The impact of knowledge repositories on power and control in the workplace

Knowledge management systems designed to facilitate the storage and distribution of codified knowledge affect the distribution of power within organizations. Drawing on the literature that describes the impact of information technology on power and control, this article proposes two principal outcomes of the implementation and use of such knowledge repositories. The use of knowledge repositories by employees who are net re‐users of knowledge‐based work products is expected to increase the extent to which these employees are interchangeable while reducing the level of skill they need to carry out their work. For employees who are net contributors to knowledge‐based work products, the use of knowledge repositories produces the opposite effect. When managers choose to capitalize on these effects to increase their control, employees in the former group may find their power position eroded over time.