Knowledge Sharing Differences Between Engineering Functional Teams: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

Studies on organisations have indicated the significance of acknowledging subcultures across an organisation. It is therefore important to consider dedicated Knowledge Management (KM) strategies for different "entities" within each ontology level to suit their unique characteristics. However, a review of the literature indicates that this concept so far appears to have only been applied down to departmental level. There is little research exploring the next level down, to whether or not different "teams" require different KM strategies to remain competitive. In order to answer this question, this research explores what differences there are between teams in the context of KM by using a case study of a medium-sized high-tech manufacturer in New Zealand. Different KM practices between homogeneous teams of design engineers from different technical disciplines within the same department were investigated. The findings confirmed that in the context of KM, teams within a department do not always behave homogeneously. Four factors that caused different tacit knowledge sharing practices between the functional teams in the Engineering Department of the case company were identified: The nature of the technical discipline, team resources, departmental structure design and team culture. Based on these findings, a KM approach defining a specific KM strategy for each team was then proposed. This approach provides managers with an alternative perspective on KM implementation, which may help mitigate the high failure rate of KM among businesses reported in the literature.