Answer to Question #185686 in Management for kiynii shaib

Question

Consider yourself as an individual entering to any kind of new organization (Make your own example of a firm, college, university, institution, sports club, etc,). You have a certain set of knowledge with you and you will be learning more from your new organization thus enhancing knowledge. By using your personal example, apply the concept of ‘ba’ in accordance with SECI model for this knowledge creation process.  (1-2 pages)  

Answer 1

The SECI model is a well known conceptual model that was first proposed by Nonaka (1991 and expanded by Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). It describes how explicit and tacit knowledge is generated, transferred, and recreated in organizations. While it was first proposed within the context of business organizations, the model can easily be applied to education, as explored by Lin, Lin, and Huang (2008) and Yeh, Huang, and Yeh (2011).

The SECI model consists of four modes of knowledge conversion: socialization (tacit to tacit), externalization (tacit to explicit), combination (explicit to explicit), and internalization (explicit to tacit).Socialization is the process of sharing tacit knowledge through observation, imitation, practice, and participation in formal and informal communities (Yeh et al., 2011). The socialization process is usually preempted by the creation of a physical or virtual space where a given community can interact on a social level.Externalization is the process of articulating tacit knowledge into explicit concepts (Yeh et al., 2011). Since tacit knowledge is highly internalized, this process is the key to knowledge sharing and creation.

Combination is the process of integrating concepts into a knowledge system (Yeh et al., 2011).

Internalization is the process of embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995).

Ba is an integral concept in the SECI model. While the term is hard to translate from its original Japanese since such a word does not exist in the English vocabulary, it is often described as a context within which knowledge is shared, created, and utilized (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). This teacher virtual community could, for example, be considered aba.  As with the modes of knowledge conversion delineated by Nonaka (1991), there are four categories ofba. 

 

Originating ba can be described using this website as a place (whether physical or virtual) where individuals interact with one another (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Again, this website could be considered an originating ba.

Dialoguing ba can be described as the sharing of tacit knowledge among professionals to create knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). For example, as professors dialogue on this forum, their tacit knowledge can be used to inform individual and collective classroom practices.

Systemizing ba can be described as the analysis and measure of created knowledge once it is applied in practice (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995).

Exercising ba based on the findings delineated above, best practices can be improved (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995).