Professional Knowledge Workers Research Articles

The HR ecosystem framework: Examining strategic HRM tensions in knowledge‐intensive organizations with boundary‐crossing professionals

AbstractIn this article, we use Snell & Morris' (2021) new HR ecosystem framework to empirically examine strategic fit and alignment tensions for knowledge‐intensive organizations and professional knowledge workers. Rich data were collected through in‐depth interviews with 75 members of faculty engaged in knowledge‐intensive work for Business and Management Schools (B&M), and the analysis of strategy documents. The application of the framework enables us to contribute to dynamic capabilities theory and SHRM in four ways. Firstly, drawing on the findings, we propose an adapted HR Ecosystem framework for analyzing knowledge‐intensive organizations, which incorporates tensions across the four subsystems of an HR ecosystem (strategy, capabilities, composition, and cultures). These tensions are shaped by interactions within and between levels (meso, macro and micro) and ecosystems. Secondly, our findings underscore the need for knowledge‐intensive organizations to engage with a plurality of collaborative and competing internal and external stakeholder interests, including those of knowledge workers who constitute key organizational stakeholders. Thirdly, our analysis shows how the views and behaviors of internal organizational stakeholders are affected by ecosystem dynamics within and beyond the physical boundaries of an organization. Fourthly, we reveal how conflicting organizational cultures connect with other HR ecosystem subsystems to constrain collegialism and cohesion. By evidencing how knowledge‐intensive organizations are in a constant flux of alignment and misalignment, the article demonstrates the value of the HR ecosystem framework in examining and informing SHRM in organizations in other industries.

Performance-Based Management to Motivate University Lecturers in Vietnam: A Case Study of Tan Trao University, Vietnam

University lecturers are professional knowledge workers who have the function of training, fostering and developing a high-quality workforce for the society. They perform two tasks at the same time: teaching and researching. The motivation to work of university lecturers is born from the need and is expressed through the aspects of awareness, attitude and behavior. From case study of performance- based management in TanTrao university, an investigate among 107 responders who are lecturers of the University was implemented. The results showed factors affecting on working motivation of university lecturers and their level of satisfaction with motivating activities in performance-based management system in the University. After that, the author recommended some solutions to motivate lecturers in Vietnam’s university to further advance their performance.

Learning for professional expertise: Towards new ways of conceptualising conceptual change

Fast changes in scientific evidence, digital tools and other reconfigurations in professional knowledge work make issues of conceptual change in professional expertise critical. In this commentary, I argue that bringing conceptual change research into the domain of professional expertise is a practically important but conceptually challenging task. It can unlikely be achieved without significant theoretical and methodological advancement of current conceptualisations of conceptual change. Building on the contributions to this special issue, I make two suggestions. First, conceptual change research should be aligned with the change challenges that experts encounter in today’s world. Second, this research should take into account the inherent role of experts’ conceptual knowledge to support their actions.

Applying complexity theory for modeling human resource outcomes: Antecedent configurations indicating perceived location autonomy and work environment choice

Who are the knowledge workers perceiving high versus low location autonomy? Do these workers consistently select work environments to enhance their well-being or to enhance their productivity? This study frames the causal conditions for answering these research questions in response to calls (Misangyi et al., 2017; Woodside, 2014) to embrace complexity theory in management research by constructing and testing asymmetric case-based models of decisions and outcomes. The present study examines propositions relating to knowledge worker's choices of work environments, including: P1: Knowledge workers high in intrinsic work motivation consistently select work environment choices to enhance productivity. P2: Knowledge workers with high scores in perceived location autonomy (PLA) consistently select work environments to enhance well-being and/or work productivity. The study includes examining these two and six additional propositions empirically using a sample of full-time professional knowledge workers. The findings deepen and expand on prior symmetric-based theory and analysis.

A Dialogue on Governance in Professional Service Firms - Setting a New Research Agenda

The symposium convenes a number of the most prominent scholars in the study of professional service firms (PSFs) for a dialogue on research focusing on PSF governance. The symposium seeks to further a new research agenda which can address the shortcomings of the extant research Professional Service Firms are a growing part of global business, many PSFs are comprehensively international and PSFs are one of the largest groups of private employers of professional knowledge workers. However the research into these firms are often limited in scope and do not facilitate comparisons across disciplines (e.g. law, architecture, HRM consulting), countries and even within the same professional discipline. There is also a limited depth in many studies, not taking into account for instance the development of the HRM practices as a part of PSF governance. This makes it very difficult to analyze data in a way which can support a theorization of PSF governance as a specific phenomenon. The idea behind the symposium is to start the mobilization of an international research network which by sharing a research format can generate more comparable data on the governance in PSFs.

Factor Structure of Individual Consequences for Teleworking Professionals

<p class="JnlBody">Despite the increasing popularity of telework, little is known about individual outcomes that arise particularly for teleworking professionals. We build on earlier research by examining the conceptual constructs of individual consequences from telework. We initially categorized consequences identified in the extant literature into five areas. However, this model was not supported by confirmatory factor analysis of survey data collected from 250 teleworking accounting professionals. Subsequent exploratory factor analysis revealed a more complex six-factor structure relating to (1) Effectiveness; (2) Self-assurance; (3) Working with Others; (4) Work Pressure; (5) Professional Image; and (6) Physicality. The results extend our understanding of latent constructs underlying telework by professional knowledge workers, and provide a basis for further refinement of our model based on empirical research and theoretical development.</p>

Development of Organisationally Contingent Practices in Professional Knowledge work

This paper aims to understand how organizationally contingent practices develop in professional knowledge work through developing the concept of tensions in practice. Based on an in-depth case study focusing on one form of professional knowledge work, the inspection of taxation in corporate bodies, the paper aims to increase our understanding of the inherent incoherences and tensions withing work practices. The results describe eight underlying tensions between two different stances on essential features of the practice that relate to the inherent ambiguities that describe knowledge work: ambiguity about knowledge, ambiguity about what is done, and ambiguity about results. The presented analysis shows how historical developments in the organization of work can increase these tensions, through which divergence in practices and organizationally contingent practices can develop.

Examining antecedents of knowledge-sharing factors on research supervision: An empirical study

The use of an effective supervision mechanism is crucial between a student and supervisor. The essential knowledge shared and transferred between these two parties must be observed and understood very well in order to ensure that students are produced at good level of quality for future professional knowledge workers. The aim of this study was to conduct an assessment of the impact of individual, organisational and technical factors on knowledge sharing in a research supervision domain. In order to achieve this aim, a specific research model was developed. This model was based on systematically analysing and extracting all the knowledge-sharing impact factors and then choosing the more iterative and adaptable ones, according to research supervision models. These factors categorized to individual, organizational and technological factors. To effectively evaluate the research model, a quantitative research method was adopted. Data was collected by a survey of 150 students from the Faculty of Computing at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The Smart PLS tool was used for data analysis. In sum, the results of this research show that the individual factor in the research supervision domain --- namely, the ability of students to share knowledge --- in addition to technological factors --- specifically, IT systems --- have the greatest impact on knowledge sharing in the supervision process. In addition, it was shown that organisational factors including the culture of the university, social networks, and supervisor support have a positive impact on knowledge sharing in research supervision. However, when compared with individual and technical factors, the effect of organisational factors on knowledge sharing in research supervision was not particularly strong in the case of this study. A positive relationship did not exist between the learning strategy and knowledge sharing in research supervision. This study is among the first of its kind to empirically examine the antecedent factors of knowledge sharing in the context of research supervision.

Critiquing Capitalism: A Genealogy of Vacation Travel

Firmly enmeshed in the capitalist mode of production, today's highly skilled professional knowledge workers struggle with an imperative to realize themselves through their work. This article examines how this imperative for self-realization is also characteristic of contemporary practices of vacation travel, and in doing so points to forms of oppression inherent in capitalism today in relation to a practice that is customarily celebrated as a little freedom from the responsibilities of work. The arguments presented are based on a Foucauldian genealogy of vacation travel and the subject who pursues it, starting with the period of industrialization and finishing with an outline of contemporary discourses. The aim is to contribute to a discussion of contemporary critiques of capitalism.

Instrumental Collaboration: Why Autonomous Professionals Collaborate and How They Benefit

Firms benefit when their professional knowledge workers collaborate. Yet these knowledge workers are selected, socialized, trained, and rewarded based on individual achievement, and they consequently may not recognize a personal benefit from collaborating. In this paper we examine the individual benefits of collaboration –rather than group’s or firm’s benefits of collaboration, the focus of existing research –in a multi-method study. In Study 1, we use interview data from 65 employees across three global firms to explore why professionals who are oriented toward individual achievement choose to collaborate. In Study 2, we use longitudinal archival data on collaboration and individual performance from a fourth firm to test propositions of how professionals benefit from collaborating. We found that professionals who collaborated achieved better individual performance because they could charge a premium for cross-discipline work, and because they established a reputation that resulted in many referrals from new and old collaborators. Taken together, the findings from this multi-study research present a theory of instrumental collaboration—that is, an explanation for why individuals who are autonomous and place greatest value on individual achievement work collaboratively with peers and why they benefit from so-doing.

Is instructional leadership possible? What leadership in other knowledge professions tells us about contemporary constructs of school leadership

This article reviews leadership representations in a variety of knowledge professions to contrast the conceptualizations of leadership of educational labour, commonly called instructional leadership. It aims to understand from a comparative perspective how leadership of professionals in other fields is articulated so to better understand the potentials and limitations of instructional leadership. This general review article examines leadership representation from professional and scholarly journals within a variety of fields, each chosen in order to provide a broad view of leadership in professionalized (or professionalizing) knowledge fields. Leadership in education is posed as a bureaucratic mechanism, tied to organizational functionality, while leadership in other knowledge professions is posed as a bridging mechanism between the professional knowledge workers and the political or market systems that pay for their services. This article provides conceptualization around instructional leadership as a specific institutional trait within the discourse of educational improvement.

Mobile Technology and Boundary Permeability

An extensive review of the literature reveals a lack of insight into why some employees and their families benefit from the adoption of mobile technology while others do not. The paper summarizes the authors' efforts to answer this question. The authors undertook a longitudinal case study of the adoption and use of a BlackBerry Smartphone by 25 professional knowledge workers. Four theoretical lenses were used to help with the data analysis process: boundary theory, the social constructivist view of technology, sensemaking and attribution theory. Analysis of the Time 2 data identified three groups. Segmentors (n = 4) did not use their smartphones outside work hours. Integrators (n = 8), used their smartphones to connect to both work and family anywhere, but not any time (temporally separated work and family roles). Struggling segmentors (n = 13) felt pressured by their organization to use their device 24/7 and did so. The analysis indicates that the relationship between the use of mobile technology and successful boundary management depends on the development of a strategy to manage the device prior to adoption, the ability to change one's strategy to respond to concerns at home, and self‐control.

INCASE: SIMULATING EXPERIENCE TO ACCELERATE EXPERTISE DEVELOPMENT BY KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

SUMMARYINCASE, a web‐based electronic learning (e‐learning) environment, has been built to enable rapid expertise development in novice‐level professional knowledge workers. This paper describes the theoretical underpinnings (constructivist epistemology) behind INCASE and uses a design science methodology to describe its design, construction, instantiation, and validation. The INCASE system addresses a fundamental problem in knowledge worker domains where experience is a necessary component of expertise development and a barrier to the rapid development of domain experts. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Competence development and career advancement in professional service firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to learn about professional employees in the early stage of their careers, particularly, their understanding of competence development and career advancement. Law firms have a relatively low rate of turnover of professional staff when compared with employee flow rates that are standard in other organisations and industries. In law firms, the collective stock of embodied knowledge changes gradually influenced by recruitment cohort phases and employee departures. This paper aims to analyse lawyers employed in a reasonably munificent internal labour market context, seeking to understand their accounts of how their competencies can be developed and how their careers may be advanced.Design/methodology/approachThis paper considers the competences and careers of a group of junior professional knowledge workers employed full‐time in a large law firm and conceptualises their competence development and professional career advancement through an existential ontological conceptualisation using a qualitative interpretive research methodology.FindingsThe findings from interviews with lawyers in the Planning and Environment area of specialisation are reported concentrating on employees' perspectives. Lawyers' self‐understanding is strongly influenced by career stage and position in the organisation. Their understanding of work in contrast reveals more individual and idiosyncratic clusters of work activities and distinctive ways of acknowledging and developing technical and professional expertise. They express a preference for a focal group of other people at work selecting from primary orientations to either clients or peers or self.Originality/valueIt is concluded that policy makers, practitioners, and academic researchers all have roles to play in assisting people at an early stage in their career to reflect on their existing expertise, assess current work practices, and develop and pursue strategies for competency development and career advancement.

People Management and Performance

Do human resource management practices actually work? Debate has raged among practitioners and academics as to the validity of HRM theory in improving organisational performance. Indeed, while the rise of the knowledge-based economy means there is a greater reliance on getting the right people for the right jobs, increasing outsourcing has seen the HRM function itself come under serious threat. In this context, this ground-breaking study exploring the real-life effects of HRM policies is both fascinating and timely. Sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the UK, John Purcell and his team from the University of Bath directly examine the experiences of a range of employees, both line managers and front-line staff, working for high profile organisations, including Tesco, Nationwide and Selfridges. Using empirical data from over 1000 in-depth interviews, research projects conducted between 1999 and 2007 create a new theoretical model which answers two very important questions: What are the links between strategic HR and business performance? • How and why are HR practices linked to performance? • Moving away from the rhetoric of so much HRM debate and research, People Management and Performance explores what actually creates organisational commitment for different occupational groups, as well as the particular needs of professional knowledge workers. These are then linked to different HR practices and to the performance and productivity of specific aspects of the different businesses. This is a vital new contribution to this area of study. It will prove invaluable to all students of HRM and business and management, as well as practitioners working in the field.

Introduction to Search 2009

Search is like the blind men and the elephant. The story goes that four blind men approached an elephant. By touching the hide, trunk, tail and legs each thought of the elephant as an entirely different animal. From the hide we can conclude that search is a contextual process where searchers must aimlessly feel around until they either accidentally find what they want or give up. From the trunk we can conclude that search should be like a fire hose where we flood the searchers with content, overwhelming them. The tail? From this perspective search is seen as the infamous “long tail” wherein searchers are fed minuscule tidbits of esoterica, leaving them curious, but famished.And those feeling the legs would conclude that we should stomp the content into submission, pulverizing until it is unrecognizable.

A Model of Interrelationships Among Individual Level Knowledge Management Success Measures

Extant literature has mostly focused on defining knowledge management success at an organizational or project level. The literature lacks a framework for measuring knowledge management success at the individual level. Individual knowledge innovation and performance make organizations more productive. This research proposes a model of the interrelationships among individual level knowledge management success measures (outcomes) including conceptual, contextual and operational knowledge, innovation, and performance. The model is tested using a sample of 252 individuals engaged in managerial and professional knowledge work. The results suggest that conceptual knowledge enhances operational and contextual knowledge. Contextual knowledge also improves operational knowledge. Contextual knowledge is the key predictor of innovations that, along with operational knowledge, enhance work performance. The results provide a model for defining and measuring knowledge management success at the individual level.