KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS

Shahzeeb Akhtar

Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany

Agenda

1. Conceptual Work

2. Knowledge and its Forms

3. Learning and Innovation

4. Communities and Networks

5. Knowledge and Problems

6. Implementation

1. Conceptual Work

Master´s thesis (2007) in the field of Economic Geography with the topic

„How do corporations in quickly changing and knowledge intensive service sector environments optimize their information- and knowledge flow?“

2. Knowledge and its Forms

Codified vs. non-codified knowledge Possessed vs. practised knowledge Individual vs. collective knowledge Genereral vs. specific knowledge

Acknowledgement of Knowledge in Organizations

Knowledge = Accumulation of information? Can every knowledge be codified? Knowledge only on individual basis? Is there only possessed knowledge?

Structures of Knowledge transfer

Formalized structure Informal structure Infrastructure

3. Learning and InnovationRelationship between Knowlegde, Learning

and Innovations

Active knowledge exchange Learning effects (create new knowledge) Innovations (by new possible combinations)

Individual learning – in „Routines“

Talent Intelligence Intensity Discipline

Collective learning – in „Communities“

Learning based on engagement Learning based on alignment Learning based on imagination

The Johari Window

„Seven Cs of Effective Communication“

Completeness Conciseness Consideration Concreteness Correctness Courtesy Clarity

Innovations

„Sparks of Innovation are triggered by the confrontation, combination, fusion, transformation of different forms of knowledge.“

Amin/Cohendet, Architectures of Knowledge (2004)

Learning by searching (in an organizational search)

Learning by doing and learning by using (in a trial-and-error experimentation)

Learning through training and learning by hiring (external job rotation)

Learning by interacting(social processes within a group)

4. Communities and Networks

Nonaka´s 4-step model of knowledge generation in „Communities of Practice“

1. Non-codified knowledge is shared among each other while socializing

2. Through articulation, non-codified knowledge becomes codified

3. New codified knowledge becomes standardized by combining it with the old

4. Codified knowledge becomes non-codified by using it and getting used to it

Embedding knowledge in networks

Relational Embeddedness: 2 actors, development of trust

Structural Embeddedness: Several actors, development of reputation among others

Network structures

Open networks (not everyone is connected to each other)

Closed networks (everyone is connected to each other)

5. Knowledge and Problems Transfering knowledge over spatial

distances Knowledge bound to persons Opportunism Moral hazard Political behavior

Nash-Pareto-Problem

Pareto-Equilibrium Nash-Equilibrium Nash-Pareto or Pareto-Nash

6. Implementation

Implementing a network like Wikipedia and MindManager will avoid problems like:

Spatial distances – technical networks Moral Hazard – information ubiquitious Existance of too much non-codified

knowledge – feeding the knowledge base

Implementing a social network for knowledge transfer is likely to avoid:

Opportunism Politics Misunderstandings

by interaction

Using a proper implemented knowledge network leads to higher productivity through

Saving Extending Governing Sharing

Knowledge

Thank you for your attention!