Knowledge transfer and organizational learning in IS offshore sourcing

A novel framework of knowledge transfer system for construction projects based on knowledge graph and transfer learning

Despite the increasing attention to global IS work, there is limited understanding of why and how global IS development projects succeed or fail. Based on the literature on IS success and global teams, we develop a conceptual framework for global IS development project success. We also conducted interviews with nine global IS project managers to validate this framework through a qualitative attribution analysis to identify common themes and patterns of the interview results. Global project managers identified time separation, cultural differences and geographic distance as the most significant barriers to project success. Organizations implemented various communication mechanisms, task programming, and project control methods to mitigate global risks, leading to project success.

PurposeRecent work on public private partnerships (PPP)/private finance initiatives (PFI) and on the construction industry has emphasised the importance of knowledge transfer, learning and innovation to improve the working processes and procedures of the industry. However, until recently all three have been researched separately. It is on this basis the research presents a theoretical proposition that “the integration of alliance principles through the formation of collaborative network; innovation, knowledge transfer and organisational learning can be enabled where there is coordination, cohesion, commitment, teamwork, clear vision, monitoring and governance structure for control, risks/reward sharing, efficient and effective communication strategy, learning and knowledge transfer strategy”.Design/methodology/approachThe theory of social capital, social networks and inter‐organisational network was applied based on a network perspective to explain and aid specific attributes of PPP and PFI as a collaborative network to achieve the research objective. A case study research methodology was adopted to investigate the theoretical proposition.FindingsThe findings of this research illustrates that collaborative relationship is a crucial factor in contractual arrangements to enable cost savings, time savings and project quality. In addition, the challenges clients and contractors encounter in integrating innovation are as a result of project scope, project duration, affordability and project procurement strategy. Furthermore, the difficulties of knowledge transfer and learning is as a result of the disconnection between the team that closes the PFI deal and the team that implements the contract.Originality/valueThe paper suggests a network perspective to improve work relationships that helps to achieve predetermined common goals and to enhance project performance.

Although corporate acquisitions are on the rise, not much is known about the micro processes of knowledge and technology transfer after the deal is closed. The goal of this present research is to add to this knowledge by reviewing the literature while addressing two questions: 'what enables knowledge transfer in acquisitions' and 'what can organizations do to manage the knowledge transfer more successfully?'. The paper presents an organizational learning perspective on corporate acquisitions and discusses how organizations could learn from past and present acquisitions.

The management of teams in a distributed IS development project is challenging. It has even been suggested that a new breed of managers for the management of dispersed teams is needed, especially when relationships cross national boundaries. Challenges in distributed, global IS development are understood as related to three dimensions of distance: geographic, temporal, and cultural distance, which affect the manager's ability to control and coordinate distributed IS development projects. This chapter argues that combining a relationship perspective with a success perspective is fruitful for understanding distributed IS development projects. In this context there are several significant conditions that draw the attention to the challenges in the practice of distributed IS development projects. The chapter ends with the provision of a conceptual framework addressing relational-oriented conditions for the management of distributed IS development projects. Using the framework, managers can identify the relational-oriented conditions for realizing the benefits of distributed IS development projects.

Effect of transactive memory systems on team performance mediated by knowledge transfer

Inside the Black-box: Analysing the Generation of Core Competencies and Dynamic Capabilities by Exploring Collective Minds. An Organisational Learning Perspective** The paper combines resource-based thinking with perspectives from theories of organisational learning and knowledge management. According to the resource-based view (RBV) strategy can be defined as emergent pattern of interaction generating core competencies and dynamic capabilities. These processes of interaction and their relation to core competencies and dynamic capabilities are of major concern in the presented analysis. A synthesis with learning theories further leads to the basic assumption that processes of knowledge identification, knowledge diffusion, knowledge integration and the enactment of the environment are critical for generating core competencies. Moreover, learning theories show how to approach the causal ambiguityargument that is important in the explanation of core competencies given by RBV. It will be argued that the analysis of the shared mental model of the organisational members is a method to explore critical processes for generating core competencies. A related research instrument will be validated in a case study analysis that was conducted in a medium-sized enterprise aiming at testing the instrument and the aforementioned basic assumption. The instrument can explore the critical processes in which the generation of core competencies and dynamic capabilities is embedded in. It provides a better understanding of the critical processes within the organisation than the RBV. Key words: Causal ambiguity, collective minds, competitive advantages, core competencies, dynamic capabilities, knowledge management, organisational learning, resource-based view, strategic processes 1. Introduction The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has been thoroughly discussed in strategic management literature. The basic assumptions of this approach have been developed further during the last twenty years, specified for certain organisational functions and validated in hundreds of empirical analyses (see Barney/Arikan 2001; Rouse/Daellenbach 2002; Ray/Barney/Muhanna 2004). As a consequence, the RBV became a leading paradigm in strategic management (Wernerfelt 1995; Bresser 1998). Even though there is considerable theoretical and empirical progress in resourcebased research shortcomings still exist in the theoretical underpinnings of the approach. These restrict related empirical investigations that try to measure critical resources and processes for sustainable competitive advantages. One of the major shortcomings of the RBV is the fact that the organisation remains a black-box even though it is considered as the source of organisational success (Ortmann/Sydow 2001; Priem/Butler 2001). There is a lack in explanations of how heterogeneity arises (Helfat/Peteraf 2003: 997). This is not only a limitation in the eyes of those who regard the RBV as a theory of competitive advantage - if the major interest relies on rules for richness, the causal ambiguity argument of the RBV is somehow dissatisfying. Causal ambiguity means that the link between the resources controlled by a firm, internal processes and sustained competitive advantages can neither be attributed from outside nor from organisational members (Barney 1991). Rather, the causal ambiguity paradox - even though it is inspiring - veils the view on organisational internal processes that might have a strategic impact. The RBV does not only lay emphasis on the internal organisation but also limits a deeper understanding of organisational internal strategic processes. For a further development of strategy research a broader perspective of social action within and between organisations as well as between organisations and environments is essential. As Mintzberg (1978, 1994) points out these processes of forming a pattern of strategic action have been neglected in strategy research (see also Quinn 1984). …

The burgeoning literature on resilient health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) provides limited insights into the practice of resilience-building. To address this operational shortcoming, we explore the potential of health ministries to become 'learning organizations' to help foster resilience. We adopted a multi-stage, iterative methodology comprising multiple purposive literature searches, the selection and application of a conceptual framework from the 'learning organizations' literature, and expert opinion to expand on the framework with illustrative examples from LMICs. The principal finding of our prospecting assessment and appraisal is that many LMIC health ministries possess assets necessary for mounting a structured learning process for fostering increasingly resilient health systems. These assets include learning management strengths in systematic problem-solving, experimentation, self-analysis, learning from others and knowledge transfer. In addition, recent methodological advances in measuring progress towards becoming a learning organization enhance resilience-building potential. All health ministries, however, face substantial challenges in trying to realize their learning potential. They have to recognize the value of their learning assets and harness them in the service of a resilience-promoting learning agenda. Learning management and measurement skills must be complemented by supportive environments, sound leadership, and incentives that reinforce learning. The absence of models of sustained learning organizations in health sectors in LMICs and other countries hinders progress. Furthermore, our understanding of the dynamics of effective learning as well as the relationship between a learning organization and resilience is at a nascent stage. Increased attention to the role of adaptive capacity in fostering resilience may lead to more investment in systematic research on learning organizations and their effects on health system performance in LMICs.

<i>Managing Human Resources in China: The View from Inside Multinationals</i>, by Yu Zheng. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xx+287 pp. US$110.00 (cloth), US$49.99 (paper), US$36.00 (eBook).

Innovation, as an important corporate strategy, is the key activity that contributes to building core competitive advantage. During the process, the organizational learning decides the level of company's gaining innovative knowledge. This paper, based on learning theory and knowledge management theory, explores the relationship between knowledge's transfer, organizational learning and the organizational structure which impacting on the relationship with knowledge's transfer and organizational learning.

PurposeGuiding principles are knowledge structures that call to mind collective narratives with emotional content, and are articulated and used heuristically to guide decision making in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore how: guiding principles become integrated in management teams through discursive processes of social learning, and how process techniques from the realm of organizational learning can be used to facilitate the development of guiding principles.Design/methodology/approachDevelops theoretical findings drawing from the organizational learning literature, and explores these findings through use of a two‐part illustrative case study of guiding principles development in a European telecommunications firm.FindingsIt was found that guiding principle development may be facilitated using process techniques similar to those proposed for integrating organizational learning, namely, a dialogue‐intensive process involving stages of inquiry, divergence and convergence.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focuses on dialogue, while future studies may usefully focus on non‐discursive aspects of the conversational setting and structure in which the empirical case was embedded.Originality/valueThis paper combines both theory development with illustrative empirical data to shed light on the process by which guiding principles may be intentionally developed in an organizational setting.

Digital transformation has been recognized as a challenge and an opportunity for conservative family firms to develop and renew their strategies to survive and grow in the digital era. This study draws on the organizational learning perspective to examine the attitude of family firms toward digital transformation. More specifically, this study investigates whether family firms invest more or less in digital transformation than non-family firms, and how this effect is conditioned by governance factors, namely, board dependence and family involvement in ownership. The empirical results show that the attitude of family firms toward digital transformation is not significant, but the negative effect of family firms toward digital transformation would be augmented if taking higher board independence and family involvement in ownership. The results of this study enrich the literature on organizational learning perspective and extend the research of digital transformation in the context of family businesses. JEL classification numbers: D22, D83. Keywords: Digital Transformation, Organizational Learning, Family Business.

Due to the knowledge economy is growing so rapidly, the management of the enterprise is also undergoing tremendous changes. Therefore knowledge management is created. As a learning organization to achieve organizational knowledge management is the most effective form of organization, it is bound to become Knowledge Management’s key and core to create a learning organization. A perfect knowledge management chain benefits the knowledge selection, sorting, innovation and the knowledge bank. In this article, strategies of knowledge management for e-commerce were studied in the perspective of knowledge management and learning organization.

How firms utilize collaboration on managing resource-based knowledge for innovation is a crucial question for hospitality industry. The purpose of the study is to examine the impacts of knowledge transfer and technical services learning, in enhancing search and acquisition process, on innovation. A 181 stratified hotel sample in Thailand was collected. The findings strongly indicate that knowledge search and acquisition process integrating with knowledge transfer and technical learning have a positive impact on internal innovation. Having more internal capability, firms can then improve service innovation. However, knowledge transfer and technical learning do not affect service innovation. Interestingly, internal innovation does not influence performances directly, but to performances by mediating of service innovation. This study generalizes the understanding in tourism innovation.

Incumbent industrial firms are putting in a lot of effort in developing capabilities for machine learning (ML) systems that help them better predict and perform a variety of industrial and business processes and decisions. Given the data-, process-, and organizational structure-related requirements for effective implementation of such systems, these organizations encounter a major challenge in developing capabilities in this context. However, the existing literature has yet to unravel the organizational processes and practices associated with artificial intelligence (AI) capability development and deployment in industrial incumbent firms. The present study frames AI adoption in established industrial firms as a process of history-embedded, situated organizational learning involving explorative and exploitative learning. Based on a qualitative study of seven firms utilizing ML algorithms in their industrial and business processes, we develop a grounded model that explains AI capability building as both enabled and constrained by perceptual and functional triggers and barriers, leveraged via communicative and structural practices, and resulting in ongoing and interdependent processes of exploration and exploitation. The study contributes to the literature by showing how the convergence of organizational learning and AI technology's unique features promotes a distinct dynamic of AI capability building and deployment.