1. Frameworks of Knowledge Management
Madz Quiamco
AIJC

2. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What they Know
Frameworks of KM
Highest ranking authors in KM (Social Science Citation Index, 2008):
Ikujiro Nonaka
The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation
by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi (1995) NY: Oxford University Press
Thomas Davenport
Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What they Know
by Thomas Davenport and Lawrence Prusak (1998) Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press

3. Frameworks of KM Differing concepts of knowledge: Nonaka:
Knowledge - a dynamic human process of justifying personal belief toward ‘truth’
Western concept:
emphasizes the absolute, static, and nonhuman nature of knowledge, e.g., in propositions and formal logic

4. The Knowledge-Creating Company:
How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation

5. The Knowledge-Creating Company
Central idea: knowledge creation through knowledge conversion – from existing to new
Knowledge =
‘justified true belief’

6. The Knowledge-Creating Company
Production/Creation of new knowledge through knowledge amplification
1) FROM TACIT…
…TO EXPLICIT
…to organization
2) From individual…

7. 4 modes of organizational knowledge creation:
A. The SECI Model
4 modes of organizational knowledge creation:
Interaction
Conversion

8. The Knowledge-Creating Company
Socialization –
acquiring tacit knowledge by sharing experiences
Apprentices learn from masters through
- observation
- imitation
- practice
Employees learn new skills through on-the-job training

9. The Knowledge-Creating Company
Externalization –
converting tacit knowledge into explicit concepts through
- abstractions
- metaphors
- analogies
- models;
or triggered by
- dialogue
- collective reflection

10. The Knowledge-Creating Company
Combination –
creating explicit knowledge by bringing them together from different sources
Individuals exchange and combine explicit knowledge through
- telephone conversations
- meetings
- memos, etc.
Existing info may be categorized, collated, sorted to produce new explicit knowledge

11. The Knowledge-Creating Company
Internalization –
embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge, internalizing experiences into individuals’ tacit knowledge bases through shared
- mental models, or
- work practices
Internalization is facilitated by
- documents
- stories

12. Four categories of ‘ba’
B. The Concept of ‘Ba’
Four categories of ‘ba’
‘Ba’ –
a shared context in which knowledge is shared, created, and utilized through interaction.

13. The Knowledge-Creating Company
Using the 4 categories of ‘ba’ (Example: 711 Stores in Japan
Originating ‘ba’ – the shop floor; enables people to interact with each other and with customers
Dialoguing ‘ba’ – employees’ tacit knowledge created through dialogue is used to create sales forecasts
Systemizing ‘ba’ – sales forecasts are tested vs. actual sales and are fed back to sales units, i.e., the stores
Exercising ‘ba’ – using this info and comparing it with reality, sales staff improve their sales forecasting skills and ability

14. C. Knowledge Assets
company-specific resources indispensable for creating value;
the inputs, outputs, and moderating factors of the knowledge creation process

15. Four categories of knowledge assets

16. How Organizations Manage
Working Knowledge:
How Organizations Manage
What they Know

17. Working Knowledge Knowledge = a fluid mix of - framed experience
- values
- contextual info
- expert insight
that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and info

18. Working Knowledge
Knowledge
among individuals, originates and is applied in the knowers’ mind
in organizations, are embedded in
- documents
- repositories
- organizational routines, processes, practices, norms

19. The Knowledge Market Organizations behave as knowledge markets, with
buyers – people seeking knowledge to solve an issue
sellers – people with internal reputation to have knowledge about a process or subject
brokers – people who connect those who need and have the knowledge, i.e., gatekeepers, boundary spanners, corporate librarians

20. Knowledge markets require trust to function.
Working Knowledge
Knowledge markets have pricing and payment mechanisms:
reciprocity
reputation
altruism
REMEMBER:
Knowledge markets require trust to function.

21. Working Knowledge
B. KM Processes
KM processes required to excel:
Knowledge generation
Knowledge codification
Knowledge transfer

22. Working Knowledge
Knowledge generation
- activities that increase the stock of organizational knowledge

23. Modes of knowledge generation:
- Acquisition – by hiring, buying another organization, or renting/leasing external knowledge
- Dedicating resources – setting up R&D units, corporate libraries developing and providing new knowledge
- Fusion – bringing together individuals and groups with different specializations and perspectives to working on a problem or project
- Adaptation – organization responding to new conditions in its external environment
- Building knowledge networks – linking people who share common work interest, problems, or motivation to exchange knowledge

24. Working Knowledge
Knowledge codification
- creating symbols to represent a certain knowledge and the particular process of knowing
- codification of tacit knowledge – limited to locating the knowledge (person), pointing seeker to it, and encouraging them to interact

25. Task Involved Main Actor
Principles of knowledge codification:
Task Involved
Main Actor
Decide what business goals the codified knowledge will serve
(managers)
Identify knowledge existing in various forms appropriate to the goal
Evaluate knowledge for usefulness and appropriateness for codification
(knowledge managers)
Identify an appropriate medium for codification and distribution of knowledge
(codifiers)

26. Working Knowledge Knowledge transfer
- market spaces and places where trading and sharing of knowledge can happen;
- occurs through personal conversations.
Encourage conversations through
-- water coolers
-- talk rooms
-- knowledge fairs
-- open forums
-- etc.

27. Working Knowledge Barriers to knowledge sharing: - lack of trust
- different cultures, vocabularies, frames of reference
- lack of time and meeting places
- status and rewards going to knowledge owners
- lack of absorptive capacity in recipients
- belief and knowledge a prerogative of particular groups
- the ‘not-invented-here’ syndrome and intolerance for mistakes or need for help

28. C. Communities of Practice (CoP)
Working Knowledge
C. Communities of Practice (CoP)
Communities of practice –
self-organizing teams that emerge around shared interests and work practices to exchange knowledge
Wenger (1998): CoP – groups whose members
- face common work tasks and interests
- can see the benefits of sharing knowledge
- share norms of trust and reciprocity.

29. Summary
Nonaka and Takeuchi - the dynamics of knowledge creation, particularly the conversion of tacit into explicit knowledge
Davenport and Prusak – the design of organizational processes that enable knowledge generation, codification, and transfer
Both models recognize that knowledge creation, sharing, and use are social activities embedded in a web of cultural norms and human relationships.
Davenport and Prusak: ‘communities of practice’ Nonaka and Takeuchi: concept of ‘ba’ (shared contexts for knowledge creation and sharing).