DOI: 10.36347/sjebm.2015.v02i05.008

Pages: 484-494

This article demonstrate that if the specific knowledge invested in an employee is the object of a property right where “the attributes of right” are respected, the efficiency of the first and the second level will be verified. Indeed, to satisfy one of the attributes of this property right, “the abusus”, both vertical and horizontal decentralization of the knowledge and the decision-making power are the solution. Such organizational arrangement could complete the formal authority by a real authority and leads to the efficiency. However, in some situations, this decentralization is not verified because such non-mechanical decentralization’s processes are influenced by various factors. A range of obstacles that can slow down this process have to be considered. In this context, it is difficult to separate the cognitive works at the individual level of those concerning the group. The symbolic and “connexionnistes” phenomenon dominating the cognitive sciences at the individual level are reproduced on organizational scale. The organization is considered as an area of production, storage and exchange of knowledge. This analyse is based on the theory of the firm and specially the resources and knowledge approaches. The theory of the property right applied to the knowledge and the positive agency theory support the answers given to the questions of the decentralization of the knowledge and the decision-making power. To verify these hypotheses, an application to the context of the petroleum and gas industries firms is released.