Shahzeeb Akhtar Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany

Agenda 1. Conceptual Work 2. Knowledge and its Forms 3. Learning and Innovation 4. Communities and Networks 5. Knowledge and Problems 6. Implementation

1. Conceptual Work  Master´s thesis (2007) in the field of Economic Geography with the topic „How do corporations in quickly changing and knowledge intensive service sector environments optimize their information- and knowledge flow?“

2. Knowledge and its Forms  Codified vs. non-codified knowledge  Possessed vs. practised knowledge  Individual vs. collective knowledge  Genereral vs. specific knowledge

Acknowledgement of Knowledge in Organizations  Knowledge = Accumulation of information?  Can every knowledge be codified?  Knowledge only on individual basis?  Is there only possessed knowledge?

Structures of Knowledge transfer  Formalized structure  Informal structure  Infrastructure

3. Learning and Innovation Relationship between Knowlegde, Learning and Innovations  Active knowledge exchange  Learning effects (create new knowledge)  Innovations (by new possible combinations)

Individual learning – in „Routines“  Talent  Intelligence  Intensity  Discipline

Collective learning – in „Communities“  Learning based on engagement  Learning based on alignment  Learning based on imagination

The Johari Window

„Seven Cs of Effective Communication“  Completeness  Conciseness  Consideration  Concreteness  Correctness  Courtesy  Clarity

Innovations „Sparks of Innovation are triggered by the confrontation, combination, fusion, transformation of different forms of knowledge.“ Amin/Cohendet, Architectures of Knowledge (2004)

 Learning by searching (in an organizational search)  Learning by doing and learning by using (in a trial-and-error experimentation)  Learning through training and learning by hiring (external job rotation)  Learning by interacting (social processes within a group)

4. Communities and Networks Nonaka´s 4-step model of knowledge generation in „Communities of Practice“ 1. Non-codified knowledge is shared among each other while socializing 2. Through articulation, non-codified knowledge becomes codified 3. New codified knowledge becomes standardized by combining it with the old 4. Codified knowledge becomes non-codified by using it and getting used to it

Embedding knowledge in networks  Relational Embeddedness: 2 actors, development of trust  Structural Embeddedness: Several actors, development of reputation among others

Network structures  Open networks (not everyone is connected to each other)  Closed networks (everyone is connected to each other)

5. Knowledge and Problems  Transfering knowledge over spatial distances  Knowledge bound to persons  Opportunism  Moral hazard  Political behavior

Nash-Pareto-Problem  Pareto-Equilibrium  Nash-Equilibrium  Nash-Pareto or Pareto-Nash

6. Implementation Implementing a network like Wikipedia and MindManager will avoid problems like:  Spatial distances – technical networks  Moral Hazard – information ubiquitious  Existance of too much non-codified knowledge – feeding the knowledge base

Implementing a social network for knowledge transfer is likely to avoid:  Opportunism  Politics  Misunderstandings by interaction

Using a proper implemented knowledge network leads to higher productivity through  Saving  Extending  Governing  Sharing Knowledge

Thank you for your attention!