A new organisational memory for cross‐cultural knowledge management

Abstract

Purpose -Effectively managing the cultural environment is an important stepping stone towards international business success. Cultural problems, especially between partners coming from diametrically different cultural categories represent one of the key challenges of knowledge management in international business co-operations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of controversial cultural attitudes on collaboration and the use of most diverse knowledge capital of employees being regarded as a key resource for innovation and competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach -Based on a comprehensive literature review, the very extensive data collection phase, applying the case study method, was carried out over a 13 month period. It mainly consisted of in-depth interviews requiring 23 of them to reach theoretical saturation, non-participant and participant observation (seven), focus groups (four) and fieldtrip notes in two culturally diverse Russian and Austrian research settings. Theoretical sampling was used to select the participants. The grounded theory method of constant comparative analysis was used to analyze the gathered data. Findings -The attitude towards sharing the precious resource of diverse employees' knowledge regarded as a prerequisite to international business success is influenced by national cultures. Protective attitudes for knowledge sharing limit the growth of humans' and the company's development. This paper suggests that providing the appropriate knowledge management tools and environment, especially referring to the soft aspects of emotions, will enhance and even change former institutionalised and ingrained patterns of behaviours. Therefore, the paper sheds light on the knowledge sharing contingency depending more on a social-cognitive state rather than a static hierarchical status. Originality/value -The paper poses two innovative organizational memory conceptualizations based on respondents' needs and demands entailing a synthesis of knowledge management and interpersonal interactions to achieve the highest level of efficiency and high degrees of knowledge sharing and absorption. It bridges the gap of purely knowledge based and unemotional management tools towards a lively and engaging tool. This would appear to be the first time that an investigation of this type has been conducted explaining culturally influenced factors of knowledge management in Eastern and Western European co-operations.

Tailoring Cross‐Cultural Competence Training

“…Accordingly, in the context of intercultural training in global teams, Bartel‐Radic () concluded that long‐term intercultural interaction among employees facilitates the highest learning potential for intercultural competence. Participants will be able to recognize and use cultural differences as a resource for learning and designing effective actions according to each context (Ashdown, ; Sanchez Bengoa et al, ).…”

“…Ongoing trends toward immigration and globalization, for example, create heightened cultural concerns, leading most professionals to agree on the paramount role of multicultural competence (Dunn, Smith, & Montoya, ; Triandis, ; Vogelgesang, Clapp‐Smith, & Palmer, ). Furthermore, various developments in the field of modern information and communication technology, increasing cross‐border cooperations, and implicit knowledge management challenges (Sanchez Bengoa, Kaufmann, & Vrontis, ) expatriate missions or students becoming global travelers (Parham & Parham, ; Shaffer & Miller, ) have influenced the need for higher levels of cultural competence of leaders, managers, and students alike.…”

Intercultural Interactions at Multinational Corporations’ Workplace: Grounded Theory

“…Each interview was transcribed, manually coded, analyzed and constantly compared with one another by the researchers who followed the three-step procedure of analysis to meet the requirements of the grounded theory approach (Hassi et al, 2011;Sánchez Bengoa et al, 2012). Firstly, the open coding was implemented to the data analysis, where the researchers were looking for common themes (keywords, phrases) emerging from the interviews (Randall and Mello, 2012).…”

Around Learning and Industry 4.0 in Management Theory

“…In the mid-1990s learning in management theory evolved and was integrated in the knowledge management (KM) field that since then has received a considerable academic attention (Sánchez Bengoa, Kaufmann, & Vrontis, 2012). Knowledge can be perceived as a product of a learning process and learning as an acquisition of knowledge (Maruta, 2014), therefore the field indirectly addresses the learning issue.…”

“…It requires collection, distribution, and an efficient use of knowledge resources. Moreover, in view of proponents of the concept, KM enhances learning and performance in organisations (Sánchez Bengoa et al, 2012). Additionally, it can be anticipated that KM fosters OL and LO is a result of KM.…”