a critical source of individual competitive advantage. The issue of
power is woven into the fabric of a variety of social barriers related
to knowledge sharing.
Another social barrier that restricts the free flow of knowledge
stems from the judgments people make about each other’s credibil-
ity and trustworthiness. Unfortunately, these judgments may be
based on biases and stereotypes instead of the actual credibility and
trustworthiness of the people involved. For many employees, it is
difficult to trust a stranger. A user of Textron’s knowledge manage-
ment system put it this way: “We don’t know the people respond-
ing [to electronic inquiries] in most cases, and there are no metrics
for the quality of responses. [So] we’ll make decisions based on
people we know, not people we don’t know. Credibility is the name
of the game.”^3
In any large organization, people know only a subset of the
members. Who do people tend to know? Management scholars
have conducted numerous studies of the friendship and communi-
cation networks that develop in work organizations, and the find-
ings are clear. People tend to know and more easily trust those who
are similar: people of the same gender, approximately the same age,
and of the same racial or ethnic background. How does this affect
knowledge sharing? Studies of communication networks suggest
that demographic differences between employees may interfere
with knowledge sharing unless organizations take specific steps to
override the natural tendency of people to communicate more eas-
ily with those who are similar and those who are familiar. A con-
sulting firm did just that when it adopted the practice of setting
aside the third Friday of each month as a day when everyone would
get together. Typically, the consultants worked at their clients’
offices, leaving the home office virtually deserted. Especially during
the most active business periods, the consultants seldom had time
for personal interaction with each other. To increase social contact
and make it easier to keep up with internal developments, they
agreed that each month, one of the offices would host a gathering
on the third Friday. Over time, these gatherings provided the
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