KNOWLEDGE CREATION

Knowledge Creation

Knowledge Creation, Management and Innovation

Introduction

Knowledge creation and management require an organization to become 'knowledge-centric' by creating an 'organizational context' or 'social architecture' which facilitates the rapid development of new knowledge. This organizational context, or social architecture, comprises the organization's leadership, infrastructure, structure and culture (systems and technology). Innovation is the method by which businesses create the novel processes, products, and arrangements necessary for make the best of varying technologies, marketplaces and forms of struggle. The method of Innovation involves the appliance of knowledge in a novel or new manner. This paper discusses knowledge creation, management and innovation.

Discussion

Winning innovation is observed as a highest concern in several organisations. The fact that individuals, not teams or groups, are the primary knowledge creators is potentially problematic. In the top-down model, there is the danger of depending too much on a few top managers. In the bottomup model, because knowledge creation depends on the patience and talent of a particular individual, knowledge creation tends to be much more time-consuming than in the top-down model. (Krogh, 2000)

According to Barley and Kunda (1992) organizational learning can be categorized as 'single loop' (adaptive) or 'double loop' (generative). Single loop or adaptive learning is concerned with organizations adapting behaviour in response to changes in their environment. Double loop or generative learning, on the other hand, is concerned with both building new knowledge, so as to do business in new ways, and with modifying the organization, so that it is truly knowledge-centric.

The organizational situation in a knowledge-centric business is expected to display the following characteristics:

structure - supports the contribution of information by focusing on knowledge together and simultaneously systems and foundations that permit information to be disclosed across the entire association (task groups and project teams, matrix or network structures);

leadership - a vision and leadership style which facilitate learning and innovation and which foster an organizational culture, structure and infrastructure conducive to individual and organizational learning;

infrastructure - the configuration and use of information and communications technology and systems to store and share knowledge.

culture (organizational) - fosters experimentation and the sharing of ideas, and values learning and knowledge highly. (Carayannis, 2005)

The ability to transform individual knowledge into organizational knowledge is vital to competitive advantage in a changing environment.

[Nonaka's Spiral Of Knowledge]

Competence Building and Leveraging

Key to the success of organizations possessing knowledge-based core competences is the extent to which they can build new ones to account for changes in their environments and the extent to which they can be leveraged to establish an advantage in another market. When international markets are concerned, this ability can be one of the most crucial of all:

competence building is the development of new competences through organizational learning which are required to compete either in an existing market that is changing or in a new market;

competence leveraging is the application of existing competences in a new market.

Entry to a new market will often require both competence leveraging and competence building. Similarly, collaboration between organizations may well provide access to ...