Introduction to
Knowledge Management
SECI model
Ikujiro Nonaka & Hirotaka Takeuchi Ikujiro Nonaka & Hirotaka Takeuchi
1995.
Introduction
• Japan – top of the world economy - business, working discipline, organizational abilities
• After 2nd world war – Japan started with very fast and successful progress in economy – Japanese wonder
• First economy explosion, than in early 90’s economy stagnation, only 1.5% increase of BDP
• Efforts of the government – no success
• One of the most famous and the biggest car industry – Toyota – new approach to production, organization, knowledge use…
• Sociological – toyotism (after fordism, postfordism)
Toyotism
Characteristics: 1. Total control
2. Decentralization of initiative 3. Team involvement of workers
• Goal of toyotism – reduce uncertainty instead of inducing adaptability
Era of information capitalism and information global economy with some characteristics:
• Direction to management and control centers
• Firm networking
• Development investigations and scientific research Knowledge creation and information flow
Genchi Genbutsu
• Genchi Genbutsu means
”come and see” – key principle of Toyota
Production System.
• On the working place (gemba)
• Taiichi Ohno – creator of
• Taiichi Ohno – creator of Toyota Production
System
• Challenges – solutions - Toyota way
Kaizen - “Change to better”
• Japanese business philosophy of life and work – searching for
• Japanese business philosophy of life and work – searching for continuous improvement of different processes without
radical changes of production processes
• Contribution to success and competition of the company
• Goal of the kaizen philosophy – reduce losses inside company without creating new costs
• Not only working place in company but also in the sector of suppliers, health insurance – apply generally – constant
improvement of life quality
Toyota na č in
• Toyota believes that an effective workplace is one that allows people of different ages, genders, ethnic groups and cultural backgrounds to work together as a team.
• We believe in challenges and the importance of decisions based on personal investigation, efficient fact-finding and in- depth analysis.
• Working at Toyota is also an exercise in long-term thinking.
Toyota way
First Chinese emperor
followed Toyota way?
• The newest analysis of terracotta soldiers in X’ian (China), which presented army of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC) – they followed sophisticated working model today known as Toyota way
• Toyotism involves using of small workshops, small factories with engineers-specialists – big tacit knowledge, ability to produce anything instead of production line specialized to produce only some special particular components
SECI MODEL
• Modeling of knowledge management – big problem for those who are engaged to collect information, documents,
professional experience and “know how” on corporation level
• Nonaka & Takeuchi proposed model of knowledge creation to understand dynamical nature of the knowledge creation
• proposed model of knowledge creation
to understand dynamical nature of the knowledge creation and to manage this process efficiently
• Easy and simple to understand all activities we can perform with knowledge – transforms tacit knowledge in some explicit forms
• One of the most famous model, the simplest and the clearest one – useful approach to knowledge transfer processes
SECI model
• International Journal of Nuclear Knowledge Management – transformation and transferring of knowledge (tacit tacit;
tacit explicit) and vice versa:
Socialization (S) Externalization (E) Combination (C) Internalization (I) Internalization (I)
Spiral of knowledge
• Many similar concepts, this one is the best in the sense of demands
• Nonaka & Takeuchi model focused on knowledge spiral to explain transformation of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge and then back as a base for particular, group and
organizational learn and innovation
Spiral of knowledge
• Spiral of knowledge involved in model presents interaction between explicit and tacit knowledge in one continuous process → Creation of new knowledge
• Central idea – knowledge sharing leading to new knowledge
• Spiral of knowledge or amount of knowledge increases all the time
going around and around
FIRST STEP: SOCIALIZATION (TACIT TACIT)
• Lots of knowledge in human brains, maybe 80%
• Goal – find the way of collecting this tacit knowledge
• Socialization - knowledge sharing through social interactions
• People have „know how“, secrets, personal skills…
• People have „know how“, secrets, personal skills…
• Socialization - „face to face“ communication, directly on working place – 2 roles: mentor (tutor) and student
(newcomer)
FIRST STEP: SOCIALIZATION (TACIT TACIT)
• Mutual understanding – mental models sharing
• Small risk - „know how“ in company goes away with retirement!!!!!
• Socialization – very efficient way of knowledge creation, but very limited
• Also, very hard to distribute whole knowledge using only this mode
SECOND STEP: EXTERNALIZATION TACIT EXPLICIT)
• Process of externalization (tacit explicit) – giving visible form to tacit knowledge and converting to explicit knowledge
• „process of important knowledge creation – forms of
metaphors, analogies, concepts, hypothesis, models“ (N&T, metaphors, analogies, concepts, hypothesis, models“ (N&T, 1995).
• People are able to articulate knowledge and “know how”, sometimes „know why“
• Mediators for this mode (journalists)
• Externalized and theoretical knowledge – base for new knowledge creation
THIRD STEP: COMBINATION (EXPLICIT EXPLICIT)
• Combination - process of recombination of discrete parts of explicit knowledge in some new form of explicit knowledge → no new knowledge creation
• Improvement of collected knowledge – synthesis, review, report, short analysis, new database
• Content – logically organized – consolidated
• Combination of explicit knowledge with already stored knowledge
• At the end of this phase knowledge is analyzed and organized
FOURTH STEP: INTERNALIZATION (EXPLICIT TACIT)
• Last process – internalization – through diffusion and embedding of new coming and consolidated knowledge
• „learning during work“.
• Internalization converts or integrates shared AND/OR
particular knowledge and experience in individual mental particular knowledge and experience in individual mental models
• Internalized new knowledge can be used in company –
broadening of knowledge, increasing, new frames inside own tacit knowledge
• Habits are changed
• Internalization means understanding of explicit knowledge
• Explicit knowledge transformed to tacit knowledge
4 modes of knowledge conversion
• Cycle continues in knowledge spiral and goes again from socialization…
• Amount of knowledge is increased
• Knowledge creation is continuous process – dynamical interactions between tacit and explicit knowledge
• 4 modes of knowledge conversion in knowledge spiral
• Spiral grows going through all organizational levels – possible triggering of new spirals
Advantages and failures of SECI model
ADVANTAGES OF SECI MODEL:
• APPRECIATE dynamical nature of knowledge and knowledge creation
• ASSURE frame for relevant process management FAILURES OF SECI MODEL:
FAILURES OF SECI MODEL:
• BASED on Japanese organizations – tacit knowledge is the most important – workers all life in one company ☺ or ???
• Linearity of concept Forget some steps???
Opposite direction possible???
S E C C
I
Purpose of this story?
• Organizational learning – particular, collective, tacit, explicit domain
• Data assimilated in information, information in knowledge, knowledge in wisdom
• Opposite direction:
wisdom leads to knowledge application,
knowledge helps in interpretation of information, knowledge helps in interpretation of information, information assimilate raw data
• Building and maintaining of organizational knowledge base – assure own capacity for efficient decision making and efficient acting
• Knowledge base is the sum of:
- Total tacit knowledge (skills, tacit base, contribution to competencies) and
- Explicit knowledge which is stored and presented in archives and artifacts (like database, information systems, documents, procedures, manuals, instructions, records…)
• Risks for organizational knowledge base:
- Context of knowledge changed because of problems in - Context of knowledge changed because of problems in
environment,
- Or because of improvement in technology,
- Critical tacit knowledge could be lost because of retirement or reorganization,
- Or knowledge could be lost because we do not use it
ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
• process of continuous learning for good organizational knowledge base maintaining
BASE OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
CONTINUOUS PROCESS OF
→
ORGANIZATIONAL →
KNOWLEDGE
=
CAPACITY FOR
EFFICIENT ACTING
PROCESS OF
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
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