IKUJIRO NONAKA

Ikujiro Nonaka

Ikujiro Nonaka

Background of Ikujiro Nonaka

Ikujiro Nonaka is widely regarded as one of the most influential Japanese management philosophers of all time. Nonaka was born in the year 1935 and witnessed the Japanese defeat in the Second World War. However, Nonaka firmly believed and propagated his view that in order to regain dominance and power in the world, Japan will have to rethink and revamp its organizational management techniques. Nonaka moved to US in 1967 and received his MBA and PhD from Haas School of Business. Nonaka is currently employed as a distinguished professor at the same university. The ideas of Nonaka caught the attention of American management philosophers when he first wrote the HBR article “The New New Product Development Game”.

Explanation of Ikujiro Nonaka's Main Idea - Knowledge Creation in Organizations

Much of Nonaka's research is focused on the aspect of knowledge creation and management within the organizations. Contrary to the popular practice in American corporations, where corporations treat knowledge management as a function of the IT departments, Nonaka argues that such an approach represents a classic failure at understanding the way in which individuals learn and create. Unlike other business resources or inputs, such as land, labor, capital, technology and energy, which deplete with their use, knowledge is unique because it is innately self-renewing. Its value increases and not depletes with its use (Nonaka, 2007, p. 164). The production of knowledge and its consumption are activities that occur simultaneously. More importantly, it is a resource which is produced only when individuals interact with each other.

Nonaka also emphasizes on the concept of “Ba”. The Japanese translation of the term refers to a field or space where people feel free and encouraged to share their knowledge, experiences and observations in the service of greater good or in the service of the creation of something new (Nonaka, 1994, p. 15).

Essentially, “Ba” is a mental state achieved by people when they find themselves fully absorbed by whatever they are doing. However, this mental state or space in never solitary but it exists amongst two or more than two people. Companies can foster the creation of this mental state through encouraging people to think together. Furthermore, Nonaka also draws a line between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge and argues that most Western organizations lay a great deal of focus on the former at the expense of the latter. Tacit knowledge is subliminal and subjective in nature and thus, it cannot be completely codified, measured or universalized because of its nature. In order to communicate such knowledge, organizations have to work hard towards creating an environment which facilitates the transfer of this form of knowledge. Contrary to the Platonic view, which argues that the material word exists only in ideal forms and what we perceive is not the real world, Nonaka believes that knowledge flows from direct experience. In an attempt to develop scientific and reliable methods of inquiry, Western thinkers have ended up overlooking the importance of human experience and evolving nature ...