Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2016

Publication Title

Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Management 2016 International Annual Conference

Pages

459-467

Conference Name

American Society for Engineering Management 2016 International Annual Conference, 26-29 October 2016, Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A.

Abstract

The constituents of an organization have to interact with each other. The purpose of the interaction is to maintain flow of information, to exchange knowledge, to share individual situational awareness, and to give rise to an organizational shared awareness. The rate of information exchange is constrained by multiple factors and impacts the effectiveness of the communication in an organization. For instance, extensive communication may not result in informativeness all the time. Communication channels induce constraints between the interacting agents. These constraints can impede information flow. Impeding information flow will result in an accumulation of knowledge with a particular agent. Consequently, the agent who possesses the knowledge becomes the hub for the communication channels in the organization. The ensuing powerful position impedes sharing individual situational awareness. This negatively influences the formation of shared situational awareness. The accumulating node becomes the de facto repository of the organization. In so doing, it generates further barriers in an auto reinforcing construct. The accumulating node claims experience dominance, blocking interaction among the agents and thereby restricting the flow of knowledge. This prevents refreshing individual and shared situational awareness and can engender serious problems for the organization. In this paper, the conceptual model of this issue is outlined, and applied to an incident of military fratricide.

Rights

Copyright © 2016. Reprinted with permission of the American Society for Engineering Management. International Annual Conference. All rights reserved.

ORCID

0000-0003-0144-9099 (Sousa-Poza)

Original Publication Citation

Canan, M., & Sousa-Poza, A. (2016). The effect of impeded information sharing and transparency on power differentials and organizational dysfunction [Conference paper]. American Society for Engineering Management 2016 International Annual Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A.

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