Communication rules and processes of knowledge-sharing in a high technology organization

Scholars and practitioners of knowledge management have recently expressed a growing interest in understanding how cultures in organizations relate to patterns of knowledge sharing among individuals. The present study examines this issue. Based on a communication rules approach to culture, a framework is advanced for explaining and understanding how rules enable or constrain the ways in which knowledge is shared in a high technology organization. Data were gathered using multiple methods, including 6 months of participant observation, informal interviews, 58 semi-structured interviews, and various sources of archival information. Based on analyses using grounded theory procedures, three sets of findings are reported. The first set of findings advance a process model of knowledge sharing that organizes and explains the communication rules explicated in the analyses. This process model includes: (a) a search phase, constituted by rules about searching for knowledge; (b) an engage phase, constituted by rules about engaging people's time and attention; and (c) an exchange phase, constituted by rules about exchanging questions and answers. A descriptive overview of this model is presented. I also advance the concept of meta-rules to help explain how organizational rules relate to the overall functioning of the knowledge sharing process. Social exchange and practice theories are used to enrich our understanding of these rules. The second and third set of findings reported in the present study elaborate two propositions consistent with an attention-based view of the firm. These discussions theorize about how rules in organizations (1) distribute the focus of attention among individuals by directing patterns of knowledge sharing interactions and (2) generate value criteria that are used to evaluate the relevance of interpersonally communicated knowledge. Overall, this study provides a rule-based framework for explaining the social environment of knowledge sharing in organizations and how individuals relate to this environment.