View - Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaft der Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Wilkesmann/Rascher self-governance and slowness page 27
Summary
It is not possible to organize knowledge management externally by simple instructions.
Structures are necessary which lead to cooperative actions in the sense of passing on data and
generating new knowledge together. This kind of self-governance can be supported by small
groups without any power differences which make it easier to implement social norms or by
those core dimensions which define a large scope according to Hackman and Oldham. Both
structures are relevant for generating new knowledge. In small groups without any power
differences it is possible to introduce a social norm which guarantees cooperative actions.
Intrinsic motivation can also guarantee acting cooperatively. A large scope (described by
Hackman and Oldham's core dimensions) supports the attribution of intrinsic motivation.
Small groups are irrelevant for the area of storing and using data, because especially large
groups are to be reached. Nevertheless, room for manoeuvre is important for supporting
intrinsic motivation. The two hypotheses which postulate a connection between the amount of
scope on the one hand and the attribution of intrinsic motivation or acting cooperatively on
the other hand have been confirmed with slight reservations. Thus it can be proved that selfgovernance,
which is defined by the structures called core dimensions in this case, makes
autonomous actions possible and that it is a method to organize knowledge management in a
reasonable way.
An important dimension of autonomy is temporal sovereignty, which has been defined as
slowness here. A very tight schedule, which is predetermined externally, makes the
generation of intrinsic motivation impossible and might even destroy existing intrinsic
motivation, because it is perceived as external control.
Self-governance does not come into existence by itself, it is the result of an intra-company
negotiation process. In Germany an important actor in this negotiation process is the works
council. Its attitude towards knowledge management and, as a consequence, towards these
negotiation processes which lead to company agreements depends on its experiences with the
implementation of knowledge management measures. This fact underlines the importance of a
participation oriented change management process.
Nevertheless, knowledge management will only succeed, if self-governance develops and the
respective conditions for negotiation processes exist in the companies. Otherwise
"graveyards" for knowledge and data will develop.
27