| The recognition of knowledge as one of the most valuable resources has motivated firms to engage in knowledge management. Knowledge is prevalent throughout the organization and multinational corporations are constantly exploring for new knowledge and ways to apply it effectively. Increasingly, multinational corporations are using cross-functional teams from various functions or departments and transferring their employees across borders to spread best practices and to greatly increase value to the firm. While the complex nature of work in organizations requires a multitude of possible solutions, this translates to requiring the expertise of different people with different backgrounds from various cultures to work together.This thesis deals with the question of how knowledge is transferred among team members from different cultures and the barriers that they face, particularly in knowledge intensive organizations such as consulting companies. The organizations studied are:(1) Hill & Associates, a risk management company, with the focus on the Shanghai subsidiary that consist of an average of 30 people including locals and expatriates(2) The Fudan - Wharton Global Consulting Practicum, which is a consulting project that is catered towards a total of 12 MBA students from The Wharton School and Fudan University School of ManagementThe purpose of this thesis is to gain better understanding of how knowledge flows between the team and what are the factors implemented by the organizations to allow greater transfer of knowledge between the team members. This research describes the importance of knowledge and its transfer in transnational teams while exploring the various factors that inhibit or hamper the transfer between the members. Also, this research will look at ways other than the technical aspects that create greater sharing of knowledge, including the cultural and organizational aspects.The methods used to gather information in this study were primarily through interviews for both consulting organizations and observation through personal experience as a member of the Fudan - Wharton Global Consulting Practicum.Results of this study pointed to 1) the importance of recognizing the various knowledge barriers that exist in teams with diverse people from backgrounds and 2) the challenge of managing and overcoming the barriers in order to value add to the organization. Due to the tacit nature of the knowledge in consulting projects and its relationship to knowledge of the diverse operating contexts of consulting firms, this study proposes that the ways to overcome knowledge transfer among the team members may not all be a one-size-fits-all to organizations in other industries. However more importantly recognizing the steps of how knowledge is transferred among the various team members for greater performance does apply for certain multicultural teams. Results indicate that albeit there is a need to organizational and technical aspects that facilitate knowledge transfer, it might still not be adequate when it comes down to multicultural team knowledge transfer as individuals from various cultural backgrounds are the key. |
