Ikujiro Nonaka is a Japanese organizational
theorist and Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of International
Corporate Strategy of the Hitotsubashi University, best known for his Study of
Knowledge Management
According to Nonaka, knowledge-creation is a
core source of competitive advantage for the organization.
Explicit And Implicit Knowledge & SECI process:
Successful Japanese companies are able to
convert and "amplify" implicit knowledge to explicit knowledge, so
that knowledge acquired by individuals becomes organizational knowledge shared
among colleagues. There are four methods of knowledge conversion known as the SECI process:
Socialization :
Physical face-to-face experiences
Externalization:
Where individuals' mental models and skills are converted into common terms and
concepts
Combination:
Interaction & exchange in the
virtual world of cyberspace and intranets
Internalization:
Training with senior mentors and colleagues
Nonaka and Takeuchi argue that the two
traditional Western management styles, "top-down" and
"bottom-up," fail to foster the dynamic interaction necessary to
create organizational knowledge.
The role of the middle management is
important to the success of companies . They are "knowledge
engineers" of the knowledge-creating. They are the knowledge transfer
agent in both directions taking the top management vision of "what should
be" and the frontline employees' realistic sense of "what is,"
and facilitate and bridge between them
The ideal organization structure for
innovation and knowledge creation is called the A "hypertext"
organization consisting of interconnected layers an example of such
organizations are Kao and Sharp
To become knowledge-creating companies.
Management should :
- Create a knowledge vision
- Develop knowledge teams
- Build Collaboration fields
- Adopt middle-up-down management
- Switch to hypertext organization
- Construct external knowledge network with the outside world (stakeholders partners and customers).
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