This study analyzed the knowledge creation pattern initiated within the team of skilled engineers of Fujitsu Systems Business (Thailand) Ltd. Nonaka's SECI and Ba model were applied to analyze the knowledge creation process of the hardware engineering team. An interview method was used to collect in-depth data on the existing knowledge creation in the team.
Furthermore, some of the explicit knowledge did not continue through the knowledge creation spiral due to a lack of participation and interest from the team members. Knowledge creation is a process of developing a new content to obtain new knowledge that can benefit an organization and help organization to gain its competitive advantage. The scope of this study is limited to the knowledge creation pattern among the population of hardware engineering team in Fujitsu system business (Thailand) Ltd.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Knowledge Management
- Knowledge Management Definition
- Type of knowledge
- Organizational Knowledge Management
Davenport, De Long and Beers concluded that the knowledge management project is an attempt to “do something useful” with knowledge, to achieve organizational objectives by structuring people, technology and knowledge content. Under the same discussion topic, Skyrme (2007) has presented a similar idea with more specific suggestions regarding the concept of knowledge management. He pointed out that “Knowledge management is the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge – and its associated processes of creation, organization, dissemination, use and exploitation – in the pursuit of business objectives.”
Likewise, Scarborough et al (1999: 1) and Hedlund (1994) define Knowledge Management as any process that involved the creation, transfer, capture, sharing and application of knowledge to improve learning and performance in organisations. To summarize, the commonality of the definition of knowledge management, knowledge management is a process that consists of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge that is used to improve learning and performance in organizations to help organizations to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. One of the most commonly accepted concepts in knowledge management is the type of knowledge: as Nonaka and Konno pointed out, there are two kinds of knowledge: explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge.
Based on various theories and frameworks mentioned above, these research studies applied the concept of knowledge categorization and divided the knowledge into two types (1) Tacit knowledge which is a knowledge that contained. Therefore, Alavi proposed a "knowledge processes" framework that can be used to analyze organizational knowledge management by considering an organization as a knowledge system. Most of the time this process will also involve an Information Technology system to improve organizational knowledge management.
Since "the source of competitive advantage lies in the application of knowledge rather than knowledge itself" (Alavi. The further literature review of knowledge creation and knowledge creation process is given in the next topic discussion.
Knowledge Creation
- SECI Model
- The Four Characteristics of “Ba”
The first quadrant is that socialization “involves the sharing of tacit knowledge between individuals” (Nonaka and Konno, 1998: 42). The second quadrant is “Externalization,” which “required the expression of tacit knowledge and its translation into intelligible forms that can be understood by others.” (Nonaka and Konno) The conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge also involves techniques that help express one's ideas or images in words, concepts, figurative language, such as metaphors, analogies, or stories. An example of a conversion process of “externalization” is the situation in which someone tries to convey or explain their tacit knowledge to other people or a group, such as a group discussion or group meeting, which is later recorded in minutes of the meeting.
The third quadrant is "Combination", which is a process of converting explicit knowledge into explicit knowledge. The fourth quadrant is "internalization", which is a process of converting explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge. The internalization required that "the individual identify the knowledge relevant to him/herself within the organizational knowledge." (Nonaka and Konno An example of "internalization".
Ba offered platforms for specific steps in the knowledge spiral process." The characteristics of the four "Ba" illustrated as follows. Origin ba provided space for interaction between two individuals, which required the transfer of tacit to tacit knowledge. Interaction ba provided space for interaction between individuals and group , which required the transfer of tacit to explicit knowledge.
Cyber ba provided space for interaction between the group and the group, which required the transfer of tacit knowledge to explicit ones. The ba exercise provided space for group-to-group interaction, which required the transfer of tacit to tacit knowledge.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Introduction
- Research Approach and Design
- The Study Population and Sample
- Data Collection
- Data collection method
- Data collection procedure
- Data Analysis
The first interview phrase was conducted with the team leader, department manager, to obtain general information of the organizational structure, business overview as well as in-depth knowledge of the overall team structure and regular work process. A topic guide used for the second interview phrase is based on the information obtained from the first interview phrase with the team leader. The second phase of interviews aimed to determine the existing knowledge creation activities that are practiced in an actual team setting.
First phrase of interview was applied to the department manager of the hardware engineering team to gain in-depth knowledge of the team structure and work process. The first phase of unstructured interview was conducted separately before the second phase of interview. First phase of interview aimed to gather in-depth knowledge of the overall functioning of the team.
The information from the first phase of the interview was used as a guideline in preparation for the second phase of the interview. Data collected from the first stage of the interview was used to develop a high level of understanding of the overall structure and work process. The work process diagram is then broken down into sub-activities according to the work division methods and a guideline is used to help categorize the data collected from the second phase of the interview.
The data collected during the second phase of the interview is broken down into sub-activities in preparation for further analysis. An analysis of the data collected from the second phase of the interview is based on (1) the SECI model (Nonaka, 1998), this model was applied to help explain and categorize knowledge creation activities that take place, and (2) the Ba theory (Nonaka, 1998), this theory applied to help explain and categorize the 'place' where knowledge creation activities take place.
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDING
Data analysis
- Knowledge flow chart
The self-learning activity initiated the transformation of the knowledge that the person acquired by reading and studying the manual. Troubleshooting activities occurred when members of the engineering team assigned to install, maintain, or repair company hardware at a customer. The pattern of knowledge conversion produced by these activities varies from self-discovered troubleshooting technique, recording newly discovered troubleshooting technique to sharing newly discovered troubleshooting technique in a shared server.
Training activities triggered knowledge conversion through classroom lectures, workshop training and job shadowing at the customer's site. Maintenance service report activities is a required process to record information such as customer, installed hardware details, technical problem along with case number for further reference. Knowledge conversion has been triggered during these activities through the recording of technical problems that occurred on site and problem solving methods that have been applied to solve the problem.
Knowledge creation: knowledge conversion process
- SECI Model
Socialization is a conversion from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge that required face-to-face communication. The activities that caused the conversion of tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge are as follows;.
TACIT
EXPLICIT T
- The Four Characteristics of Ba
- Knowledge type and form
- Discussion
- Recommendation and suggestion
The activities that triggered the conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge are as follows; Classroom lecture is part of training activities that triggered a knowledge conversion pattern from tacit knowledge that experienced engineers have to explicit knowledge through his verbal communication that explained technical knowledge to junior engineers. Recording of troubleshooting technique is a conversion of tacit knowledge, which is troubleshooting technique that each engineer discovered during their work process, into explicit knowledge, which is a record written on their computer or notebook.
This activity caused the conversion of tacit knowledge held by senior engineer to explicit knowledge through the telephone conversation. The process of creating a Maintenance Service Report allowed engineers to transfer their tacit knowledge of problem identification and problem solving methods experienced during that particular assignment into explicit knowledge that is a written Maintenance Service Report or MSR. Combination is a conversion process from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge that required systematic dissemination of knowledge.
The data collected shows activities that triggered the conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge as follows; Troubleshooting registration, which person has intentionally shared in the company's shared server and retrieved by another engineer, will trigger the conversion of explicit to explicit knowledge using information technology. According to collected data, there are two sub-activities that triggered the conversion of explicit knowledge as follows;.
Explicit knowledge in the manual turns into tacit knowledge that a person gained from reading and studying the manual. Second, the continuity of the spiral of knowledge creation, from the analyzed data shows that the spirals of knowledge are often broken especially explicit knowledge. For example, clear knowledge that was available in written form, such as the installation manual, troubleshooting log, and maintenance service report, is rarely used.
The knowledge conversion process should then continue to the next quadrant which is the conversion of explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge or combination quadrant.
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
Recommendation
- Knowledge creation process continuity
- Encourage conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge in storable form
- Start knowledge management planning
The proposal is to encourage the conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge in storable form. However, the storable form of knowledge is not limited to written documents, the storable form of knowledge can vary from the picture to recorded verbal instruction and VDO clip, etc. The storable explicit knowledge makes the further knowledge conversion more convenient for both sharer and receiver.
As mentioned earlier, this research was intended as a starting point for further adjustments to the knowledge management process. The finding shows that the team is doing significantly well in tacit knowledge conversion, but still needs improvement in several areas before moving on to the next process of knowledge management cycle. This study has provided the analysis of existing knowledge creation as a starting point for further acceptance of the knowledge management culture.
Further recommendation is that the management consider the knowledge management strategy and use analysis of this study as a basis to identify the knowledge gap and plan organizational knowledge management journey to achieve organizational sustainability in the future.
Conclusion
