Nonaka's SECI Research Articles

과정적 실재로서의 R&D기획 전문성 육성방안 연구

Objectives The purposes of this study were to identify the components of expertise as a processing reality through the exploration of arete's meaning and to derive a plan to develop R&D planning expertise as a processing reality through redefining the R&D planning process based on the Nonaka's SECI model.
 Methods To this end, this study conducted theoretical research focusing on previous studies. The meaning of arete was explored centering on Aristotle's ｢Nikomakos Ethics｣, and the specific meaning of the SECI model was explored focusing on Nonaka's ｢Creative Routine｣. Based on the analysis, it was intended to present a plan to develop R&D planning expertise that can be practiced in the field.
 Results As a result, in light of Aristotle's concept of arete, this expertise shows that it is an “ideal state” that experts should aim for and a “becoming” that constantly strives to reach it. In that arete is a tendency or habit acquired through will, expertise is a dynamic process of change that an individual steadily accumulates over a long period of time. And it was suggested that the process was a win-win process of benefiting oneself and others. Finally, based on Nonaka's SECI model, we presented how expertise is created dynamically in the R&D planning process.
 Conclusions Therefore, in order to develop R&D planning expertise as a processing reality, expertise should be converted to a method of benefiting oneself and others that develops at the social level, such as expertise identified as arete, rather than a method of benefiting selfish and exclusive that develops at the personal level. The concept of expertise identified as arete should be an important purpose in developing R&D planning expertise, and intentional efforts are needed in the R&D planning process to recognize expertise components and accumulate and dissipate them in the field.

An extended SECI model to incorporate inter-organisational knowledge flows and open innovation

Nonaka's SECI model provides a clear demonstration of the continual cycle of knowledge creation and conversion within an organisation. However, the knowledge flows and exchanges across the organisational boundary have not been systematically taken into account. In order to address this limitation, this paper develops a revised knowledge creation model that includes such extensions as the acquisition of explicit knowledge through purchasing or collaborative arrangements (knowledge inflows); acquisition of tacit knowledge through interaction between the organisation and its stakeholders and learning-by-hiring (knowledge inflows); deliberate knowledge leakages through selling, licensing-out or spinning-off unused technologies and by-products (knowledge outflows); and unintended knowledge spillovers due to the mobility of skilled workers (knowledge outflows). This extended knowledge creation and conversion model aims to provide today's managers with a clearer picture of opportunities for knowledge creation and sharing within and across organisations based on inter-organisational knowledge flows and open innovation principles.

Managing Knowledge in Organizations: A Nonaka's SECI Model Operationalization.

PurposeThe SECI model (Nonaka, 1994) is the best-known conceptual framework for understanding knowledge generation processes in organizations. To date, however, empirical support for this framework has been overlooked. The present study aims to provide an evidence-based groundwork for the SECI model by testing a multidimensional questionnaire Knowledge Management SECI Processes Questionnaire (KMSP-Q) designed to capture the knowledge conversion modes theorized by Nonaka.MethodologyIn a twofold study, the SECI model was operationalized via the KMSP-Q. Specifically, Study One tested its eight-dimensional structure through exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses on 372 employees from different sectors. Study Two examined the construct validity and reliability by replicating the KMSP-Q factor structure in knowledge-intensive contexts (on a sample of 466 health-workers), and by investigating the unique impact of each dimension on some organizational outcomes (i.e., performance, innovativeness, collective efficacy).FindingsThe overall findings highlighted that the KMSP-Q is a psychometrically robust questionnaire in terms of both dimensionality and construct validity, the different knowledge generation dimensions being specifically linked to different organizational outcomes.Research/Practical ImplicationsThe KMSP-Q actualizes and provides empirical consistency to the theory underlying the SECI model. Moreover, it allows for the monitoring of an organization’s capability to manage new knowledge and detect the strengths/weaknesses of KM-related policies and programs.Originality/ValueThis paper proposes a comprehensive measure of knowledge generation in work contexts, highlighting processes that organizations are likely to promote in order to improve their performance through the management of their knowledge resources.

Multi‐Agent‐Based Simulation of Knowledge Propagation in Organizations

SUMMARYIn this paper, we propose an agent model based on Nonaka's SECI model for encouraging the propagation of knowledge in organizations. In this model, the complexity of knowledge is expressed as a bit tag, and worker agents and knowledge manager agents are introduced. Parametric studies are performed on the bit tag length and on the internalization rates and communication patterns of the worker agents. We evaluate the acquisition of knowledge in order to verify the present simulation model. Furthermore, a scenario simulation is implemented with respect to employment periods for worker agents and the effectiveness of the multi‐agent model is shown by means of a qualitative evaluation of knowledge variations corresponding to joining and leaving an organization.

Sociofact Theory

The current study concentrates on units of organizational knowledge that the authors call sociofacts following a terminology introduced by J. Huxley. The analysis looks at the constituents of sociofacts as well as their lifecycle, starting from the concept of knowledge asset. It is based on insights from various established theories such as Activity Theory, Nonaka's SECI model, Boundary Objects and Transactive Memory Theory. The authors investigate how the form of sociofacts changes during the Knowledge Maturing process and point at their business relevance. The goal of the paper is to improve the understanding of the structure of organizational knowledge and the process of knowledge maturing.

Organizations as Cognitive Systems is Knowledge an Emergent Property of Information Networks?

The substitution of knowledge to information as the entity that organizations process and deliver raises a number of questions concerning the nature of knowledge. The dispute on the codifiability of tacit knowledge and that juxtaposing the epistemology of practice vs. the epistemology of possession can be better faced by revisiting two crucial debates. One concerns the nature of cognition and the other the famous mind-body problem. Cognition can be associated with the capability of manipulating symbols, like in the traditional computational view of organizations, interpreting facts or symbols, like in the narrative approach to organization theory, or developing mental states (events), like argued by the growing field of organizational cognition. Applied to the study of organizations, the mind-body problem concerns the possibility (if any) and the forms in which organizational mental events, like trust, identity, cultures, etc., can be derived from the structural aspects (technological, cognitive or communication networks) of organizations. By siding in extreme opposite positions, the two epistemologies appear irreducible one another and pay its own inner consistency with remarkable difficulties in describing and explaining some empirical phenomena. Conversely, by legitimating the existence of both tacit and explicit knowledge, by emphasizing the space of human interactions, and by assuming that mental events can be explained with the structural aspects of organizations, Nonaka's SECI model seems an interesting middle way between the two rival epistemologies.

Why cross‐cultural knowledge transfer is a form of translation in more ways than you think

AbstractKnowledge transfer is often likened to acts of translation. It is argued that translation is a very robust analogue of knowledge transfer and that theory provides insight into cross‐cultural sharing processes. Three issues which affect the quality of translation and, hence, knowledge transfer are highlighted: ambiguity, interference (intrusion from one's own cultural background) and lack of equivalence. Other terms from translation science, which can serve as a useful reference for knowledge management experts, are discussed: translation as a networking activity, process and end‐product quality, levels of accuracy and constraints on the production of good translations. A new concept is introduced to the knowledge management community; namely convertibility, which refers to the perceived utility of a knowledge source and the availability of domain experts to reveal its import to final users. Two models representing knowledge transfer as translation are presented, the second of which incorporates Nonaka's SECI model. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.