Identifying knowledge transfer barriers within a complex supply chain organization

McLaughlin, Stephen (2006) Identifying knowledge transfer barriers within a complex supply chain organization. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Full text available as:
[thumbnail of 2006McLaughlinPhD.pdf] PDF
Download (34MB)
Printed Thesis Information: https://eleanor.lib.gla.ac.uk/record=b2500626

Abstract

This research is concerned with understanding how organizational performance can be improved through effective knowledge transfer. In particular, the researcher is interested in organizational performance as it relates to those organizations that rely on core horizontal business processes, such as those found within a supply chain. Many organizations develop knowledge strategies to try and utilise existing knowledge within their organizations. However, this process tends to be developed from a top-down perspective, and deployed on an organization-wide basis. It is the researcher’s contention that this is not a suitable approach for developing an effective knowledge strategy for supply chain / complex organizations. It is the researcher’s belief that in order to develop and define a suitable method for knowledge strategy development and implementation, how knowledge and information are created and shared along core business processes must first be understood. To do this it is important to identify the barriers that impact knowledge transfer across an organization, and more specifically, along core business processes.

By mapping a core IBM supply chain process, and identifying the employee work groups associated with the process (through social network analysis), the researcher was able to identify and assess knowledge transfer barriers, and how they impact along the IBM order flow process. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods the researcher developed an emergent theory concerning how organizations should approach the identification and management of knowledge transfer barriers.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences
Supervisor's Name: Paton, Prof Robert and Macbeth, Prof Douglas
Date of Award: 2006
Depositing User: Ms Mary Anne Meyering
Unique ID: glathesis:2006-5415
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 18 Jul 2014 14:27
Last Modified: 18 Jul 2014 14:28
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/5415

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year