Capturing Tacit Knowledge for Organizational

LearningBy Vanessa Cerallo

A New Reality Modern society perception &

behavioral shift.

Old Model: hierarchies,

highly structure,inflexible model

New Model: dynamic,

constantly changing, creative model

A New Reality Modern companies need to be creating and

constantly adapting in order to adjust to the competitive forces of the market (survival).

To succeed in adapting to changing situations companies need to able of learning and absorbing knowledge rapidly.

Knowledge is a tool for success: a companies ultimate competitive advantage.

When companies managed strategically the share of their knowledge they can become Learning Organizations.

Types of Knowledge and Ways to Acquire It

Explicit: written, specific, database type of knowledge. Easily codified thus easily transfer.

Tacit: experiential, acquire through action and affected by each person mental models. Is the “Know How”. Very difficult to capture and hard to share.

Tacit Knowledge“What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand.”

Chinese proverb. Action creates knowledge. Way of learning by trail and error. Trail and error is risky and can be costly. To create new ideas some degree of risk is

necessary- risk to fail. New corporations need innovation in order to

progress.“Learning Organizations see performance shortfalls as opportunities for learning.”

By Michael Marquardt.

How Knowledge Becomes Valuable

For individual knowledge to be of value to a company the employee needs to share the knowledge in order to transform it into Organizational Knowledge.

To share Tacit knowledge it needs to be converse into Explicit knowledge.

Theories of How to Converse Tacit Knowledge

Peter Senge.“Embodied knowledge is embodied knowledge. But

with reflection or careful observation, patterns of tacit knowledge can be experienced, expressed and

describe. It is like a translation”. Behavioral method: Listening and Dialogue.

Through programs that facilitate knowledge sharing (Ex. Jim Stuart's executive programs).

Theories of How to Converse Tacit Knowledge

Takeuchi“ New knowledge will be created if you transform

one type of knowledge into another” Tacit to Tacit (watching somebody, then

doing it) Tacit to Explicit (doing it, then

describing it) Explicit to Tacit (reading about it, then

doing it) Explicit to Explicit ( reading about it,

then describing it)

Systems Used to Shared Knowledge

Eureka- Xerox France & Palo Alto research center in CA: a system that facilitates the share of knowledge among peers.

Groupware- Hewlett Packard: online meeting in which participants communicate through computers.

Lotus Notes- Pricewaterhouse Coppers: Used to carry discussions via e-mail.

Idea Factory- Unisys: website that allows employees to suggest new ideas and gives room for others to comment on them.

Key Points for Successfully Sharing Knowledge

Knowing employee’s interest and characteristics.

Offering incentives and rewards.

Senior management support- the system should be apply at all levels.

Communication and measurement.

TRUST!

Problems in Implementing Knowledge Management

Systems Underused of the program

due to lack of incentives. Overused of the program

making it unstructured and difficult to use.

Changing people’s behaviors in order to create knowledge sharing structures.

Becoming a Learning Organization

Changing people’s behavior is a very

difficult task because it requires challenging people's assumptions

and triggering a paradigm shift. The

ideal situation is when a company has employees that

already posses the knowledge sharing

behavior.

Ex: Sun Hydraulics

Being a Learning Organization

” A learning organization is s place were people are continually

discovering how they create their reality and how they can change

it”.By Peter Senge.

People are the masters of their own destiny and future.

The Five Disciplines of a Learning Organizations

System Thinking Personal Mastery Mental Models Building Shared

Vision Team Learning

Organizational Learning“The learning organization and

organizational learning have emerged as metaphors and models for successful and competitive organizations. Because

the new economy is driven by knowledge, intellectual capital figures

prominently in a firm's value. Knowledge workers learn from and

contribute to the intellectual capital of learning organizations”

By Maureen Bogdanowicz

Questions?

Thank You for Your Time!