Organizational learning and the transfer of knowledge: an investigation of quality improvement.
01 Aug 1997-Vol. 1997, Iss: 1, pp 432-436
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine both incremental learning curves as well as "revolutionary" learning and innovation in the area of product quality, and conclude that knowledge gained from knowledge obtained from both incremental and revolutionary learning can be used to improve product quality.
Abstract: This study examines both incremental learning curves as well as "revolutionary" learning and innovation in the area of product quality. One implication of the findings is that knowledge gained from...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of managers' knowledge inflows on managers' exploration and exploitation activities is investigated based on a survey among managers of a leading electronics firm, and the findings indicate, as expected, that top-down knowledge infows of managers positively relate to the extent to which these managers conduct exploitation activities, while they do not relate to managers's exploration activities.
Abstract: This paper develops and tests hypotheses on the influence of managers' knowledge inflows on managers' exploration and exploitation activities. Based on a survey among managers of a leading electronics firm, the findings indicate, as expected, that top-down knowledge inflows of managers positively relate to the extent to which these managers conduct exploitation activities, while they do not relate to managers' exploration activities. Furthermore, as expected, bottom-up and horizontal knowledge inflows of managers positively relate to these managers' exploration activities, while they do not relate to managers' exploitation activities. We contribute to current literature on exploration and exploitation by focusing on the manager level of analysis, and by adding the importance of knowledge flow configurations to studies which investigate the impact of organizational factors on exploration and exploitation.
606 citations
Cites background or methods from "Organizational learning and the tra..."
...Previous versions of this paper have been presented at the ERIM workshop on Ambidextrous Strategies and Innovation, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 7 November 2005, and at the Copenhagen Conference on Strategic Management, Copenhagen, Denmark, 14–15 December 2005....
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...Such learning through the acquisition of knowledge may be either exploratory (e.g. Inkpen, 1996; Nonaka, 1994), and/or exploitative (Adler et al., 1999; Levin, 2000)....
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TL;DR: The results show that having few substitutes with an equivalent level of reputation, or a focused product identity stemming from specialism, buffers the negative market reactions to product recalls.
Abstract: In this paper, we explore opposing theoretical claims about how organizational reputation affects market reactions to product defects. On the one hand, good reputation could be a disadvantage because expectations about product quality are more likely to be violated by defects in highly reputed products. On the other hand, a good reputation could be an advantage because of strong inertial effects on reputation orderings. We empirically test these competing hypotheses using data on product recalls in the U.S. automobile industry from 1975 to 1999. Our results support for the idea that reputation can be an organizational liability in that highly reputed firms suffer more market penalty as a result of their product recalls. We also propose that the reputational effects are moderated by two important factors: substitutability and generalism/specialism. Our results show that having few substitutes with an equivalent level of reputation, or a focused product identity stemming from specialism, buffers the negative market reactions to product recalls. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of these results for institutional, reputation, and status theories.
577 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that sales teams that had varying needs to learn and differentiate themselves from competitors derived different levels of value from obtaining and using electronic documents and advice from colleagues.
Abstract: This paper explores the possibility that utilizing the firm's knowledge resources to complete important tasks can backfire and undermine competitive performance. Drawing on organizational capabilities and knowledge-sharing research, we develop a situated performance view that holds that the value of obtaining and using knowledge within a firm depends on the task situation. Using a data set of 182 sales proposals for client work in a management consulting company, we show that sales teams that had varying needs to learn and differentiate themselves from competitors derived different levels of value from obtaining and using electronic documents and advice from colleagues. Highly experienced teams were more likely than inexperienced teams to lose the sales bids if they utilized such knowledge. Teams that had a high need to differentiate themselves from competitors also had a lower chance of winning if they utilized electronic documents. There were situations, however, where teams performed better if they utilized the firm's knowledge resources. These results suggest that competitive performance depends not on how much firms know but on how they use what they know. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
537 citations
TL;DR: This introductory piece takes stock of the impact of Cyert and March's A Behavioral Theory of the Firm, describes current research trends in the behavioral tradition, and introduces the special issue's papers.
Abstract: In this introductory piece, we take stock of the impact of Cyert and March's A Behavioral Theory of the Firm, describe current research trends in the behavioral tradition, and introduce the special issue's papers. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm is one of the most influential management books of all time. In the book, Cyert and March developed theoretical building blocks that became the foundations for current research in organizational studies in management, economics, political science, and sociology. Cyert and March also made theoretical propositions that are investigated and extended in current work on organizational learning theory and evolutionary economics.
512 citations
Cites background from "Organizational learning and the tra..."
...The authors also thank Jennifer Kukawa for extraordinary assistance for the conference and the special issue....
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...First, learning-curve research has investigated outcomes such as costs and quality, showing gradual improvement over time within production establishments, but also transfer effects consistent with imperfect observation and learning of routines by outsiders (Argote et al. 1990, Levin 2001)....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between organizational quality context and actual and ideal quality management using data collected from 152 managers from 77 business units of 20 manufacturing and service companies in order to measure managers' perceptions of ideal and actual quality management in terms of eight critical factors including product/service design, training, employee relations and top management leadership.
Abstract: While the quality literature abounds with prescriptions for how quality should be managed, no one has proposed an organization-theory explanation for how quality is managed in organizations. This paper proposes a system-structural model of quality management that relates organizational quality context, actual quality management, ideal quality management, and quality performance. The relationships between organizational quality context and actual and ideal quality management are investigated using data collected from 152 managers from 77 business units of 20 manufacturing and service companies. A previously reported instrument is used to measure managers' perceptions of ideal and actual quality management in terms of eight critical factors including product/service design, training, employee relations, and top management leadership. Several measures are used to characterize organizational quality context including company type, company size, degree of competition, and corporate support for quality. The results indicate that organizational quality context influences managers' perceptions of both ideal and actual quality management. This suggests that knowledge of organizational quality context is useful for explaining and predicting quality management practice. Important contextual variables are corporate support for quality, past quality performance, managerial knowledge, and the extent of external quality demands.
381 citations
References
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TL;DR: The literature on knowledge acquisition is voluminous and multi-faceted as mentioned in this paper, and so the knowledge acquisition construct is portrayed as consisting of five subconstructs or subprocesses: 1 drawing on knowledge available at the organization's birth, 2 learning from experience, 3 learning by observing other organizations, 4 grafting on to itself components that possess knowledge needed but not possessed by the organization, and 5 noticing or searching for information about the environment and performance.
Abstract: This paper differs from previous examinations of organizational learning in that it is broader in scope and more evaluative of the literatures. Four constructs related to organizational learning knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory are articulated, and the literatures related to each are described and critiqued.
The literature on knowledge acquisition is voluminous and multi-faceted, and so the knowledge acquisition construct is portrayed here as consisting of five subconstructs or subprocesses: 1 drawing on knowledge available at the organization's birth, 2 learning from experience, 3 learning by observing other organizations, 4 grafting on to itself components that possess knowledge needed but not possessed by the organization, and 5 noticing or searching for information about the organization's environment and performance. Examination of the related literatures indicates that much has been learned about learning from experience, but also that there is a lack of cumulative work and a lack of integration of work from different research groups. Similarly, much has been learned about organizational search, but there is a lack of conceptual work, and there is a lack of both cumulative work and syntheses with which to create a more mature literature. Congenital learning, vicarious learning, and grafting are information acquisition subprocesses about which relatively little has been learned.
The literature concerning information distribution is rich and mature, but an aspect of information distribution that is central to an organization's benefitting from its learning, namely how units that possess information and units that need this information can find each other quickly and with a high likelihood, is unexplored. Information interpretation, as an organizational process, rather than an individual process, requires empirical work for further advancement. Organizational memory is much in need of systematic investigation, particularly by those whose special concerns are improving organizational learning and decision making.
8,041 citations
TL;DR: For instance, King, Keohane, Verba, and Verba as mentioned in this paper have developed a unified approach to valid descriptive and causal inference in qualitative research, where numerical measurement is either impossible or undesirable.
Abstract: While heated arguments between practitioners of qualitative and quantitative research have begun to test the very integrity of the social sciences, Gary King, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba have produced a farsighted and timely book that promises to sharpen and strengthen a wide range of research performed in this field. These leading scholars, each representing diverse academic traditions, have developed a unified approach to valid descriptive and causal inference in qualitative research, where numerical measurement is either impossible or undesirable. Their book demonstrates that the same logic of inference underlies both good quantitative and good qualitative research designs, and their approach applies equally to each. Providing precepts intended to stimulate and discipline thought, the authors explore issues related to framing research questions, measuring the accuracy of data and uncertainty of empirical inferences, discovering causal effects, and generally improving qualitative research. Among the specific topics they address are interpretation and inference, comparative case studies, constructing causal theories, dependent and explanatory variables, the limits of random selection, selection bias, and errors in measurement. Mathematical notation is occasionally used to clarify concepts, but no prior knowledge of mathematics or statistics is assumed. The unified logic of inference that this book explicates will be enormously useful to qualitative researchers of all traditions and substantive fields.
6,233 citations
"Organizational learning and the tra..." refers methods in this paper
...For the first four categories on the five-point scale, this method will lead to frequency-of-repair estimates that are somewhat imprecise, but not systematically biased in either direction (King et al. 1994)....
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01 Jan 1968
4,918 citations
"Organizational learning and the tra..." refers methods in this paper
...In addition, this four-item scale, computed as the average (Harman 1976) of the four repair rates, is relatively stable over time; i....
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...In addition, this four-item scale, computed as the average (Harman 1976) of the four repair rates, is relatively stable over time; i.e., it has a similar factor structure and statistical reliability for every year of the sample....
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TL;DR: The matter became of increasing interest and importance because of the program sponsored by the Bureau of Air Commerce for the development of a small two-place airplane which, it was hoped, could be marketed at $700 assuming a quantity of ten thousand units could be released for construction.
Abstract: TH I S subject is one which can always be relied upon to start a discussion whenever it is raised in aircraft circles. Great differences of opinion will be voiced as to the relative importance of various factors, depending somewhat on whether the discussion is between persons in the (industry who are engaged in sales, engineering, design or factory work. The attitude of those outside the industry is usually quite supercilious with the intimation present that everyone engaged in the design, development, or construction of airplanes is a sort of prima donna. Therefore, because of the rather hazy information which seems to surround the subject, it appears in order to discuss the problems from several points of view in an effort to arrive at logical conclusions. The effect of quantity production on cost, particularly, requires study as in this respect more than in others, there exists a lack of appreciation of the variation which occurs. Recently the matter became of increasing interest and importance because of the program sponsored by the Bureau of Air Commerce for the development of a small two-place airplane which, it was hoped, could be marketed at $700 assuming a quantity of ten thousand units could be released for construction.
2,589 citations
"Organizational learning and the tra..." refers background in this paper
...Yet despite the long history of research on organization-based learning curves going back at least to Wright (1936), the phenomenon’s theoretical underpinnings have remained murky (Kantor and Zangwill 1991)....
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