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Management Science Vol. 46 No. 5 2000

Distribution of Knowledge, Group Network Structure, and Group Performance

Diane Liang Rulke1; Joseph Galaskiewicz2

1 School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey TW20 OEX, United Kingdom · 2 Department of Sociology and Curtis L. Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of knowledge distribution and group structure on performance in MBA game teams. We found that group performance was contingent on the distribution of knowledge within the group and networks of social relationships among group members. Studying 39 teams of MBA students in two management simulation games, we found that, in general, groups that had broadly distributed knowledge, i.e., groups made up of members who had general knowledge, outperformed groups that had knowledge concentrated in different members, i.e., groups made up of members who had specialized or both specialized and general knowledge. However, the advantage that the former enjoyed over the latter disappeared when groups of specialists or mixed groups had decentralized network structures.

DOI
10.1287/mnsc.46.5.612.12052
Volume
46
Issue
5
Pages
612-625
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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