Page 62 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling

group. However, although culture is knowledge and knowledge is culture, knowledge and culture are not identical.
Organisational climate and organisational structures are also influencing the effectiveness of KT, as argued by Chen and Huang (2007), especially when the organisational structure is less formalised, more decentralised and integrated. OC can be described as a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions, which are shared by members of an organisation (Schein, 1985).
Using the term “transfer” means including a term, describing a process that should have a certain direction and goal. Sometimes it is evitable that it has to be one- way, such as in technology transfer. However, in case of diversity, e.g. knowledge not being a commodity and having a “social” component, an effort is required (Berger & Luckmann, 1991). “Translation” should be a better description for the result of mutual knowledge creation, collaboration between parties acting and changing positions as transmitter and receiver, in which each party is influenced by the other. The ultimate state is described as “adaptation” in which actors jointly develop a new approach to the bi-directional exchange of knowledge. Czarniawska-Joerges and Sevon (1996) argue that a relevant model of “translation” can easily be divided into two aspects or directions labelled as “cross-cultural translation” and the “translation within a culture”. Additionally, according to McGill and Slocum (1994) culture also affects the recognition of the value of knowledge.
The suggested link between OC and organisational performance (e.g. SVC) is fallen short of giving evidence of a causal effect, connecting culture to performance. (Boyce, Nieminen, Gillespie, Ryan & Denison, 2015). However, a reciprocal relationship between culture and performance is when both are caused by another (third) variable. A “Learning” culture values knowledge differently compared to a “knowing” culture. (McIver, Lengnick-Hall & Ramachandran, 2012) Additionally, authors distinguish an “understanding” and a “thinking” cultures (McDermott & O’Dell, 2001). Since there is a common agreement that OC evolves slowly over time, a topical theory and research is rather non-existent on temporal lags in the relationship between the development of an OC and “performance”. Culture shapes the development of the knowledge processes and affects its valuation, as shown in the appreciation of the creative aspects and form of knowledge. This type of causal relation does not implicate the question how an organisation favours knowledge but focus on how the knowledge is appreciated. According to DeLong and Fahey (2000) culture influences the development of knowledge processes. Mutual trust, intrinsic motivation and the
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