Strengthening lateral relations in organisations through knowledge management

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to outline a methodology for strengthening an organisational design by identifying knowledge risks introduced by organisational structure and addressing those risks by implementing knowledge management measures.

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing two anonimised case studies and by structuring personal experiences of the authors, the paper presents a four‐pronged process to deal with suboptimal organisational design.

Findings

Two case studies demonstrate that pro‐active knowledge management can help to alleviate weaknesses introduced by dominant orientations in organisational design.

Practical implications

The practical implications of this paper are that in organisational design and restructuring processes, knowledge management principles should be taken into account to prevent weaknesses to slip into the final structure. A simple yet powerful methodology that looks at knowledge risks can be used to defend against suboptimal designs.

Originality/value

Although there is extensive literature on networked organisations, this paper adds value by its knowledge risk‐based review of current organisational structure and its subsequent focus on using the knowledge factor as a prime design criterion of new organisational structure.

Citation

van der Spek, R., Kruizinga, E. and Kleijsen, A. (2009), "Strengthening lateral relations in organisations through knowledge management", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 3-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270910962833