Coordinating Expertise Across Knowledge Boundaries in Offshore-Outsourcing Projects: The Role of Codification

The coordination of effort within and among different expert groups is a central feature of contemporary organizations. Within the existing literature, however, a dichotomy has emerged in our understanding of the role played by codification in coordinating expert groups. One strand of literature emphasizes codification as a process that supports coordination by enabling the storage and ready transfer of knowledge. In contrast, another strand highlights the persistent differences between expert groups that create boundaries to the transfer of knowledge, seeing coordination as dependent on the quality of the reciprocal interactions between groups and individuals. Our research helps to resolve such contested understandings of the coordinative role played by codification. By focusing on the offshore-outsourcing of knowledge-intensive services, we examine the role played by codification when expertise was coordinated between client staff and onsite and offshore vendor personnel in a large-scale outsourcing contract between TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) and ABN AMRO bank. A number of theoretical contributions flow from our analysis of the case study, helping to move our understanding beyond the dichotomized views of codification outlined above. First, our study adds to previous work where codification has been seen as a static concept by demonstrating the multiple, coexisting, and complementary roles that codification may play. We examine the dynamic nature of codification and show changes in the relative importance of these different roles in coordinating distributed expertise over time. Second, we reconceptualize the commonly accepted view of codification as focusing on the replication and diffusion of knowledge by developing the notion of the codification of the "knower" as complementary to the codification of knowledge. Unlike previous studies of expertise directories, codification of the knower does not involve representing expertise in terms of occupational skills or competences but enables the reciprocal interrelating of expertise required by more unstructured tasks

Management of Globally Distributed Component-Based Software Development Projects

Globally Distributed Component-Based Development (GD CBD) is expected to become a promising area, as increasing numbers of companies are setting up software development in a globally distributed environment and at the same time are adopting CBD methodologies. Being an emerging area, the management of GD CBD has evolved primarily on an ad hoc basis. At present, little is known about how to successfully organise and manage GD CBD. To fill this gap, this research explores the management of GD CBD and reveals factors that contribute to success in GD CBD projects. Data are drawn from several successful GD CBD projects at LeCroy, SAP and TCS, compared with one unsuccessful project at Baan. The results suggest that inter-site coordination, appropriate tools and technologies, social ties, knowledge sharing and components management are the main factors that contribute to success in GD CBD. Lastly, a framework assisting managers to organize and manage CBD in GD environments is offered.Julia Kotlarsky graduated in 1996 as an engineer in Industrial Engineering and Management from Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology. In 1997-1999, during study for her master’s degree, she received the highest level of fellowship at the Technion and worked as a teaching assistant for a number of undergraduate and graduate courses at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management. At the same period she worked as a lecturer in ORT College. During her graduate studies at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands, in 2001 she received a Marie Curie Scholarship from the European Commission for visiting Henley Management College, Henley-on-Thames, UK, where she had a visiting position for five months. In 2001-2003 she also visited Florida International University in Miami, USA, the University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, Australia, and the Management Development Institute in Gurgaon, India. She conducted research in leading companies, which included SAP, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Baan and LeCroy Corporation. Currently she is a lecturer in Information Systems at Warwick Business School, UK. In 2003 she won the Philip Law Scholarship from the European Case Clearing House for writing a teaching case about globally distributed development of component-based software. She has published in International Journal of Production Research, European Journal of Information Systems and has given a number of papers in refereed conferences. Julia is working in the area of management of globally distributed software development projects. Her interests include component-based design, knowledge sharing, and the social and technical aspects of the management of globally distributed software development projects

Are we on the same page? Knowledge boundaries and transactive memory system development in cross-functional teams

One of the key challenges that organizations face when trying to integrate knowledge across different functions is the need to overcome knowledge boundaries between team members. In cross-functional teams, these boundaries, associated with different knowledge backgrounds of people from various disciplines, create communication problems, necessitating team members to engage in complex cognitive processes when integrating knowledge toward a joint outcome. This research investigates the impact of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic knowledge boundaries on a team’s ability to develop a transactive memory system (TMS)—a collective memory system for knowledge coordination in groups. Results from our survey show that syntactic and pragmatic knowledge boundaries negatively affect TMS development. These findings extend TMS theory beyond the information-processing view, which treats knowledge as an object that can be stored and retrieved, to the interpretive and practice-based views of knowledge, which recognize that knowledge (in particular specialized knowledge) is localized, situated, and embedded in practice

A comparative assessment of the information technology services sector in India and China

The purpose of this paper is to assess the nature of competition in the information technology (IT) services sector between India and China. Using primary and secondary data sources, we compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the IT services sector in the two countries along the main dimensions of Porter&rsquo;s competitive advantage model. The principal findings indicate that the IT services sectors in the two countries are distinctively different, have developed along different paths and are highly complementary to each other. China has a well established hardware sector and its IT services sector focuses mostly on servicing its domestic market. India&rsquo;s IT services sector is predominantly export orientated with focus on the US and Western European markets. Contrary to popular beliefs, given the complementary characteristics of the IT services sectors in India and China, it is unlikely for the two countries to compete against each other in the near future and greater strategic co-operation between IT service providers in the two countries is a more likely outcome.<br /

MANAGING THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENCES IN NATIONAL CULTURE ON SOCIAL CAPITAL IN MULTINATIONAL IT PROJECT TEAMS – A GERMAN PERSPECTIVE

How can management handle relationship problems arising from cultural differences in multinational IT project teams? This paper uses a social capital lens to better understand the negative impact of cultural differences in IT project teams. In contrast to many previous works we do not consider cultural differences as a whole but explore the role of the different national culture dimensions. This allows for a more detailed view on cultural differences in a team context and thus contributes to a better understanding about which dimensions of national culture drive relationship problems and which management measures can help to dampen the negative effects. Based on several exploratory cases (6 multinational IT projects in 4 companies, headquartered in Germany), the authors identify three patterns showing typical problems in team social relationships which arise from differences in particular dimensions of national culture. Pattern-specific as well as general management measures, employed to address the culture-driven negative effects, are identified as well

A model for describing and maximising Security Knowledge Sharing to enhance security awareness

Employees play a crucial role in enhancing information security in the workplace, and this requires everyone having the requisite security knowledge and know-how. To maximise knowledge levels, organisations should encourage and facilitate Security Knowledge Sharing (SKS) between employees. To maximise sharing, we need first to understand the mechanisms whereby such sharing takes place and then to encourage and engender such sharing. A study was carried out to test the applicability of Transactive Memory Systems Theory in describing knowledge sharing in this context, which confirmed its applicability in this domain. To encourage security knowledge sharing, the harnessing of Self-Determination Theory was proposed— satisfying employee autonomy, relatedness and competence needs to maximise sharing. Such sharing is required to improve and enhance employee security awareness across organisations. We propose a model to describe the mechanisms for such sharing as well as the means by which it can be encouraged

Managing dispersed expertise in IT offshore outsourcing, lessons from Tata consultancy services

IT offshore outsourcing means using an offshore provider to handle some of an enterprise�s IT work. Offshore outsourcing now has a track record, so it has become an option that IT leaders need to consider. But the practice has raised the issue of how to manage expertise dispersed across sites. Both clients and providers now realize that knowledge management is an important contributor to successful offshore outsourcing. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a large IT services provider with headquarters in Mumbai, India. Much of its work is IT offshore outsourcing. We identified the following eight practices that TCS uses to manage dispersed expertise: 1. Implement an organizational structure that is a mirror image of the client�s structure. 2. Implement a knowledge transfer methodology. 3. Implement a knowledge retention methodology. 4. Monitor expertise development and retention at project and organizational levels. 5. Make expertise development a key organizational value. 6. Offer mechanisms to search for expertise at project and organizational levels. 7. Implement a reuse methodology at the global level. 8. Continuously measure the contribution of reusable assets. Based on our research, we believe that over the next five years, offshore providers will need to develop a system for managing knowledge and expertise, just as TCS has done, to compete and deliver on client expectations. We also see TCS�s experiences and practices as valuable to clients of IT offshore outsourcing providers