Marlous Agterberg 1 , Bart van den Hooff 1 , Marleen Huysman 1 and Maura Soekijad 1
1 VU University Amsterdam
Correspondence to Maura Soekijad, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, KIN Research Group, Room 3A-19, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands (msoekijad@feweb.vu.nl).
Copyright © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and Society for the Advancement of Management Studies
1 VU University Amsterdam
Correspondence to Maura Soekijad, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, KIN Research Group, Room 3A-19, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands (msoekijad@feweb.vu.nl).
Copyright © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and Society for the Advancement of Management Studies
ABSTRACT
Intra-organizational networks of practice (NOPs) confront managers with a dilemma: they must manage NOPs to reap benefits from integrating geographically dispersed knowledge, but the inherently emergent nature of NOPs implies that management control may frustrate practice-related knowledge to be shared. Based on a case study of 22 NOPs in a geographically dispersed development organization ('TDO'), we develop a model that disentangles the dynamics underlying this dilemma, helping to better understand it. Specifically, four dynamic relationships are interrelated and involve four kinds of embeddedness (organizational, in practice, relational, and structural) that relate dynamically to knowledge sharing in NOPs. Interventions in both the content shared in the network and the connections among network members can influence each of these relations. This study contributes to theoretical and practical understanding of how to manage NOPs without killing them.
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