Diagnosing Organizational Knowledge Flow through Social Network Analysis: A Foreign Branch Case of A Global Company

사회연결망분석을 이용한 신생조직 내부의 지식흐름 진단: A사 해외법인 사례연구

Unlike the traditional belief that knowledge flows along the formal reporting procedures, recent social network research has reported the importance of informal social networks which may play a critical role as the real knowledge conduits. In fact, as a complementary approach of utilizing knowledge management systems (KMSs), many firms have focused on managing informal knowledge flow through which to acquire and transfer valuable knowledge in a fast and effective way. In a case of global companies that have newly developed foreign branches or subsidiaries, due to cultural or institutional differences and lack of understanding of knowledge management and its benefits, they often have difficulties in activating knowledge sharing in local branches. In these situations, diagnosing organizational knowledge flow through SNA can be a first step to solve the problems. Therefore, in this paper, I report on the result of case study on a foreign branch of "A" global company by identifying organizational knowledge paths. Based on the results of the diagnosis, some implications and insights for building knowledge management (KM) strategy specified for a newly developed foreign branch will also be discussed.