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From here to eternity?: The practice of knowledge transfer in dispersed and co-located project organizations

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 13; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09654310500187938

1469-5944

Jonathan Sapsed, David Gann, Nicholas Marshall, Ammon Salter,

Innovation and Knowledge Management

This paper extends theoretical and empirical debates on knowledge transfer practices in geographically dispersed project teams using a range of communications media. It presents quantitative data comparing work interactions between dispersed and co-located teams in five international, project-based firms. It shows that contrary to conventional wisdom, their respective practices are similar for many work activities such as search and routine information exchange. However dispersed team members validate, verify and consult differently to the respective co-located teams. Qualitative data from interviews and observation then illustrates typical interactions using the differing means and media available to the observed project teams, such as task decomposition and emergency corrective work. Due to an unfortunate oversight one of the references in this article is incomplete. It can be found here.