Knowledge intensive organizations

1
Knowledge intensive organizations

• Mandag 21. november 2005
• Forelesning 7

2
Core questions

• Is it relevant to talk about knowledge intensive
  organizations as a distinct category of
  organizations?
• And if so what are the crucial aspects of
  knowledge intensive organizations?

3
Exercise

• Is it relevant to distinguish knowledge intensive
  organizations as a distinct category?
• What kind of organizations would you label
  knowledge intensive?

4
Exercise

• What characterizes knowledge intensive
  organizations?
• Is your organization knowledge intensive

5
Raimo Nurmi Knowledge intensive organizations

• Knowledge intensive organizations are a distinct
  category
• Attempts to outline what such organizations have
  in common (despite differences)

6
Production of knowledge

• Interaction between producer and customer of
  knowledge products
• Creativity, not automation
• Working smarter, not harder
• Quality not quantity
• Differentiation, not cost-effectiveness
• Not departmentalized

7
Organizing knowledge intensive firms

• Hierarchical functional structure not appropriate
• Formal administration kept to a minimum
• Interaction across internal and external
  boundaries grow into networks
• Conflict-prone between people, not employers
  and employees

8
Organizing knowledge intensive firms

• Organization exist for the individuals
• Formal coordination not appropriate
• Information most important bottom up
• People independent information necessary for
  coordination
• Increase in size problematic (administrative
  costs)

9
Managing knowledge intensive firms

• Management and operational work integrated
• Leadership based on competence and credibility
• Customers more important than supervisors
• Managers strategic brokers between environment
  and firm and internally

10
Managing knowledge intensive firms

• Managers provide help and mentoring
• Managers create atmosphere through directing
  processes and selecting people
• Conflict management important
• Managers must keep organizational focus when
  operative impulses pull in diverse directions

11
Strategic considerations

• Blurred line between strategy and operations
• Strategy from bottom up operational processes and
  from top down management
• Market construction
• Strategies change
• Investments in people for establishing core
  competencies
• But leaves organization vulnerable

12
Mats Alvesson Knowledge work

• More skeptical to the extent knowledge
  constitutes the essential aspects of those
  organizations perceived as knowledge intensive
• Argues that these organizations are ambiguous and
  therefore must actively construct an image and
  identity as being knowledge intensive

13
Knowledge intensive organizations

• Knowledge not as essential as often claimed
• Knowledge is in it self ambiguous
• The significance of knowledge in actual work
  ambiguous
• Evaluation of knowledge work ambiguous

14
Image and rhetoric

• Ambiguity of knowledge, work, products ?
  importance of images
• It is extremely important for those claiming to
  be knowledge-intensive to nurture an image of
  being so.
• Rhetorical skills important for constituting the
  organization

15
Social connections

• In order to send out the right signals it is
  imperative to
• Establish links with others known for
  knowledge-intensiveness (the symbolic function of
  networks)
• Develop and maintain social relationships
• Orchestrating interaction process (manipulation)

16
Identity

• Important to construct the right identity
• Under conditions of ambiguity, workers need to
  have high self esteem

17
Identity regulation

• Institutionalization of the company (pride)
• Cultural control (corporate identity)
• Normalization (norms of appropriate behavior)
• Subjectification (self selection)