Effect of time pressure on informal advice relations across organizational units: Evidence from a study of collaboration within a Formula One racing team

Abstract

Informal advice relations across units in an organization are beneficial for knowledge sharing and problem-solving. Prior research suggests that despite their benefits, there are costs to informal advice relations across units. However, the mechanisms by which these costs are mitigated remain unclear. We theorize that this lack of clarity is because work factors have not been sufficiently considered. We examine one such work factor, time pressure, and develop a cost-based explanation for how time pressure influences cross-unit advice relationships. We investigate two time-pressure levels. In the first, work is conducted under lower time pressure, and there is less likelihood of a negative outcome. In the second, work is conducted under higher time-pressure conditions, and there is a greater likelihood of a negative outcome. We theorize that under lower time-pressure conditions, the costs of advice relations across units are mitigated by reciprocal advice relationships. However, under higher time pressure, the cost of informal advice relations across units is higher owing to the need for quick coordination of advice, and these costs are mitigated by reciprocal advice relationships in conjunction with cross-unit formal workflow relationships. To test our hypotheses, we examine the informal advice network and formal workflow network in lower and higher time-pressure conditions among 118 members of the Information Technology and Systems division of a Formula One racing team. Our results indicate that under lower time-pressure conditions, reciprocal advice ties are sufficient to overcome costs. However, under higher time-pressure conditions, cross-unit advice ties are facilitated by reciprocal advice ties embedded in the workflow ties between units. Thus, our findings have implications for how knowledge is managed and how problems are solved in organizations.