Importance of Knowledge Sharing - Essay Example

The particular organization will have a unique body of knowledge particular to itself. It is this specialized knowledge which provides the way forward to dealing professionally with work-based problems. Balmisse et al (2007: 118) take up this concept stating that knowledge management is a type of tool that, through ‘ social interaction and interface customization’ enables the sharing and transferring of necessary data.
In 2010 Martin-Niemi and Greatbanks came up with produced an interesting discussion centering on “ba” which is said to be defined as ‘place’. This ‘ba’ becomes the means of relationships being developed, enabling workers to contribute their knowledge and so enhance their joint experiences and so create a communicative environment in which all can participate and share.
This concept was first put forward by Noaka et al (2000), Figure 1 depicts their Knowledge Creation Cycle.


The figure above shows how knowledge is accumulated when individuals and groups share a common working environment. Such sharing is not just the field of a few elite experts but must include participation by all. An emphasis is made in this type of knowledge creation upon both explicit as well as tacit knowledge as well as how these varying types could be shared. The former. explicit knowledge is easier to share because of its basis in individual talents. The model referred to as SECI, refers to the various stages, i.e. socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization.
This model can be used to demonstrate how blogs can be utilized within my company. We became interested in blogs as a way of encouraging groups of employees to contribute the knowledge they had. After only a few months it was possible to see positive developments. However, it was clear that full participation by all employees was necessary to create the optimum amount of knowledge. At present usage remains limited, but the company is actively developing a program of incentives to encourage employees to share their knowledge.
There are several benefits to the use of blogs. As well as encouraging the sharing of knowledge, they are also useful when it comes to discovering work-based difficulties. Also, ideas can be passed between departments, divisions, and different branches. As new ideas arise daily it has been possible, by using blogs, to share as well as create such ideas.

5 SUMMARY
Education is important for any successful company. So that it can improve its performance it is necessary to both acquire and create knowledge. Out of such knowledge will emerge guidelines so that an organization can make positive changes appropriately. Without the ready availability of such knowledge, an organization may well fail to gain any competitive advantage.
Knowledge creation has proved to be a popular topic for research and so a large amount of literature has been produced. However much of such research is relatively limited in its scope. There tends to be a focus on the creation of knowledge to discover and solve problems in the workplace.
For this reason in this paper, an action research approach has been taken which focuses
on the training and development of employees in the use of blogs as a way of sharing knowledge. Read More