Knowledge Management Social Networks and Innovation - Assignment Example

Knowledge Management, Social Networks and Innovation (Facebook) Table of Contents Knowledge Management, Social Networks and Innovation (Facebook) 1 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Knowledge Management 4 Tacit Knowledge 5 Explicit Knowledge 6 Innovation 8 The Relationship between Organisational Learning, Knowledge Management and Innovation 9 Innovation and Online Social Network 10 Innovation Management Theories and Social Networks 11 Knowledge Creation & Transfer within Social Network Organisations 13 Conclusion 15 References 16 Bibliography 23 Introduction The recent revolution in the area of information has given rise to fresh economies that are controlled based on the flows of information, facts and understanding. This in turn stimulated the significant of knowledge management through organisational learning in the continuous innovation process persisting in the global business environment (Argote & Spektor, 2011). The immense amount of developments in the field of information or knowledge and the way of managing the information has paved the way for social networks which has strongly matured to be types of organisations that are centred on human activity. Moreover, it is in these organisations that extensive innovative process can be observed which therefore preserve the vitality of organisational learning. Social networks have been referred to as central or concentrating points of groups, related systems, individuals and organisations that are attached to single or more kinds of mutual reliance (Wineman & et. al., 2009). The factor of mutual reliance entails shared visions, social contacts, conflict, trade, group involvement in occasions, values, thoughts, kinship, financial transactions and shared association in organisations amongst the many different features related to human relationships that can be attained through proper implementations of knowledge management and organisational learning (Serrat, 2009). In this paper, the organisational learning process implemented in a social networking site, i.e. FaceBook will be taken into consideration with the aim to become innovative in its global marketplace. With this concern, the knowledge management tactics will be considered as organisational learning process is principally gauged by effective knowledge management strategies. Knowledge Management The significance of knowledge has long been recognised in the society as well as in the corporate world. Knowledge is considered to be an integral part of life and the involved activities as it aids in guiding the human mind, outlines or forms the actions and shapes the human approach. Knowledge was described to be a result of structured practice, values, experts’ comprehension and appropriate information. All these aspects offer an outline for the reason of assessing and integrating fresh experiences as well as information (Shaw & et. al., 2001). The concept of managing information or rather Knowledge Management (KM) has been defined to be an organisational course of action which intends to create internal supply or flow of knowledge within the structure of a particular organisation. This domestic flow of information or knowledge facilitates in obtaining, distributing, incorporating, amalgamating, recovering, allocating and reusing the external as well as internal, tacit as well as explicit knowledge (Lee, 2001). The development of this facility of reusing the knowledge in the various forms helps in introducing innovation in the shape of people, products and processes in an organisation. Knowledge was categorised into two groups after the duality related to knowledge was recognised. The two forms of knowledge were identified as tacit as well as explicit form of knowledge (Ernst & Kim, 2002). Tacit Knowledge Tacit knowledge has been defined to be the competency, theoretical thinking and proficiency. Tacit knowledge does entail the aspect of technological competency and also the cognitive element which involves the thoughts, the convictions and the values that are usually considered by the individuals (Alwis & et. al., 2004). With regard to the functions and business operations of organisations, tacit knowledge has been explained to mechanical form of information which engages minimum or even no amount of time or idea. This form of knowledge has been stated to facilitate the ascertainment of the ways by which decisions are arrived at in organisations. The collective actions of the individuals in an organisation also get determined or formed with the help of this knowledge form in terms of organisational learning (Liebowitz & Beckman, 1998). Tacit knowledge was also stated to be increased form of knowledge or information possessed by an individual that could not be expressed, or even having the comprehension regarding the way of getting things done without the need to think which again tends to create a significant impression on the organisational learning process and in its lieu on the innovation process within the organisation (Polanyi, 1967). This form of knowledge has been referred to be as increasingly prejudiced, personal and often informal and which could be deduced from the expressions or declarations that are made by other individuals in an organisation. Tacit knowledge which is highly technical has been made obvious in instances when individuals manage to gain expertise in a particular body related to knowledge or even by the application of skills like the ones that are eventually developed by the experts (Hansen & et. al., 1999; Wagner & Sternberg, 1987). Therefore, it can be stated that tacit knowledge is likely to add pace to the innovation process by stimulating the organisational learning initiatives with due consideration to the significance of managing individuals towards the attainment of continuously developing expertise. Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge is largely referred to as technical as well as scholarly facts or information which is explained by way of recognised language or instance mathematical expressions, manuals, patents as well as copyrights. This particular competence or methodical knowledge gets voluntarily communicated and distributed with the assistance of electronic techniques, print forms along with other formal ways within the organisational structure to formulate the knowledge management procedure and thus enhance the organisational learning efficiency. Explicit knowledge is considered to be highly technical and involves the need of scholarly knowledge or comprehension that is obtained with the help of formal education or organised study. Explicit knowledge gets cautiously piled up in a pecking order of records which are codified and is availed with superior quality, dependability and speedy methods of information recovery. Once this knowledge has been codified, the positive features related to the explicit knowledge become capable of getting used again for the reason of unravelling numerous related kinds of issues. It even gets re-applied with the intention to unite individuals within an organisation with helpful and reusable knowledge (Collins, 2010; Rolf, 2004). Explicit knowledge refers to the fact that information is capable of being expressed or explained by different individuals. This way of expression of the knowledge might at times call for the need of support to aid the individuals to communicate the things or facts known to them amid other members in the organisation. Thus, the approach involved with the explicit form of knowledge takes into supposition that the helpful knowledge that is possessed by the organisational members could be communicated along with making it overt creating a significant influence over the entire organisational learning process (Sanchez, n.d.). Innovation Innovation has been referred to as the process of generating fresh form of knowledge that could be made use of to develop and figure out the achievable solutions with regard to organisations. Innovation is widely considered to be an application and procedure that is aimed at to get hold of, obtain, handle and disseminate knowledge with the intention to give rise to fresh knowledge which would provide encouragement to generate and deliver distinguishing and idiosyncratic form of products as well as services within the organisation (Howlett, 2011). Innovation has also been mentioned to be the configuration of fresh knowledge which would prove beneficial for fresh returns on the businesses, which would entail the objective to structure the internal procedure with regard to an organisation. Therefore, it can be stated that innovation entails procedures as well as actions or behaviours of formation and application of fresh knowledge for the reason of developing and delivering unique services as well as products accompanied with methods with the intention to meet up to the requirements and likings of the customers in various manners (Montano, 2005). The fundamental purpose of innovation in an organisation has been measured to be value creation with regard to a particular business. The present business environment has is observed to undergo a continuous alteration as a result of which the degree of competition has been on a constant rise. In order to survive in the present competitive environment, it is believed to be important for organisations to indulge in innovations. Organisations or businesses with the aid of the process of innovation can produce exceptional services as well products which would prove highly advantageous and profitable. Innovation is also measured to be significant owing to the fast alterations experienced in the tastes as well as likings of the people in the developed markets (Shinn, 2011). The Relationship between Organisational Learning, Knowledge Management and Innovation It is supposed to be important for organisations to build up receptors which would provide assistance to add in or soak in the external form of knowledge. This mentioned action or behaviour has been observed to be strongly associated with the ability to innovate (McElroy, 2000). The two forms of knowledge that is the tacit and the explicit knowledge could be obtained with the help of external sources. These existing or available external sources of information need to be incorporated with the tacit and explicit knowledge of an organisation. The freshly obtained knowledge would facilitate in filling up any kind of a knowledge gap existing in an organisation and which would also prove to be useful in planning and implementing innovation (Leber & et. al., 2010; Cottrill, 1998). It has been also mentioned in this regard that knowledge needs to be constantly gained from the external sources for the reason of accomplishing competitive advantage by an organisation. The continuous inflow of knowledge would help the organisations and individuals associated with those organisations to develop varied dimensions, gain increased comprehension and keep updating regarding the recent technological developments relevant to the business (Gloet & Terziovski, 2004). The amount of information or knowledge gets increased which aids in initiating fresh processes or methods thus leading to innovation. An organisation as well as individual’s needs to keep on learning or rather keep on the flow of information from the external sources as this knowledge gets shared, transferred and implemented which initiates innovation. Therefore, the uninterrupted flow of information ultimately results in sustainable innovation for the organisations as well as individuals (Popadiuk & Choo, 2006; Cooperrider, 2008). Innovation and Online Social Network The concept of knowledge management and innovation has given rise to online social networks that are considered to improve the collective knowledge of an organisation as a whole. The online social services or the networks are referred to as a network of relationships that are initiated or formed with the help of discussions that take place through computers (Prothmann, 2012). The networks have been observed to develop from discussions that take place between various individuals who are believed to share an ordinary similarity but appear to be dissimilar in other different ways. When the individuals are placed across different space and time then in such instances the communication between these individuals require to occur online over a private internet medium. The online social networks are considered to be important as it helps in sharing and distributing knowledge to different individuals in time (Kimball & Rheingold, 2003). Communication and knowledge is considered to be the central point of knowledge management in an organisational learning process. Taking this thought and fact into consideration, it was inferred that the social networks could be identified to be a prospective approach for the reason of evaluating and manipulating the communication processes. Sharing of the knowledge could be attributed as knowledge management which has been mentioned to be a vital factor in promoting and triggering innovation. In the present day’s context, the notion of innovation is no more considered to be a particular outcome of individual behaviours but is increasingly considered to be a procedure that helps in offering effective solutions to problems. The process of dealing with this particular kind of process has termed as innovation management (Sattler, 2010). Innovation Management Theories and Social Networks The development of theories with regard to innovation management could be made clear with the growing significance of the social components that are entailed in the description of innovation. The explanation provided regarding the notion of innovation was actually completely based on the substantial capital forms. The gradual insertion of the social components occurred as a result of the various theories which were believed to be quite noteworthy (Schulz, 2009). The various theories with regard to innovation were the technology push theory, the market pull theory, the theory related to the relations among the market players, the theory of the technological networks and finally the theory of innovation deduced from the social networks. With regard to the topic of this research study, it is important to develop an understanding regarding the theory related to innovation management with regard to the social networks. The theory of social networks was mentioned to be developed on the basis of two earlier concepts along with one fresh approach. The previous concepts were the belief that the process of innovation is ascertained with the help of research that is technology push and also by the unstructured communication that existed among the different organisations and the other market players. The fresh approach involved the belief that knowledge played quite a significant and vital part in promoting innovation. The rising significance of knowledge and its consideration as a vital factor of production along with being an influential factor of innovation could be elucidated with the help of the constant gathering of technical information over a period of time. The importance of knowledge could also be made evident with the employment of technical skills related to communication which helps in accessing the knowledge at a fast pace on a wide worldwide scale (European Commission, 2004). The theory related to innovation management has resulted in the development of platforms related to social media like Facebook. These platforms have resulted to be beneficial for the distribution and sharing of knowledge incurring advantages for organisations as well as individuals. These platforms like Facebook has facilitated the development of Virtual Customer Environment (VCE) which implies the formation of online groups of people centred on particular brands, products and organisations. Such platforms like Facebook could be made use for delivering applications related to e-commerce at instances when the organisations fail to succeed in completely getting their customers involved with their business related activities. It has also been observed in this context that the organisations even fall short of taking complete advantage of the competencies related to the platforms of social media. Therefore, the organisations should focus on the factor of constant innovation and so need to integrate the development of community in these platforms for the reason of adding worth to the businesses (Culnan & et. al., 2010). Knowledge Creation & Transfer within Social Network Organisations Social interaction with the help of these platforms of social media results in contributing to a significant extent to the businesses. Social networking platforms like Facebook are considered to be an effective microblogging medium which helps in enabling a noteworthy boost in the level of interaction. Therefore, organisations could create blogs and reach out to a great number of people which might help in contributing towards their business. Organisations could even use these platforms like Facebook as an effective and important medium of promoting their business and advertising about their products as well as services. Such activities or exploitation of these social platforms would result in trimming down the expenses related to promotion and advertising of the organisations along with facilitating it to reach out to a large number of customers. Therefore, the appropriate use of these platforms could result in attaining success for the organisations and ascertain their sustained existence (Fischer & Reuber, 2010). With this concern, various organisational learning models are applied by IT based companies, such as the Social Networking Sites. One of such organisational learning model used for knowledge management in IT based organisations, with the intention to implement innovation, can be regarded as the Socialization Externalization Combination Internalization (SECI) model. The diagram represented below, depicts the knowledge management and innovation process in organisational learning through SECI model (Phosaard, 2011). Source: (Phosaard, 2011) Social sites like the Facebook had been promoting the organisations to get registered with them. Above 4000 organisations were recorded to have registered with the Facebook for the reason of building organisational relationships. Sites similar to the Facebook are being referred to as means related to building relations. The pages of these social online networking sites have been referred to as effective medium of advertising as well as promotion for the organisations. These sites have been observed to be utilised by the organisations to develop associations with the public (Waters & et. al., 2009). Notably, the knowledge management process implemented by FaceBook can be represented with reference to the diagram below. Source: (Phosaard, 2011) Conclusion It could be evidently concluded form the above discussion that the constant need of innovation and the need to manage knowledge has triggered the initiation of the platforms related to social media. It could be affirmed from the inferences extracted from the above discussion that the chief reasons the development of these platforms have been attributed to the theories related to innovation management. The advantages provided by these platforms have also been mentioned in this research study which has established the need for organisations to indulge in activities related to these platforms for the reason of adding worth to the business. References Alwis, R. S. & et. al., 2004. The Role of Tacit Knowledge in Innovation Management. Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group, pp. 1-23. Argote, L. & Spektor, E. M., 2011. Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge. Organization Science, Vol. 22, No. 5, pp. 1123-1137. Collins, H. M., 2010. 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