A study of knowledge sharing in cross functional teams

Abstract

The study draws attention to the under researched domain of knowledge sharing in the context of cross functional teams. The knowledge-based view of the firm is based on the notion that value is created primarily not from tangible resources but from intangible or knowledge-based assets (Sveiby, 1997) and knowledge is the most important source of competitive advantage and sustained superior performance (Drucker, 1995; Spender and Grant, 1996). Teece (2000) argued that the essence of the firm is its ability to create, transfer, assemble, integrate, protect and exploit knowledge assets. By intensifying and expanding new knowledge (creation and sharing) not only a company can develop new tangible products and services that improve its market position but it can also form the basis for organizational change and renewal. Literature says that company growth is primarily dependent on its ability to develop, leverage, and utilize its knowledge base (Saloj¨arvi, Furu, and Sveiby, 2005). From a strategic point of view, the focus of firms should be on creating inimitable knowledge and sharing it within the corporation (Sveiby, 2001). Traditional organizations with heavy internal competition, rigid functional boundaries and undue compartmentalization exhibit sub-optimal performance by inhibiting critical information flows (Mohamed, Stankosky and Murray, 2004). To avoid such situation organizations move to either project based or permanent cross functional teams as an attempt to solve this problem by building organizational connections across different functional units (Mohamed, Stankosky and Murray, 2004). Study deals with investigating the antecedents of knowledge sharing among cross functional team members and subsequently examining its impact on the performance. These antecedents have been classified under organizational characteristics, job characteristics and individual characteristic. The study has been based upon the data collected from 582 team members among 69 teams in 26 surveyed organizations in the country.