Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Working Group as Expert

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Managing Knowledge in Organizations

  • 585 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter, we examine what constitutes effective organizational learning and practice within working groups which manage to attain, sustain, and deploy collective mètis. One of the major challenges as a manager is guiding working groups toward two contradictory, yet inherently complementary processes and outcomes, namely creative expression and team cohesion. One without the other can be deleterious to organizations. Teams able to generate new ideas but unable to agree and work together toward implementing such ideas lead to little or no innovation; while the opposite is also true—cohesive teams able to work together across standardized work procedures, yet unable to generate new ideas because of ‘groupthink’, again lead to the same outcome. A delicate balancing act is required between getting workgroups to debate and generate creative ideas on the one hand, and working together toward implementing these on the other hand. Such contexts require dialogue, mindfulness, and co-active power willing to re-question categories and taken-for-granted assumptions. Case examples (aircraft engine manufacturing and orthopedic surgery) are used to illustrate successful groups-as-experts as well as less constructive group dynamics preventing the attainment of collective mètis within organizations, leading to lower and higher organizational risks, respectively.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ashby, W. R. (1956). An Introduction to Cybernetics. London: Chapman and Hall.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumard, P. (1999). Tacit Knowledge in Organizations. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bédard, M. G., Ebrahimi, M., & Saives, A.-L. (2010). Management à l’ère de la société du savoir. Montreal: Chenelière.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boland, R. J., & Tenkasi, R. V. (1995). Perspective Making and Perspective Taking in Communities of Knowing. Organization Science, 6(4), 350–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chinen, K., & Enomoto, C. E. (2004). The Impact of Quality Control Circles and Education on Organizational Commitment in Northern Mexico Assembly Plants. International Journal of Management, 21(1), 51–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, H. (2010). Tacit and Explicit Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cooren, F. (2004). The Communicative Achievement of Collective Minding Analysis of Board Meeting Excerpts. Management Communication Quarterly, 17(4), 517–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dane, E. (2011). Paying Attention to Mindfulness and Its Effects on Task Performance in the Workplace. Journal of Management, 37, 997–1018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, D. (1992). Interpretive Barriers to Successful Product Innovation in Large Firms. Organization Science, 3(2), 179–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus, H. L., & Dreyfus, S. E. (2005). Peripheral Vision. Organization Studies, 26(5), 779–792.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enriquez, E. (1992). L’Organisation en analyse. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gawande, A. (2007). Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance. New York: Picador.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haas, M., & Mortensen, M. (2016, June). The Secrets of Great Teamwork. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork

  • Hargadon, A. B., & Bechky, B. A. (2006). When Collections of Creatives Become Creative Collectives: A Field Study of Problem Solving at Work. Organization Science, 17, 484–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holford, W. D. (2010). Knowledge Construction and Risk Induction/Mitigation in Dialogical Workgroup Processes. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 5(2), 127–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huzzard, T. (2004). Communities of Domination ? Reconceptualizing Learning and Power. The Journal of Workplace Learning, 16(6), 350–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jehn, K. A., Northcraft, G. B., & Neale, M. A. (1999). Why Differences Make a Difference: A Field Study of Diversity, Conflict, and Performance in Workgroups. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(4), 741–763.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, J. K., Ziegert, J. C., Knight, A. P., & Xiao, Y. (2006). Dynamic Delegation: Shared, Hierarchical and Deindividualized Leadership in Extreme Action Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51, 590–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levi, D. (2007). Group Dynamics for Teams. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in Group Dynamics, II: Channels of Group Life; Social Planning and Action Research. Human Relations, 1, 143–153. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674700100201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madsen, P. M., Desai, V. M., Roberts, K. H., & Wong, D. (2006). Mitigating Hazards Through Continuing Design: The Birth and Evolution of a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Organization Science, 17, 239–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu, E. M., Wolfson, M. A., & Park, S. (2018). The Evolution of Work Team Research Since Hawthorne. American Psychologist, 73(4), 308–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I., & von Krogh, G. (2009). Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion: Controversy and Advancement in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory. Organization Science, 20(3), 635–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I., Von Krogh, G., & Ichijo, K. (2000). Enabling Knowledge Creation. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nooteboom, B. (1999). Innovation, Learning and Industrial Organisation. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 23(2), 127–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ranmuthugala, G., Plumb, J. J., Cunningham, F. C., Georgiou, A., Westbrook, J. I., & Braithwaite, J. (2011). How and Why Are Communities of Practice in the Healthcare Sector? A Systematic Review of the Literature. BMC Health Services Research, 11, 273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, C. (2000). Doing Knowledge at Work: Dialogue, Monologue and Power in Organizational Learning. In J. Garrick & C. Rhodes (Eds.), Research and Knowledge at Work: Perspectives, Case-studies and Innovative Strategies (pp. 217–231). New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Runco, M. A. (2007). Creativity. Theories and Themes: Research, Development and Practice. London: Elsevier Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulman, P. R. (1993). Tehe Negotiated Order of Organizational Reliability. Administration & Society, 25(3), 353–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, C. W., & Trethewey, A. (2008). Organizational Discourse and the Appraisal of Occupational Hazards: Interpretive Repertoires, Heedful Interrelating, and Identity at Work. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 36(3), 298–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo, Y., Lee, C., & Moon, H. (2016). An Organisational Learning Perspective of Knowledge Creation and the Activities of the Quality Circle. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 27(3–4), 432–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wangbin, H. (2014). Homogeneity or heterogeneity: Research on the role of entrepreneurial orientation in the relationship between technology entrepreneurship team and new enterprise performance. Management World, 6, 92–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, K., & Glynn, M. A. (2006). Making Sense with Institutions: Context, Thought and Action in Karl Weick’s Theory. Organization Studies, 27(11), 1639–1660.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1979). The Social Psychology of Organizing (2nd ed.). Reading: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (2005). Making sense of blurred images: Mindful organizing in Mission STS-107. In W. H. Starbuck & M. Farjoun (Eds.), Organization at the Limit: Lessons from the Columbia Disaster (pp. 159–177). Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (2011). Organizing for Transient Reliability: The Production of Dynamic Non-Events. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 19(1), 21–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (2015). Ambiguity as Grasp: The Reworking of Sense. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 23(2), 117–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2001). Managing the Unexpected. Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity. San Franscisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2003). Hospitals as Cultures of Entrapment: A Reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary. California Management Review, 45, 73–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2006). Mindfulness and the Quality of Organizational Attention. Organization Science, 16(4), 409–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2007). Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in and Age of Uncertainty (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (1999). Organizing for High Reliability: Processes of Collective Mindfulness. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior (Vol. 21, pp. 81–123). Greenwich: JAI Press, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (2008). Organizing for High Reliability: Processes of Collective Mindfulness. In A. Boin (Ed.), Crisis Management (Vol. III, pp. 31–66). Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenger, E. (2004). Knowledge Management as a Doughnut: Shaping Your Knowledge Strategy Through Communities of Practice. Ivey Business Journal. https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/knowledge-management-as-a-doughnut/

  • Zhang, Y., & Zhang, W. (2019). How Does the Team Expertise Heterogeneity Affect Entrepreneurial Performance? Analysis from the Perspective of Academic Social Performance. Library Hi Tech. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/LHT-11-2018-0180/full/html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    W. David Holford

Authors
  1. W. David Holford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to W. David Holford .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Holford, W.D. (2020). The Working Group as Expert. In: Managing Knowledge in Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41156-5_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation