Coordinating complex work: knowledge networks, partner departures, and client relationship performance in a law firm
File(s)Briscoe and Rogan 2015 Final.pdf (815.63 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Briscoe, Forrest
Rogan, Michelle
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The mobility of individual managers has long presented a problem for firms in knowledge-intensive industries. Shifting to more complex work often reduces the importance of a single individual’s knowledge for the firm’s exchange relationships because complex work requires inputs from a broader set of the firm’s members. Although complex work decreases the likelihood that a single individual can shift the exchange relationship to another firm, we propose that it increases the vulnerability of the firm’s performance to departures of those individual managers who act as coordinators of knowledge. This leads us to focus on how the internal knowledge network formed to maintain each relationship can compound or mitigate the loss of a coordinating manager. Using original data on client relationships from a law firm, we examine the effect of internal knowledge networks and lead partner departures on the performance of the relationships. Supporting our argument, we find that the negative performance effect of a lead partner departure is greater when the network has high knowledge heterogeneity and involves more experts and lower when the network has high cohesion.
Date Issued
2016-08
Date Acceptance
2015-03-10
Citation
Management Science, 2016, 62 (8), pp.2392-2411
ISSN
0025-1909
Publisher
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Start Page
2392
End Page
2411
Journal / Book Title
Management Science
Volume
62
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2015, INFORMS
Identifier
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mnsc.2015.2231
Subjects
Operations Research
08 Information and Computing Sciences
15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2015-11-30