Coordinating Expertise Across Knowledge Boundaries in Offshore-Outsourcing Projects: The Role of Codification

Author List: Kotlarsky, Julia; Scarbrough, Harry; Oshri, Ilan;

MIS Quarterly, 2014, Volume 38, Issue 2, Page 607-627.

The coordination of effort within and among different expert groups is a central feature of contemporary organizations. Within the existing literature, however, a dichotomy has emerged in our understanding of the role played by codification in coordinating expert groups. One strand of literature emphasizes codification as a process that supports coordination by enabling the storage and ready transfer of knowledge. In contrast, another strand highlights the persistent differences between expert groups that create boundaries to the transfer of knowledge, seeing coordination as dependent on the quality of the reciprocal interactions between groups and individuals. Our research helps to resolve such contested understandings of the coordinative role played by codification. By focusing on the offshore-outsourcing of knowledge-intensive services, we examine the role played by codification when expertise was coordinated between client staff and onsite and offshore vendor personnel in a large-scale outsourcing contract between TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) and ABN AMRO bank. A number of theoretical contributions flow from our analysis of the case study, helping to move our understanding beyond the dichotomized views of codification outlined above. First, our study adds to previous work where codification has been seen as a static concept by demonstrating the multiple, coexisting, and complementary roles that codification may play. We examine the dynamic nature of codification and show changes in the relative importance of these different roles in coordinating distributed expertise over time. Second, we reconceptualize the commonly accepted view of codification as focusing on the replication and diffusion of knowledge by developing the notion of the codification of the “knower” as complementary to the codification of knowledge. Unlike previous studies of expertise directories, codification of the knower does not involve representing expertise in terms of occupational skills or competences but enables the reciprocal interrelating of expertise required by more unstructured tasks.

Keywords: Offshore-outsourcing; codification; expertise coordination; knowledge boundaries; qualitative case study

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List of Topics

#122	0.277	attention utilization existing codification model received does limitations theories receiving literature paying causes additional building examine examination focusing technological initial
#144	0.115	knowledge transfer management technology creation organizational process tacit research study organization processes work organizations implications practice explicit models consultants transfers
#256	0.106	coordination mechanisms work contingencies boundaries temporal coordinating vertical associated activities different coordinate suggests dispersed coordinated horizontal relative demand spatial hours
#218	0.102	role roles gender differences women significant play age men plays sample differ played vary understand critical greater implications relatively offered
#238	0.087	shared contribution groups understanding contributions group contribute work make members experience phenomenon largely central key common especially major conceptualizing study
#220	0.074	research study different context findings types prior results focused studies empirical examine work previous little knowledge sources implications specifically provide
#149	0.069	offshore offshoring client projects locations organizational vendor extra cultural problems services home sites two-stage arrangements distributed multiple location experience outsourcing