Science and engineering organizations are faced with managing virtual projects as more and more R&D work is distributed across small and large distances. The innovations flowing from these projects are key to sustaining economic growth and jobs in today's high technology environment. Yet the organizational processes necessary to create and disseminate innovation may be difficult when participants are physically separated, thus making tacit knowledge transfer, in particular, more difficult. Two critical challenges for managing innovation are addressed: (1) How to effectively apply social and technical approaches to transferring knowledge in increasingly virtual environments; and (2) How to support innovation-focused knowledge transfer in more virtual settings.
This collaborative project evaluates and extends models for understanding the impact of virtual work processes for knowledge transfer and innovation. Interviews, surveys, and archival data will be combined to examine organizational practices and technological tools used to support knowledge transfer and innovation in science and engineering programs in Cisco, DuPont, and Hewlett-Packard. Measures of tacit and explicit knowledge, absorptive capacity, communities of practice, and transactive memory as well as organizational knowledge management and knowledge transfer practices will be used to test extant theories of virtual work and knowledge and to expand the theory to include the innovation process.
This research is important to better organizing and managing scientific research necessary to carry out effective innovation in basic and applied research in science and engineering organizations in both public and private sectors. Presentations and publications within the academic community will provide an opportunity for wide discussion of the results and implications for policy. Materials will be made available to managers of national laboratories, multi-disciplinary university centers, and industrial research laboratories. Also, results and teaching materials will inform graduate seminars and various courses focused on under-represented groups and their ability to advance technologies benefiting humanity.
