Abstract

Knowledge flow between employees is an important process that influences both effectiveness and innovativeness. Among the antecedences of the employees' knowledge sharing behaviour are the physical structure of the organization and the decisions concerning placement of individuals in the work space. The paper examines how organizational architecture and location of employees is related with different types of knowledge sharing. In this case study research the work place observation and content analysis of interviewees were applied. The study was done in the Quality Department in Polish subsidiary of multinational concern. It turned out that where there was the greater physical distance between employees and limited visual contact, the responsive knowledge sharing was favoured. Moreover, the more open was the work space where employees from different departments were located, the employees looked for the cloistered areas to share knowledge and that process was less spontaneous. In order to eliminate the spatial constrains to knowledge sharing, the group leaders in the department, regularly organized meetings facilitating knowledge flow in the groups.

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