Exploring the relationship between organizational structure and knowledge retention: a study of the Indian infrastructure consulting sector

Abstract

Purpose

Infrastructure adds pace and efficiency into India’s progress. It is a country which has embraced the notion of a knowledge economy of late, and thus raised the importance of infrastructure consulting per se. The study aims to cover the consequent but underexplored role of organizational structure (OS) vis-à-vis knowledge retention (KR) in this sector.

Design/methodology/approach

For conducting the research, the sampling organization that has been chosen is an infrastructure consulting organization. The researchers had undertaken an exploratory study to find out the dynamics between OS and KR. A qualitative approach has thus been adopted and the application of thematic analysis found place in conducting the research. The themes and sub-themes generated from the research, aligned with the theoretical backdrop, gave rise to a schematic model explaining the relationship between OS and KR.

Findings

From the above themes and sub-themes along with possible relationships which emerged from the study, the researchers observed that the theme “organizational structure” had a significant relationship with the sub-theme “knowledge retention”. In the order, what was the most noteworthy was that designing of an OS had a refined and somewhat directed influence on KR in the organization.

Originality/value

This paper tries to uncover the relationship between an organization’s structure formation and the key aspect of knowledge management cycle, which is KR. This shall be helpful for both academics (who can make advancements by testing the relationship in other contexts) and practitioners (who can look forward to minimizing business losses through the concept of KR).

Citation

Acharya, A. and Mishra, B. (2017), "Exploring the relationship between organizational structure and knowledge retention: a study of the Indian infrastructure consulting sector", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 961-985. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-11-2016-0506