Creating Knowledge-Sharing Cultures

THE CONCEPT OF Ba

The concept of Ba refers to a place or space in Japanese. This artefact space or Ba can be physical, virtual or mental.

Socialization

• ·         Involves sharing tacit knowledge between individuals. Tacit knowledge is considered as more than ‘know how’ and can include intuitions, hunches and insights. It is deeply embedded in a person’s values and beliefs.  
• ·         The space that contributes to socialization is ‘Originating Ba’ where individuals share feelings, emotions, experiences and mental models.
• ·         The values that support the transfer of this tacit knowledge are care, love. Trust and commitment.

Externalisation

• ·         Involves the articulation of tacit into explicit knowledge. This conversion occurs through dialogue and the use of figurative language, metaphors, narratives, images and creative inference.
• ·         The space required to facilitate this knowledge conversion is ‘Interacting Ba’.
• ·         The main characteristic of this artefact is dialogue where individuals share their mental models and reflect and analyse their own understandings.

Combination

·         Involves conversion of explicit knowledge into more complex explicit forms.

·         Arise from capturing, collecting, sorting, editing and integrating new explicit knowledge.

·         This conversion promoted through ‘Cyber Ba’

·         This cyber space encourage the documentation of knowledge and the use of database and groupware tools.

Internalisation

• ·         Relies on converting explicit into tacit knowledge.
• ·         Occurs through experience and training.
• ·         The space that encourage this conversion are ‘Exercising Ba.’
• ·         Characterised by reflection through learning, training and mentoring.