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Knowledge Transfer

Nonaka (1995) defines two types of knowledge, I-e Tacit Knowledge, which is very difficult to codify and the Explicit Knowledge that can be easily codified and thus transferred. Nonaka discuss four modes of knowledge transfer, these are identified as

    ·        Socialization

·        Externalization

·        Internalization, and

·        Combination,

         Socialization is a process of sharing experience and thereby creating tacit knowledge. Socialization therefore facilitates the transfer of the most difficult type of knowledge.  Once an individual has attained Tacit knowledge S/he can pass that knowledge to others by Externalization. Externalization is a process of articulating tacit knowledge into explicit concepts. It should be noted that there would always be a large amount of knowledge present in tacit domain, which cannot be made explicit.

Figure 3.1 gives the knowledge processes taking place as knowledge transfer takes place from Tacit to Explicit form. The model  for knowledge transformation given by Nonaka and Takeuchi is also known as SECI model. (Model also discussed in chapter section 2.3.9)

Figure 3.1

Representing Transformation of Knowledge

From Tacit to Explicit from

 Combination is a process of systematizing explicit concepts into knowledge systems, and lastly the Internalization process refers to the absorption of explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge by individuals. Probably the hardest part to detect and measure is the tacit knowledge associated with the socialization process.

Socialization is the mode of Knowledge transfer, where one individual shows another individual or a group how to work things out, showing the way s/he solved a particular situation or conclusions drawn in a project. Sveiby (1997) argues that as soon as knowledge is expressed or coded in written form it is made static, and thereby it is a dead knowledge.

Later refining SECI model (Nonaka  et al 1998, Nonaka et al 2001) states that the knowledge assets of an organization are mobilized and shared in “Ba”. The concept of “Ba” is its self very abstract, origination from Japanese language it does not have an exact translation in English, but can be defined as a mutual context in which knowledge is created, shared and utilized through interaction. Explaining “Ba” further he categorizes it into four types, Origination Ba enables employees to interact with each other and with the customers, secondly the Dialoguing Ba, the tacit knowledge of local employees to create sales forecasts, in dialogue with each other. Third is the Systemizing Ba, in which the sales forecasts are tested against the sales results and finally the Exercising Ba, where the information is used and compared with reality, the staff uses it to improve their skills and ability to make forecasts.

Knowledge assets as defined by the SECI model are company specific resources that are critical to create value for an organization. They can be inputs, outputs and even moderating factors of the knowledge creating factors. He argues that to effectively manage knowledge creation and its exploitation an organization first has to map its inventory of knowledge assets, stating that cataloguing is not adequate as knowledge assets are dynamic and new assets can be created from the existing knowledge assets.

Another aspect to consider is, as highlighted by Moberg (1993), that is the importance of the communication medium best suitable for transfer of knowledge or information. Some medias according to her are better for transferring contexts and messages (face-to-face, video, telephone, etc.) in a warmer way while other colder media (e-mail, documents, etc.) are not so effective. Cold media often require greater effort of interpretation from the persons who would like to assimilate the knowledge and make it dynamic again.  It would be correct to assume that the use of cold or warm media is highly dependent on the relation between the individuals using it to communicate. With the background information built into a close personal relationship, even brief written notes can transfer considerable knowledge that would otherwise require instruction videos or major written reports.(Moberg1993)