Reaching for the Moon: Expanding transactive memory\u27s reach with wikis and tagging

Transactive memory systems (TMS) support knowledge sharing and coordination in groups. TMS are enabled by the encoding, storage, retrieval, and communication of knowledge by domain experts-knowing who knows what. The NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group provides an example of how TMS theoretical boundaries are stretched in actual use. This group is characterized as being highly innovative as they routinely engage in field studies that are inherently difficult due to time and technology resource constraints. We provide an expanded view of TMS that includes the technology support system available to this group, and possible further extensions to NASA\u27s or other such dynamic groups\u27 practice

How Does Mobile Computing Develop Transactive Memory in Virtual Team? A Social Identification View

The advancement in mobile computing technologies has shown great potential to drive efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge work in virtual teams. Despite their ubiquity, theoretical and empirical research investigating the impact of mobile computing artifacts on development of transactive memory in virtual teams is in its infancy. Drawing on the social psychology literature, we propose a social identity based view to understand how the use of mobile computing artifacts is associated with the development of transactive memory system (TMS) in virtual teams. Specially, the use of four categories of mobile computing artifacts (i.e., ubiquitous co-presence, status disclosure, context search, and customized notification) is proposed to enhance social identification, which thereafter promotes TMS development in terms of specialization, credibility, and coordination. This study offers a new perspective on the mechanisms through which mobile computing artifacts facilitate TMS development, and it yields important implications for the design of mobile strategy in organizations

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL POWER ON TRANSACTIVE MEMORY SYSTEMS AND KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION

Many organizations have attempted to develop knowledge management strategies through which they can substantially enhance their employees’ ability to utilize knowledge resources dispersed across business units. While previous studies have acknowledged that social power is one of the critical factors in facilitating or constraining social interactions among individuals, few studies have examined in-depth how social power within a work group influences an individual’s knowledge utilization. Given that social power in an organization determines the processes of recognizing others’ knowledge and applying it to real business, the investigation of the influence of social power on knowledge utilization is of value to researchers and practitioners. Integrating the volitional model and the theory of social power, this study develops a theoretical model that explains how social power influences individuals’ affect, transactive memory system (TMS), and knowledge utilization. The proposed model was tested using data collected from 206 individuals. The results of this study show that social power significantly influences an individual’s affect and TMS, which in turn influences intention to utilize knowledge. Notably, this study reveals that different power bases have different effects on individuals’ cognitive (TMS levels) and emotional (positive affect) aspects in relation to knowledge utilization in organizations

Communication in an "Officeless firm"

New technologies permit new types of organisations. This article describes and analyses one such organisation, an "officeless firm", where all employees work from their own homes and there is no central office. Drawing upon observations and interviews, the modes of communication and the nature of the interpersonal relationships that have permitted this organisation to succeed are described, along with the challenges that face this organisation in the future as it attempts to grow

Information-processing capabilities as a transactive memory system : a comparative study of two distributed R&D teams

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How Social Media Can Enhance Access to Information through Transactive Memory Development

A key challenge for managing talent in organizations is locating and coordinating expertise. In this study, we propose that employees who use social media can help an organization locate knowledge workers who are vital to organizational growth and competitiveness. We draws on transactive memory (TM) theory to examine the relationship between social media use and knowledge workers’ access to information as mediated by the formation of an organization-wide transactive memory. We conducted the research using a mixed-methods approach that combined insights from a qualitative investigation with a confirmatory large-scale survey in a multinational information technology firm. We empirically show that social media use had a positive but indirect relationship with knowledge workers’ access to information via the mediation of the three dimensions of TM. We discuss our findings’ implications for theory and practice, including human resource management, and directions for future research

Social influence in networks of practice: An analysis of organizational communication content

Networks of Practice (NoPs) facilitate knowledge sharing among geographically dispersed organization members. This research tests whether social influence in NoPs is reinforced by actors' embeddedness in practice (knowledge about informal content), organizational embeddedness (knowledge about formal organizational content), structural embeddedness (knowledge about who knows what), and relational embeddedness (knowledge about informal relationships). A full-fledged automated content analysis on all postings on four NoPs maintained by a multinational chemical company revealed four dimensions in communication content that largely coincide with the proposed embeddedness types. We measured social influence by assessing to what extent actors' use of uncommon language traits was adopted in the responses to the postings. Hypothesis testing revealed that network members who communicate about informal practice, and know who knows what, exert more social influence than others. The results suggest that network members' social influence is rooted in their utilitarian value for others, and not in their organizational or relational embeddedness. © The Author(s) 2011

A Social Relations Analysis of Transactive Memory in Groups

Transactive memory is the knowledge of what others in a group know and the exchange of that knowledge. In groups with effective transactive memory systems, members know “who knows what”, send knowledge to the appropriate individuals, and develop strategies for retrieving that information (Mohammed & Dumville, 2001; Wegner, 1995). Transactive memory studies tend to focus on the group as a whole, but useful information might be gathered by investigating transactive memory in dyads within groups. The purpose of this research was to use the social relations model (Kenny & LaVoie, 1984) as the basis for operationalizing transactive memory and to examine this new operationalization of transactive memory as it related to group performance. In social relations model terms, an effective transactive memory system was operationalized as consensus about expertise and knowledge seeking. Data were collected from two samples of student engineering project groups (n = 55 groups and n = 77 groups) and a sample of organizational engineering project groups (n = 7 groups). Groups whose members had spent significant time working together were hypothesized to have effective transactive memory systems and to exhibit significant consensus. Groups whose members had spent relatively less time with one another were hypothesized to have poorer transactive memory systems and to make use of unique relations in the group and assimilation as the basis for identifying expertise. The hypotheses were partially supported. In groups whose members spent relatively more time together, there was some agreement about who was expert and from whom to seek knowledge; however, knowledge exchange tended to be mostly based on seeking knowledge from no one or everyone in the group. In addition, group members made use of their unique dyadic relationships with particular others when identifying expertise and seeking knowledge. In fact, members of groups that performed better were likely to exchange knowledge based on their unique dyadic relationships with others. This study advances earlier research on transactive memory by suggesting that dyadic relations within groups are important to fully understanding transactive memory and its relationship with performance