KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND DIALECTICS

SYNTHESIS OF INDIVIDUAL/ORGANIZATION
Knowledge is created only by individuals. In other words, an
organization cannot create knowledge on its own without individuals.
It is very important, therefore, for the organization to support and
stimulate the knowledge-creating activities of individuals or to provide
the appropriate contexts for them. Organizational knowledge creation
should be understood as a process that “organizationally” amplifies the
knowledge created by individuals and crystallizes it at the group level
through dialogue, discussion, experience sharing, sense making, or
community of practice.
In developing a lighter, less expensive, more comfortable, and solid car,
Hiroo Watanabe of Honda insisted on allocating the minimum space for
mechanics and the maximum space for passengers (more on this in the
next two chapters). The new product development team at Honda argued
and discussed what Hiroo Watanabe's idea might possibly mean and
came up with the concept of “Tall Boy,” a tall and short car. (Concept
innovation will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 7.) To do so, they
used an analogy of a sphere, which contains the maximum volume
within the minimum area of surface, and developed what came to be
called Honda City.
This example illustrates the central role that self-organizing teams
play in the knowledge-creating process. They provide a shared context in
,which individuals can carry on a dialogue, which may involve
considerable conflict and disagreement. It is precisely such a
contradiction that pushes individuals to question existing premises and to
make sense of their, experiences in a new way. This kind of dynamic
interaction at the group level facilitates the transformation of personal
HIROTAKA TAKEUCHI AND IKUJIRO NONAKA: KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND
DIALECTICS (0507; p. 16 )