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KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE FIRMS 45

fast-paced world of the Internet and at the same time intuitively appealing to
the knowledge workers employed.

>> CONCLUSIONS

This chapter has highlighted the structural and cultural conditions that pro-
vide an enabling context for knowledge work processes characterized by cre-
ativity and innovation in knowledge-intensive settings. Some of the conditions
that can act as barriers to knowledge work were also discussed. It needs to be
emphasized, however, that the limited research that has been conducted in such
firms highlights that there is no single ‘best management practice’ here. Many
knowledge-intensive firms operate in niche markets – offering very specialized
services – and the way in which many of these firms choose to organize is often
quite unique and highly context-sensitive. Generally, the structuring and orga-
nizing of these firms will be loose, informal and flexible characteristic features
of the adhocracy. Whilst the adhocracy might appear to be a somewhat chaotic,
relatively unmanaged context, it is perhaps useful to consider the way in which
this configuration has been operationalized in a scientific consultancy firm based
in the United Kingdom. The way in which structural and cultural conditions
interact to promote knowledge work processes is explained in the following case
study and illustrates the complex conditions actively promoted over time which
have ultimately mediated the tensions around efficiency and autonomy within a
knowledge-intensive setting. First the case is described and then two questions
are posed.
In Chapter 4 we focus on the actual process of knowledge creation or knowl-
edge generation and adopt a micro-level of analysis. We move from a firm-level
analysis of the way in which modes of organizing and organizational condi-
tions can develop in support of knowledge work processes to an analysis of the
dynamics of knowledge creation processes within a project team setting. Before
this, however, Chapter 3 looks more broadly at new organizational forms and
the role of ICT in supporting these new forms.

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