Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Organizational Knowledge Dynamics.docx

Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Organizational Knowledge Dynamics.docx

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TacitKnowledgeSharinginOrganizationalKnowledgeDynamics

TacitKnowledgeSharinginOrganizationalKnowledgeDynamics

ConstantinBratianuandIvonaOrzeaAcademyofEconomicStudies,Bucharest,Romania

Abstract:

Thepurposeofthispaperistoanalyzeknowledgesharingasacorecomponentoftheorganizationalknowledgedynamics,andtopresentsomespecificorganizationalbarriersintheRomanianbusinessenvironment.Tacitknowledgerepresentsthedirectresultoftheinteractionbetweentheindividualandtheexternalenvironment.Itistheknowledgeacquiredthroughdirectexperience,comprisingalsofeelings,intuitions,beliefsandculturalvalues.Tacitknowledgesharingcontributesdirectlytoenhancingknowledgecreationandtoobtainingacompetitiveadvantageinthebusinessenvironment.However,tacitknowledgesharingmayhavemanyorganizationalbarriers,especiallyinthoseneweconomiesdevelopedintheformersocialistcountries.WebasedourresearchontheRomaniancompanies,sinceourcountrysufferedfromadictatorialsocialismregime.Ourresearchdemonstratesthattheorganizationalculturedevelopedduringthesocialismregimehasbeenbasedonfear,individualcontrol,mistrustandadictatorialmanagerialstyle.HavinginmindthebackgroundoftheRomanian’scultureandtherequirementsofasuccessfulprocessofknowledgesharingourresearchaimsatidentifyingthebarriersthatemployeesarefacedwithinsharingtheirknowledgeandproposesolutionstoovercometheseandimprovetheprocessofknowledgesharingwithintheRomanianbusinessenvironment.

Keywords:

Knowledgedynamics,knowledgesharing,organizationalbarriers,tacitknowledge,trust

1.Introduction

Definingknowledgeisnotaneasyjobbecauseitisoneofthoseconceptsthatdon’thaveauniversaldefinition;differentauthorsapproachtheconceptindifferentperspectivesandfromdifferentangles,resultinginmultipledefinitions.Itcanbelookeduponastheprocessingofinformationwiththemainpurposeofgainingunderstandingoftheeventsoccurringinthesurroundingenvironment.Itisaconceptdeeplyinfluencedbythepersonalityoftheholder,itsbeliefs,attitudesandculture.Knowledgeconsistsofinformation,technology,know-howandskills.Valueandsustainabilityare

createdfromtheintegrationoftheseresourcesbetterthancompetitors（Endres,Endres,Chowdhury,Alam,2007）.Knowledgecannotbesubstitutedorimitated,hencethekeystrategicassetresourcecharacter.Managingknowledgemeanstocreateanenvironmentwithintheorganizationtofacilitatethecreation,transferandsharingofknowledge（Bratianu,Vasilache,2009）.Themostdiscussedactivityintheprocessofknowledgemanagementnowadaysisknowledgesharing（Al-Alawi,Al-Marzooqi,Mohammend,2007;Duguid,2005;Foos,Schum,Rothenberg,2006;Lubit,2001）.Knowledgeaboundsinorganizations,butitsexistencedoesnotguaranteeitsuse.Andthusknowledgesharingleadstofasterknowledgeconnectionwithportionsoftheorganizationthatcangreatlybenefitfromthisnewknowledge（Davenport,Prusak,2000）.ThismadeNonakaandTakeuchi（1995）recognizethatsharingtacitknowledgeamongmultipleindividualswithdifferentbackgrounds,perspectivesandmotivationsisacriticalstepfortheorganizationalknowledgecreationtotakeplace.Therearemanystudies（Riege,2005）showingthatknowledgesharingactivitieshavenotaccomplishedtheirobjectivestomanagecompanies’knowledgeassetsandskillsduetoalargediversityofpotentialsharingbarriers.Thepurposeofthispaperistoanalyzeknowledgesharingasacorecomponentoftheorganizationalknowledgedynamics,andtopresentsomespecificorganizationalbarriersintheRomanianbusinessenvironment.

2.Whythefocusonsharingtacitknowledge?

AmongthefirststudiesofknowledgewastheoneofMichaelPolanyi（1983）,admittingthat“wecanknowmorethatwecantell”.Withthehelpofexperimentshewasabletodemonstratetheexistencefmoretypesofknowledgethatthehumanpossesses-thetacitknowledgeandtheexplicit

knowledge.Thereistheexplicitknowledge,thatcanbedescribedinformallanguage（manuals,expressions,procedures,repositories）,the“know-what”;andthereisthetacitknowledge,theknowledgethatcannotbeeasilytransmittedandexpressed.Tacitknowledgerepresentsthedirectresultoftheinteractionbetweentheindividualandtheexternalenvironment.Itistheknowledgeacquiredthroughdirectexperience,comprisingalsofeelings,intuitions,beliefsandculturalvalues.Anexplicitintegrationcannotreplaceitstacitcounterpart.Forexample,theskillofadrivercannotbereplacedbythoroughschoolingintheory.Tacitknowledgeformspartofallknowledge（Polanyi,1983,p.20）.Hence,ifexplicitknowledgecaneasilycirculatewithintheorganization,thelimitedaccesstotacitknowledgeraisedtheinterestoftheorganizationtodevelopstrategiesforemployeestobringheirtacitknowledgeintotheequation.Theprincipleequationis:

betterandpurposefulsharingofusefulknowledgetranslatesintoacceleratedindividualandorganizationallearningandinnovationthroughthedevelopmentofbetterproductsthatarebroughtfastertoatargetmarket,thusenhancingmarketperformance.

FormorethanfortyyearsRomaniaformedpartformtheCommunistbloc.DuringthisperiodthementalityofRomaniancitizenshasundergonemultiplechanges.Theeconomy,thevaluesystemandthebeliefswerealsoaffectedbythechanges.Therightsandpeople’sfreedomwereseverelyaffected.Controloversocietybecamestricterandstricter.Theveryideaofbeingcontrolledinducedapermanenttensioninpeopleandcreatedanorganizationalculturebasedonfear（Bratianu,Vasilache,2009）.ChangingthepoliticalregimefacedRomaniawithanotherwaveofchanges,andonceagainthecountrywasnotpreparedtomaketheswitchfromsocialismtocapitalism.TheGovernmenttookeconomicalandpoliticaldecisionsbasedontheirhistoricalandculturaltraditions.Unfortunatelythesechangeswerefacedbypowerfulinertiaforces.Whenchangestakeplaceinthesocietytheformalruleschangebuttheinformalconstraintsarestillpresentforalongperiodoftime.Thesamehappenswiththeculturalvaluesofpeopleandtheinertialthinkingpattern,whichcannotbechangedovernight（Bratianu,Vasilache,2009）.Thereisawidespreadagreementthatknowledgeassetsaredifficulttoreplicateandthattheyarefundamentalsourcesofcompetitiveadvantageinopeneconomies.Theadvantageofcompaniesseemstobeincreasinglypredicatedontheabilityofidentifyingandsharingknowledgesothatthe

companycanexploitit（Teece,Pisano,Shuen,1997）.Researchinthefieldofknowledgesharingandtransfer（Szulanski,1995,Szulanski,1996,Jensen,Szulanski,2004）indicatesthattheprocessofsharingandtransferringknowledgeisaverydifficult,stickyone.Szulanski（1995）introducedthe

conceptofstickinessinknowledgetransferinordertounderlinethedifficultyoftransferringknowledge.Stickinessisseenasanimportantdeterminantofthedegreeofdiffusionandutilizationofsuperiorknowledgeandmorebroadlytheabilityofacompanytogrowandprosperbyreplicatingexistingassetsandcapabilities（Szulanski,1995）.Thereforetheimportanceofexploringthefactorsofincreasingordecreasingthestickinesswhensharingknowledge,withinanorganization.Withthehelpofastudyundergoneonmajorcompaniesoperatingworldwide,Szulanski（1995,1996）provedtheintrinsicandtheextrinsicoriginofstickinesswhentalkingaboutknowledgesharingandtransfer.Knowledgesharingisthoughttobeinfluencedbyfactorsbothattheindividualandattheorganizationallevel.Attheindividuallevelsomeofthefactorsthatcouldenhanceknowledgesharingarethetrustlevelinco-workers,whetherornotthenegativepriorexperienceswithknowledgesharinghaveinfluencedthewillingnessoftheemployeetosharehisorherknowledgeandlastbutnotleasttheintrinsicmotivationoftheemployee.Mostpeopleareunlikelytosharetheirknowledgeandexperiencewithoutafeelingoftrustinthepersoninfrontofthem,theyneedtotrustthatthepeoplewillnotmisusetheirknowledge,andtotrustthattheinformationthatonereceivesisaccurateandcredibleduetotheinformationsource.Theleveloftrustthatexistsbetweentheorganization,itssubunits,anditsemployeesgreatlyinfluencestheamountofknowledgethatflowsbothbetweenindividualsandfromindividualsintothefirm’sdatabases,bestpracticesachievesandotherrecords（DeLong,Fahey,2000）.Knowledgeispowerandcanleadtoinequalitiesinstatus.Sharingone’sknowledgecanleantoaperceivedlackofjobsecurity.Peoplecanregardsharingtheirknowledgeandexperienceasweakeningtheircorporateposition,theirpowerwithinthecompany.Thereoftenispresentinaworkingenvironmentthefearamongpeoplethatsharingtheirknowledgereducestheirjobsecuritybecausetheyareuncertainabouttheintentofthepeopletowhomtheysharetheirknowledgeto.Inacompanycanalsobepresentemployeesthatintentionallytakeownershipoftheirknowledgeandexperiencesothattheyreceiverecognitionfromcolleaguesandpeers.Themainobjectiveoftheresearchistoseetheimpactofthefactorsenhancingknowledgesharing（bothattheorganizationalandattheindividuallevel）onaninertialorganizationalculture.Cantheybeconsideredbarrierstoknowledgesharinginaninertialorganizationalculture?

IstherestillinertiaoftheRomaniancompaniesintermsofknowledgesharingandcooperating?

3.Researchhypothesisandmethodology

Inordertoanswerallthequestionsraisedabovethefollowinghypothesiswereformulated:

H1:

There