Citation
Paz Salmador, M. (2007), "Enabling contexts for knowledge creation in organizations", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 10 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejim.2007.22010caa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Enabling contexts for knowledge creation in organizations
About the Guest Editor María Paz Salmador is Professor of Strategic Management at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain) and Senior Researcher in the Knowledge Society Research Centre in the Science Park of Madrid. Previously, she was Senior Fulbright Scholar at Texas A&M University and Visiting Researcher at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Ishikawa, Japan), and at the National North-Western University (Resistencia, Argentina).
Enabling contexts for knowledge creation in organizations
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, a new paradigm is emerging as dramatic changes and new rules are reshaping the competitive milieu (Arthur, 1990; Prahalad and Hamel, 1994; Ilinitch et al., 1996; Tapscott, 1997; Kelly, 1999). Some forces, such as globalization, deregulation, technological breakthroughs, structural changes, excess capacity, mergers and acquisitions, environmental concerns, less protectionism and changes in customer expectations (D’Aveni, 1994; Prahalad and Hamel, 1994; Ilinitch et al., 1996) have a clear impact on the nature of the competitive space and are changing the sources of competitive advantage of firms and the economics of industry in new and unpredictable ways.
In the resulting fast-moving, changing business landscape, knowledge becomes a key factor of competitiveness for organizations. In this sense, several authors have pointed out the strategic importance of knowledge in the value creation process in firms (Drucker, 1993; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Davenport and Prusak, 1998, among others).
The study of the relevance of knowledge in organizations has evolved from an “information processing” paradigm to a “knowledge creation” one. In this sense, the predominant approach in organization studies from Taylor (1911) to Simon (1957, 1989) considers the organization as a “machine” to process information. This approach basically responds to the reality of the so-called Industrial Era, although it seems to turn out less suitable to approach the challenges of the new socioeconomic environment of the Information and Knowledge Era.
Knowledge creation processes are a crucial dynamic capability, especially in high-velocity environments (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Bueno et al., 2006). This implies the challenge of transforming knowledge-based resources into new sources of competitive advantage, by means of the firm’s processes that use knowledge based-resources – specifically those capable of integrating, reconfiguring, gaining, and releasing such resources – to match and even create market change.
One of the key factors supporting knowledge creation is “the creation of ba”, defined as a shared space for emerging relationships, providing a platform for advancing individual and/or collective knowledge. The concept of “ba” was originally proposed by Japanese philosopher Nishida (1970, 1990), further developed by Shimizu (1995), and adapted to the field of organizations by Nonaka and Konno (1998). According to these authors, “ba” can be physical (e.g. office, dispersed business space), virtual (e.g. e-mail, teleconferencing), mental (e.g. shared experiences, ideas, ideals), or a combination of these.
Therefore, the creation of spaces becomes a relevant question with potential interesting implications. For example, the hypothesis of the role of the manager as the one who distributes and coordinates knowledge just like any other resource can be challenged. The main reason is that from a representationist perspective (e.g. Newell and Simon, 1972), a manager can manage explicit knowledge contained, for example, in a database. But from the constructionist approach, the leader cannot manage the experiences of the people in his or her organization, nor their mental models, because this knowledge is embodied in the persons that possess it. Still, in these cases, the manager can create a favourable context that allows these kinds of knowledge to emerge. Therefore, the role of managers shifts from controlling and directing entities to bringing about interaction and creating the right contexts (Lissack and Roos, 1999). In sum, managers cannot manage, in the sense of control, the knowledge of the employees in their firms, but can nurture and align it (Salmador, 2001; Salmador and Bueno, 2005). Therefore, caring for talent, motivation and employee satisfaction seems to be crucial in this sense.
This Special Issue is devoted to uncovering relevant aspects related to the importance of contexts for knowledge creation and different variables to be considered, with the aim of advancing its understanding and illustrating the complex challenges for both managers and firms in today’s competitive environment.
María Paz SalmadorUniversidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
References
Arthur, W.B. (1990), “Positive feedback in the economy”, Scientific American, February, pp. 92–9
Bueno, E., Morcillo, P. and Salmador, M.P. (2006), “Distinctions that matter: classification of resources and further discussion on firms’ dynamic capabilities”, International Journal of Management Practice, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 72–82
D’Aveni, R.A. (1994), Hypercompetition: Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Maneuvering, The Free Press, New York, NY
Davenport, T. and Prusak, L. (1998), Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA
Drucker, P. (1993), Post-Capitalist Society, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford
Eisenhardt, K. and Martín, J. (2000), “Dynamic capabilities: what are they?”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 21, pp. 105–21
Illinitch, A.Y., D’Aveni, R.A. and Lewin, A.Y. (1996), “New organizational forms and strategies for managing in hypercompetitive environments”, Organization Science, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 211–20
Kelly, K. (1997), “New rules for the new economy”, Wired, September
Lissack, M. and Roos, J. (1999), The Next Common Sense. Mastering Corporate Complexity through Coherence, Nicholas Brealey, New York, NY
Newell, A. and Simon, H. (1972), Human Problem Solving, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Nishida, K. (1970), Fundamental Problems of Philosophy: The World of Action and the Dialectical World, Sophia University, Tokyo
Nishida, K. (1990), An Inquiry into the Good, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
Nonaka, I. and Konno, N. (1998), “The concept of ‘ba’: building a foundation for knowledge creation”, California Management Review, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 40–54
Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995), The Knowledge Creating Company, Oxford University Press, New York, NY
Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1994), “Strategy as a field of study: why search for a new paradigm?”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 15, pp. 5–16
Salmador, M.P. (2001), “Strategy formation process from the perspectives of knowledge creation and strategy: the case of internet banking in Spain”, doctoral dissertation, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid
Salmador, M.P. and Bueno, E. (2005), “Strategy-making as a complex, double-loop process of knowledge creation: four cases of established banks reinventing the industry by means of the internet”, in Doz, Y., Porac, J. and Szulanski, G. (Eds), Strategy Process, Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 22, Elsevier, Amsterdam
Shimizu, H. (1995), “Ba principle: new logic for the real-time emergence of information”, Holonics, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 67–79
Simon, H. (1957), Models of Man, Wiley, New York, NY
Simon, H. (1989), Models of Thought, Vol. 2, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
Tapscott, D. (1997), The Digital Economy, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY
Taylor, F. (1911), The Principles of Scientific Management, Harper & Row, New York, NY