Knowledge Asymmetries and Service Management: Three Case Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how information systems are used by knowledge-intensive service firms and identify their effects on client–provider interactions. The paper uses data from case studies of service-related departments of three multinational firms. We identified several broad trends present in all three case companies. The required degree of knowledge specialisation, coupled with the ability to leverage knowledge created during service interactions resulted in high degrees of knowledge asymmetries between service provider and clients, which led to clients becoming the recipients of knowledge rather than co-creators. Differences between the cases related to the varying degrees to which information systems had been used to support service interactions. We therefore provide a model that outlines three key phases of activity. Individualisation involves the categorisation and location of tacit knowledge. This was followed by the codification and leveraging of service interactions through standardisation. Finally, the ability to provide alternative, more customised services, was achieved through modularisation. Increasing levels of specialisation of labour resulted in increasing knowledge asymmetries between service provider and client, reducing the need for client participation and co-production. Firms progress through three stages of development using information systems to support leveraging knowledge required for service delivery. The findings are based on case studies of departments within three multinational firms and would benefit from further empirical testing. The paper contributes to the existing literature in several ways. It focusses specifically on knowledge-intensive service firms, where labour is highly specialised. It gives information systems an explicit and significant role in examining how service elements may be leveraged. Finally, it outlines an exploratory model for managing this process.

The role of information systems and knowledge codification for service provision strategies

“…Rather than supporting interaction between service supplier and customer (Payne et al , 2008; Carlborg and Kindstrom, 2014; Gronroos, 2011), ICTs involved limited interaction concurring with previous research (Glushko and Nomorosa, 2013; Paluch, 2014) that interpersonal interaction was replaced by ICTs, that did not support customer relationship building (Rust and Miu, 2006; Rust and Huang, 2014). A possible reason for this is that knowledge asymmetries (Walsh and O'brien, 2018) may exist with service providers possessing more knowledge about requirements than their clients.…”

Dynamic knowledge management strategy development in international non-governmental organisations

“…It is important that as well as being cognisant of local perspectives, NGOs articulate indigenous knowledge (Athayde et al, 2016) though southern NGOs have been found to lack the skills needed to document local knowledge. Nonetheless, the dominant view is of top-down knowledge transfer (Moschitz et al, 2015).It is also important to mitigate the risk of knowledge asymmetries reducing opportunities for knowledge co-creation (Walsh & O'Brien, 2018). The best place to develop solutions is in the context in which they will be implemented (Chambers & Ramalingam, 2016).…”

Gestão Do Conhecimento, Inovatividade, Criatividade E Desempenho Inovador Em Empresas De Saúde

“…Um modelo que leva em consideração aspectos substanciais do que os estudos em gestão do conhecimento têm apresentado é proposto por Gold, Malhotra e Segars (2001), no qual estende elementos teóricos de gestão do conhecimento a uma dimensão programática, denominada 'efetividade organizacional' que é dada em função de duas capacidades organizacionais: 'infraestrutura do conhecimento' e 'processos do conhecimento'. A primeira é composta por elementos tecnológicos (LOON, 2019;WALSH;O'BRIEN, 2018;NEVES, et al, 2018), como sistemas de informação, comunicação, colaboração e, inteligência de negócios; culturais (COOPER, et al, 2016;RICE;HEINZ; VAN ZOONEN, 2019), tais como interação entre pessoas, visão corporativa, sistema de valores e; estruturais (LUPTON;BEAMISH, 2014;MARQUES, et al, 2019), que envolvem a racionalização de unidades e funções. Já os 'processos do conhecimento' envolvem aquisição, conversão, aplicação e proteção do conhecimento da organização (PARK; HOWARD; GOMULYA, 2018;THALMANN;SARIGIANNI, 2016;BISCOTTI;D'AMICO;MONGE, 2018).…”