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PIERRE DERRIER
- #203293 UNIVERSITAD DE
LAS AMERICAS Cholula, Puebla MEXICO |
KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING
NONAKA
& TAKEUCHI : CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE
PLAN :
1 – DID YOU SAY :
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ?
2 – NONAKA AND
TAKEUCHI’S METHOD
3 – WHAT CONCRETE APPROACHES
FOR THE ORGANIZATION ?
1 – DID YOU SAY : KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ?
The main aim of the knowledge
management is to increase the value of the immaterial capital in the company,
and to transform human competences (human capital) in a capital incorporated in
the structure of the company.
By codifying knowledge of the employees, in the
form of texts and figures, in one or more data bases, these credits can be
shared by other employees in other parts of the company.
The concept of knowledge is a subject for many
debates. There is a fracture between the taxonomists (classifying the various
types of knowledge and their implications according to the goals which they
pursue) and the researchers who try to model knowledge in the organization.
Nonaka & Takeuchi define knowledge as the
whole cognitive perceptions, competences, know-how or expertise, integrated in
the products or services.
2 –NONAKA & TAKEUCHI’S
METHOD
Nonaka, in an founder article, proposes an
approach of knowledge creation in the organization. The principal thesis of the
author is that the process of innovation intervenes by a continuous dialogue
between “tacit knowledge” and “explicit knowledge” (or formalized).
By stressing the importance of the knowledge in
the complex companies, Nonaka calls with a change in the design of innovations for
the large organizations, and in particular calls a break in the perception of a
company like a simple tool for treatment of informations or for resolution of problems. Also,
"the organization must it be studied from the point of view of how it
creates information and knowledge, rather than of how it treats these
entities".
This point of view constitutes a rupture
compared to the former approach (Itami). The model of Nonaka is defined from
the universal point of view. It intends to explain the mechanisms of innovation
in the organizations, which can be public or private, with economic vocation or
not, and whatever the cultural or competing context considered.
The
developed theory aims at showing how the knowledge is held by the individuals
and the organizations and how its development can be ensured by a amplified spiral
between tacit knowledge and formalized knowledge.
Nonaka suggests four modes of knowledge conversion
in the organizations (see figure below) :
- tacit knowledge towards tacit
knowledge;
- explicit knowledge towards explicit
knowledge;
- tacit knowledge towards explicit
knowledge;
- explicit knowledge towards tacit
knowledge.
This distinction has fundamental implications
from the point of view of companies management. It makes it possible to
highlight extremely operational stakes which could produce, for example:
- fortuitous destruction of
mechanisms patiently built
- externalisation of key process or resources,
with a more or less tacit nature.
In their recent work, Nonaka and Takeuchi
(1995) included some of these analyses, in particular around two topics:
- The 5 conditions for facilitating the
creation of the organisational knowledge :
- intention
- autonomy
- creative chaos
- redundancy
- necessary variety
- The 5 necessary actions for this
creation :
- tacit knowledge sharing
- concepts creation
- concepts justification
- prototype constrcution
- knowledge diffusion
2.1 – Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge can be defined as a knowledge
which is personal, specific to a given context and difficult to articulate in a
formal language.
It can be very difficult to communicate or to
divide with the others and is characterized by the idea that "we know more
than we can tell". It is thus the
knowledge acquired by the experiment, this is why it remains difficult to formalize
and communicate. This tacit knowledge can be held individually or collectively,
by experiments or by shared interpretations of events.
Individual tacit knowledge can be in:
- mental diagrams
- know-how
- practices
- abstract knowlegde of individuals
Collective tacit knowledge lies typically in:
- diagrams of reflexion of topl
management
- organisational consensuses from
the past experience
- routines of the firm
- culture of the company
- professional cultures
(Lyles et Schwenk,
1992 ; Nelson et Winter, 1982 ; Nonaka
et Takeuchi, 1995)
2.2 – Explicit knowledge
If tacit knowledge is difficult to articulate
and difficult to transfer, explicit knowledge is right the opposite. Explicit knowledge is what we
assimilate through formal education. This kind of knowledge can thus be
treated by computer, can be easily transmitted in a way electronic and stored
in data bases.
In the literature on the knowledge management,
certain authors accentuate their development on explicit knowledge and others
on tacit knowledge. For example, in occident, the concern was generally the
control of explicit knowledge. In Japan, on the other hand, tacit knowledge has
much more importance.
In France or in the United States, there is
more emphase on the collection, the distribution, and the re-use of explicit knowledge by technical
solutions, like information systems.
The Japanese approach endeavours to establish
the conditions which encourage the creation of new knowledge by the
socialization and the oral share of tacit knowledge.
3 – WHAT CONCRETE APPROACH FOR THE ORGANIZATIONS ?
3.1 – « Human
ressources » approach.
Developed by the consultants of companies
(Davenport, Sveiby, Prax, Stewart) and the executives of companies, this
approach underlines the existence of a strong bond between knowledge and the
person who created them or who incorporates them. This approach puts the
emphase on the installation of a company culture based on the good
communication, where all is conceived and made to encourage the sharing of
knowledge between people of the same community, and stipulates that knowledge
is mainly shared through personals contacts.
For the followers of this ideas, data
processing is only there to reinforce the communication between people and not
to store knowledge.
For companies which wishes to capitalize their
knowledge, without changing its operation, and using a management completely
based on the creation of organisational knowledge, such as it’s recommended by Nonaka
and Takeuchi, the question of "how to capitalize" will have to find
its place within the policy of existing human ressources management.
3.2 – « Computing »
approach
Developed too by the experts (consulting,
frameworks, data processing specialists), this approach puts the emphase on the
capture, the coding and the storage of knowledge in data bases. Knowledge must
be stored in files and GED (systems of electronic documentation management) so
as to make them available to everyone.
They consist of a clarification of knowledge on
an informational support, followed of a classification for a further
development. This clarification is based on preset models informed by the
"carriers of memory" or experts.
Only informations can be stored and that,
whatever the step, these are the information which will make it possible to
reactivate or to stimulate knowledge.
These methods were the objects of various classifications.
One can quote the methods of capitalization of knowledge like IBIS or QOC in
the field of the Rational Design. Other methods, more largely
established in the organizations and having vocation to integrate a true
knowledge management, can be attached to this family. For example CommonKADS8,
the most current methodology in knowledge engineering, who integrates in his
analysis not only the acquisition of knowledge but also their sharing and their
communication, and finally MKMS.
The knowledge models obtained are integrated
into the information system of the company so that any user, with regard at the
preset access authorizations, can consult them.
These methods preserve imperfectly the knowledge
but they encourage an important creativity. Indeed, they oblige the
"suppliers" of knowledge to a exercise of introspection on the
knowledge used in their activity. Moreover, they lead the users to reinterpret
knowledge, and support the culture of company.
On the theoretical level, speaking of
organisational memory and knowledge management is considering that the company is an alive organization,
and which its reality goes beyond the sum of the individuals who make it up. Further more, it is as to register it from the
dynamic point of view by considering that its finality is to create value,
starting from the cumulated and accumulated knowledge.
SOURCES :
- International association of Strategic
Management Conference - Coasts of Carthage - 3, 4, June 5, and 6 2003
- « Knowledge
Management » - http://www.syre.com/Nonaka.htm
Pierre Derrier #203293