Knowledge coordination in transnational engineering projects:a practice-based study

Several multinational engineering firms offshore the delivery of engineering design or structural detail drawings to their globally distributed delivery centres. Studies have reported knowledge-sharing challenges when such work is co-ordinated across boundaries. This study takes a practice-based approach to explore knowledge-coordinating challenges across two multinational engineering firms that offshore projects to their global delivery centres in India. Data was collected from six infrastructure projects in the two delivery centres through direct observations augmented with real-time interviews and reviews of e-mails and project documents. This data was analysed qualitatively using ethnographic-coding techniques. Empirical findings identified a set of eight coordinating practices, many of which were emergent, which the teams creatively recombined and enacted as co-ordinating mechanisms that spanned organisational boundaries. Seven practices served to transfer knowledge and one practice transformed knowledge across onshore and offshore units. The study contributes to our understanding of co-ordinating by identifying emergent and informal coordinating practices in offshored construction projects and provides insights to practitioners on the boundary spanning capabilities of these practices.