Week 5

Knowledge Creation and knowledge management architecture

What is knowledge creation?      

     ü  Knowledge creation is dynamic, a daily basis activity. It is responsible for the enhancement of success of an organization.

ü  Maturation: Translate experience into knowledge.

Learning and innovation at work in organizations is a social phenomenon that requires communication across individual and organizational boundaries, collaboration, and knowledge and information transfer within and across organizational structures In organizational theory, knowledge transfer is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another. Like knowledge management, knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or distribute knowledge and ensure its availability for future users.

Knowledge Creation and Transfer via Teams:

•          Knowledge update can mean creating new knowledge based on ongoing experience in a specific domain and then using the new knowledge in combination with the existing knowledge to come up with updated knowledge for knowledge sharing.
•          Knowledge can be created through teamwork
•          A team can commit to perform a job over a specific period of time.
•          A job can be regarded as a series of specific tasks carried out in a specific order.
•          When the job is completed, then the team compares the experience it had initially (while starting the job) to the outcome (successful/disappointing).
•          This comparison translates experience into knowledge.
•          While performing the same job in future, the team can take corrective steps and/or modify the actions based on the new knowledge they have acquired.
•          Over time, experience usually leads to expertise where one team (or individual) can be known for handling a complex problem very well.
•          This knowledge can be transferred to others in a reusable format.       

                       SECI Model of Knowledge Creation:

Four modes of knowledge conversion were identified:

o   Tacit to tacit(Socialization);

o   Tacit to explicit (Externalization);
o   explicit to explicit(Combination),
o   explicit to tacit (Internalization).

 Socialization                                                       

Sharing tacit knowledge through face-to-face communication or shared experience. Informal social intercourse and teaching by practical examples. An example is an apprenticeship.

Externalization:

Trying to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge by developing concepts and models. In this phase tacit knowledge is converted to understandable and interpretable form, so it can be also used by others. Externalized and theoretical knowledge is a base for creating new knowledge.

Combination
Compiling externalized explicit knowledge to broader entities and concept systems. When knowledge is in explicit form it can be combined with the knowledge that has been filed earlier. In this phase knowledge is also analyzed and organized.
Internalization
Internalization means understanding explicit knowledge. It happens when explicit knowledge transforms to tacit and becomes a part of individual’s basic information. Cycle continues now in the spiral of knowledge back to socialization when individual shares his tacit knowledge silently. This is how amount of knowledge grows and the previous conceptions might change.
The creation of knowledge is a continuous process of dynamic interactions between tacit and explicit knowledge. The four modes of knowledge conversion interact in the spiral of knowledge creation. The spiral becomes larger in scale as it moves up through organizational levels, and can trigger new spirals of knowledge creation.
Benefits of the SECI model
- Appreciates the dynamic nature of knowledge and knowledge creation.
- Provides a framework for management of the relevant processes.

Knowledge Management Architecture:

• Knowledge architecture can be regarded as a prerequisite to knowledge sharing.
• The infrastructure can be viewed as a combination of people, content, and technology.
• These components are inseparable and interdependent

User Interface Layer

• Usually a web browser represents the interface between the user and the KM system.
• It is the top layer in the KM system architecture.
• The way the text, graphics, tables etc are displayed on the screen tends to simplify the technology for the user.
• The user interface layer should provide a way for the proper flow of tacit and explicit knowledge.
• The necessary knowledge transfer between people and technology involves capturing tacit knowledge from experts, storing it in knowledge base, and making it available to people for solving complex problems.
• Features to be considered in case of user interface design:
• Consistency
• Relevancy
• Visual clarity
• Usability
• Ease of Navigation

 Mehwish Shehzad !