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Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

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José Manuel Cardenas and Mauro Spinola<br />

The goal is to describe a process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge transfer and transformati<strong>on</strong>s by observing <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> role <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

IT in support <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> this transfer/transformati<strong>on</strong>. To do this, we observed <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> n<strong>on</strong>-routine work:<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> task/process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> writing an academic paper. The c<strong>on</strong>cepts related to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> assessment were: tacit<br />

knowledge and tacit informati<strong>on</strong>. Tacit knowledge is <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> owned capability or skill from each researcher<br />

to write an article individually and within a workgroup. In this sense, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge<br />

transfer/transformati<strong>on</strong> could be observed through two types <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> scenarios and through <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> use <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> IT<br />

tools related to KM in individual and group levels. The propositi<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> this research is that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

formulati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a knowledge management system (KMS) demands a level <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> understanding from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

tacit informati<strong>on</strong> in order to be c<strong>on</strong>tained within <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> designing such a system (system in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

broad sense <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> word). Results are divided in: a) radical paper and b) incremental paper, according<br />

to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> grade <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> novelty and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> collaborati<strong>on</strong> embedded in its redacti<strong>on</strong>. Both results are linked with<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> dimensi<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> tacit knowledge used with <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> goal <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> producing an academic paper. C<strong>on</strong>cluding<br />

that, it is necessary to understand how to produce experience repositories in order to reuse <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

created tacit knowledge for enhancing this activity.<br />

2. Explicit knowledge and tacit informati<strong>on</strong><br />

There is a kind <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>sensus about <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> fact that KM is focused <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> ability to deal with two<br />

dimensi<strong>on</strong>s <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge: tacit and explicit (Nevo, Furneaux & Wand 2007; N<strong>on</strong>aka 2007). From<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se dimensi<strong>on</strong>s, tacit knowledge <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>fers more difficulty with evaluati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong>ce it bel<strong>on</strong>gs to a part <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a<br />

very pers<strong>on</strong>al dimensi<strong>on</strong> and it is difficult to formalize (Wagner & Sternberg 1985).Explicit knowledge<br />

is that which can be easily transformed and articulated into words, symbols, images or any o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r<br />

explanati<strong>on</strong> that can be easily understood by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> message receiver. According to N<strong>on</strong>aka (1994), this<br />

dimensi<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge becomes tacit knowledge, that which is not easily expressed verbally. This<br />

knowledge is again c<strong>on</strong>verted explicitly through interacti<strong>on</strong>s am<strong>on</strong>g <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge repositories; <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>n,<br />

new tacit knowledge is produced by those interacti<strong>on</strong>s. And, this generates a cycle that shapes a<br />

spiral <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge. This process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge transfer seems relatively simple because people have<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> ability to decode informati<strong>on</strong> from prior knowledge (Izquierdo, Bevilaqua & Cammarota 2006)<br />

through a process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> experience and use, learning by trial and error, or testing and failure. However,<br />

when <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> objective is trying to transfer informati<strong>on</strong> from <strong>on</strong>e pers<strong>on</strong> to a storage medium, or<br />

technology designed for this purpose, it could be said that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> next cycle will not be created because<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> "storage medium" does not have <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> skills to generate tacit knowledge from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> informati<strong>on</strong><br />

received. But, it could be said also that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re was an effective transfer <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> informati<strong>on</strong>, since <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

message was passed without changes and may be assumed that informati<strong>on</strong> will be passed out to<br />

o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r users without modificati<strong>on</strong>.<br />

This way, if c<strong>on</strong>sidered <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> premise that using a particular IT strives to properly transfer informati<strong>on</strong>,<br />

like specific KM, two strategies can be c<strong>on</strong>sidered. (Hansen, Nohria & Tierney 1999) formulate <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

possibility <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> using: a) pers<strong>on</strong>alizati<strong>on</strong> and b) codificati<strong>on</strong> as strategies for use <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> IT tools. The former<br />

implies that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> organizati<strong>on</strong> seeks to primarily use <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> tacit knowledge <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> those involved and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

disseminati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> this knowledge in order to develop an organizati<strong>on</strong>al learning that involves sharing<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> experiences <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> each element <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> organizati<strong>on</strong> from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> problems or successes that happen <strong>on</strong><br />

a day-to-day basis. Pers<strong>on</strong>alizati<strong>on</strong> means to streng<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>n existing links within <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> organizati<strong>on</strong> in order<br />

to let <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> social networks be more dynamic and enhance <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> disseminati<strong>on</strong> and sharing <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

experiences from each member as <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>ten as possible.<br />

Strategy <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> codificati<strong>on</strong> involves <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> use <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> encrypti<strong>on</strong> technologies for storing informati<strong>on</strong>, creating<br />

repositories and allowing access to stored data c<strong>on</strong>tinuously in order to enhance <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

learning from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> people who need to use knowledge as a resource for pers<strong>on</strong>al development within<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> scope <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> organizati<strong>on</strong>. And, within <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> encoding process; activities, tasks and processes<br />

should be as documented as possible, in order to be reviewed in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> future and modify, eliminate or<br />

improve <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> informati<strong>on</strong>. The process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> choosing <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> most appropriate alternative depends <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

organizati<strong>on</strong>'s ability to identify <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir needs for creating, processing and using <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir explicit knowledge<br />

or <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir tacit informati<strong>on</strong>.That is, if it is needed to manage explicit knowledge through IT, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

organizati<strong>on</strong> should think in terms <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge that this "explicitly" expressed in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> way that it is<br />

able to be c<strong>on</strong>tained into physical mechanisms, stored in databases and accessible through<br />

informati<strong>on</strong> systems that allow <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> recovery <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> such data when necessary. Thus, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> role <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> IT within<br />

<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> spiral <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> knowledge focuses <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> transfer <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a coded message for this purpose. However,<br />

c<strong>on</strong>sider also <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> existence <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> "tacit informati<strong>on</strong>," which is also produced as part <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> process <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />

transforming knowledge. According to Falc<strong>on</strong>er (2006), <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> informati<strong>on</strong> remains tacit for different<br />

reas<strong>on</strong>s. One reas<strong>on</strong> is because it is part <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> organizati<strong>on</strong>al culture that does not share all known<br />

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