ie 780 advanced topics in mis from information processing to knowledge creation: a paradigm shift in...

IE 780Advanced Topics in MIS

From Information Processing to Knowledge Creation: A Paradigm Shift in Business Management

From Information Processing to Knowledge Creation: A Paradigm Shift in Business Management

POSMIS Sungjin Kim2005. 05. 10

POSMIS Sungjin Kim2005. 05. 10

Ikujiro Nonaka, Katsuhiro Umemoto and Dai Senoo, Technology In Society, Vol. 18, No. 2 pp. 203~218, 1996

Postech Strategic Management of Information Systems Laboratory

ContentsContents

Introduction The process of organizational knowledge creation Four types of knowledge conversion

Socialization Externalization Combination Internalization

The knowledge spiral IT and the five enabling conditions for organizational

knowledge creation IT and the five-phase model of organizational

knowledge creation Conclusion


IntroductionIntroduction

Importance of knowledge Alvin Toffler, Peter Drucker, James Quinn, etc.

“Knowledge Society” Western authors

Didn’t examine how business organizations create new knowledge Knowledge

Essentially given Already exists within the organization Can be learned or acquired from outside

Ikusiro Nonaka Building a model of how business firms create information “Organizational knowledge creation”

• Examine “How Information Technology (IT) can help implement the concept of the knowledge-creating company”

• Propose as the management paradigm for the emerging “knowledge society”


The process of organizational knowledge creation (1/3)The process of organizational knowledge creation (1/3)

Knowledge Western

“Justified true belief” Fails to include physical skills or embodied knowledge

Authors “A meaningful set of information that constitutes a justified

true belief and/or embodying a technical skill through practice”

Knowledge creation “A dynamic human process of justifying a personal belief toward

the truth and/or embodying a technical skill through practice” Two types of knowledge

Tacit knowledge

IntuitionsUnarticulated mental models

Embodied technical skills

Explicit knowledge

A meaningful set of information articulated in clear language including

numbers or diagrams

Knowledge



Japanese tend to consider knowledge as primarily “tacit” i.e. personal, context-specific, and not so easy to communicate to

others Western tend to consider knowledge as

“explicit” i.e. formal, objective, and not so difficult to process with computers

New organizational knowledge Created by human interactions among individuals with different

types (tacit or explicit) and different contents of knowledge Knowledge conversion

Socialization: individual tacit knowledge group tacit knowledge Externalization: tacit knowledge explicit knowledge Combination: from separate explicit knowledge systemic

explicit knowledge Internalization: explicit knowledge tacit knowledge



Socialization Externalization

Internalization Combination

Tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge

Explicitknowledge

Explicitknowledge

Explicit knowledge Explicit knowledge


SocializationSocialization

Socialization A process of creating common tacit knowledge through shared

experiences Need to build a “field” of interaction

Individuals share experiences at the same time and space Creating common unarticulated beliefs of embodied skills

Two dimensions of tacit knowledge Technical dimension

Traditional apprenticeship: observation, imitation, practice, etc. Cognitive dimension

Informal meetings outside the workplace creating common tacit knowledge, mutual trust

IT is not useful in this mode Only face-to-face interaction


ExternalizationExternalization

Externalization A process of articulating tacit knowledge into such explicit knowledge as c

oncepts and/or diagrams, often using metaphors, analogies, and/or sketches

Groupware: supporting the creation of new knowledge “Colab”: a computer-supported conference system

Bordnoter: electronic blackboard Cognoter: brainstorming, organizing and evaluating information Argnoter: presenting, arguing, and evaluating ideas http://www2.parc.com/istl/members/stefik/colab.htm


CombinationCombination

Combination A process of assembling new and existing explicit knowledge into

a systemic knowledge such as a set of specifications for a prototype of new product

Newly-created concept Should be combined with existing explicit knowledge to

materialize it into something tangible Thus, “combination” start with linking different bodies of

explicit knowledge “breakdown”

e.g. one for a corporate vision descended from top management

Creating deductively a systemic, explicit knowledge “mother concept”: which is created by organizational leader

Gives birth to many “offspring concepts” IT comes into full play

The greater part of knowledge and information in Combination is explicit and easy to process with IT


InternalizationInternalization

Internalization Embodying explicit knowledge into tacit, operational knowledge

such as know-how Learning by doing or using Manuals are widely used Engineering case studies help novice engineers to internalize

explicit knowledge Increasingly adopted training with computer simulation

Instead of OJT (on the job training) and reading manuals


The knowledge spiral (1/2)The knowledge spiral (1/2)

Organizational knowledge is created through a “Knowledge Spiral” across four modes of knowledge conversion


The knowledge spiral (2/2)The knowledge spiral (2/2)

Knowledge spiral across the levels of knowledge-creating entities such as individuals, groups, an organization, and collaborating organizations


IT and the five enabling conditions for organizational knowledge creation (1/4)IT and the five enabling conditions for organizational knowledge creation (1/4)

1. Organizational intention The knowledge spiral is driven by organizational intention Organization’s aspiration to its goals “Knowledge vision”, “Knowledge domain”, corporate standards Most important justification criterion for judging the truthfulness

and relevance of a new piece of knowledge E-mail: convenient tool to disseminate top management’s

messages

2. Individual and group autonomy Autonomy

Increasing the chances of finding valuable information and motivating organizational members to create new knowledge

The whole and each part share the same information Have greater flexibility in acquiring, interpreting, and relating

information



3. Fluctuation/creative chaos Fluctuation

Not a disorder but a change that is hard to predict Market needs, growth of competing companies, and

challenges given by top management Breakdown

Chance to reconsider their basic perspectives and a sense of crisis that urges them to have dialogues with people within as well as outside the organization

Thereby creating new knowledge such as novel understandings of new circumstances and revolutionary corporate visions

Necessary to monitor the environment and to communicate with outside organizations



4. Informational redundancy Harm due to unnecessary duplication, waste, or information

overload to western managers Redundancy to authors

The existence of information that goes beyond the immediate operational requirements of organizational members

Intentional overlapping of information about business activities, management responsibilities, and the company as a whole

Informational redundancy promotes organizational knowledge creation in two ways

Facilitating the sharing of tacit knowledge Individuals can sense what others are trying to articulate and invade

each other’s functional boundaries to provide pieces of advice or information from different perspectives

Helping loosely-connected individuals understand where they stand in the organization and control their directions of thinking and action



5. Requisite variety Organizations can cope with many contingencies if it has “requisite variet

y” or minimax internal diversity Two major approaches to realize requisite variety

Flattening of organizational structure and the building of a corporate-wide IS give organizational members fast access to variety of information

Changing the organizational structure frequently and rotating personnel frequently enabling employees to acquire interdisciplinary knowledge to cope with the complexity of environmental fluctuations and internal problems


IT and the five-phase model of organizational knowledge creationIT and the five-phase model of organizational knowledge creation


ConclusionConclusion

Davenport wrote: “The lesson from reengineering is a reminder of an old truth: IT

is only useful if it helps people do work better and differently

Organizations should fuse synergistically IT as knowledge-creation tools and human beings with

collaborative knowledge-creation capabilities to become a “knowledge-creating company”

ie 780 advanced topics in mis from information processing to knowledge creation: a paradigm shift in...

Documents

common tacit knowledge

different types tacit

andor sketchesgroupware

truth andor

creation of new knowledgecol

justified true belief

information technology

concepts andor diagrams