Innovation Through Knowledge Management
The achievement of big Japanese companies such as Honda and Matsushita compelled some experts to do some research on the the factors behind those acheivements. Aside from working attitude and strong organization management, it was discovered that the kwy success of Japanese big companies is their knowledge managemen system. Knowledge, either at individual level or group (organizational) level are manage in such a way that it creates new knowledge that will support the innovation process and manifested in the form of products or services.
Generally, knowledge management is define as a systematic management process, which enables the creation, identification, classification, distribution and aplication of new products.
Unlike other efficiency procedure concepts, knowledge management focuses on winning the competition based on excellent and better knowledge compared to other competitors. Thus, the main issue in knowledge management is competitiveness. Competitiveness is acquired through managing our knowledge at hand effectively and efficiently. (Onno W. Purbo).
There are 2 kinds of knowledge manage in knowledge management :
a. Tacit knowledge : knowledge that is hard to articulate but can be transferred and comunicated on. Tacit knowledge are:
- Not easily visible and expressible
- Highly personal and hard to formalize
- Difficult to communicate/share to others
- Subjective insights, intuition, hunches
- Deeply rooted in an individual actions and experience, ideals, values, emotions
- Increases proportionally with the individual’s commitment to learning
b. Explicit knowledge : knowledge that is real and easy to articulate and taught to others. It is:
- Easily visible and expressible and articulated
- Formal and systematically organized information
- Can be processed by computers, transmitted electronically, stored in databases
- Easy to communicate/share to others
- Can be in a form of books, manuals or an audio visual
The question is, “is it possible to convert or transfer the knowledge so that it will create product or service innovation and improve the continuity of a company?”
● YES it is:
Through SECI of Nonaka and Takeuchi in their book The Knowledge Creating Company (1995)
