Table Of ContentOrganisational Agility
Exploring the Impact of
Identity on Knowledge
Management
Neha Chatwani
Organisational Agility
Neha Chatwani
Organisational Agility
Exploring the Impact of Identity on Knowledge
Management
Neha Chatwani
Workplace Atelier
Vienna, Wien, Austria
ISBN 978-3-030-17248-0 ISBN 978-3-030-17249-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17249-7
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For my sister, Sheila
P
reface
This book is based on insights gained from a doctoral research field study
conducted at a renowned international humanitarian organisation. It
investigates the impact of organisational identity on knowledge manage-
ment through the lens of organisational agility.
The organisation under investigation is widely recognised as an agile
role-model in its field, delivering emergency medical services globally. Its
global relevance for humanitarian aid since the 1970s has been rewarded
with the Nobel Prize. As a researcher, the opportunity to study a dynamic
organisational phenomenon such as agility in this unusual and pertinent
setting resembles the excitement described in Siggelkow’s talking pig met-
aphor (see Chap. 2).
In this vein, this book aims to make a contribution well beyond a dis-
sertational work based on a single case study. Rather than being a purely
self-referential exercise that contributes towards management theory, it is
an honest attempt to make a constructive and meaningful contribution to
informed agility in organisations.
Chapter 1 explains the organisational agility paradigm which postulates
that agile organisations develop a sensing ability that allows them to antici-
pate inner and external environmental shifts by scanning for relevant cues
and making sense of these. It is this sense-ability that continually triggers
appropriate knowledge flows that result in timely actions of organisational
responsiveness or agility.
The theoretical discourse in Chap. 1 notes that whereas the importance
of knowledge sharing for organisational agility is not disputed in l iterature,
vii
viii PREFACE
it is unclear how and when organisational knowledge is shared to enable
an agile response. It is this gap that the research in the book explores.
Chapter 2 explains the methodology of research for this case study and
how the agility model is modified by the outcomes. The research results
show that in agility, knowledge transfer practices are an expression of iden-
tity. The gathering of data and information for the creation of specific and
relevant business intelligence (sense-ability) as well as the proactive lever-
aging, organising and distribution of this intelligence and organisational
knowledge are consistently and incrementally aligned with organisational
identity attributes through processes of ‘identity work’. Specifically, so-
called cognitive tactics are employed that involve a matching of possible
actions with specific identity attributes and the reordering or reprioritising
of these depending on, for example, their contextual relevance and align-
ment with the organisation’s purpose and strategy. The process of align-
ment through cognitive tactics triggers knowledge flows that result in
timely organisational action—in other words, agile responsiveness. These
actions can be short term, for instance the just-in-time deportation of
resources, or longer term, as with the acquisition of specific talents or skills.
The identity work and cognitive tactics are embedded at both levels of
identity construction: institutional claims in the form of sense-giving by
leaders of the organisation and sense-making processes of individual
organisational actors. The two levels are interlinked.
Notably, the reverse impact is also observed, albeit more gradually, as
incremental adaptations to knowledge practices eventually influence
organisational identity. For example, engaging in an increasing number of
innovative solutions gradually leads to a collective understanding that the
organisation is innovative and that this is possibly a ‘new’ identity attribute.
Finally, Chap. 3 discusses the results of the research within the context
of the current debate on agility and its managerial relevance. Through the
continuous alignment of knowledge sharing routines among organisa-
tional actors, with their understanding of ‘who they are’ and ‘who they
would like to be’ as well as the broader purpose and strategy, the organisa-
tion can reach optimal agile responsiveness in turbulent contexts.
Paradoxically, when this focus is clear and stable, operational flexibility is
possible. When operational activities expressed in knowledge flows cannot
be aligned with the common understanding of the organisation’s identity
and purpose, organisational responsiveness is either hampered or
closed down.
PREFACE ix
This book makes a twofold contribution, both academic and practical.
The academic contribution underlines the importance of identity work in
understanding organisational processes, such as knowledge sharing prac-
tices and their outcomes and agile capacity building in organisations. By
suggesting that knowledge transfer, agile change and identity are all closely
linked, a deeper engagement with the organisation’s identity, purpose and
its mission is stressed as being integral to effective change management
initiatives. This research also offers an important insight for the manage-
ment practice of change in institutional organisational development,
where continuous change is becoming the new norm in a VUCA (volatile,
uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environment. The results of this
empirical investigation suggest that continuous and sustainable change is
best managed by allowing organisational actors to work through the para-
doxes of sense-making, and by managers not only walking the talk but also
by talking the walk during the change process, that is, pronouncing insti-
tutional claims through sense-giving. The interplay of both aspects facili-
tates a greater capacity for organisational agility.
Vienna, Austria Neha Chatwani
January 2019
a
cknowledgements
In deep gratitude to all organisational actors who spent time with me to
make this research possible and to all those who encouraged the writing of
this book. I will always be thankful.
xi
c
ontents
1 A gility Revisited 1
2 The Agile Case Study 23
3 An Updated Model for Agility and Its Implications 47
Index 69
xiii
