| dc.description.abstract | Knowledge is seen as a main driving force for current public organizations to fulfill
their mission in changing environments, and for some organizations the response is
to design managed networks for knowledge sharing and learning. Distributed
organizations, which this study examines, are particularly challenged to develop
knowledge sharing and learning across distance to strengthen their operative units.
Communities of practice have become a central notion for the management of
knowledge in organizations. However, the elaboration of communities of practice
seems to assume that the members regularly work together or at least meet during
lunchtimes and at meetings in which they share their work experiences. Some,
though, do not have the opportunity to work together or meet directly face-to-face,
since they are spread around large geographical areas. The purpose of the present
work is to elaborate on this issue.
This dissertation addresses gaps in existing literature regarding the role of managed
networks and communities for knowledge sharing in distributed organizations. In
particular the role of collaborative ICT and identity construction is discussed. The
overarching research question for this dissertation is: What are the main factors
hampering and facilitating knowledge sharing through managed networks of
competence? The two sub- questions are:
1) What is the role of the GoToMeeting™ tool, when sharing knowledge in managed
networks of competence?
2) What is the role of identity construction for knowledge sharing in managed
networks of competence?
The overarching theoretical idea that this dissertation extends is structuration
theory. ICTs are from this perspective seen as structural resources that shape the social practices of the participants using them while being influenced by this use.
Through this duality of technology comes the shape of the community and the
identities of those participating in it. This approach combines Giddens structuration
theory with Wengers theory on communities of practice, and emphasizes the social,
technological and contextual factors that contribute to the dynamics of networks
and communities of practice.
The empirical context includes the following networks: The Fishery Network in the
Norwegian Taxation Authority and two accident networks, two networks for
psychological well-being and the network for occupational hygiene in the Norwegian
Labor Inspection Authority (main research site).
This research is aligned with the social constructivist approach to grounded theory
where categories and concepts emerge from my interactions with the field and
questions about the data. The strength of this approach is twofold:
1. The social constructionist view has the ability to uncover some of the
complexity of human sense making. It views knowledge as socially
constructed through interactions in particular contexts. This perspective
goes beyond the deterministic perspectives of ICT and organizational
structure (network structure), where both are thought to have embedded
features influencing people.
2. Grounded theory analysis is particularly useful for the explorative nature of
this research project. Data consist of interview data and observational data collected from 2008 to 2012.
This thesis contains five papers, contributing to different perspectives and the
perspectives are:
Paper 1: Media use, social networking and knowledge sharing,
Paper 2: Work role identities and their barriers to online knowledge sharing,
Paper 3: The sharing of work practice across distance,
Paper 4: The use narration to overcome learning barriers when sharing complex
practices, and, finally,
Paper 5: Focusing on how the construction of identity influences the transfer of
knowledge in a managed and online context.
This study offers deep insights into the role of the collaborative ICT tool
GoToMeeting™ for knowledge sharing. Findings underline that the tool has
limitations regarding knowledge sharing, in particular for communities with a more
interpretative knowledge orientation. However, closeness to actual work practice is
also accomplished by the participants’ use of actual documents, stories and pictures
when sharing online. Yet, the participants find it hard to interact socially, to get to
know each other and to discover who knows what, which is very important for
knowledge sharing. Technology is not the only problem here. Other contextual
factors – individualism, group size, mixed signals from management, managerial
control and overload of top-down issues create problems for the networks.
The main theoretical contribution of this work is the enlargement of structuration
theory into knowledge sharing through online managed networks of competence.
The dissertation develops a perspective that views technology (ICT) as a medium for
identity construction. The findings underline that some work identities are more
difficult to signify online than other identities, hence influencing the trajectories of the communities in the organization. There is an emphasis in this dissertation that
knowledge sharing is hard to enact in traditional ways online. Though, to some
extent the participants establish new ways to share knowledge by means of
storytelling and the use of work documents and pictures from an inspected site.
Grounded on this, the study contributes to the practice based idea that ICTs can
facilitate knowledge sharing by facilitating the observation of the work practices of
others. Furthermore, this study extended the emergent perspective on ICT use, and
in particular the negative impact of ICT mediated multitasking from work activities
to online networks of competence meetings.
This study contributes to the communities of practice literature, by changing the
focus from identity construction as a facilitator for knowledge sharing, as described
in the literature on communities of practice, to the role of identity as a barrier which
hamper knowledge sharing. The findings demonstrate that multiple and
contradictory identities create barriers linked to knowledge interests and
commitment. In particular, my study emphasizes the identity problems in the
relationship between old-timers and the newcomers which may hamper the sharing
of experiences from old-timers to newcomers.
This dissertation contributes also to the study of organizational and social identity
by extending the fragmented view of social identities and identity in organizations to
managed networks of competence. Findings contributes to our understanding of the
tensions between organizational knowledge and professional knowledge that is
nurtured by the networks of competence, and the more tacit work-based
knowledge which is usually constructed in a master–apprentice relationship during
work, which creates unclear learning trajectories for the newcomers participating in
the networks of competence. To nurture formal networks of competence, this study highlight that there is a need
for managers to; 1) better understand the participants traditional ways of sharing
knowledge to support interaction, 2) take on an leadership role to clarify the
purpose of the formal networks, but not control what network members are
discussing, and finally 3) give the networks concrete tasks to develop their
competencies, social network and in particular the know-who. Finally, I suggest that
it is necessary to look more deeply into how ICT mediated knowledge sharing,
personnel turnover and organizational change in current organizations can change
communities in organizations and how organizations add to the differences between
the generations as important areas which should be prioritized in future knowledge
management research. | no_NO |
