Rashmi H. Assudani

Catching the chameleon: understanding the elusive term “knowledge”

Purpose – To examine the various discourses on “knowledge” and to understand what knowledge means – is it a process of leveraging resources, is it a resource, or is it both – a process and a resource? Further, the purpose of the paper is to propose a framework for knowledge management.Design/methodology/approach – The literature on “knowledge” is reviewed and “knowledge” is analyzed along the epistemological dimensions. The synthesis seeks to integrate the disparate ways in which “knowledge” has been conceptualized in the management literature.Findings – The framework on knowledge management recognizes and establishes linkages between both attributes of knowledge – knowledge as a process and as a resource. It recognizes knowledge as an input resource (“knowledge of”), knowledge as an output resource (“knowledge from”), and knowledge as a process linking the “knowledge of” to the “knowledge from”.Practical implications – A very useful source for practitioners and students interested in the field of knowled...

Ethnic Entrepreneurship: The Distinct Role of Ties

Abstract Ethnic entrepreneurship is being recognized as an important vehicle of economic growth. Research demonstrates that in-group ties within ethnic groups are useful vehicles that help ethnic groups surpass their unique challenges to establish and sustain entrepreneurial initiatives. While considerable research demonstrates the facilitating role of these ties, little is discussed about the constraining role of these ties. I draw on social capital theory to discuss the facilitating as also the constraining role of in-group ties for these entrepreneurs. I further discuss how structural hole theory may compensate for the constraints of in-group ties. I then examine certain types of organizations/institutions that have competencies to serve as structural holes. Such a discussion starts a conversation about the contingencies of different types of ties and the role that each of them may play for sourcing resources for ethnic entrepreneurs.

Managing Stakeholders for Project Management Success: An Emergent Model of Stakeholders

The world is in a state of constant flux and the systems perspective in the management literature has concerned itself with the adaptations that reflect this dynamic. However, while project management literature recognises the robustness of salient stakeholders, the literature has given little attention to managing the dynamic and shifting process of stakeholder management during the project life cycle. This conceptual paper uses both social network and stakeholder theories to integrate and extend the current theoretical body of literature in the field of project management to describe a more fine grained approach to managing stakeholders throughout the project life cycle. This in turn allows broader insights into the behavioural complexities of project management success. This is important because many authors and practicing managers forcefully state the importance of behavioural foundations in attaining project success.

Dispersed knowledge work – implications for knowledge intensive firms

Purpose – Despite increase in industry use of dispersed teams, understanding has lagged on how to manage knowledge effectively and efficiently in a dispersed structure. The main purpose of this paper is to map this domain by reviewing two streams of literatures ‐ the knowledge‐based view of the firm and the dispersed work. The aim, also, is to examine the implications of dispersed knowledge work on firms, especially knowledge intensive firms that are increasingly conducting dispersed work.Design/methodology/approach – The literatures are reviewed and analyzed to examine why accessing and creating knowledge is problematic in dispersed work arrangements.Findings – The findings raise the issue of understanding the important dynamics of the fit between the structure (dispersed versus face‐to‐face) and the strategy for managing dispersed knowledge (codification versus personalization strategy).Practical implications – The paper is a useful resource for managers seeking to discern the social and technological i...

The Effect of Pedagogy on Students' Perceptions of the Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility in Business Firms

Ethics is increasingly viewed to be an important component of business education. However, assessment of the ethics component of business education has not received the same degree of examination as has assessment of the functional areas. Instead, ethics education is often simply assumed to be effective. Is it? The objective of this study is to begin to explore this question by examining the effects of the integration of ethics into a functional area of business education, specifically a management principles course. The results raise questions about the effectiveness of integrating ethics across the business curriculum.

What does it mean to manage 'knowledge': implications for the strategic management of knowledge in firms

Knowledge has emerged as a central theme in strategy and organisational research. However, there is still no consensus as to what constitutes knowledge and where it resides. Different perspectives on what constitute knowledge therefore offer a challenge to firms that are earnest in their efforts to effectively and efficiently manage knowledge. This paper is an effort to examine and situate the conceptual discourses on knowledge. Such a discussion offers a framework about the various conceptual categories of knowledge that firms could focus on. This has implications on the strategic directives for managing knowledge in firms.

Knowledge exchange in a virtual team exploring the relationship between virtual communication and social capital generation

In the current digital knowledge economy, virtual communication is often used as a medium for knowledge exchange. Research has demonstrated that knowledge exchange is a complex social process which, at least in part, relies upon the social capital between exchange partners. The question of research interest is to examine whether virtual communication can generate and support social capital, thus enabling knowledge exchange across space and time boundaries. I use the literatures in the knowledge-based view of the firm, virtual work, and social capital theory to develop some hypotheses that explore the relationship between virtual communication and social capital generation in virtual teams.

Role of Familiarity in Affecting Knowledge Gaps in Geographically Dispersed Work

Increasingly, various tasks are being conducted by dispersed teams. However, such teams lack a common context, and knowledge gaps exist among dispersed team members making collaboration difficult. This paper seeks to examine whether and how properties of team context (e.g., familiarity with team members and task) have the potential to moderate the effects of structure of team context (e.g., dispersion) on dispersed team collaboration. Further, this paper teases out these effects in teams with a varying extent of dispersion. Findings offer evidence that a unique constraint of distance that dispersed teams face may not be the key factor that determines their performance.

Understanding Indian supply chain management practices

Global corporations increasingly pursue avenues for employing the information technology and manufacturing prowess of India and managing global cooperative strategies (strategic alliance and supply networks) with India partners. While most studies addressing global cooperative strategies analyse organisational and industrial characteristics, very few theories incorporate explanations for Indian supply chain management practices. This study is an attempt to better understand Indian supply chain management practices.

Negotiating Knowledge Gaps in Dispersed Knowledge Work

Reviews from the two streams of research - knowledge based view of the firm and dispersed work – offers evidence for knowledge gaps that exist among dispersed members. Dispersed members therefore cannot take for granted that they have a common context, making dispersed collaboration problematic. A major challenge for such teams is thus to co-create a commonly shared context. This paper examines the process of how dispersed teams negotiate knowledge gaps to create a common context. The study uses a multiple case design on dispersed teams at a knowledge-based marketing organization in the US. The findings from this field study highlight three strategies to negotiate knowledge gaps: (1) active engagement strategies, (2) negotiating relationally, and (3) redundant knowledge structures. Taken together, these findings have the potential to help managers in knowledge based organizations to discern appropriate social and technological interventions that may be needed for conducting dispersed knowledge work.