NONAKA'S SECI MODEL

NONAKA'S SECI MODEL

DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL:

Nonaka and Takeuchi propose a model for knowledge creating process to understand the nature of the knowledge creation. To make this process effictively this model has three elements:

1. Seci
2. Ba
3. Knowledege assets.

There are two types of knowledge tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.

Tacit knowledge: Here the knowledge is created from internally of an individual, that means getting the knowledge from the experiences of the individual, it cannot be shown or written.

Explicit knowledge: Here the knowledge is created from the external sources, we can show this type of knowledge in the form of paper or records etc.

The tacit knowledge held by the individuals is converted by there spiral of knowledge through:

1. Socialization
2. Externalisation
3. Combination
4.Internalisation

Socialisation

Socialisation means sharing of knowledge (tacit to tacit) through face to face communication.(Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)

example: to develop a project in an organisation people use their own lifetime experiences to build up the project.


Externalisation

"Articulating tacit knowledge through dialogue and reflection".(Nonaka and Takeuchi).

Example: In an organisation the knowledge of an individuals tacit knowledge (experience) is taken by other members, that means here the tacit knowledge is converted to explicit knowledge (tacit to explicit).

Combination

It's a combination of various elements of explicit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi).

Example: Getting the knowedge from variuos explicit knowledge experiences of an individual and applying systemize them into other organisations (explicit to explicit).

Interanalisation

"Learning and aquiring new tacit knowledge in practice" (Nonaka and Takeuchi).

Example: Getting the explicit knowledge by an individual through reading, listening, observation is converted into tacit knowledge.


BENEFITS OF THE SECI MODEL:

1. It gives the framework for management of the relevent processes.
2. Supports the dynamic nature of knowledge and knowledge creation.

LIMITATIONS OF THE SECI MODEL:

1. It is based on the study of Japanese organisation, which is mostly rely on tacit knowledge.
2. The linearity of the concept does'nt support? It can go counter clockwise or anti clockwise.


CRITICISM OF NONAKA'S MODEL

Acoording to Kodama, Guerrieri and Pietrobelli(2004,2005,2007) said that;
"there is no general unique way of creating knowledge because although the underlying processess could always be in the same industry, country or cluster considerations sculpt organizational learning and even these conditions face ongoing evolution and change"

Gourly argues that combination and internalisation appears to be ambiguous notions that conflate knowledge creation and transfer in Nonaka's theory.

Engestron's(1999), "Discover that problem finding is an important part of innovation missing from the seci model".

MY VIEW ON CRITICISM FOR NONAKA'S SECI MODEL

As said above socialization is limted to an extent and externalisation is limited or not applicable, but socialisation takes place only when the sharing of knowledge is allowed in the organisation.
Example: Special agencies like FBI, CIA or any secret agencies, the members of the organisation due to security and confidentiality purpose. So we can sayu that knowledge of an organisation is not transformed into all process of seci model.

Some of the leading companies dont share their knowledge or information with other companies due to competion of capturing the market.Here externalisation is not used or restricted to certain level. Nonaka's knowledge management model (1995) is mostly discussed based on japanese working environment, but different countries have different employment culture.

CONCLUSION

All the knowledge creation process of the seci model could rarely applicable, but according to my learning knowledge of this model i can say that complete application of this model is not applicable. There are many factors such as confidentiality of the data, organisational culture, language etc are influencing the successful application of the seci model.

REFERENCES

1. IKUJIRO NONAKA,HIROTAKA TAKEUCHI (1995)- THE KNOWLEDGE CREATING COMPANY.

2. HAGHIRIAN P, (2003). DOES CULTURE REALLY MATTER? CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PROCESS WITHIN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION.

3. GREGORIO MARTIN- DE- CASTRO, PEDRO LOPEZ- SAEZ AND JOSE E. NAVAS-LOPEZ (2007). PROCESS OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION IN KNOWLEDGE -INTENSIVE FIRMS: EMPHIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM BOSTON'S ROUTE 128 AND SPAIN.

4. POLANY, M.1966, THE TACIT DIMENSION, GARDEB CITY, NY: DOUBLEDAY AND CO.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT


Knowledge management is a process through which organisations generates value from their intelluctual and knowledge - based assets like employes, partners, customers.Knowledge management is of two types:

1. Tacit knowledge
2. Explicit knowledge



Tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge cannot be described easily as it is unwritten, it is eventually held by every normal human being based on their emotions, insights, experiences etc.Tacit knowledge approach gives the understanding of knowledge that individuals have and how they transfer their knowledge within an organisation.

Tacit knowledge is very personal in nature and it is not easy to extract knowledge from the individuals head. This approach believes thattransfer of knowledge from one individual (knowledge carriers) to other individuals which leads to the sharing of the knowledge within the organisation, which leads to the creation of new knowledge.


EXAMPLE


When the Toyota company wanted to transfer knowledge of its production sustem to new employes in a new factory site. So they sent these employes to the existing companies for the training and work alongside the experienced employees. After the training they are sent to the new factory and work along with the experienced workers ane these workers assure that the knowledge of Toyota's finely tuned production process is fully planted in their new site.



EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE


Explicit kowledge can be expressed in the form of paper or words etc, its very easy to communicate, store and distribute this kind of knowledge.Explicit is like improvising the individuals knowledge to create new knowledge and the development of the systems.


Explicit knowledge approach believes that useful knowledge of the individuals in an organisaton can be articulated and made inti explicit, they also believe that formal organisations processess can be used to help individulas articulate the knowledge they have to create knowledge assets.


EXAMPLE


In 19990's Motorola was the global leader in in providing the best pagers in the market. To maintian theie leadership in the market they have decided to upgrade their products every 12 to 15 months. Whenever the new team designers were upgrading the product they were given the details of their last model, like design of the product so that they can make the better product from the last product. So this manual is passed to the next new team and this go on. Inthis way, motorola sought to make explicit and capture the knowledge developed by its enginers during each project.





IMPLEMENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNT


For example think of a golf caddie, they do more than carry clubs and track down the golf balls, they also advice to the golfers. Accurate advice may lead to the good play by the golfer at the end of the day,this leads to a bigger tip for the caddie. If the caddie is willing to share his advice with the other caddies, then eventually all the caddies may earn good tips, here the question arises how could knowledge management work to make this happen? The sponsor or the event manager may decide to reward caddies for sharing their tips with ither caddies, once the best advice is collected, the course manager would publish the information in notebooks and distirbute the information to all the caddies. The end result of a well designes knowledge management program is that everyone wins, as caddies get bigger tips, golfers play betterbecause they benefit from the collective experience of caddies and the course owner wins because better scores lead to better business.



DATA, INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM


Majority of people are not sure about the meanings of the above terms, they think that these terms have the same meaning, so i think it would be better we would discuss these terms and come to one conclusion.


DATA:


Data is set of records, it represents the statement of the event, its a raw data with no knowledge of relationship, it does'nt have meaning by itself. for example: records of the company.


INFORMATION:

Information is like the next step of the term data, where the information covers the understanding if relationship in the context of subject. For example, information about the current cstomers or employees of the company, information about the new customers or employees of the company.


KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is the improvised version of information or we can say it it the attachment of intelligence to the information, so we can get the specific details of the information. For example: How many employees left the company?


WISDOM:

Wisdom is like the best usage of the available knowledge, wisdom gives more understanding of fundamental principles.


So i can say that , as we move from data to wisdom, we can go up a level of maturity, we can get more intelligence from the raw data to make it more useful.



REFERENCES

1. MERIDITH LEVINSON, (2001), KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMNET DEFINATION AND SOLUTIONS. (WWW.C10.COM)

2. SANCHEZ, RON (2004), "CREATING MODULAR PLATFORMS FOR STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY" DESIGN MANAGEMENT, 58-67.

3. SACHEZ, RON (2001). "MANAGING KNOWLEDGE INTO COMPETENCES. THE FIVE LEARNING CYCLES OF THE COMPETENT ORGANISATION".

4. SPEAR, STEVEN AND H.KINT BOWEN (1999)." DECODING THE DNA OF THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM", HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1999,

5. STEIN, JOHAN AND JONES RIDDLESTRALE(2001).2managing the dissementation of competences".