The Effect of Software Development Project Team Structure on the Process of Knowledge Sharing: An Empirical Study

Abstract

The structure and dynamics of software development project team have the potential to influence and impact the knowledge sharing process or mechanism within the project team that may affect the timely and successful completion of the project milestones. In order to confirm and validate this hypothesis, we carried out a comprehensive study in which 271 employees of 47 software development companies of Pakistan have been interviewed to share their experiences and views on the impact of project team structure and dynamics on the Knowledge Management Process (KMP) of their respective organizations. The included organizations have come under the category of Very Small Entities (VSEs). The results of the study revealed that team size, commitment, time constraint, level of motivation, communication, trust, reward system, language, multiple roles of team members and complex hierarchical organizational structure possess an enormous potential in disturbing the KMP within the software development team. Based on these factors, a knowledge sharing framework within software development project teams has been proposed.