Managing and Communicating Knowledge

Despite the myth that offshore software development could save costs, it is complex and challenging to manage. The main aim of this book is to enhance understanding of managing and communicating knowledge in offshore software development using Walsham's (2004a) ideas of communicating knowledge and two case studies of UK software firms offshoring to India and Bangladesh. This book explains challenges in managing and communicating knowledge and suggests ways to overcome such challenges. Specifically, this book discuss in depth three main challenges of managing and communicating knowledge in offshore software development work: i) the use of different types of communication medium as knowledge representation, (ii) the influences of language and questioning behaviour in sense-giving, and (iii) the significance of imagination and prior knowledge in sense-reading. The book also suggests ways to overcome those challenges.

AINI AMAN (Dr.) is currently an Associate Professor of Accounting Information System at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She received her BSc in Accounting from Purdue Univ., MBA from Manchester Business School, PhD from Univ. of Manchester. Her research interests include Accounting Information Systems, E-government and Offshore Outsourcing.