How is information and knowledge communicated? : A case study on communication within and across software-provisioning team boundaries

Abstract:  Today it has become standard for organizations to rely on self-serving teams to make decisions since they are believed to provide access to bigger pools of information and knowledge than individual managers. However, while a lot of research has been focusing on how to improve information and knowledge sharing in teams to better promote the making of deliverables, not much has been said about how self-serving teams actually communicate information and knowledge. In this thesis a qualitative study was conducted with seven members of a software-provisioning team to, with particular focus on using IT when communicating, investigate how information and knowledge is communicated within and across team boundaries. Findings in this thesis suggest that there is a tension between information and knowledge sharing in teams. While the formalization of technological channels might facilitate effective information sharing in teams, it could have negative effects on knowledge sharing.