Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Change in a Leading Telecommunications Equipment Vendor

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katina Michael
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1979-1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem

PurposeThe failure rate of change is high amongst countries and cultures where collectivism, destructive politics and resistance are high. Therefore, change leaders are more focused on exploring how they can create networking and socialization amongst major organizational stakeholders that can minimize detrimental cynicism and lobbying during change implementation. This study is an attempt to shed light on how Social Networking Applications (henceforth SNAs) can facilitate change implementation processes in the insurance sector.Design/methodology/approachThe individual reaction and interaction realities during the change process cannot be discovered once and for all as there are varied perspectives on the same subjects. Therefore, a social constructionist position was used to understand the different realties of change managers and change recipients using the context of insurance sector.FindingsThe study documented how SNAs can play an active role in addressing the concerns of employees as well as managing and protecting knowledge sharing to facilitate the change implementation process. The collaborative and interactive nature of SNAs can enhance richness in knowledge sharing and can facilitate the participation of employees. Therefore, management should monitor these platforms as a means to improve the change process and to address the concerns of employees. These networking channels which include WhatsApp and Facebook can enhance social interactions, support and acceptance at individual and organizational levels.Research limitations/implicationsSocial media has become a familiar tool for employees to use to discuss internal changes and policies within their organizations. Social media enhances the richness, reach, knowledge exchange and effective internal communication potential amongst organizational change stakeholders. Using social media, change recipients are now more empowered and connected with their leadership that ever before. It is now easier to facilitate decision making during the change formulation and implementation process.Practical implicationsSocial media applications have become necessary to ensure incremental and radical changes to the survival of dynamic businesses. The findings of this study are beneficial for change leaders and recipients of change to implement successful organizational change using social media tools. The effective and efficient use of social media applications helps organizations to foster knowledge amongst employees and they can address various critical issues, that is resistance to change, lower levels of knowledge sharing and support for change acceptance and lack of employee participation in decision making.Originality/valueThere is an inadequate understanding regarding how SNAs play a role in facilitating the change process in both public and private sector organizations. This study offers a social mchange facilitation model with the help of social learning, social networking and social behaviourism theories.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402098885
Author(s):  
Dorine Maurice Mattar

This study tackles the extent to which employees’ attributions and acknowledgments of the innovation implementation’s urgency play a role in their acceptance and readiness behavior during a crisis. Moreover, it highlights the importance of support and knowledge sharing among organization members on social media, given that an organizational change is taking place during a crisis while everyone is being quarantined. Qualitative data are collected from semi-structured interviews as well as from the chats on the WhatsApp group created for this quick innovation implementation decision. Findings reveal that during a crisis, employees’ sensemaking of the organization’s innovation adoption is triggered by attribution to constructive intentionality. The urgency imposed boosts the contextual dimension of the readiness for change, which enhances organization members’ commitment to implement the change. Moreover, when everyone is quarantined, social media is found to be the only means for maintaining social relations, ensuring colleagues’ support and sharing knowledge; and consequently boosting members’ readiness. The value of this research lies in the topic addressed, and in the unusual context in which the innovation implementation took place.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 1041-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Leith ◽  
Hilary Yerbury

The sharing of knowledge in organizations is deemed critical to achieving environmental and economic sustainability outcomes. This study applies a practice theoretical approach to investigating knowledge sharing in a team in local government created to break down the boundaries which have led to siloed practices. Findings indicate a range of activities, including influencing and resisting, and these differ from findings in other studies. Analysis of organizational discourses, physical arrangements and social spaces of organizations demonstrated the existence of two distinct practices: knowledge sharing and organizational change. Sharing knowledge of the organization and its ways of working were found to be as important as sharing subject knowledge and expertise.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 567-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usman Aslam ◽  
Farwa Muqadas ◽  
Muhammad Kashif Imran ◽  
Ubaid-Ur-Rahman Ubaid-Ur-Rahman

Purpose In recent times, organizations and leaders are focusing on new strategies to increase the success rate of organizational change (OC) implementation. Therefore, this study aims to uncover the sources and role of knowledge sharing (KS) to overcome the challenges of OC implementation. Design/methodology/approach For this research, data have been gathered from respondents based on their key designations by using unstructured interview method. Thematic analysis was then performed using the NVivo 11-Plus software. Findings It has found that employees in public sector organizations are opposing OC because of ineffective communication, and a lower level of employee participation in decision-making and barriers of, for example, a cultural, social, structural and political nature. Therefore, this study suggests how KS can be used to overcome the challenges of OC implementation. Research limitations/implications KS has become necessary to ensure incremental and radical changes in the survival of dynamic businesses. The results are useful to enhance understanding regarding the role of KS in the context of OC among change leaders, researchers, academicians and policymakers. Originality/value The study provides meaningful and novel knowledge regarding role of KS to overcome the challenges of OC implementation. No prior research that contributes practical and theoretical knowledge in the perspective of KS and OC has been found, especially in the context of developing countries and Asian culture. Therefore, this investigation attempts to explore the role of KS and presented overarching conceptual framework in the real context of OC implementation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heewon Kim

Organizations have been diversifying their workforce to better respond to fast-changing environments. However, research has indicated that the effects of diversity can vary by a number of contextual influences. This study examines the differential impacts of functional, geographical, and hierarchical diversity on expertise awareness, knowledge transfer, and knowledge acquisition during a large-scale organizational change. The analysis of full network data ( N = 211) collected from a multinational high-tech organization demonstrated that (a) geographical diversity was negatively associated with expertise awareness and knowledge sharing, (b) functional diversity was negatively related to expertise awareness, (c) hierarchical diversity had a positive effect on knowledge acquisition and expertise awareness, and (d) emotionally close ties contributed to expertise awareness and knowledge sharing. The findings indicate that hierarchical diversity and emotional closeness can promote knowledge sharing when members face new demands in the midst of organizational change.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 769-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunyoung Park ◽  
Eun-Jee Kim

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify how knowledge sharing literature has discussed task, structure, technology and people as elements of organizational change and to examine the interactions between the four elements of knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach – The research questions guiding the study are: How do organizational change elements influence knowledge sharing? and What are the critical elements of organizational change in relation to knowledge sharing? Based on Leavitt’s (1965) organizational change model, 133 articles published between 2000 and 2012 from 13 journals were reviewed and analyzed. Findings – The total number of articles covering task, structure, technology and people in knowledge sharing was 49, 79, 49 and 97, respectively. Of all references, 97 articles (72 per cent) discussed the important aspects of people, and 79 articles (59 per cent) emphasized the influential role of organizational structure in knowledge sharing. The highest frequency of interactions (48 articles) was the interaction between structure and people (Interaction 5). Research limitations/implications – To capture broader phenomena on knowledge sharing in organizational change, multiple data sources and a variety of journals with a longer timeframe should be collected and a more comprehensive review should be conducted. All perspectives of organizational change were not applied to this study. Theoretically, this study attempted to illuminate how knowledge sharing has been explored through the lens of four elements in organizational change and the interactions between the elements. This study attempted to expand the use of Leavitt’s (1965) model by applying interactive relationships among the elements to knowledge sharing. Practical implications – The findings can advance strategic and managerial practice by informing the planning and development of knowledge sharing associated with change in organizations. A key question is how to identify the major component of change which will trigger the other changes in the current architecture of knowledge sharing in their organizations. This study suggests that elements of structure and people, when organization face either planned or unplanned change, are critical for successful knowledge sharing by making the interactive connections with other components of change. Originality/value – The contributions of this study are that it provides an integrative review in selected journals of knowledge sharing in terms of organizational change. By examining how knowledge sharing studies have addressed the four change factors and multi component changes, this study explains one change in knowledge sharing leads to multi-component changes. Additional contribution is that it makes connections between knowledge sharing and organizational change.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 355-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Dee ◽  
Liudvika Leisyte

Purpose Organizational learning in higher education institutions depends upon the ability of managers and academics to maintain a flow of knowledge across the structural boundaries of the university. This paper aims to understand the boundary conditions that foster or impede the flow of knowledge during organizational change at a large public university. Design/methodology/approach Interview data were collected from 51 academics and 40 managers at the selected university. The analysis focused on two initiatives that managers sought to implement to improve organizational performance. Findings For one of these initiatives, managers engaged in knowledge transformation that enabled managers and academics to learn and collaborate across group boundaries. For the other initiative, managers relied on knowledge transfer practices, which failed to establish productive cross-boundary interactions to support organizational learning. Practical/implications When seeking to implement new initiatives to enhance institutional performance, university managers and academics can view organizational change as a learning process that involves creating and moving knowledge across organizational boundaries. Under conditions of change, the creation and movement of knowledge may require the development of new structures and the use of communications that have a high level of media richness. Originality/value This study provides one of the first empirical investigations of knowledge sharing dynamics during organizational change in a higher education setting.


Author(s):  
Syed Talib Hussain ◽  
Shen Lei ◽  
Muhammad Jamal Haider ◽  
Tayyaba Akram

This study examines the transformational leadership behavior for organizational change by creating the environment of sharing knowledge in organizational and individual level of the organization for a sample of 300 employees and their managers. The data analysis using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling explores the results of knowledge sharing for organizational change. Rather, this study explains the two dimensions from transformational leadership to knowledge sharing and organizational change, and their relationship has been identified. The results show that transformational leadership has a strong and significant relationship with knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing has strong and significant relationship with organizational change, and at last, the transformational leadership has positive and significant relationship with organizational change. This study also explores the theoretical, managerial, and practical implications.


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