ARTICLES

KNOWLEDGE CREATION

In his essay on ‘The Knowledge Creating Company’, Ikujiro Nonaka puts forward a particular pattern for creating knowledge in organisations. He outlines the process by which the individual’s personal knowledge (tacit) can be transformed into organisational knowledge (explicit) that is able to bring value to the company as a whole. Moreover, this process lends itself to a continuous learning cycle whereby the individuals are able to internalise new insights to expand their own tacit knowledge base. It is a ‘spiral of knowledge’ which is made up of four basic patterns.

1. From Tacit to Tacit

Learned through observation, imitation and practice. Because this knowledge never becomes explicit, it cannot be levereged by the organisation.

2. From Explicit to Explicit

Combining discreet pieces of explicit knowledge into a new whole. For example, collecting information throughout the organisation and putting together a report. A synthesis of information from different sources. This does not extend the company’s existing knowledge base.

3. From Tacit to Explicit

Instead of compiling a conventional report as above, one develops an innovative new approach based on ones tacit knowledge developed over the years on the job.

4. From Explicit to Tacit
   As new explicit knowledge is shared other employees begin to internalise it and reframe their own tacit knowledge.

In a knowledge creating company, all four of these patterns exist in a dynamic interaction, a kind of spiral of knowledge.

It is argued that the knowledge creating company is as much about ideals as it is about ideas. This is the crux of the matter. Unless we have passionate people within organisations whose mental models are based on seeing work as an opportunity for personal growth and learning, we are not likely to have much creativity happening. Hitherto, this is where the Japanese have excelled. They have built marketplaces where ideas and ideals have flourished. Dai-Ichi Pharmaceuticals, for example, has built physical and virtual spaces dedicated to knowledge exchange. They have established "talk-rooms" where researchers are expected to have a cup of tea and spend twenty minutes discussing one another’s work. There is an expectation that discussion among colleagues will benefit them and the company.

In ‘Teaching Smart People How to Learn’,(in Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management)  Chris Argyris makes a distinction between ‘single loop learning’ and ‘double loop learning’. An example of the former is when the thermostat turns on the heat when the temperature reaches a certain level. In double loop learning, the thermostat asks "why am I set at 22 degrees celcius?" and then explores whether or not some other temperature might more economically achieve the goal of heating the room. If we have inert ‘thermostats’ filling our organisations, can we expect our projects to make a difference!? Should we not look harder at the individual(ourselves) and the dynamics within groups to find paths to personal and organisational success?

"Indeed, because tacit knowledge includes mental models and beliefs in addition to know-how, moving from the tacit to the explicit is really a process of articulating ones vision of the world - what it is and what it ought to be.When employees invent new knowledge, they are also reinventing themselves, the company and even the world." I. Nonaka - p31

Imagine an organisation full of such people. Wow!