IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp1013.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Task-Based Approach to Organization: Knowledge, Communication and Structure

Author

Listed:
  • Luis Garicano
  • Yanhui Wu

Abstract

We bridge a gap between organizational economics and strategy research by developing a task-based approach to analyze organizational knowledge, process and structure, and deriving testable implications for the relation between production and organizational structure. We argue that organization emerges to integrate disperse knowledge and to coordinate talent in production and is designed to complement the limitations of human ability. The complexity of the tasks undertaken determines the optimal level of knowledge acquisition and talent. The relations between tasks, namely, complementarities or substitutabilities and synergies, determine the allocation of knowledge among members of the organization. Communication shapes the relation between individual talent, and governs the organizational process and structure that integrates disperse knowledge to perform tasks more efficiently. Organization structure can also be deliberately designed ex ante to correct bias of individual judgement, the extent to which is dependent on the attributes of tasks. Organization process and the routinized organizational structure are the core of organizational capital, which generates rent and sustains organizational growth. This task-based approach enriches the existing body of organization studies, in particular the knowledge-based theory of the firm and the dynamic capabilities theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Garicano & Yanhui Wu, 2010. "A Task-Based Approach to Organization: Knowledge, Communication and Structure," CEP Discussion Papers dp1013, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1013.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mie Augier & David J. Teece, 2006. "Understanding complex organization: the role of know-how, internal structure, and human behavior in the evolution of capabilities," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 395-416, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luis Garicano & Yanhui Wu, 2012. "Knowledge, Communication, and Organizational Capabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1382-1397, October.
    2. Aloña Martiarena, 2012. "Mobility of Skills and Ideas," DRUID Working Papers 12-04, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nuno Gil & Marcela Miozzo, 2007. "Innovation in Private Infrastructure Development Effects of the Selection Environment and Modularity," DRUID Working Papers 07-23, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    2. Yi-Ju Lo & Tung Hung, 2015. "Structure offshoring and returns on offshoring," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 443-479, June.
    3. Pettus, Michael L. & Kor, Yasemin Y. & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2007. "A Theory of Change in Turbulent Environments: The Sequencing of Dynamic Capabilities Following Industry Deregulation," Working Papers 07-0100, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    4. Eero Vaara & Juha-Antti Lamberg, 2016. "Taking historical embeddedness seriously : Three historical approaches to advance strategy process and practice research," Post-Print hal-02276732, HAL.
    5. Arto Kuuluvainen, 2012. "International Growth of a Finnish High-Tech SME: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 4(2).
    6. Mie Augier & David J. Teece, 2009. "Dynamic Capabilities and the Role of Managers in Business Strategy and Economic Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 410-421, April.
    7. Che-Chuan Hsu & Rua-Huan Tsaih & David C. Yen, 2018. "The Evolving Role of IT Departments in Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    8. Jamal Boukouray, 2017. "Low-Cost Versus Frugal Innovation Building Blocks & the Fundamentals of Jugaad Business Modeling (Podstawy innowacji niskokosztowych w porownaniu z innowacjami oszczednosciowymi oraz fundamenty tworze," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 2(24), pages 41-47.
    9. Jacobides, Michael G. & Knudsen, Thorbjorn & Augier, Mie, 2006. "Benefiting from innovation: Value creation, value appropriation and the role of industry architectures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1200-1221, October.
    10. Morroni, Mario, 2014. "Production of commodities by means of processes," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 5-18.
    11. Peltoniemi, Mirva, 2013. "Mechanisms of capability evolution in the Finnish forest industry cluster," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 190-205.
    12. Rui Baptista & Francisco Lima & Miguel Preto, 2013. "Entrepreneurial skills and workers’ wages in small firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 309-323, February.
    13. Jona-Lasinio, Cecilia & Manzocchi, Stefano & Meliciani, Valentina, 2019. "Knowledge based capital and value creation in global supply chains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    14. Ram Mudambi, 2013. "Location, control and firm innovation: the case of the mobile handset industry," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 9, pages 230-252, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Straková Jarmila, 2017. "Strategic analysis methods and their influence on stability and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic," Studia Commercialia Bratislavensia, Sciendo, vol. 10(38), pages 196-214, September.
    16. Luis Garicano & Yanhui Wu, 2012. "Knowledge, Communication, and Organizational Capabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1382-1397, October.
    17. Hatani, Faith & McGaughey, Sara L., 2013. "Network cohesion in global expansion: An evolutionary view," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 455-465.
    18. Andrea Pontiggia & Tiziano Vescovi, 2013. "When Size Does Matter. Trends of SMEs Internationalization Strategies in Chinese Economy," Working Papers 28, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    task-based approach; complementarities; tacit knowledge; codifiable knowledge; code; vertical communication; horizontal communication; organizational architecture; decision bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1013. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion-papers/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.