Abstract
This article explores some imperatives of Knowledge Management for organizational knowledge creation in the era of globalization. As the transformation of Knowledge Management practices of Japanese firms in 1990s shows, Nonaka and TakeuchVs original model of organizational knowledge creation needs to be expanded by incorporating the concept of “community of practice” as the “engine” of knowledge creation. As an attempt for such expansion, it proposes a model of knowledge-creating organization as a self-organizing network of interactive, overlapping, and self-managing communities of practice.
This article also explores some organizational conditions and managerial implications to prevent “malfunction” of communities of practice in the threats of globalization and to facilitate their dynamic evolution. Knowledge-creating organizations and their managers need to give due recognition to and support for “differences” that exist not only among diverse communities of practices but also within each communities. At a micro level approach, they need to “empower” community members by encouraging “ story-telling” or “narrative” of members’ lives in the communities and by assuring “transparency” of activities and resources to the members. As a macro level approach, they need to develop a “communitarian” organizational structure that fits to organizational knowledge creation in “multiculturalization” of societies.
Résumé
L’article explore quelques impératifs en gestion des connaissances permettant la création de connaissances par les organisations à l’ère de la mondialisation. Comme le montre la transformation des pratiques de gestion des connaissances dans les firmes japonaises au cours des années 1990, le modèle original de création de connaissances par les organisations, dû à Nonaka et Takeuchi, doit être étendu en incorporant le concept de communauté de pratiques en tant que moteur de la création de connaissances. L’article tente une telle extension en proposant un modèle d’organisation créatrice de connaissances sous la forme d’un réseau auto-organisateur de communautés de pratiques à la fois interactives, se chevauchant et s’autogérant. L’article explore aussi quelques conditions organisationnelles et implications de gestion qui évitent un mauvais fonctionnement des communautés de pratiques sous les menaces de la mondialisation et qui facilitent leur évolution dynamique. Les organisations créatrices de connaissances et leurs dirigeants doivent pleinement reconnaître et soutenir les différences qui existent non seulement entre les diverses communautés mais à l’intérieur de chacune d’elles. Au niveau “micro”, ils doivent renforcer les membres des communautés en encourageant les récits et narrations de la vie des membres et en assurant la transparence des activités et ressources. Au niveau “macro”, ils doivent développer une structure organisationnelle communautaire qui soit adaptée à la création de connaissances dans un cadre multiculturel.
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Kawamura, T. Managing networks of communities of practice for organizational knowledge creation A Knowledge Management imperative in the era of globalization. Ann. Telecommun. 62, 734–752 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03253287
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03253287
Key words
- Knowledge Management
- Globalization
- Organization sociology
- Japan
- Theory of action
- Industrial accident
- Health
- Firm