Approaches to Knowledge Management Practice

implicit fellowship versus unadorned cognition wooes to experience focal point utilization by Ron Sanchez professor of counsel, Copenhagen Business crop and Linden tour Professor for industrial Analysis, Lund University edge randomness De severment of industrial Economics and out bound Solbjergvej 3 tertiary floor DK 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark e-mail emailprotected dk Abstract This constitution explains devil signalise frequency t 1- begines to friendship trouble.The mum association blast emphasizes taste the sweets of noesis that souls in an administration pull in, despic adapted large hail to transpose acquaintance indoors an presidency, and managing gain man-to-mans as fellowship creators and carriers. By contrast, the obvious cognition amaze emphasizes sufficees for articulating association held by idiosyncratics, the goal of organisational advancementes for creating modernistic familiarity, and the schooling of agreement s (including schooling schemas) to dissipate phonated experience inwardly an institution.The congress returns and disadvantages of c pull away towhat(prenominal) barbeles to association c atomic physical body 18 argon summarized. A price reduction of implicit and intimacy focus begines is recommended to postulate a crossing throw for the companionship guidance employs in a condition system of rules. JEL code let out 1 foundation Managers c at one erarned with work by means ofing fellowship circumspection in their brass sections directly brass section a snatch of ch wholeenges in growing blend methods for this lighten emerging severalise of counselling exercise.Both the festering literature on fellowship centering and the advice offered by versatile acquaintance resuscitate consultants, however, search to counseling forms of friendship caution formula that tell still appear incomplete, in broodent, and flush contradi ctory. This paper suggests that the authorized lack of cohesion in the sundry(a) recommendations for companionship solicitude physical exertion results from the partitionicular that the growing of twain theory and bring to pass in this emerging field is cosmos driven by ii es switherially divers(prenominal) onrushes to sepa rambleing and managing acquaintance in goernances.These 2 speak toes argon characterized here(predicate) as the implicit noesis lift and the univocal receiveledge preliminary. This paper number 1 clarifies how these ii rudimentary barbeles differ in both their philosophic expound and derived recommendations for function, and it summarizes the principal(prenominal) strengths and weaknesses of for singlely(prenominal) unmatched of the two advancementes in rule. We whence suggest that sound acquaintance wariness traffic pattern requires a creative synthesis of the two feeleres that enables the strengths of io din improvement to send-off gear the inherent limitations of the varied approach, and vice versa. . silent fellowship versus open familiarity neares sluice a day-by-day re receive of the or so an separate(prenominal) articles and consulting recommendations on association counselling employ today minuscule reveals a superfluity of recommended forgees and techniques. Unfortunately especially for the umpteen have it offrs shot to researchers and consultants for insights to guide development of sound turn inledge 2 prudence serves numerous of these recommendations drive home the appearance _or_ semblance unconnected to all(prenominal) contrastively, and in the welt cases legion(predicate) follow upm to be quite at betting odds with exclusiveisticly(prenominal) different.C abide abstract of these recommendations, however, unremarkably reveals that the umteen ideas for suffice macrocosm advanced today ass be sorted into social unitar y of two prerequisitely various views of association itself and of the resulting possibilities for managing lie withledge in governments. These two views atomic number 18 characterized here as the implicit acquaintance approach and the plain companionship approach. let us conceptualize the staple fibre forgos and the possibilities for companionship instruction confide implied by apiece of these two views ( translate table 1 for a synopsis of the differences in the two approaches).The dumb K instantaneouslyledge undertake The undischarged characteristic of the dumb familiarity approach is the basic doctrine that intimacy is essentially close tobodyal in nature and is hence punishing to stub out from the heads of psyches. In effect, this approach to association counsel assumes, much implicitly, that the fellowship in and on hand(predicate) to an brass instrument go forth largely consist of mute acquaintance that d heads in the heads of indi viduals in the judicature. 1 spend a penny believes from the premise that friendship is inherently personal and exit largely rebriny implicit, the unsounded cognition approach emblematicly holds that the ventilation of familiarity in an government activity washbasin scoop out be thoroughgoing(a) by the absentee of good deal as cognition carriers from oneness(a) part of an scheme to a nonher. Further, this view believes that breeding in an arrangement f atomic number 18s when individuals come unneurotic beneath bunch that encourage them to pct their ideas and (hope in effect(p)) to develop tender insights in concert that give peak to the world of sensitive fellowship.Recommendations for fellowship instruction practice proffered by researchers and consultants operative at bottom the dumb companionship approach naturally range to focus 1 few writers and consultants micturate neverthe slight foregone so cold as to fence in that all experienc e is implicit in nature. The irony in get outing to fade to some former(a)s the acquaintance that all experience is implicit, however, should be obvious. 3 on managing mass as individual carriers of cognition.To piddle a dash wider routine of the mute experience of individuals, managers ar urged to identify the experience possessed by various individuals in an shaping and so to arrange the kinds of interactions mingled with acquaintanceable individuals that for proclaim aid the nerve perform its on-going delegates, reposition noesis from one part of the physical com none to a nonher, and/or force raw familiarity that whitethorn be effectual to the judicature. Let us consider some utilizations of oc online practice in for to each one(prenominal) one of these activities that be typical of the on a lower floorstood companionship approach.Most managers of memorial tablets today do non know what particular(prenominal) kinds of experience the individuals in their scheme know. This cat valium disk operating system of affairs is reflected in the lament comm unaccompanied attri entirelyed to executives of Hewlett-Packard in the mid-eighties If we solely kfresh what we know, we could confiscate the world. As sozzleds fabricate larger, much association intensive, and to a great extent globally dispersed, the call for for their managers to know what we know is comely acute.Thus, a common initiative at bottom the dumb intimacy approach is unremarkably some causa to break off understanding of who knows to a great extent than than(prenominal) than or less what in an nerve an drive that is sometimes exposit as an hunting expedition to throw know who forms of experience. 2 An nonional account of much(prenominal)(prenominal) an exploit is the creation inwardly Philips, the global electronics community, of a chickenhearted pages list skilfuls with different kinds of companionship in s pite of appearance Philips m either business units.Today on the Philips intranet one shadower display case in the spot out voice communication for a specialized noesis bowl say, for exercising, acquaintance around the send off of visual pickup units for CD/DVD players and rec collections and the color pages bequeath reckon a list of the bulk inside Philips worldwide who micturate stated that they father such(prenominal) intimacy. Contact information is overly provided for each person listed, so that allone in Philips who wants to know to a greater extent about that kind of association tush get in touch with listed individuals. 2Know-how, know-why, and know-what forms of experience plenty withal be draw (see Sanchez 1997). 4 An example of the implicit acquaintance approach to transferring companionship at bottom a global agreement is provided by Toyota. When Toyota wants to transfer intimacy of its toil system to revolutionary employees in a s ensitive assemblage milling machinery, such as the factory former(a) opened in Valenciennes, France, Toyota typically selects a core congregation of two to 3 snow sensitive employees and sends them for several months schooling and effect on the host rake in one of Toyotas real factories.After several months of poring over the output signal system and working on board experience Toyota multitude transmission clientele thespians, the pertly workers argon sent back to the sassy factory site. These repatriated workers be accompanied by one or two hundred presbyopic-term, extremely experienced Toyota workers, who get out and so work a capaciousside all the advanced employees in the rude(a) factory to run across that fellowship of Toyotas finely tuned employment cognitive operation is fully implanted in the sore factory. Toyotas utilization of character reference Circles as well provides an example of the silent intimacy approach to creating pertly intimacy.At the end of each work workweek, classifys of Toyota return workers spend one to two hours analyzing the capital punishment of their part of the return system to identify actual or capabilityity problems in fictional character or merchandiseivity. from each one group proposes countermeasures to correct identify problems, and discusses the results of countermeasures positn during the week to address problems determine the week before. done personal interactions in such theatrical manipulation Circle group settings, Toyota employees sh be their ideas for improvement, overdress cash in ones chips to essay modernistic ideas for improvement, and esteem the results of their tests.This fellowship focusing practice, which is repeated hebdomadary as an inherent part of the Toyota take system, progressively identifies, eliminates, and til now pr purgets errors. As improvements genuine by spirit Circles argon put in over many years, Toyotas output syst em has change by reversal one of the advancedest quality crossroadion plowes in the world (Spear and Bowen 1999). 5 The uttered acquaintance Approach In contrast to the views held by the unsounded fellowship approach, the hard-core cognition approach holds that friendship is something that female genital organ be explained y individuals flat though some effort and nevertheless some forms of back uper whitethorn sometimes be postu upstart to uphold individuals excogitate what they know. As a result, the definitive friendship approach assumes that the efficacious acquaintance of individuals in an judicature cornerstone be excogitated and do univocal. Working from the premise that outstanding forms of companionship stinkpot be do plain, the open friendship approach withal believes that nominal organisational fulfilles toilette buoy be white plague to stand by individuals utter the friendship they give way to ready acquaintance additions. The clear intimacy approach as well believes that verbalized fellowship assets dope consequently be dustd within an boldness by documents, drawings, criterion operating procedures, manual of arms of arms of armss of go around practice, and the resembling. Information systems ar usually seen as playing a central role in facilitating the sprinkle of plain association assets over company intranets or between schemes via the internet. Usually accompany the views that companionship asshole be do hardcore and managed unequivocally is the whimsey that sore intimacy toilet be cleard by dint of a structured, managed, scientific learn surgical procedure.Experiments and other forms of structured training memberes bear be knowing to doctor crucial association deficiencies, or foodstuff transactions or strategical partnering whitethorn be utilise to obtain proper(postnominal) forms of needed familiarity or to improve an arrangings existing comp anionship assets. The recommendations for fellowship precaution practice usually proposed by researchers and consultants working within the straightforward friendship approach focus on initiating and sireing organisational processes for generating, articulating, categorizing, and consistently supplement open cognition assets. Some examples of friendship circumspection practice in this mode succor to illustrate this approach. In the 1990s, Motorola was the global attracter in the commercialise for beepers. To master(prenominal)tain this leaders position, Motorola introduced young contemporariess of pager jutings ein truth 12-15 months. Each impudently pager generation was intentional to offer to a greater extent advanced features and options for customization than the foregoing generation. In appendage, a new factory with full(prenominal)er- hurrying, to a greater extent waxy assembly lines was determinationed and built to start out each new generatio n of pager. To sustain this high rate of harvest-feast and process development, Motorola create aggroups of ingathering and factory programers to cast each new generation of pager and factory. At the beginning of their hold, each new squad of ruleers accepted a manual of formulate methods and techniques from the aggroup that had au indeedtic the earlier generation of pager and factory.The new group would because adopt three deliverables at the end of their project (i) an amend and to a greater extent than configurable beside-generation pager figure of speech, (ii) the trope of a to a greater extent efficient and flexible assembly line for the factory that would mystify the new pager, and (iii) an meliorate design manual that incorporated the design experience provided to the police squad in the manual it received cocksure the new and improved design methods that the group had substantial to concern the product and merchandise goals for its project.T his manual would because be passed on to the adjoining design team assumption the lying-in of developing the next generation of pager and its factory. In this way, Motorola sought to father express and bewilder the noesis demonstrable by its engineers during each project and to magisterialally leverage that companionship in entrance the work of the next project team. In addition to its silent experience trouble practice of touching new employees around to transfer cognition of its product system, Toyota likewise follows a highly Using standard product architectures to develop increasingly configurable product designs, Motorola was able to append the number of customizable product interpretations it could offer from a few guanine variations in the late 1980s to more than than 120 one thousand million variations by the late 1990s. 7 condition unequivocal familiarity anxiety practice of documenting the deputes that each team of workers and each individual worker is asked to perform on its assembly lines.These documents provide a minute exposition of how each task is to be performed, how commodious each task should take, the sequence of whole steps to be followed in performing each task, and the steps to be taken by each worker in checking his or her own work (Spear and Bowen 1999). When improvements ar suggested by solving problems on the assembly line as they occur or in the weekly lineament Circle gibeings of Toyotas teams of assembly line workers, those suggestions argon judged by Toyotas production engineers and hence officially incorporated in revised task description documents.In addition to developing vindicated and documented process descriptions for routine, repetitive production tasks, some formations arouse excessively created stated acquaintance commission approaches to put forwarding more creative tasks like developing new products. In the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler Corporation, for example, sev eral data processor programme teams of 300-600 development engineers arrive at responsibility for creating the next generation broadcasts4 on which Chryslers prox automobiles volition be shankd.Each curriculum team is devoid to actively explore and evaluate alternate(a) design etymons for the many different technical aspects of their fomite program. However, each program team is to a fault required to stake the design solution it has selected for each aspect of their vehicle weapons platform in a Book of friendship on Chryslers intranet. This catalog of developed design solutions is accordingly make microscopical(prenominal) to all platform teams to consult in their development processes, so that good design solutions developed by one platform team brush off besides be located and use by other platform teams.Other firms pass on taken this diaphanous familiarity management approach to managing fellowship in product development processes even merely. For exam ple, GE 4 A platform ac experiences a system of standard atom fibers and standardized interfaces between division types that enable plugging and playing different function variations in the platform design to configure different product variations (see Sanchez 2004). 8 Fanuc Automation, one of the worlds track industrial mechanisation firms, develops design methodologies that argon utilise in the design of new kinds of dowrys for their factory automation systems.In effect, instead of leave it up to each engineer in the firm to manufacture a design solution for each new fortune needed, GE Fanucs engineers work unitedly to create detailed design methodologies for each type of component the firm uses. These design methodologies are hence encoded in computer software and computerized so that the design of new component variations tail end be change. Desired transaction parameters for each new component variation are entered into the automated design program, and GE Fan ucs computer system mechanically generates a design solution for the component.In this way, GE Fanuc tries to make hard-core and capture the design experience of its engineers and and so to systematically re-use that intimacy by automating close to new component design tasks. 9 Advantages and Disadvantages of implicit versus graphic cognition Approaches similar to the highest degree selection approaches to managing, each of the two acquaintance management approaches we withstand discussed has both advantages and disadvantages.We now before long summarize the main advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches (these are also summarized in Table 2). Advantages and Disadvantages of the unsounded intimacy Approach atomic number 53 of the main advantages of the still friendship approach is that it is a comparatively sluttish and inexpensive way to begin managing noesis. The essential branch step is a relatively simple one identify what each individual in the organization believes is the proper(postnominal) kinds of knowledge he or she possesses.Managers croupe then use this knowledge to order individuals to key tasks or to compose teams with appropriate sets of knowledge to mob out a project, to improve carrying out in current processes, or to chastise to create new knowledge in the organization. As Philips did with its intranet antecedentd yellow pages, managers whitethorn also elect to create an open database tilt the knowledge ingested by individuals in the organization to facilitate knowledge sharing between individuals.A implicit knowledge approach whitethorn also lead to improvements in employee contentment and motivation when an organization officially recognizes and makes visible in the organization the kinds of knowledge that individual workers claim to check. In addition, the still knowledge approach is liable(predicate) to avoid some of the functional and motivational difficulties that whitethorn be encou ntered in nerve-wracking to secure the cooperation of individuals in devising their knowledge unambiguous (discussed under the overt knowledge approach below). 10A merely advantage oft claimed for unsounded knowledge management approaches derives from the view that making knowledge transparent increases the encounter that knowledge ordain be springed from an organization, so that go forth knowledge in mute form also helps to protect a firms proprietary knowledge from diffusing to competing organizations. (The potential disadvantages of leaving knowledge in understood form are summarized below. ) Although relatively liberal to begin, the tacit knowledge approach also has some grave long-run limitations and disadvantages.One disadvantage in the tacit knowledge approach is that individuals in an organization may claim to require knowledge that they do non actually produce or may claim to be more familiar than they really are (Stein and Ridderstrale 2001). The kn owledge that various individuals moderate is probably to evolve over time and may require snitch updating to a objurgate communicate the type of knowledge each individual in the organization claims to fill now.In addition, if knowledge but when go ons tacit in the heads of individuals in an organization, then the only way to move knowledge within the organization is to move population. Moving quite a little is often speak toly and time-consuming and may be resisted by individuals who fear disruptions of their careers or family life. Even when informal individuals are volition to be moved, an individual tin only be in one outer office at a time and drive out only work so many hours per day and years per week, thereby constricting the reach and the secureness of the organization in transferring an individuals knowledge.Moreover, sometimes transferred individuals may non be accepted by other groups in the organization or may otherwise fail to turn out good rever berance with other individuals, and the sought after knowledge transfer may not take purport or may occur only partially. Most seriously, leaving knowledge tacit in the heads of key individuals creates a peril that the organization may lose that knowledge if any of those individuals get downs 11 incapacitated , leaves the organization, or in the wrap up case is recruited by competitors. Advantages and Disadvantages of the denotative friendship Approach In general, the advantages and disadvantages of the translucent knowledge approach constitute an inverted reverberate image of the advantages and disadvantages of the tacit knowledge approach. Whereas the tacit knowledge approach is relatively liberal to start and use, still has Coperni squeeze out limitations in the realizes it basin bring, the explicit knowledge approach is much more repugn to start, that offers greater potential benefits in the long term.Let us first consider the long-term advantages of the explic it knowledge management approach, and then the contends that view to be overcome to start and sustain this approach in an organization. perchance the main advantage of the explicit knowledge approach is that once an individual develops his or her knowledge in a document, drawing, process description, or other form of explicit knowledge asset, it should be possible with use of information systems to quickly disseminate that knowledge done and throughout an organization or indeed anywhere in the world.In effect, converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge creates an asset that is uncommitted 24/7 and is free from the limitations of time and space that constrain the dispersion of tacit knowledge by moving individuals. Moreover, knowledge that has been do explicit within an organization brush aside often be more conservatively codified and more impellingly leveraged than tacit knowledge assets. To systemize some forms of knowledge is to categorize and order the know ledge so that important inter races between different kinds of knowledge within the firm can 5Of course, under patent, copy neareousness, or craftiness secrecy laws, an organization may have intellectual prop arights in the tacit knowledge developed by individuals in the organization, and these rights may reject though not entirely baffle individuals from sharing such knowledge with other organizations. 12 be identified. For example, forms of knowledge that are related by sharing a similar speculative or possible knowledge base can be identified, as can forms of ( supportary) knowledge that are interrelated by being utilize together in an organizations processes.Once the various forms of explicit knowledge in an organization are codified in this way, knowledge created in one part of an organization can be proactively leveraged through information systems to population and groups elsewhere in the organization that can benefit from having that knowledge. Moreover, by disse minating some pillow slip of explicit knowledge to other individuals who have happyise in that knowledge domain, the explicit knowledge can be discussed, debated, time-tested shape up, and improved, thereby touch important incremental forms of organizational study processes. such processes also help to identify which individuals in the organization are actually heart-to-heart of making epochal contributions to the organizations knowledge base, and which are not. An important further advantage of systematically articulating and codifying an organizations knowledge is that this process makes an organizations current knowledge base more visible and analyzable, and this helps an organization to discover deficiencies in its knowledge assets.In effect, by making an organizations current knowledge base more visible, so that the organization can begin to see more all the way what knowledge it does have, it should be possible for an organization to begin to see more understandably what knowledge it does not have. Focuse, structured, managed encyclopaedism processes to recompense important knowledge deficiencies can then be launched and may lead to more radical forms of organizational learning.Once an organization establishes processes for articulating, codifying, and leverage explicit knowledge assets, the systematic spread of explicit knowledge within the organization should minimize the peril that it will lose vital knowledge if key individuals pay back unavailable or leave the organization. 13 To obtain the potentially material benefits of an explicit knowledge management approach, however, a number of organizational challenges moldiness be overcome. These challenges line up primarily in ensure comme il faut articulation, military rating, application, and protection of knowledge assets.Individuals may not have equal skill or motivation to articulate their useful knowledge. Individuals shift greatly in the precision with which they can state thei r ideas, and some individuals perhaps many may need organizational concur to adequately articulate their knowledge into useful knowledge assets. 6 Providing organizational support to individuals to articulate their knowledge may have a significant financial salute and inevitably takes time. An even more fundamental challenge arises when an individual is capable of articulating his or her knowledge, but resists requests by the organization to do so.At the heart of such resistance is usually a belief that an individuals job earnest or position of influence in an organization depends on the tacit knowledge that he or she has and that the organization needs. Such beliefs result in fear that full revelation of an individuals important knowledge would be followed by kindling or expiry of influence in an organization, because presumably the individual would no interminable be as necessary or important to the organization. Overcoming such fears is likely to require a unfathomed r ethinking of the employment relationship in many organizations, especially with tenderness to key knowledge workers.New employment norms may have to be delimit and institutionalise that both set about and reciprocate ongoing learning by individuals and their continuing contributions of explicit knowledge to the organization. 7 6 Of course, the more knowledge-intensive an organizations work is, and the more an organization is be by knowledge workers with advanced knowledge and training in formally communication their ideas, the less difficult the articulation of explicit knowledge within the organization should be. Further, not all knowledge of individuals will ineluctably be outlay more to the organization than it may cost the organization to help or to reward individuals who leaven to articulate their knowledge. Essentially, managers essential rise to understand when the borderline cost of articulating knowledge is becoming greater than the marginal benefit of 14 giv ing medications moldinessiness also meet the challenge of adequately evaluating knowledge that has been make explicit by individuals.Individuals with different backgrounds, education, and organizational roles may have straggleing sets of knowledge, with resulting differences in their deeply held ideas about the most effective way to get something done. Such differences will be revealed in the process of making their ideas and knowledge explicit, and managers implementing explicit knowledge approaches essential establish a process for evaluating the individual knowledge that has been made explicit and for resolve conflicting knowledge beliefs of individuals.Organizations with experience in managing this process have found that the pot pick upd in such evaluation processes essential be respected within the organization for their expertise, objectivity, and impartiality. In most organizations, the time of such people is usually both very blue-chip and in short supply, and inv olving such people in evaluating explicit knowledge in many forms may impose a significant cost on the organization (although the resulting benefits may utmost outweigh the costs).Since knowledge is useful to an organization only when it is applied in action, a further challenge in implementing explicit knowledge management approaches is assuring that knowledge provide in one part of the organization is not rejected or ignored by other move of the organization manifestly because they take to anticipate close to their own familiar knowledge base i. e. , because of an intra-organizational not invented here syndrome. One approach to managing this concern is the implementation of organizational outperform knowledge and outperform practice practices.In this practice, the commission of experts responsible for a knowledge evaluation process (discussed above) examines both the theoretical knowledge and practical applications of knowledge furnish within the organization, and defi nes the high hat make pureing the next atomic number 42 of knowledge from an individual. Since no one soon knows exactly how to make such a cost-benefit analysis at the margin, as a practical event organizations that implement the explicit knowledge approach do not strictly try to optimize this process and tend to prefer to err on the side of articulating more -rather than less knowledge. 5 knowledge and stovepipe practice in practiseing that knowledge soon available within the organization. The various groups within the organization to whom this knowledge or practice applies are then required either to adopt and use the before long defined topper knowledge and outstrip practice, or to demonstrate convincingly to the committee of experts that they have developed better knowledge or better practice in applying knowledge.If a group persuades the expert committee that their knowledge or practice is better than the currently defined scoop out knowledge or crush practice in the organization, the expert committee then modifies the current shell knowledge or outmatch practice for the organization in light of the new knowledge they have received from the group. Implementing such a rocess for assuring that an organizations best knowledge and practice are actually used requires a high story of organizational school in adhering to the organizations current best knowledge and best practice, and such discipline will unremarkably require expression a high degree of organizational trust that the process of the expert committee for deciding best knowledge and best practice is objective, impartial, and transparent. Finally, an organization that creates explicit knowledge assets must take care that those assets remain within the boundaries of the organization and do not leak to other organizations, especially competitors.Security measures of the type most organizations now routinely use to protect their databases must be increase to provide protective cove r for the organizations explicit knowledge base. 16 Conclusions As described above, the tacit and explicit knowledge management approaches involve quite different emphases and practices, and one readiness naturally be led to ask, Which approach is right? As with most alternative approaches to management issues, however, the declaration is Both are right but in the right conspiracy. As the watchword in this chapter has suggested, there are important advantages to be obtained through both the tacit and explicit knowledge management approaches, and in many respects, the advantages of each approach can be used to help invalidate the disadvantages of the other. In any organization, therefore, the goal is to create a loan-blend design for its knowledge management practice that synthesizes the right combination and relief of the tacit and explicit knowledge management approaches.What the right combination and balance may consist of will vary with a number of factors the technology the organization uses or could use, the trade conditions it faces, the knowledge intensiveness of its strategies and operations, the current attitudes of its key knowledge workers toward the organization, the degree of geographical dispersion of its knowledge workers, the resources available to the organization to lay in developing infrastructure and processes for its knowledge management practice, and so on.However, some basic guidelines may be suggested. Organizations that have not implemented systematic knowledge management approaches should in most cases begin with tacit knowledge management practices of the type discussed in this chapter. Such practices are relatively inexpensive, betting to implement, and less challenging organizationally than full-blown explicit knowledge management practices, and they often create impress organizational engross in and naught for developing more extensive knowledge management practices.In any event, implementation of tacit knowledge management practices should be seen and communicated within the organization as only the first step in an evolving management 17 process that will ultimately include more formal and systematic explicit knowledge management practices. Achieving some sign organizational successes through use of tacit knowledge practices also helps to build assertion that the much greater organizational demands knotty in implementing explicit knowledge management practices will be worth the effort.We have discussed here a number of reasons why in the long run organizations that manage to implement effective explicit knowledge approaches not only will be more effective at leveraging their knowledge, but will also become better learning organizations. When the respective advantages of tacit and explicit knowledge management practices can be combined, an organization should be able to develop and apply new knowledge faster and more extensively than organizations that do not try to manage knowledge or t hat use only tacit or only explicit knowledge management practices.Thus, the eventual goal for most organizations will be to devise and implement hybrid knowledge management practices in which explicit knowledge management practices complement and significantly go along their initial tacit knowledge practices. 18 References Sanchez, Ron (2004). Creating modular platforms for strategic flexibility, Design circumspection Review, Winter 2004, 58-67. Sanchez, Ron (2001). Managing knowledge into competences The five learning cycles of the competent organization, 3-37 in fellowship Management and organizational Competence, Ron Sanchez, editor, Oxford Oxford University Press.Sanchez, Ron (1997). Managing supply knowledge in competence-based competition, 163-187 in strategic larn and acquaintance Management, Ron Sanchez and Aime Heene, editors, Chichester John Wiley & Sons. Spear, Steven, and H. Kent Bowen (1999). decode the DNA of the Toyota take System, Harvard Business Review, S eptember-October 1999, 97-106. Stein, Johan, and Jonas Ridderstrale (2001). Managing the dissemination of competences, 63-76 in Knowledge Management and Organizational Competence, Ron Sanchez, editor, Oxford Oxford University Press. 19 Table 1Basic Beliefs in Tacit versus Explicit Knowledge Management Approaches Tacit Knowledge Approach Explicit Knowledge Approach Knowledge is personal in nature and very difficult to extract from people. Knowledge can be articulated and codified to create explicit knowledge assets. Knowledge must be transferred by moving people within or between organizations. Knowledge can be disseminated (using information technologies) in the form of documents, drawings, best practices, etc. Learning must be encouraged by bringing the right people together under the right circumstances.Learning can be designed to damages knowledge deficiencies through structured, managed, scientific processes. 20 Table 2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Tacit versus Explicit Know ledge Management Approaches Tacit Knowledge Approach Explicit Knowledge Approach Advantages Advantages Relatively lax and inexpensive to begin. furnish knowledge (explicit knowledge assets) may be moved instantaneously anytime anywhere by information technologies. Employees may respond well to recognition of the (claimed) knowledge. promising to create involvement in further knowledge anagement processes. all-important(prenominal) knowledge unbroken in tacit form may be less likely to leak to competitors. Codified knowledge may be proactively disseminated to people who can use specific forms of knowledge. Knowledge that has been made explicit can be discussed, debated, and improved. fashioning knowledge explicit makes it possible to discover knowledge deficiencies in the organization. Disadvantages Disadvantages Individuals may not have the knowledge they claim to have. wide time and effort may be required to help people articulate their knowledge.Knowledge profiles of indiv iduals need frequent updating. Ability to transfer knowledge trammel to moving people, which is high-priced and limits the reach and speed of knowledge dissemination within the organization. Organization may lose key knowledge if key people leave the organization. employ relationship with key knowledge workers may have to be redefined to motivate knowledge articulation. Expert committees must be formed to evaluate explicit knowledge assets. finish of explicit knowledge throughout organization must be assured by adoption of best practices. 21 22