Organization of knowledge exchange: An empirical study of knowledge-intensive business service relationships

This article empirically examines, the structure of relationships between business service firms and their clients, in particular, the allocation of control rights to the intellectual assets created in joint projects. Business service firms are a distinctive case because their 'product' is essentially knowledge, and in many cases this knowledge is partly tacit and collectively generated and applied. It is proposed that allocation of the rights to intellectual assets in service relationships has a bearing on the creation and deployment of knowledge. Therefore, from the perspective of a service firm, contractual arrangements need to be aligned with the nature of its knowledge base. Knowledge base is characterized here by the firm's service strategy and by its learning strategy. Estimation results using a survey dataset of 167 business service firms provide support for the conjecture. Service firms that provide expert skills or learn incrementally are less likely to retain control rights to their intellectual output. A possible interpretation is that control rights are less valuable to knowledge service providers, whose activities are based on tacit and non-replicable knowledge resources, than to firms with organizationally controlled and replicable resources.Knowledge, Intellectual property rights, Incomplete contracts, Supply relationships,

Unraveling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Control in a Management Consulting Firm.

This paper addresses human resources management (HRM) systems and practices in a large multinational management consultancy firm. The firm invests considerable resources in HRM, and is frequently praised by employees for its accomplishments in hiring, developing, and promotion. However, this general faith in HRM does not align particularly well with employees' experiences and perceptions of the specific HRM practices in the firm. The paper critically interprets the meaning and the functions of the HRM system and the beliefs supporting it. The paper suggests a reinterpretation of HRM systems and practices based on a cultural-symbolic perspective. It introduces the concepts of excess ceremonialism, identity projects, and aspirational control to highlight and interpret the significance of organizational symbolism in accounting for the role of HRM systems and practices, and the various effects of HRM systems and practices on employee identity and compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR

Good visions, bad micro-management and ugly ambiguity: Contradictions of (non-)leadership in a knowledge-intensive organization

This article investigates how managers position themselves and their work in terms of leadership in a large knowledge-intensive company. The significance of contemporary discourse on leadership, practical aspects of managerial work, and ambiguity as a central dimension of organization and leadership (particularly in knowledge-intensive settings) are highlighted. We examine the presumed leadership in a company with respect to the three 'moral' and 'aesthetic' positions or aspects of leadership: good, bad and ugly leadership. The article shows how managers incoherently move between different positions on leadership. The study undermines some of the dominant notions of leadership, for example, the leader as a consistent essence, a centred subject with a particular orientation to work. We suggest a less comfortable view of managers aspiring to adopt, but partly failing to secure leadership identities and a coherent view of their work. Value commitments appear as disintegrated and contradictory. The study indicates a need to radically rethink dominant ideas about leadership