Cognitive theory is the philosophical basis of knowledge management, and two schools of epistemology are rationalism and empiricism. The former relies on deductive reasoning, while the latter values empirical induction. Supporters of the two have different views on the cognitive process or the way of knowledge generation. There are also many positive thoughts in the history of philosophy that combine the two perspectives. Plato believes that knowledge is "a proven true belief". Kant believes that the production of knowledge needs rational logical thinking and empirical sensory experience. Marx further pointed out that perception is the interactive process between subject and object, and knowledge is the result of cognitive activities and the spirit's grasp of reality. People change the world by knowing it. The reason why we need knowledge is precisely to create material and spiritual conditions with knowledge to meet our own needs.
For a long time, both academic and business circles have lacked a unified understanding of the essence of "knowledge management". One of the important reasons is that there are different cognitive views on the definition of "knowledge", among which there are three main ones, namely externalism, internalism and interactionism.
Externalism of knowledge regards knowledge as a cognitive object that exists outside people. "Knowledge" is useful information after processing and belongs to a subset of information. Therefore, the essence of knowledge management is information management. Through information management technology, organization members can effectively store, retrieve and use knowledge.
The theory of knowledge immanence holds that knowledge exists in people's minds. Members of an organization transform information into knowledge in the cognitive process. Therefore, the essence of knowledge management is human resource management, which can effectively interfere with the cognitive process of organization members and promote the generation, development and practical application of knowledge.
The theory of knowledge interaction emphasizes that knowledge is established through communication and events in a dynamic socialization process. When many different individuals finish the same task and face the same problem, they interact and knowledge is produced. Therefore, the essence of knowledge management is the process management of organizational learning. By creating, matching and monitoring organizational behavior, knowledge can be heard, precipitated, spread and tested in interaction.
Then, from the perspective of modern enterprise management practice, what kind of law does the occurrence and development of organizational knowledge follow? How to plan, promote, control and evaluate organizational knowledge management?
SECI model (knowledge transformation spiral) provides a systematic answer to the above questions.
1995, when Ikujiro Nonaka put forward a series of original ideas about knowledge creation and knowledge management in the book "Enterprise Creating Knowledge" co-authored with Takeuchi Hiroko (also translated as "Innovation Winning"), and combined with the knowledge management practice of Japanese enterprises, it was first presented as a SECI model prototype, which laid a theoretical building. Therefore, Professor Ikujiro Nonaka himself has become a pioneer in the theoretical research field of organizational knowledge management.
In SECI model theory, the cognitive difference between knowledge definition and knowledge source can be bridged, and the value of various viewpoints can be properly utilized and presented. This model systematically discusses the process of organizational knowledge generation and transformation, reveals the starting point, end point and key links of this process, distinguishes several typical knowledge transformation modes, and describes the corresponding processes and operation methods of each category. SECI model presents a spiral feature of organizational knowledge transformation, which combs a clear cognitive context for organizational knowledge managers and provides a tool for the performance evaluation of knowledge management.
To grasp the theoretical framework of SECI model, the key is to grasp three important concepts and three key viewpoints. Among them, three groups of concepts are two kinds of knowledge, four basic modes of knowledge transformation and four knowledge fields. The three viewpoints can be summarized as knowledge transformation theory, social creation theory and spiral rise theory respectively.
Two kinds of knowledge: tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
Intangible knowledge exists in the minds of organization members and has some unspeakable characteristics, such as belief, intuition, thinking mode, behavior habits and so on. , and is inherent in individual organizations;
Explicit knowledge is presented in the text paradigm of organization members, which can be recorded, recognized and disseminated, such as concepts, viewpoints, principles, norms, processes and essentials. , outside the organization group.
Ikujiro Nonaka believes that the process of enterprise innovation activities is accompanied by the interaction and mutual transformation of tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge, and the process of knowledge generation is accompanied by the process of knowledge transformation, and the process of knowledge generation is also manifested as the process of knowledge transformation. This is the "knowledge transformation theory" mentioned earlier.
Four basic modes of knowledge transformation:
Socialization: tacit knowledge is transformed into tacit knowledge;
Externalization: tacit knowledge is transformed into explicit knowledge;
Combination: explicit knowledge is transformed into explicit knowledge;
Internalization: the transformation from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge.
This is the origin of the "SECI" model name.
Ikujiro Nonaka believes that any individual's learning and knowledge innovation are realized and completed in the group situation of social communication. This is the "theory of social creativity" mentioned earlier.
This view coincides with the proposition of "constructivism" cognitive psychology. Constructivism holds that learning is "a process of reconstructing through experience on the basis of past experience", and SECI model theory defines this "experience" situation as a group situation of social communication. This is also the basic assumption and premise of SECI as an organizational knowledge management theory. Because this "group situation" runs through the process of knowledge creation and knowledge transformation, there is a "knowledge field" (Ba) that reflects the influence of groups and organizations in every basic mode of knowledge transformation.
Four "knowledge fields"
Origination: the starting point of knowledge creation, which is manifested in the perceptual interaction between individuals;
Internalized Ba: the expression stage of knowledge, which is manifested as the rational experience summary and exchange of groups or departments;
Cyber Ba: the systematization stage of knowledge, which shows that the whole organization is deeply interactive in virtual space based on knowledge renewal and structural reorganization;
Practice ba: the internalization stage of knowledge, which is manifested in organizational action learning and practical application.
Ikujiro Nonaka believes that the four knowledge fields are dynamic, which can promote the continuous transformation of knowledge between explicit and implicit, and then connect the four basic transformation models into four stages of knowledge transformation process, and create new knowledge at a higher level through initial field experience on the basis of internalizing knowledge. This is the "spiral rise theory" mentioned earlier.
The first stage: brewing personal experience
The first stage of knowledge transformation is characterized by socialization mode, and tacit knowledge transformation is realized under the action of creation field. The first kind of tacit knowledge refers to the personal tacit knowledge such as experience, skills, styles and beliefs that the individuals in the organization originally possessed, and the second kind of tacit knowledge refers to the new tacit knowledge obtained through perceptual interaction with others in the founding field. The knowledge achievement at this stage is "personal experience", that is, observation, experience and emotional touch, but not necessarily rational expression.
Organizational learning and knowledge creation at this stage can be summarized as: observation, imitation, trial and error, hitting a wall, attribution, cultivation and so on.
Observation: not limited to vision, it refers to the use of five senses and emotional perception, that is, "eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind", to collect information through direct perception and obtain sensory experience. For example, by observing the work performance of colleagues, we can understand the rules of post work, and gain user experience by trying new products and sharing feelings with others.
Imitation: refers to the use of image thinking and action thinking to copy behavior, try other people's practices, and gain behavioral experience. For example, gymnasts imitate the movements of coaches, and new salesmen imitate the tone of colleagues and talk to customers.
Trial-and-error method: refers to trying to complete the task according to the original experience without guidance and demonstration, and finding a relatively effective action plan after many attempts. For example, installing furniture or using software without instructions, trying to communicate with customers without standard language training and so on.
Hit a wall: If trial and error means "you are looking for something", then hitting a wall means "something is looking for you". Accumulate negative lessons through emerging obstacles, bottlenecks, challenges, troubles, accidents, problems, etc. For example, frustration education in children's growth and the handling of sudden new customer complaints.
Attribution: that is, the process of exploring laws. Attribution in the socialization stage does not mean to get a rational conclusion through logical analysis and deductive reasoning, but to get an understanding of * * * through inductive experience. For example, judge the freshness of fruit by the color of skin, and predict the result of task execution by the body language of the reporter;
Training: refers to the process of achieving proficiency and mastering the know-how in the repeated process, and these achievements are confirmed by the display, comparison and sharing among individuals in the organization. For example, the mastery of the action range, force and operation rhythm of assembly line operators, and the formation of the walking style of e-sports players' operation roles.
The second stage: summing up the group experience
The second stage of knowledge transformation is the dominant mode, which realizes the knowledge transformation from recessive to dominant under the action of communication field. Tacit knowledge here refers to personal experience brewed in the first stage, while explicit knowledge refers to explicit knowledge formed by means of analysis, exploration, induction, deduction, design and planning in the communication field, presented in the form of clear concepts, sentences, charts, models and examples, which can be expressed in language. The personal experience of individual members of the organization brewed in the first stage has been transformed into "group experience" through the above-mentioned dissemination and creation process.
The result of knowledge transformation at this stage focuses on explicit expression. According to the techniques and ways of expression, "group experience" knowledge can be divided into four categories: telling, explaining, speaking and teaching.
Tell about the class and solve the question "What is it?". Such as the definition of concepts, the conclusion of events, values and principles, the statement of processes, the description and explanation of phenomena or images, etc.
Say lessons and solve the "why" problem. Such as the motivation of behavior, the cause of result, the principle of technology, the basis of operation, the relevance of content, the law of development, etc.
Speech class, solve the "how" problem. I like angle analogy, metaphor with the same connotation, extension enumeration, typical examples and so on.
Teaching solves the problem of "how to do". For example, operation process, behavior countermeasures, action essentials, advocacy and so on.
The third stage: the precipitation of organizational wisdom
The third stage of knowledge transformation is the fusion mode, which realizes the knowledge transformation from leading to leading under the action of virtual field. The first leading refers to the group experience summarized in the second stage, and the second leading refers to integrating the conceptualized group experience knowledge with the original knowledge base of the organization in the virtual field, systematizing the conceptualized knowledge through the processing and reorganization of knowledge, forming a new leading knowledge system, and enjoying the knowledge in the organization with the help of structured information and media management, internal training, organization of learning activities, communication and dissemination, and integrating these systematic knowledge extraction into the application-level documents of the organization. In the second stage, the group experience summarized by various departments and teams in the organization is finally precipitated as "organizational wisdom" through the above-mentioned virtual field integration process.
In a broad sense, the integration process at this stage includes the collation, dissemination and application of knowledge information, while in a narrow sense, it refers to the collation of knowledge information, that is, the process of rebuilding the knowledge system. The problem to be solved in this process is to reorganize the new group experience knowledge and the old organizational knowledge system into a new organizational knowledge system.
As an extension of SECI model, we can carry out the above work from four dimensions: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Supplement is to extend the original organizational knowledge system vertically and supplement it horizontally with new group experience knowledge. For example, the original statement, now explain why; There used to be three categories, but now a fourth category has been added;
Subtraction is to use new group experience knowledge to correct mistakes, eliminate redundancy and simplify the expression of the original organizational knowledge system. For example, the original process is optimized after the improvement of working methods; Delete outdated technology and outdated equipment knowledge, etc.
Multiplication is to adjust the structure of the original knowledge system on the basis of the new group experience knowledge, or the new group experience knowledge reveals the new logical connection between the original knowledge. For example, the knowledge structure originally organized by post function is adjusted to the knowledge structure of inter-departmental post collaboration organized by task requirements; The original waterfall flow chart is modified into a phased cycle iteration flow chart.
To divide is to classify the content of the same level in the original knowledge system according to the new group experience knowledge; Or divide the original universal and static knowledge content into classified knowledge suitable for different situational conditions and different stages of dynamic process. For example, after expanding the original seven values into 12, it is found that these 12 values can be classified into three categories: "country, society and individual"; The original standard hospitality terms are divided into three types, which are aimed at "visual, auditory and tactile" customers respectively.
The fourth stage: creating knowledge achievements.
The fourth stage of knowledge transformation is implicit mode, which realizes the transformation of knowledge from explicit to implicit under the action of practice field. Explicit refers to the organizational wisdom precipitated in the third stage, while recessive refers to the new personal experience, style, skills, beliefs and other tacit knowledge that members of the organization understand, accept, master and apply through practice and experience. In the third stage, the organizational wisdom after system integration, through the implicit process of the above-mentioned practical fields, affects the conceptual thinking of organizational members, changes their behavior habits, and finally creates the application results of knowledge.
The practice process of the driving range includes three levels: experience training, simulation exercise and practical application.
Experience training, which is closely related to the third stage of organizational knowledge dissemination, emphasizes the sense of participation of organizational members as learning subjects in the process of organizational knowledge replication, and sets up emotional sharing, dialogue and discussion, interactive question and answer, situational training and other links in training activities; Emphasize learning by doing and learning by doing when coaching at work; Apply action learning, flip classroom and case analysis in team learning;
Simulation drill, equivalent to the drill before actual combat, is to create a simulation environment that is highly similar to the actual combat scene under the condition that the actual combat cost and risk brought by the accuracy and proficiency of the organization members are too high, so as to promote the willingness and confidence of the organization members to act;
The practical application is to encourage members of the organization to implement new concepts, follow new norms, implement new methods and use new tools in their work practice. Strengthen and implement the achievements of organizational knowledge transformation with the sense of accomplishment of personal career development.
SECI model well explains the phenomena in the past knowledge management practice of various organizations, reveals the basic laws of organizational knowledge transformation process, and also provides theoretical support and operational guidance for enterprises and other organizations to systematically plan and implement knowledge management. We can at least find the practical significance of this model from the following aspects.
1, organizational structure and workflow design.
Because knowledge can't be produced without the perceptual interaction of organization members, every stage and mode of knowledge transformation "knowledge field" depends on the group situation among organization members, which shows that the frequency and scope of interaction among organization members in their work are positively related to the quantity and quality of knowledge innovation. Therefore, when designing and optimizing organizational structure and workflow, we should pay special attention to handle the relationship between division of labor and cooperation, and create opportunities for interaction among members of the organization.
For example:
Strengthen the connection between posts and processes in the division of labor, artificially set a certain degree of "fuzzy zone" and create communication opportunities;
Avoid "single-handedness" in work arrangements and strengthen cooperation, including cooperation with posts, intra-departmental cooperation and inter-departmental cooperation;
On the basis of permanent organizational structure, a task-oriented "project department" system can be introduced to promote the exchange of organizational members with temporary cross-departmental teamwork.
2. System design and corporate culture construction.
The creation of organizational knowledge comes from the new attempts and discoveries of organizational members, which requires organizations to create a relatively relaxed and open atmosphere from the institutional and cultural levels; The transformation of organizational knowledge is based on the sharing and communication of organizational members, which requires trust, care and frankness among organizational members as the basis, and creates more opportunities for contact and in-depth communication.
For example:
Avoid extreme behavior management in the system arrangement, leaving the members of the organization with the discretion to adapt to their posts;
Change the rule system into a marking system to avoid the inertia of "the law cannot be done without authorization" and protect the space of "the law can be done without prohibition";
Pay attention to protecting and encouraging innovation in the setting of reward and punishment rules;
Advocate a sincere and friendly cultural atmosphere and establish trust and emotional connection among members of the organization;
Encourage communication at work, pay attention to eliminating barriers and obstacles that hinder communication at work in workspace design, advocate "open door" culture and open office space, and arrange temporary project teams to work in the same open space;
Encourage members to organize social activities in their spare time and establish an inter-departmental or inter-regional exchange mechanism for related positions in specific knowledge fields.
3. Talent development and organizational learning.
In the spiral of knowledge transformation, the explicitness of knowledge (including conceptualization and systematization) and the internal spread of explicit knowledge provide the foundation and motivation for the internalization of knowledge and the creation of new tacit knowledge. Therefore, the work of talent development and organizational learning should strive to improve the quality of knowledge externalization and the efficiency of replication and inheritance.
For example:
Establish a daily summary and exchange mechanism in departments or working groups to normalize experience extraction and knowledge processing;
Establish a vocational training mechanism combining centralized training with on-the-job counseling, and extend the position of education and training through various technical means;
Introduce talent development mechanisms such as mentoring system and tutorial system, which are beneficial to organizational knowledge inheritance, and establish a mechanism linking the contribution of organizational members to knowledge inheritance with personal career development;
Use team learning, action learning and other means to encourage all members of the organization to participate in knowledge dissemination;
Pay attention to the selection and training of internal trainers with front-line work experience among business backbones and grass-roots department managers;
Provide education and training courses for members of organizations in different departments and positions, with the goal dimension of combining ability-based, task-oriented and performance improvement;
Combining the different career development channels of each position in business skills and management skills, dynamically planning the learning and growth path of organization members;
Manage the quality of internal education and training by developing standardized courses that are conducive to replication and inheritance;
Encourage internal knowledge managers, including business experts and managers who are not internal trainers, to collectively develop standardized courses in the form of temporary project teams;
Do a good job in iterative updating and version management of standardized courses, and update the organizational knowledge base with new concept explicit knowledge in a timely and systematic manner;
Strengthen the systematic management of fragmentation knowledge, and optimize the storage, retrieval and update of organizational fragmentation knowledge by using information technology, especially mobile Internet and big data technology.
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The practice of organizational knowledge management is accompanied by the history of human organizational behavior. However, the concept of organizational knowledge management is the product of the era of knowledge economy, which is the combination and support of information technology, knowledge economy theory and modern enterprise management concept, and has gradually developed into a new discipline that has attracted much attention. SECI model initiated by Ikujiro Nonaka not only describes the theoretical framework of this new discipline, but also builds a bridge between theoretical research and practical application for general practitioners of organizational knowledge management.
Of course, SECI model is not the whole of organizational knowledge management. In practice, we need to pay attention to the areas that the model fails to cover or can not be effectively explained, which can also be regarded as the shortcomings of SECI model:
First of all, there is a lack of detailed research. In the process of knowledge transformation, it is inseparable from the deep participation of individuals and organizations, which will inevitably lead to the cost of organizational behavior, that is, there is a cost-benefit ratio in knowledge transformation. How to organize and carry out knowledge transformation can be more conducive to improving organizational performance and long-term competitiveness, which is a subject that needs in-depth study under different circumstances.
Secondly, there is a lack of scope research. SECI model describes the process of creating and transforming knowledge within an organization, but it does not fully consider the influence of external knowledge. In fact, any enterprise organization does not exist independently of society, and any organizational knowledge is bound to depend on the knowledge precipitation of all mankind and be influenced by the development of knowledge outside the organization. How to use external resources to avoid behind closed doors is also a problem that must be solved in organizational knowledge management and intelligence management;
Third, there is a lack of process research. The spiral of SECI knowledge transformation presents a closed-loop and end-to-end operation mechanism. It seems that the process of knowledge transformation from recessive to dominant is uninterrupted, and finally it needs to be internalized into the minds and behaviors of organizational members in order to show the advantages of knowledge management. But in fact, a large number of enterprises with core key technologies can still maintain their dominant position in knowledge management after large-scale layoffs, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and transformation, which seems to indicate that organizational knowledge management is not a simple continuous process, but also involves a more complicated storage and transfer process.
This paper focuses on the specific practitioners and enterprise leaders of organizational knowledge management, and also provides reference for professional colleagues engaged in enterprise management consulting. Due to the limitation of space, most of the examples in this paper are abstracted from point to surface, and no concrete enterprise practice cases are presented comprehensively and vividly. In fact, since the new century, there have been a lot of positive attempts in the field of organizational knowledge management at home and abroad, either successful or unsuccessful, many of which can be used as evidence of this view. Readers and friends are welcome to explore and explore. The main purpose of this paper is to recommend the classic theoretical model, which combines the author's professional experience in enterprise training and organizational learning development consulting for many years. Although it is not a rigorous professional paper, nor is it a popular and interesting management story and sketch, it is boring to read, but it is also a great honor for concerned readers to find some reference and guidance from it. We expect friends in the business and consulting industries to pay more attention to the field of organizational knowledge management, make use of academic achievements, learn from others, and make knowledge a driving force for organizational development.
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