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Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization

Publication ,  Journal Article
Cummings, JN
Published in: Management Science
January 1, 2004

Effective work groups engage in external knowledge sharing - the exchange of information, know-how, and feedback with customers, organizational experts, and others outside of the group. This paper argues that the value of external knowledge sharing increases when work groups are more structurally diverse. A structurally diverse work group is one in which the members, by virtue of their different organizational affiliations, roles, or positions, can expose the group to unique sources of knowledge. It is hypothesized that if members of structurally diverse work groups engage in external knowledge sharing, their performance will improve because of this active exchange of knowledge through unique external sources. A field study of 182 work groups in a Fortune 500 telecommunications firm operationalizes structural diversity as member differences in geographic locations, functional assignments, reporting managers, and business units, as indicated by corporate database records. External knowledge sharing was measured with group member surveys and performance was assessed using senior executive ratings. Ordered logit analyses showed that external knowledge sharing was more strongly associated with performance when work groups were more structurally diverse. Implications for theory and practice around the integration of work groups and social networks are addressed.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Management Science

DOI

ISSN

0025-1909

Publication Date

January 1, 2004

Volume

50

Issue

3

Start / End Page

352 / 364

Related Subject Headings

  • Operations Research
  • 46 Information and computing sciences
  • 38 Economics
  • 35 Commerce, management, tourism and services
  • 15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
  • 08 Information and Computing Sciences
 

Citation

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Cummings, J. N. (2004). Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization. Management Science, 50(3), 352–364. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1030.0134
Cummings, J. N. “Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization.” Management Science 50, no. 3 (January 1, 2004): 352–64. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1030.0134.
Cummings JN. Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization. Management Science. 2004 Jan 1;50(3):352–64.
Cummings, J. N. “Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization.” Management Science, vol. 50, no. 3, Jan. 2004, pp. 352–64. Scopus, doi:10.1287/mnsc.1030.0134.
Cummings JN. Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization. Management Science. 2004 Jan 1;50(3):352–364.

Published In

Management Science

DOI

ISSN

0025-1909

Publication Date

January 1, 2004

Volume

50

Issue

3

Start / End Page

352 / 364

Related Subject Headings

  • Operations Research
  • 46 Information and computing sciences
  • 38 Economics
  • 35 Commerce, management, tourism and services
  • 15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
  • 08 Information and Computing Sciences