We extend and adapt a model of group memory to organizations. Using this extended model, they identify information management challenges of the next century and suggest that organizations can address these challenges by locating a large portion of their information-processing activities outside their formal boundaries, by adopting novel socialization tactics, and by focusing on the management of soft knowledge forms (e.g., tacit knowledge, judgment, and intuitive abilities). Whereas current theories increasingly equate information management with the management of information technology, we argue that information technology needs to be complemented by organization-level processes related to organizational memory.

In this article we address issues of diversity within organizational groups by discussing and summarizing previous approaches and by introducing a new variable—faultlines—which depends on the alignment of individual member characteristics. By analyzing a group's faultlines, we focus attention on the underlying patterns of group member characteristics, which can be an important determinant of subgroup conflict, particularly when the group's task is related to one of its faultlines. We discuss the dynamics of faultlines from the early to later stages of a group's development and show how they may be strongest and most likely when diversity of individual member characteristics is moderate.

Chao C. Chen, Xiao-Ping Chen, James R. Meindl, How Can Cooperation Be Fostered? The Cultural Effects of Individualism-Collectivism, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 285-304

Chao C. Chen, Xiao-Ping Chen, James R. Meindl, How Can Cooperation Be Fostered? The Cultural Effects of Individualism-Collectivism, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 285-304

Recent models of unethical behavior have begun to examine the combination of characteristics of individuals, issues, and organizations. We extend this examination by addressing a largely ignored perspective that focuses on the relationships among actors. Drawing on social network analysis, we generate propositions concerning types of relationships (strength, multiplexity, asymmetry, and status) and the structure of relationships (structural holes, centrality, and density). We also consider the combination of the type and structure of relationships and how this embeddedness perspective relates to social contagion and conspiracies.

Rita Gunther McGrath, Ming-Jer Chen, Ian C. MacMillan, Multimarket Maneuvering in Uncertain Spheres of Influence: Resource Diversion Strategies, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Oct., 1998), pp. 724-740