Alfredo Virgillito

The Absence of Cooperation Is Not Necessarily Defection: Structural and Motivational Constraints of Knowledge Transfer in a Social Dilemma Situation

There is a wealth of literature about knowledge transfer in general, but only a small amount deals with cultural and motivational factors of knowledge transfer. The main question of this article is: How can knowledge transfer be supported? First, we present a theoretical underpinning of knowledge transfer as a social dilemma situation. Second, we analyze how a situation of social dilemma can be overcome by means of structural and motivational solutions. Third, we provide empirical evidence from our survey in hospitals. These findings support three of our five hypotheses: direct channels for interaction, organizational culture, and intrinsic motivation are relevant requirements for knowledge transfer. Team size is not a significant factor for transferring knowledge in hospitals. Furthermore, our empirical findings differentiate between providing and obtaining knowledge. The last finding leads back to a modification of the theoretical framework.

Inwieweit unterstützen die Faktoren Motivation und Organisationskultur technikorientiertes Wissensmanagement in Krankenhäusern

Der Artikel diskutiert die Wirksamkeit der Faktoren Organisationskultur, Motivation Gruppengroβe auf IT-gestutzte s Wissensmanagement. Hierbei wird getrennt nach den beiden Berufsgruppen der Pflegekrafte und Arzte untersucht, wie ein Wissenstransfer sinnvoll gestaltet werden kann. Im Rahmen einer Faktorenanalyse wird evaluiert, auf welchen verschiedenen Ebenen Wissensmanagement in Krankenhausern stattfindet.

Erwartungen an Interessenvertretungen

Die industriellen Beziehungen werden auf der betrieblichen Ebene bisher vornehmlich aus der Perspektive der betrieblichen Interessenvertretungen oder deren Beziehung zum Management analysiert, waehrend die Perspektive der abhaengig Beschaeftigten mehr oder weniger vernachlaessigt wird. Diese Forschungsluecke wird mit diesem Beitrag gefuellt, indem in einer repraesentativen Befragung von abhaengig Beschaeftigten in Deutschland deren Erwartungen an betriebliche Interessenvertretungen erhoben wurden. Dabei wird folgender Forschungsfrage nachgegangen: Wie lassen sich diese Erwartungen abhaengig Beschaeftigter an betriebliche Interessenvertretungen anhand bestimmter sozialer Milieus klassifizieren’ Die Frage wird durch Clusterbildung von fuenf Erwartungen und deren Kombination sowie durch eine Sozialstrukturanalyse eines jeden Clusters beantwortet. (In the past, research on industrial relations has been conducted primarily from the perspective of works councils and their relations to the management, whereas the perspective of the employees has been more or less neglected. With the help of a representative survey of German employees we will answer the following research question: How can the employee expectations regarding works councils be classified by means of social milieus’ We answer the research question by conducting a cluster analysis regarding five different expectations and their combination. Moreover, we analyze the corresponding groups in each case.)

Unterstützungsfaktoren für den Wissenstransfer im Kontext von sozialer Arbeit

Die zentrale Frage des Artikels ist: Welche Voraussetzungen sind zu beachten, damit Wissenstransfer im Bereich der sozialen Arbeit funktioniert? Dazu werden zuerst der Begriff des Wissenstransfers definiert und anschliesend Hypothesen entwickelt, die die unterstutzenden Einflussfaktoren aufzeigen. Die Hypothesen beschreiben Routinen, Motivation und Einstellung sowie Normen und Fuhrungskultur. Am empirischen Beispiel eines Wohlfahrtsverbandes werden die entwickelten Hypothesen getestet. Dazu wurden die Nutzer und Wissensmanagementbeauftragten eines Wissensmanagementsystems des Wohlfahrtverbandes online befragt.

Strategisches Kompetenzmanagement von Produktionsbeschäftigen – Innovations- und Wachstumsimpulse in nicht-forschungsintensiven kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen

Dieser Beitrag unterstreicht die Bedeutsamkeit des strategischen Kompetenzmanagements in nicht-forschungsintensiven kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU). Aufgrund ihrer geringen Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaktivitaten werden diese Betriebe in der allgemeinen Innovationsdebatte leicht ubersehen. Nichtsdestotrotz sind sie innovativ und wettbewerbsfahig. Das Ruckgrat dieser KMU stellen haufig die an- und ungelernten Produktionsbeschaftigten mit ihrem Anwendungs- und Erfahrungswissen dar. Mithilfe eines strategischen Kompetenzmanagements konnen die Kompetenzen der Produktionsbeschaftigten nachhaltig gefordert und Potenziale der Innovationsfahigkeit gezielt gesteigert werden. Mit besonderem Fokus auf nicht-forschungsintensive KMU geht dieser Text der institutionalisierten Verbreitung und den Herausforderungen eines strategischen Kompetenzmanagements nach. Zudem wird ein speziell fur diese KMU entwickeltes Kompetenzmanagementinstrument – die Kompetenzmanagementtabelle – vorgestellt.

Knowledge Transfer in German Hospitals

Purpose – This article deals with the question: How can individual knowledge transfer of physicians be supported in hospitals? We concentrate at the individual level of knowledge transfer and distinguish between knowledge providing and knowledge obtaining as two different actions of knowledge transfer. We also empirically test influencing factors like organizational opportunities, organizational culture, and intrinsic motivation on the two knowledge transfer actions. Design/methodology/approach – We follow a sequential mixed method research approach and use qualitative and quantitative methods. In 2006, we distributed 667 questionnaires to physicians for our quantitative study and 192 usable questionnaires were returned. The distribution of age, gender, and the size of the hospitals reflects the situation in hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) and is representative in this respect. Findings – The results show that some organizational opportunities, organizational culture, and intrinsic motivation support physicians in providing and obtaining knowledge. Interestingly, these factors support providing and obtaining knowledge in different ways. Therefore, providing and obtaining knowledge have to be managed in different ways. Research limitations/implications – The survey only sheds light on the situation in German hospitals. To prove if our findings can be generalized, it is necessary to conduct additional research. Originality/value – The originality of this paper is that it investigates knowledge transfer at the individual level and empirically shows that physicians are motivated by different factors when they obtain and provide knowledge. Although our study is about physicians working in hospitals we think this idea is relevant also beyond this setting.

Knowledge management as second level management

This article deals with the question: What enables organizations to manage knowledge transfer? We present principal-agent theory as a foundation to explain barriers of knowledge transfer. We show mechanisms which can solve the principal-agent problem by means of network, organizational, and motivational characteristics. Thereafter, we give some empirical evidence from a survey with medical doctors. The results show that network characteristics in form of direct channels for interaction, organizational characteristics, and intrinsic motivation can support knowledge transfer. These three factors are part of a ‘second level management’.

Requirements for knowledge transfer in hospitals

Much literature exists about knowledge transfer in general, but very little deals with the link between the micro-perspective of learning in organizations and structural, cultural, and cognitive constraints caused by the organization particularly with regard to prerequisites of knowledge-transfer within groups in knowledge-based working processes. The main question of this article is: How can knowledge transfer be supported? We exemplify this theoretical question with the help of an investigation we accomplished in German hospitals. The aim of our article is to fill two detected gaps in the existing literature: First we analyze knowledge transfer as a double-sided process of providing and obtaining knowledge. Second we link structural, cultural, and cognitive perspectives together and give a theoretical underpinning of knowledge transfer. We will give empirical evidence from our survey which supports five of our six hypotheses: Possibilities of interaction, organizational culture, and intrinsic motivation are relevant requirements for knowledge transfer. Only team size is not a significant factor for transferring knowledge in hospitals. In detail we show in this article that different factors support providing or obtaining knowledge.