The ability to create knowledge and diffuse it throughout an organization is today recognized as a major strategic capability for gaining competitive advantage. Scholars and managers have shown an increasing interest in understanding and managing organizational knowledge. Despite this, there are few examples in the literature that bridge the gap between knowledge and knowledge application. This article develops a knowledge management initiative which facilitates knowledge creation and sharing beyond project boundaries, based on exploratory research at pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The results indicate that, by allowing the emergence of knowledge facilitators, practical knowledge for action is produced and shared. The article explores the dynamic and relational nature of knowledge when managing knowledge, it then develops actionable tools for lateral knowledge creation and knowledge transfer, and concludes with implications for managers using the tools.

This article explores the use of organizational learning mechanisms to create actionable knowledge in a pharmaceutical company. An action research based approach was used to explore the nature and issues associated with fostering the dynamic learning capability within the firm. The results indicate that dynamic learning capability is embedded and influenced by company culture, existing skills and competence, organizational structure, incentives for learning, capacity for continuous change and leadership. It is argued that enabling actionable knowledge creation is a fragile process that has to be managed with care, and is far more complex than the literature suggests.

High‐performing project teams are crucial for effective research and development (R&D). To become high performing, teams need to make use of their different skills and reflect upon their collective actions, thereby combining knowledge that could lead to value‐adding activities for the company. This article describes the use of team coaching in supporting team reflection and learning in global R&D project teams. A collaborative research approach was used during the 8 months of coaching, with several inquiry methods being employed. The results indicate that coaching interventions have a positive effect on team performance, both from an efficiency perspective as well as from a creativity and climate perspective. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed, as is future research.

Knowledge and knowledge management have become two of the latest buzzwords in the management literature. However, the literature presents primarily normative, undersocialized models of how knowledge could be administrated and developed as an organizational resource, and does not sufficiently recognize the social, political and emotional aspects of knowledge. In general, the knowledge of knowledge management is not situational. For instance, in what respect does the notion of knowledge take gender issues into account? This paper presents a study of clinical research activities in a major multinational pharmaceutical company and it suggests that the processes of knowing are always embedded in existing social and political, gendered assumptions and beliefs. Therefore, knowledge management need to be further developed to avoid general problematic positions.