Juani Swart

Intellectual capital: disentangling an enigmatic concept

– The purpose of this article is to review current literature on intellectual capital and its second‐tier sub‐components with a view to developing an improved research framework and a foundation for measures., – Refereed journal articles were selected from social sciences citations index (SSCI) and business source premier with a time limit of ten years., – Clear definitions are developed for each sub‐component of intellectual capital. This was done after identifying, for each sub‐component, the dimensions along which current definitions and research differ. A research framework is developed, which emphasizes the interaction between sub‐components of intellectual capital., – The paper provides a clear integrated framework and measures of forms of intellectual capital to guide and inform future research.

Whose Human Capital? The Challenge of Value Capture When Capital is Embedded

Current approaches that position human capital as central to value generation in knowledge-based industries obscure the importance of the relational nature of knowledge production. That is, separable and embodied forms of capital are interdependent in value creation and capture processes. We identify a relational form of capital, embedded capital, which we argue is the critical resource in knowledge-based industries such as professional services firms, because it allows us to include agency and interdependency in the value capture process. These dimensions have previously been overlooked by the resource-based view of the firm. Examples of embedded capital include brand value, processes and procedures. The deployment of embedded capital is also not clearly controlled by either the firm or individual employees. A model is developed to illustrate the links between each form of capital, and the processes of value capture. This conceptual identification of the embedded form of capital is therefore of importance to future value creation and capture debates.

Why should I share my knowledge? A multiple foci of commitment perspective

Knowledge-intensive firms need to leverage their individual knowledge assets via knowledge sharing to create collective knowledge resources. This process is, however, in the control of the knowledge worker. We explore this personal and emotive quality of knowledge sharing by asking: ‘How does employee commitment impact on knowledge sharing?’ We study professional service firms operating in cross-boundary environments and examine the impact of commitment to the organisation, profession, team and client on knowledge sharing. The article contributes directly to our understanding of the interrelationship between (a) the types and foci of commitment and (b) bidirectional knowledge sharing.

Influences on the choice of HR system: the network organization perspective

Research into the links between HR and performance has assumed that managers have a high degree of strategic choice in this area. We argue this choice is constrained by members of the network within which the firm operates. Two contrasting firms are examined to discuss how and why strategic choice varies by reference to the resource dependency theory. This discussion leads us to conclude that the links between HR and performance can be understood only in the context of the characteristics of network relationships.

Identifying knowledge boundaries: the case of networked projects

Purpose – In an interconnected world, projects span boundaries bringing together multiple organizations that enable cross‐boundary teams to contribute their collective knowledge assets. Herein lies the theoretical and managerial challenge; to date no‐one has identified the “knowledge boundaries” of projects. This means knowledge resources may be duplicated or ineffectively managed, impacting on project and organizational success. This paper seeks to demonstrate how “knowledge boundaries” can be identified and to illustrate how knowledge can be more effectively and efficiently used by cross‐boundary projects.Design/methodology/approach – The research question: “How can the knowledge boundaries of networked projects be identified?” was addressed through a set of case studies spanning the Ministry of Defence (MOD)/Defence‐Industry boundary. Individual and shared knowledge assets, and the interrelationships between them, were identified via parallel coding of interview data and the analysis of the survey resu...

Men and measures: capturing knowledge requirements in firms through qualitative system modelling

Knowledge Management (KM) is an issue of great and increasing importance in most if not all areas of managerial endeavour. In this paper, we are concerned with the particular practical difficulty within KM of mapping knowledge in a managed system. This is an important practical issue because without a view of the terrain of explicit and tacit knowledge in the managed system, we have little prospect of planning our managerial interaction. Few if any practical methods exist which reflect the strongly systemic nature of business organizations. We begin by establishing our position with regard to the numerous definitions and perspectives of knowledge in managed systems, and indeed in regard to the disagreements that rack KM over the nature of knowledge itself, where it lies and the role of humans as creators, users and guardians of that knowledge. We relate the nature of system knowledge to well-known taxonomies of knowing what, knowing how, knowing why, knowing who together with the integrated from of knowing in the managed system as a whole. The method presented, Systems Based KM (or SBKM), is based on a non-positivist qualitative method deriving from System Dynamics and it is presented through the medium of a case study of a professional firm.

This is what the fuss is about: a systemic modelling for organisational knowing

Purpose – This paper presents a system‐based approach to action‐directed knowledge management. This approach, known as system‐based knowledge management (SBKM), allows one to respond to the observations made by previous writers that knowledge management should be cognisant of the complexity of knowledge in organisations and of the limitations of codification of that knowledge. Starts with a taxonomic analysis of the nature of organisational knowledge, dividing this critical resource into four: knowing what, knowing how, knowing why, and knowing who. Each of these requires recognition of the system in which it is created and used.Design/methodology/approach – SBKM is an accessible systems analysis tool based on the techniques of qualitative system dynamics. Its fundamental representational technique (the influence diagram) is that of causal mapping and its novel element is the explicit representation of the use of knowledge by human actors in fulfilling their specific system roles.Practical implications – ...

Simultaneity of Learning Orientations in a Marketing Agency

The dynamic internal and external environments faced by many professional service firms mean that the simultaneous exploiting of existing knowledge assets as well as exploring new knowledge capabilities become critical. These two modes of learning (March, 1991) can take place in two distinct time frames: the planned, longer-term and the accelerated, shorter-term. The ability to switch between these is critical to organizational success. This article draws on a case study of a marketing agency to illustrate how exploratory and exploitive learning takes place in both time frames. It demonstrates how the most important interactions between knowledge assets in each of these learning orientations create valuable outputs for clients.

‘If I learn do we learn?’: The link between executive coaching and organizational learning

This article contributes to the organizational learning literature by providing empirical evidence of how coaching enables the translation from individual learning into collective learning, i.e. enacting behaviours, enacting a coaching approach and embedding collective learning processes. It draws on interview data gathered in two law firms wherein learning was the result of executive coaching interventions to pinpoint the mechanisms by which individual and collective learning is interconnected, thereby heeding a call for a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms of learning presented in Management Learning (Bapuji and Crossan, 2004). This enables us to understand the role that coaching plays in the translation from individual to collective learning.

Engaged and committed? The relationship between work engagement and commitment in professional service firms

Our study explores the relationship between employee engagement and foci-commitment of employees in professional service firms (PSFs). PSFs compete on the basis of their ability to encourage their employees to generate exceptional knowledge-based services and products, acting within and beyond the organizational boundaries. In order to achieve these outputs, the PSFs need to ensure that their professionals are engaged and committed. Drawing on 375 surveys from the employees of a global PSF, we compare two models to test the relationship between work engagement and multi-foci commitment: the organization, the client, the team and the profession. We first explore an overall positive effect of work engagement on commitment to all four foci. We then compare the overall impact to the independent effects of work engagement dimensions on four commitment foci. Our findings suggest that work engagement with three dimensions is a better-fitting model in the PSFs context.