Knowledge Management Systems Lecture 6 Payman Shafiee

Knowledge Management Systems

Lecture 6

Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE AT

HR PRACTICES, INTERPERSONALRELATIONS, AND INTRAFIRMKNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN

KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE FIRMS

Slides by Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE AT

The social network perspective is a distinctresearch perspective in the social sciences

and an alternative to the traditional individualistparadigm

Slides by Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE AT

The perspective comprisestwo narrower complementary elements: the

structural perspective, which emphasizes thestructural form (i.e., the patterns of relationalties and the position of actors within it), andthe relational perspective, which prioritizesthe content of relations; that is, the quality

of relational ties (Raider & Krackhardt,2002, pp. 58–59).

Slides by Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

A conceptual model predicting socialstructure and content as a mediator of the

relationship between HR practices and knowledge

outcomes thus should consider boththe structural patterns of ties among

coworkersas well as their relational content.

Slides by Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

Conceptual Model (With Relevant Hypotheses)

Slides by Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

Experienced HR Practices:

The social network perspective is also presentin our operationalization of HR practices.

Slides by Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

The social network is a finite set of actors and their associated relational ties (Wasserman & Faust, 1994), we differentiate between network configuration–changing HR practices and network composition–changing HR practices.

Slides by Payman Shafiee

A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

The social network is a finite set of actors and their associated relational ties (Wasserman & Faust, 1994), we differentiate between network configuration–changing HR practices and network composition–changing HR practices.

The former refer to HR practices that affect the arrangement and quality of relations among actors within a firm’s social network (i.e., they do not change the composition of actors); the latter refer to HR practices that modify the set of actors within social network by either acquiring or releasing actors into or from this network (e.g. recruitment, selection, separation).

Slides by Payman Shafiee

interpersonal relations, a mediator

direct effects of HR practices on interpersonal relations within a firm’s social network and

confirmed interpersonal relations as a mediator between HR practices and internal knowledge

transfer

Slides by Payman Shafiee

Implications

HR managers should not neglect the role of social architect and its important as HR practices have been especially shown to shape a firm’s social structure and content

HR practices only partly determine the resulting social structure and content, and that endogenous structural mechanisms play an important role.

Slides by Payman Shafiee

Implications: scan before implementingimportant interventions

To predict the effects of a specific HR intervention on the future state of a firm’s social network better, they should have a very good understanding of the corporate culture (especially with regard to the norms of reciprocity and transitivity) and the firm’s current social structure.

organizations should employ work design along with training and development HR practices to influence interpersonal relations and, in turn, intrafirm knowledge transfer most effectively.This makes some of the practices that were previously not emphasized

— such as interactive work design, allowing slack time, providing functional architecture, as well as on-site and group training— more important.

Slides by Payman Shafiee