Article accepted for publication in Journal of Knowledge Management, 03/08/17. AbstractPurpose -Via a study of IT service professionals, this article responds to a recent trend towards reifying 'knowledge hoarding' for purposes of quantitative/deductive research. A 'rhetorical theory' lens is applied to reconsider 'knowledge hoarding' as a value-laden rhetoric that directs managers towards addressing assumed worker dysfunctionality.Design/methodology/approach -A qualitative study of practicing IT service professionals (assumed within IT service management 'best practice' to be inclined to hoard knowledge) was conducted over a 34 day period. 20 workers were closely observed processing IT service incidents and 26 workers were interviewed about knowledge sharing practices. Findings -The study found that the character of IT service practice is more one of pro-social collegiality in sharing knowledge/know-how than one of self-interested strategic knowledge concealment. Research limitations/implications -The study concerns a single occupational context. The study indicates that deductive research that reifies 'knowledge hoarding' as a naturallyoccurring phenomenon is flawed, with clear implications for future research.Practical implications -The study suggests that management concern for productivity might be redirected away from addressing assumed knowledge hoarding behaviour and towards encouraging knowledge sharing via social interaction in the workplace. Originality/value -Previous studies have not directly examined the concept of knowledge hoarding using qualitative methods, nor have they considered it as a rhetorical device.

PurposeThis article presents an empirically induced “high-performance” “human resources (HR) bundle”, comprising six HR practices, for supporting lean service operations.Design/methodology/approachThis was a multiple case study. A qualitative data set, including transcripts from 27 semistructured in-depth interviews with lean practitioners from across five service organizations that have adopted lean practices, was thematically analyzed to establish key HR practices on the road to lean maturity.FindingsA “high-performance” HR bundle of three work practices and three employment practices emerged from the analysis. These practices typically mature implicitly rather than systematically to support organizations in successfully implementing lean service operations by resourcing the most suitable people for carefully defined roles, providing workers with extensive lean training opportunities, appraising workers' performances such that lean behaviours are recognized and rewarded and encouraging a participative teamworking culture.Research limitations/implicationsThis article uses cross-sectional data from five case studies to induce a “high-performance” “HR bundle” theoretical model and process. A larger number of case studies and/or longitudinal data would add credence.Practical implicationsLean service managers should regard HR practices as integral to the lean maturation process and might usefully conceive of them as processes allowing for greater management control to achieve incremental improvements to lean service provision.Originality/valueThe article provides deeper understanding of the importance of HR practice for lean service organizations and offers practical suggestions for managing HR practices in this context.

ICT applications that include functionality for knowledge sharing are routinely used by IT service providers even though their implementation is known to be problematic and the reasons for such problems not well understood. To shed\ud light on the issue, we collected data at two organisations where managers had provided IT service support workers with IT service management (ITSM) tools incorporating functionality for knowledge sharing. Using critical discourse analysis\ud and rhetorical analysis techniques, we contrasted primary data representative of IT service support practice with other primary and publicly available secondary data reflecting the prevailing discourse of IT service managers. Through this analysis, we identify an apparent dissonance between ITSM managerial and worker discourses that reflect opposing epistemologies. Managers are optimistic about the benefits of ICT-based knowledge sharing, whereas the practice of workers is revealed to privilege self-reliance and interpersonal knowledge sharing. By taking a dual, management–worker, perspective, we provide fresh insight into why ICT-based knowledge sharing is problematic. As a theoretical contribution, we propose that dysfunctional intra-organisational conflict can arise where incompatiblemanagement and worker practices become institutionalised through the simultaneous diffusion of conflicting discourses

This article reports on a participant ethnography of a people analytics (PA) team operating within the human resources (HR) function of a European multinational corporation at the cutting edge of PA development. Despite their analytical expertise, this team experienced significant dissonance between their desired image of PA work and the actualities of PA practice. Our analysis explains this dissonance through two prevalent identity performance scripts: ‘customerization’ and ‘action‐orientation’. Taken together these scripts were identified as having a restrictive impact on the production of more scientifically rigorous PA work. Further, both of these scripts were found to be imbued with cynicism, whereby PA practitioners distance themselves from the commercial presentation of their work outputs. The article reveals how management preferencing of presentational and commercial considerations over those of scientific rigour may result in a failure to generate the level of organisational benefits promoted by the optimistic accounts in current literature, with negative implications for the reputational profile of PA.

This article foregrounds the voice of an IT professional who is directly employed by a large British company and who, along with colleagues, is experiencing career uncertainty resulting from a management initiative to replace the established workforce with an alternative labour supply provided by a global IT services company. As an account that reflects the uncertainty of the age, the narrative offers insights into current discussions concerning the contemporary nature and experience of work generally. More specifically it tells of a loss of confidence and status of technical professionals as they are methodically undermined by the confident assertion of a 'shareholder value' rhetoric. The suggestion is made that the application of commercialprofessional rationality to the outsourcing of IT operations may underestimate the commercial risks associated with the loss of embodied technical knowledge gained across time as IT systems evolve to become complex constructions.