring and employee turnover o Loss of employee = leaves hole in the social interaction network o Undermines the competitiveness and competence of the firm o Need to retain the components!

Characteristics of Memory o 3 types of memories o Information tokens encoded but not sent o Information tokens in transmission o Information tokens that are received

Recommendations for a Manager o Identify the types of memory that dominate in the firm? o Examine coupling between sender and receiver? o Consider role of short/long term memories. o Classify the contents of memory…

Process of Organizational Memory Provides means by which knowledge from the past affects current knowledge

Acquiring Process o Focus on learning o Different kinds of learning: basic/higher order/ first order learning/ second order learning/single and double loop learning. o Learning is completed when new knowledge is accepted and encoded in employee’s mind. o Organizational learning is incomplete until individual learning is embedded !

Acquiring Process o Recommendation: o Explore impact of both individual and organizational learning on knowledge acquisition o What extent are single loop learning favored? o How do organizational memories impede double loop learning?

Retention Process o “The graybeards serve as a repository for institutional memory.” o There are 3 categories: o Schemas: Helps people organize efficiently o Scripts: Describes sequence of events o Systems: set of inter related elements that are connected

Retention Process

o Recommendations: o Examine retentive capacity of personnel/shared o Schema o Scripts o Social and physical structures o Need to leverage IT to support the processes/products of organizational memory

Maintenance o Turnover is key for this stage o Departing members introduce holes into existing networks o Maintenance Techniques o Hire former employees as a consultant o Recurrent social patterns of interaction

Maintenance o Recommendations: o Assess loss of knowledge due to turnovers o How to maintain different types of knowledge through communication process/repetition/sanctification and validation

Retrieval Process o Memories can be recalled to support decision making and problem solving o An inquirer is motivated to retrieve information if: o the inquirer values what has been done in previous contexts o the desired information exists and the inquirer is aware of the information o the inquirer has the ability to search, locate, and decode the desired information o the cost to locate the information is less than re-computing the solution from scratch o An organization that maintains but does not use its knowledge-base is dysfunctional

Retrieval Process o Recommendations: o Examine degree to which the firm supports the retrieval of knowledge from the past o Impact of past knowledge on organizational effectiveness

Conclusions o Organizational Memory can benefit a firm in many ways: o Assist managers to maintain strategic direction over time o Avoid reinventing old solutions o Facilitate learning o Strengthen the identity of the organization o Provide newcomers with access to experts

The Firm as a distributed Knowledge System: A Constructionist Approach Haridimos Tsoukas, 1996

Organizational Memory o Summary o By Haridimos Tsoukas, School of Economics and Management, University of Cyprus (1996) o Introduction o Recent Developments o Structure of Social Practices o Industry Recipes o Conclusions

Introduction o 2 key management questions: o What direction should a firm channel it’s activities? o How should a firm be organized?

Introduction o Traditional approaches don’t take into consideration for particulars of space and time o Full knowledge is assumed o However, this knowledge is cannot be surveyed as a whole!

Recent Developments o Agrees with the idea that firms draw upon existing knowledge and it’s collective knowledge o Individuals interact to a scenario using their past experience and create their surroundings o This idea o Creates Taxonomies o Creates analogies between mind and organization

Recent Developments o Taxonomists: o Create types of organizational knowledge and explain their implications o Tacit v/s Explicit o Against the view of Nonaka/Takeuchi (inter connectivity between tacit & explicit) o Analogies o Between Mind and Organization o Knowledge is distributed o Collective mind is created as employees interact with one another.

Recent Developments o Human understanding uses background knowledge o the rationalist view is left lacking o The individual uses his background to a target o Results in understanding the target o The background is a result of socialization

Structure of Social Practices o Has 3 dimensions o Normative expectations o past socializations affect current situations o Interactive-situational dimension o Specific context of activity activates expectations o The absence of predictable rationale results in a dispersed environment!

Structure of Social Practices o Human decisions are always grounded in local/socialized and personal experience o Institutional context manages the infinite number of resulting possibilities. o “Human agency is always confronted with specific conditions and choices”

Industry Recipes o Recipe: Consists of background distinctions tied to a particular field of experience o Represent tacit knowledge o Managers must understand distinctions to get things under control. o Managers internalize industry specific distinction through socialization

Conclusions o Resources are created through human interaction o Firms rely on knowledge that is dispersed through employees o Firm is a distributed knowledge system o Knowledge is a broad context

Conclusions o Management should be the process of allowing individuals to interact; not be rule making o The interaction of individuals creates knowledge

Discussion o I thought the first 2 papers were easy to read and more helpful. o I found it a little difficult to read the paper on distributed knowledge. o The 3 papers are management type papers trying to appeal to a managerial audience inside a firm

Themes/Emphasis o The emphasis of the papers written by Stein and Tsoukas is knowledge itself. o Stein : Knowledge in a company in general o Tsoukas: Breakup of knowledge in a company. o Emphasis of Szulanski is how to transfer knowledge in a smooth manner in a firm

Issues and questions raised o Stein: Doesn’t mention details about how managers should go about the recommendations. o Tsoukas: His paper seems a little generalized o difficult to understand the background. o Doesn’t talk about the different roles in the organization (Experts vs new hires)

Issues and questions raised o Szulanski: o How to reduce the origins of stickiness after discovering what the origins are. o Expects the management to have solutions for that already.

Final thoughts o I think overall, o these papers matched well together o common theme of knowledge inside of an organization