Knowledge Management Most Cited 46

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Knowledge Management Most Cited 4-6

• Hsin-Min Lu
• March 21, 2007
• MIS 580

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A MODEL OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND N-FORM
CORPORATION

• Gunnar Hedlund
• Strategic Management Journal, 1994

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Introduction

• Two important issues for firms
• Internal organization and management of firms
• Dynamics of firms
• Existing theories have limited analytic ability
• Transaction cost
• Evolution theories
• Solution
• A model of knowledge management

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Types of Knowledge
Articulated Knowledge (AK)
Tacit Knowledge (TK)
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Knowledge transfer and transformation
ASSIMILATION
Interoranizational domain
Individual
Organization
Group
Articulated Knowledge (AK)
Appropriation
Extension
Internalization
Articulation
Reflection
Dialogue
Tacit Knowledge (TK)
Expansion
DISSEMINATION
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Knowledge transfer and transformation (cont)

• Articulation
• Tacit turns explicit
• Example Senior engineers write down their
  design rationale
• Internalization
• Articulated turns tacit
• Example Internalize the training materials
• Reflection Articulation Internalization
• The interaction between articulation and
  internalization
• Genuine Knowledge Creation
• Example Writing an science paper

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Knowledge transfer and transformation (cont)

• Extension
• Transfer of knowledge from lower ? higher agency
  levels
• Example An employee emails project charter
• Appropriation
• Transfer of knowledge from higher ? lower agency
  levels
• Example Group members coaches a new member
• Dialogue Extension Appropriation
• The interaction between extension and
  appropriation
• Different dialogue for different agency levels
• Example Two members from different groups share
  their project experiences

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Knowledge transfer and transformation (cont)

• Assimilation
• The input of knowledge
• Example Hiring key individuals from outside
• Dissemination
• The output of knowledge
• Example Selling of patents

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Japanese Corporations

• Input Articulated Assimilation (patent or
  tangible products)
• Tacit knowledge grows inside
• Exports in product form
• AK ? TK ? AK
• Weakness large system design
• Rely on tacit knowledge for internal coordiation
  is less effective for complex tasks

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Western Coporations

• Input Tacit and articulated
• Process Explicit, structured implementation
• Output Tacit and artulated
• AK TK ? AK ? AK TK
• Robust and expandable organzation structure
• Personel turnover
• Excel in managing large and complex system

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N-form vs. M-form
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Citation Summary
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Discussion

• N-form is associated with permanent personel
  pool. Is it necessary?
• M-form for radical innovation and N-form for
  incremental innovation?

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ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING THE CONTRIBUTING
PROCESS AND THE LITERATURES

• George P. Huber
• Organization Science, 1991

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Introduction

• An entity learns if, through its processing of
  information,
• The range of its potential behaviors is changed
• Does not have to be conscious or intentional
• May not results in behavioral changes
• Basic assumption An organization learns if any
  of its units acquire knowledge that is recognizes
  as potentially useful to the organzation

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Four Learning Constructs

• Knowledge Acquisition
• Obtain knowledge
• Information Distrubution
• Sharing and creating new knowledge
• Information Interpretation
• Derive common understanding
• Organization Memory
• Stored for future use

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Knowledge Acquisition

• Acquire information or knowledge
• For example
• Customer survey
• Research and development activities
• Performance reviews
• Analyses of competitors product

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Five Types of Knowledge Acquisition

• 1. Congenital Learning
• Inherited Knowledge
• 2. Experimental Learning
• Organizational Experiment
• Organizational self-appraisal
• Experimenting organizations
• Unintentional or unsystematic learning
• Experience-based learning curves

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Five Types of Knowledge Acquisition (cont)

• 3. Vicarious Learning
• Acquiring second-hand experience
• Corporate intelligence
• Imitate other organizations
• 4. Grafting
• Acquiring knowledge by hiring experienced
  personel from outside
• Acquisition of another organization for new
  knowledge

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Five Types of Knowledge Acquisition (cont)

• 5. Searching and Noticing
• Scanning
• Wide-range sensing
• Focused Search
• Narrow segment search, often in response to
  problems or opportunities
• Performance monitoring
• Gain feedback for prespecified goals

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Information Distribution

• Information distribution determins both the
  occurrence and breadth of organization learning
• Factors affect information distribution
• Information supplier knows who needs it
• Cost of routing the information
• Social status
• Workload

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Information Interpretation

• The process of translating events and developing
  shared understanding and conceptual schemes
• Shared interpretation of new information is
  affected by
• Prior cognitive maps and framing
• Media richness used to convey the information
• Information overload on the interpreting units
• Unlearning needed before generating new
  interpretation

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Organization Memory

• Main factors affect organzation memory
• Membership attrition
• Information distribution and interpretation
• Norms and methods for storing informaiton
• Routine and nonroutine SOP
• Methods for locating and retrieving stored
  information
• Information system
• Expert system for organization memory

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Citation Summary
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Discussion

• Is imitation a good way of learning?
• What is the role of Information Technology in
  organization learning?

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KNOWLEDGE OF THE FIRM, COMBINATIVE CAPABILITIES,
AND THE REPLICATION OF TECHNOLOGY

• Bruce Kogut and Udo Zander
• Organization Science, 1992

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Introduction

• A major objective of a firm is to grow
• To achieve the goal, a firm must
• Codify tacit knowledge and faciliate technology
  transfer
• However, structured knowledge also lower the
  threshold of imitation
• How to overcome the shortcoming?

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Two Kinds of Knowledge

• Information
• What something means
• Can be transmitted without loss of integrity
• Attribures of an object in programming language
• Know-how
• How to do something
• Like a recipe
• Methods of an object in programming language

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What Prevents Knowledge Transfer and Replication?

• A firms functional knowledge is embedded in its
  organization structure and principles
• A common language must be developed for knowledge
  transfer
• Organization principles provide the mechanisms to
  codify technologies into a language accessible to
  a wider circle of individuals
• Without a common stock of knowledge, transfer of
  knowledge between groups is very difficulty

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Create a Technology vs. Use a Technology

• Transferring technology need to reduce the cost
  of accessibility by creating a middle layer
  outside the core technology
• For example, OS on top of hardware
• Using a technology becomes easy
• However, the knowledge about how the technology
  work remians protected
• Knowing how to use Windows XP is not the same as
  knowing how to create a Windows XP
• The threshold of imitation remains high

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Combinative Capabilities

• Generate new applications from existing knowledge
• Local search started from current position
• Similar technologies that do not requrie a change
  in an organizations recipes of organizing
  research
• As the firm moves away from its knowledge base,
  its probability of success converges to that for
  a start-up operation.

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Selection for Knowledge Development

• The competition dynamics force organizations make
  constant selection regarding product development
• Forward looking development strategy is critical
  for long-term thriving
• However, short-term survival pressure may force a
  firm to focus on less-valuable options
• Balance between long-term and short-term goal is
  a complex quation

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Make-Buy Decision

• The decision of whether build a component
  in-house of buy it on the market is determined
  by
• The production knowledge is similar to their
  current organizing principles and information
  (make)
• The supplier has superior knowledge (buy)
• The development may lead to new markets (make)
• Immediate survival pressure (buy)

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Cititaion Summary
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Discussion

• What is the role of education system in
  transferring knowledge and replicating
  technology?

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THANKS YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND ATTENTIONQUSTIONS?