Foucault's concepts of freedom and resistance are examined to determine how they may feed into theorizing the Kantian `question of the present' for postmodern organizational analysis. This paper takes a measure of how reflexivity and creative self-representation materialize change in the ways critique is advanced in organization studies

Purpose: This paper aims to develop an integrated framework to demonstrate the individual and combined effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators on two forms of knowledge sharing behaviors – in-depth knowledge sharing and routinized knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach: A range of work on the use of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and the differential degrees of costs and risks involved in the two forms of knowledge sharing is being reviewed with the aim to locate gaps and problems arising from propositions of different scholars. An integrated framework is then proposed to connect different schools of thoughts into a single, unifying framework. Findings: Knowledge sharing behaviors among employees are subject to both attractive and distractive forces. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators might interact positively or negatively depending on the type of extrinsic motivator and the form of knowledge sharing. While enhancing the intrinsic enjoyment of employees along with outcome-based extrinsic motivators can promote in-depth knowledge sharing, the use of behavior-based extrinsic motivators is more appropriate for fostering routinized knowledge sharing. Research limitations/implications: This paper mainly focuses on the sharing of knowledge without examining the receiver side in knowledge sharing. Also, the use of punitive means by superiors in encouraging knowledge sharing is not discussed in the framework. Future research can also add into the authors’ integrated framework the effects of personal traits in knowledge sharing. Originality/value: This paper narrows the gap between existing theories on the use of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators and offers an integrated theoretical framework for those interested in examining the inter-relationship among intrinsic motivators, extrinsic motivators and knowledge sharing behaviors.

This article explores the innovation orientation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a quantitative study of 380 Norwegian exporting SMEs. Although recent research emphasises the influence of resource scarcity on SME innovation orientation, we argue that no clear hypothesis can be made about this relationship; rather, we focus on the role of managers and owners in influencing innovation orientation. We find that resource scarcity is not correlated with the innovation orientation of SMEs, while the growth ambitions of managers and owners strongly and positively influence their focus on both exploratory and exploitative innovation. Contrary to our expectations, we find that managerial perception of competitive intensity only moderately influences innovation orientation, while managerial perception of market growth does not influence innovation orientation. Our findings suggest that achieving ambidexterity is primarily a matter of ambition and entrepreneurial capability, rather than an issue of having the necessary resources or lucrative market conditions to innovate ambidextrously. As we also find that ambidextrous SMEs have the strongest innovation performance, our findings indicate that SMEs both can and should be ambidextrous.

Purpose: This paper interrogates the relationships between tacit knowledge (of professionals) and performance measurement regimes (of post-modern organizations). Drawing on Polanyi’s (1958, 1968) ideas about tacit knowledge and Lyotard’s (1984) theory of performativity with regard to criteria such as profit-performance the applicability and relevance of tacit, working knowledge in the internet age is assessed. The paper examines: the effects of context on knowledge management (KM); tacit knowledge and performativity around the production, validation and assessment of knowledge within organizations; KM and the mercantilization of knowledge and critical questions as to how performativity impacts tacit knowledge and KM in the digital era. Design/methodology/approach: The paper deconstructs popular and fashionable narratives around tacit knowledge and KM to critically appraise approaches to knowledge construction and transfer in contemporary and commercial contexts. The study draws on various specific critical incidents in commercial practice to assess where (and why) things went wrong with KM practices in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and in more recent attempts at large scale corporate fraud. Findings: KM should not trade exclusively in instrumentalized, performative knowledge. Tacit knowledge involves a sense of what is going on and this is not easily measured or codified. Experiential understanding of what is required when engaging with clients, colleagues, senior partners, other businesses (and cultures) and the political contexts in which employees work is central to tacit knowledge. So too are performance measures and reward systems and herein lies the “uneasy dynamic”. The nature of any transfer of tacit knowledge is problematic, but such employee know-how remains critical to organizational performance and validating the use-value of knowledge for the purposes of KM. Originality/value: Researchers have used the theories of Polanyi and Lyotard, but rarely combined them to investigate KM practices critically in post-modern organizations. By using the two theories, this paper critically examines the contemporary construction of tacit knowledge from perspectives that include the different discourses and localized practices through which it is produced and consumed.

Uses a case study to illustrate DHL International’s corporate culture, which may be used as a benchmark for other companies in the service industry sector. Suggests that the business success factors of this organization lie in its adoption of the culture and structural characteristics of a clan organization. Clan organizations can create for themselves a more manageable social space that will provide them with protection and stability. The clan metaphor, and its organizing principles, may provide guidelines to be used by companies to manage strategically within a turbulent environment. Argues that when the general conditions within an environment are moving towards turbulent conditions, the business organizations within that environment should prepare for their own structural consolidation to ward off uncertainties. Such a structural consolidation can be modelled after the formation of social enclaves, or clans.