How Internet technologies impact information flows in R&D: reconsidering the technological gatekeeper

Previous studies have firmly established the technological gatekeeper to be a key node in the innovation process – acquiring, translating, and disseminating external information throughout the R&D unit. However, the gatekeeper concept has received modest attention in recent times. We argue that the concept needs to be re‐examined in light of the recent advances in Internet technologies that have dramatically altered how knowledge workers source and share their information. Drawing on social network analysis and interview evidence from a medical devices R&D group, we find that the gatekeeper role is still vital, but no longer needs to be performed by a single individual. Instead, the modern R&D group can keep abreast of the latest technological advances through a combination of Internet‐enabled internal and external communication specialists. This study makes a number of important contributions. The gatekeeper theory is extended through the development of an updated conceptual framework. We also discuss the practical implications of our findings and advise R&D managers on how to organise resources to maximise optimal information flows.     

Information systems in fast cycle development: identifying user needs in integrated automotive component development

Product development literature strongly emphasizes the need for open communication between suppliers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). There is a widespread expectation that computer-aided communication networks will enable organizational members to work more flexibly, to share knowledge and competencies, and to span functional and company boundaries. However, few studies merge the possibilities of new information technologies and the operational needs of specific groups of users, for example product development engineers. The research reported in this paper aims to fill that gap. Through in-depth case studies of two development projects involving one auto OEM, one of its systems suppliers (working directly with the OEM) and five medium-sized expert suppliers (working either directly with the OEM or through the systems supplier), we identify three groups of user needs that are not currently satisfied by existing information system solutions: improvement of coordination and communication; enhancement of the access to new technological information; and support for the development of an organizational memory. We then explore what kind of information systems might help satisfy the above-mentioned needs. Potential barriers to efficient implementation of information systems in terms of the motivation of people using the systems, the reliability of the information, and the willingness to render information more transparent are discussed. It is concluded that when implementing information systems to support operational development work, it is essential to ground the system specification in clearly identified user needs that reflect the double nature of product engineering, namely the continuous interplay between routines and cognitive processes.     

Scientific and technical information transfer for high technology: keeping the figure in its ground

The gatekeeper approach to the management of scientific and technical information (STI) is most relevant to companies engaged in product development in a dynamic technological environment (Allen, Tushman, & Lee, 1977). We will argue in this paper that these companies have a choice of how to effectively organize. The organizational structure and processes they implement will have major effects on how STI is transferred as well as the quality of the STI that is disseminated and used. Hence, changing the context within which STI is transferred may be much more effective than improving the efficiency of existing transfer procedures.     

A Technological Lifecycle Approach to the Organisational Factors determining Gatekeeper Activities

The paper deals with the question whether gatekeepers arise spontaneously (non-hierarchical) or are created by administrative action (hierarchical). The author's approach to the problem relies on the use of a lifecycle model of an organisation devised by Utterback and Abernathy. They distinguish a product-innovation, a transitional and process- innovation (consolidation) phase in the development of an enterprise. The author's hypothesis is that gatekeepers can arise via either route depending on the phase in which enterprise is operating. In the earlier phases the author predicts that gatekeepers will either be absent or non-hierarchical (spontaneous) while in later phases they will be hierarchical (ex-officio).
A test of the hypothesis was carried out on R&D engineers in 16 small firms making non-consumer products in Belgium. The investigation involved sociometric analysis of the communication patterns of members of various R&D groups with their group colleagues or with contacts outside the organisation from which a new gatekeeper definition was derived. The author also devised a new means of characterising the innovatory phase of an enterprise.
The results are broadly in accordance with the author's hypothesis. The lesson for management of firms about to innovate radically is to set up its structure in such a way that spontaneous communication links cross-cutting formal communication lines are able to flourish.     

手写时代到印刷时代拉丁字母文字形态的演变及信息传递

文字是人类文明进步不可缺少的基本工具,它既是语言的载体,也是信息化社会的基础。拉丁字母文字从一万多年前的原始文字到现代表音的字母文字,经历了漫长的原始文字、古典文字和字母文字三大阶段,文字形态的每一个变化,在保有历史痕迹的同时,也实现了更加快速有效传达信息的目的。各个时代不同的文字书写工具和载体作为媒介指导了信号的传递,并直接影响到当时的文字形态和信息传达。古登堡铅活字印刷术的发明带来了信息传递的重大技术变革,使得文字形态进入印刷文化阶段;印刷油墨和纸张作为文字的新载体在世界范围内推广,陆续产生了现在依然有影响力的诸多拉丁字母文字。铅字字模印刷文字形态的一致性,使得固定形态重复出现时的文字可识别性大大提高,形成了规范的印刷品文字形态,使文字的易读性和可读性明显优于形态相对不固定的手写体,使信息能够被更加清晰准确地传递,对更好地实现文字的功能具有重要意义。随着信息化社会的发展,印刷文字扮演着越来越重要的角色,拉丁字母文字印刷体形态如何更好地传达信息必将得到更大的关注和更深入的研究。     

Critical comments on the gatekeeper concept in science and technology

The concept of the gatekeeper as a means of improving information dissemination in science and technology has been given much attention. The criticism of the two-step flow model has been extensive in mass-media research. In principle, this criticism should also apply to studies of gatekeepers in R & D organizations. The two-step flow model does not tell us with whom the gatekeeper is communicating, what is being discussed, and what effect the gatekeepers have on the internal information dissemination. Using an empirical study of an R & D organization, the thesis is presented that gatekeepers can contribute to an eliteist pattern of distribution rather than to a reduction of the information gap. Finally, it is argued that studies of internal communication in R & D organizations should deal with communication relationships rather than with individuals as units of analysis.     

Trends in ICT standards: The relationship between European standardisation bodies and standards consortia

Theoretical analyses have dealt with the relationship between standardisation activities in formal standardisation bodies and in standards consortia. However, the empirical evidence is rather weak. Besides various case studies, there is no broad and quantitative approach for examining the relationship between formal and informal standardisation processes. This paper quantifies the standardisation activities in information and communication technology (ICT) of formal and informal standardisation bodies by utilising the database PERINORM containing formal standards and by analysing two CEN/ISSS surveys of standardisation consortia in 2000 and 2004. The two major insights gained are that the technical content of activities of formal and informal standardisation bodies is complementary rather than substitutive, which means most technical issues are addressed by both formal standardisation bodies and standardisation consortia. In addition, there has been a consolidation of consortia activities through a significant reduction in the number of consortia. However, this reduction has not changed the distribution of consortia activities by technical fields and complementary relations with the activities of formal standardisation bodies. Based on these new insights, some challenges emerge both for future theoretical analysis of decisions on standardisation types and for ICT policy regarding the interaction between standardisation and technical regulation and the role of standards in public procurement.     

Influence of task type on the relationship between communication and performance: the case of software development

The relationships between communication patterns and performance of software development projects mostly resemble those of technical services, and not development projects, in hardware R&D. The local focus of software development projects in their information requirements is emphasized by the positive influence only of the informal and mostly internal literature, while external contacts, participation in conferences, and formal and external literature were inconsequential. The implications are two-fold: a) on the conceptual level they suggest that a trade-off between coordination and innovation requirements of the task might be an important determinant of optimal communication patterns; b) on the practical level it suggests that 'software development' consists of 'software engineering' and 'software production'. Consequently, it should be recognized that as such, these activities should be managed differently—the former as R&D, the latter as manufacturing.     

Architectural Redesign, Interpersonal Communication, and Learning in R&D

An effective R&D organization needs information from a complex web of sources, including customers, suppliers, sales and marketing, and company management. Within the R&D organization, information must flow into and among numerous teams. This network of interpersonal communications can go a long way toward determining the success of a company's innovation efforts. In an exploratory study of a Belgian company operating in the telecommunications industry, Rudy K. Moenaert and Filip Caeldries examine the effects of interpersonal communication on market and technological learning in R&D. Trying to improve the flow of information into and within its R&D organization, this company designed its new R&D facility with an eye toward improving both market and technological learning throughout the organization. By locating R&D personnel in closer proximity to one another, management hoped to provide them with improved access to market and technological information, and thus increase their innovativeness. Contrary to expectations, placing R&D professionals in closer proximity to one another did not increase technological learning in this organization. In fact, technological learning actually decreased slightly during the period studied, though the change is not statistically significant. On the other hand, market learning and product innovativeness improved significantly during the period studied. For an R&D professional in this company, members of other R&D teams seem to be more important as sources of market information than as sources of technological information. Surprisingly, the relocation of R&D personnel also did not increase the amount of communication that takes place, either within a project team, between members of different teams, or between R&D professionals and the management steering committee. However, the architectural redesign does appear to have improved the quality of communication. R&D team leaders report that since the relocation, the information flowing into R&D has been more customer focused. This is attributed to the company's ongoing efforts to provide the tools and structures necessary for supporting the objectives of the architectural redesign. For example, implementation of quality function deployment (QFD) has helped innovation team members to focus more clearly on relevant information. The success of the architectural design required approaching this effort as a complex, ongoing process, rather than a quick-fix solution.     

Can You Hear Me Now? Communication in Virtual Product Development Teams*

Globalization and technological advances are driving organizations to extend the boundaries of new product development (NPD) teams from traditional colocated settings to dispersed or virtual settings. Virtual NPD teams have a wide array of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at their disposal. ICTs allow team members to communicate and collaborate as they cope with the opportunities and challenges of cross‐boundary work. The purpose of this paper is to explore ICT use by members of virtual NPD teams. This study presents an exploratory test and integration of two competing perspectives of media use in virtual teams: media capacity theories and social dynamic media theories. Specifically, this paper examines the role of task type, organizational context, and ICT type as critical contingency variables affecting ICT use. It also examines how different patterns of ICT use relate to individual perceptions of team performance. The findings from this study of 184 members of virtual NPD teams in three global firms suggest that communication via ICTs in virtual NPD teams is contingent on a range of factors.     

Who is telecaring whom? Exploring the total social organisation of care work in an Italian municipality

Telecare’ refers to the use of digital or information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate health and social care delivery to individuals in their homes. This article explores the phenomenon by foregrounding its interconnections with work activities, paid and unpaid. It draws on research as a part of the design and deployment of a set of telecare innovations for older people in an Italian municipality. The project was conceived at the outset in terms of formal inter‐ relationships between functions and components of technical systems. Technical setbacks, however, were resolved only by enrolling the active support of groups and individuals (including civil society organisations and older people). By situating a telecare intervention conceptually within the ‘total social organisation of labour’ (TSOL), we provide an analysis that contributes to understanding how a socio‐technical infrastructural approach to telecare reveals ways to improve our understanding of how formal and informal care systems interact.     

Making the Processes of Designing Explicit Within an Information Technology Environment

In this paper, technology is described as involving processes whereby resources are utilised to satisfy human needs or to take advantage of opportunities, to develop practical solutions to problems. This study, set within one type of technology context, information technology, investigated how, through a one semester undergraduate university course, elements of technological processes were made explicit to students. While it was acknowledged in the development and implementation of this course that students needed to learn technical skills, technological skills and knowledge, including design, were seen as vital also, to enable students to think about information technology from a perspective that was not confined and limited to `technology as hardware and software'. This paper describes how the course, set within a three year program of study, was aimed at helping students to develop their thinking and their knowledge about design processes in an explicit way. An interpretive research approach was used and data sources included a repertory grid `survey'; student interviews; video recordings of classroom interactions, audio recordings of lectures, observations of classroom interactions made by researchers; and artefacts which included students' journals and portfolios. The development of students' knowledge about design practices is discussed and reflections upon student knowledge development in conjunction with their learning experiences are made. Implications for ensuring explicitness of design practice within information technology contexts are presented, and the need to identify what constitutes design knowledge is argued.     

Managing uncertain,complex product development in high‐tech firms: in search of controlled flexibility

This paper investigates ways of managing complexity and uncertainty in R&D simultaneously. Previous research on the subject indicates that these dimensions require different approaches, but these studies tend to provide suggestions either on managing complexity in stable industries or on handling uncertainty in less complex projects. In this paper, the two dimensions are studied simultaneously in three commercial product development projects at a firm that may be viewed as an extreme case of complexity and with multiple dimensions of uncertainty. The paper illustrates that a critical issue in this kind of high‐tech development is the search for and development of approaches that integrate and balance needs for formal organizational control with high levels of project flexibility. Four key elements of such integrated approaches are identified: hybrid formal systems, structured interaction in public arenas, transparent visual communication tools, and a system of participative reflection.     

Formal standards-setting for global telecommunications and information services. Towards an institutional regime transformation?

This paper reviews the nature and economic significance of the activities carried on by standards development organizations (SDOs), focusing in particular upon the telecommunications and information technology standards-setting work of the government-created public and quasi-public institutions, and the international treaty organizations that constitute the formal standards sector. It documents the current sources of tension within this regime and appraises various proposals for organizational reforms. There are especially pressing needs for adaptations of the inherited institutional mechanisms for technical coordination to provide for inter-operability in the development of new telecommunication networks and services. Among the manifold sources of strain on the old structure, those which seem at once most fundamental and potentially most threatening are the recently heightened industrial perceptions of the potential strategic value of standards as tools of business competition and national policy, and the incentives for ‘institutional by-pass’ that have been created by the rapid proliferation of technological possibilities. The paper considers some alternative organizational models for negotiated standard-setting that might be able to withstand, and better harness these forces for the continued production of standards as public goods.     

Assessment of E-government inclusion policies toward seniors: A framework and case study

Digital exclusion of seniors covers both social and technical drivers that affect the magnitude of this phenomenon. It arises from the fear of technology, reduced manual and mental abilities, socio-economic status, and also the mismatch between the technological environment and the needs of the elderly. The consideration of the needs of seniors are mainly implemented through social policies while the provision of government services is achieved through digitization policies and procedures. Our research is addressing two objectives. The first objective is to identify the main determinants affecting the adoption of e-government and its use by seniors. The second objective is to build a research framework for assessing e-government policy for the digital inclusion of the seniors from both social and technical perspectives. This research framework is then validated based on a case study of Poland. Presented framework proves to be a useful tool to evaluate and depict the areas of improvement for a comprehensive e-government policy toward seniors' inclusion.     

Co-creating social media agility to build strong customer-firm relationships

Although promising links have been established between social information processing capability (internal capability), customer co-creation (external capability), and social media agility, empirical studies have not offered sufficiently convincing evidence on the benefits of using social media. This study adopted the dynamic capability view that assesses the development of internal capability by combining information acquisition, communication, and responsiveness and examines the effect of customer co-creation on operational agility through the use of social media. Data were gathered from 231 responses to a questionnaire in a business-to-business sales context. The key contribution of this study is its examination of how social media agility is influenced by both internal and external capabilities. The results reveal these two types of capabilities to have an interactive effect on social media agility that is positively correlated with the strength of customer-firm relationships.     

Determinants of the Level of Knowledge Application: A Knowledge‐Based and Information‐Processing Perspective*

Knowledge application is of key importance in the development of successful new products. Knowledge application refers to an organization's timely response to technological change by utilizing the knowledge and technology generated into new products and processes. This study uses the knowledge‐based theory of the firm and considers its roots in the information‐processing approach to organization theory to identify and structure potential antecedents of knowledge application. This study develops four hypotheses concerning antecedents of knowledge application. The hypotheses are tested using data collected from 277 high‐technology firms. Empirical results indicate that a long‐term orientation supported by a research and development (R&D) budget, formal rewards, and information technology directly increases the level of knowledge application, while R&D co‐location indirectly increases the level of knowledge application. It is surprising to find that an increase in the level of organizational redundancy reduces the level of knowledge application. The findings also suggest that information technologies, lead‐user, and supplier networks do not appear to significantly influence organizational redundancy.     

External linkages and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises

While small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can enjoy a number of behavioural advantages over their larger counterparts in the innovation process (e.g. rapid response to external threats and opportunities; efficient internal communication; interactive management style), they can also suffer from a number of mainly material disadvantages (e.g. inability to spread risk over a portfolio of new products; difficulties in market start-up abroad; problems in funding longer-term R&D). One area in which SMEs can suffer a marked disadvantage is that of establishing the appropriate network of contacts with external sources of scientific and technological expertise and advice. This paper addresses the issue of SMEs’ external linkages and presents data from a number of studies showing the importance of in-house technical skills to linkage activity; the importance of complementary between in-house and external know-how accumulation; and the importance of technology strategy in guiding the accumulation process. SME-oriented public technology policies should be adapted to the specific needs of SMEs in that they should focus on facilitating vertical (supplier-manufacturercustomer) linkages and offer support throughout the innovation chain from pre- competitive research through to product development. Numerous studies testify to the importance of firms extensively ‘networking’ in order to improve innovation potential (for example, Mowery, 1988; Contractor and Lorange, 1988; CEST, 1990). The majority of these studies focus on formal technology agreements, such as R&D joint ventures,; tend to feature large firm collaboration rather than that undertaken by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and while they often refer to the management problems involved in collaboration, few examine their management in any depth. This paper will describe the extensive collaborations of innovative SMEs, and will emphasise how the employment of key personnel affects the range and scope of linkages. It will highlight the broad diversity of linkages used by SMEs for technological development. And, by means of a case study of a highly technologically advanced SME, it will examine some of the most important management problems facing the collaborative process.     

Beyond the Boundary

Much has been written about information gatekeepers, mostly describing how gatekeepers function within organizations. There has been less consideration of the gatekeeper's activities beyond the organization's boundary, though the gathering of external information is fundamental to gatekeeping. Stuart Macdonald and Christine Williams examine gatekeeping from an information perspective, starting with external information and following it into the organization. With only primitive networking and a range of occasional contacts in the outside world, the gatekeeper is something of a scavenger of external information. The gatekeeper certainly transfers information from the external environment to colleagues within the organization, but primary interest is in personal use of the information gathered. Seniority within the organization may allow the gatekeeper the latitude to function in ways that would not be tolerated in more junior employees. The article is wholly concerned with informal gatekeeping and concludes that organizations may condone or even inhibit such activity, but are constrained by the nature of information, and of organization itself, from encouraging it.     

Public managers' acquisition of scientific and technical information

A number of information channels are available to public managers, but there is considerable variance with regard to the flow of scientific and technical information along the various channels. The objective of this study, based on data derived from a questionnaire mailed to program managers at the Canadian Environmental Protection Service, is to examine aspects of information acquisition with a focus on scientific and technical information. More specifically, the study attempts to determine (1) the relationship of information channel preference to scientific and technical information acquisitiveness and (2) the relation of 'externalist/internalist' orientations to STI acquisitiveness. Analysis of correlations indicated that the proposition relating STI acquisitiveness to disposition for formal channels is supported. The results for 'externalist/internalist' indicate that those more closely tied to the scientific and technical communities' activities and norms (i.e. those who attend scientific meetings, publish, have Ph.D.s in the sciences or engineering), are more active in acquiring STI, but it does not follow that the internalists (at least as measured by identification with the organization rather than the profession) are less active in acquiring STI.