31 décembre 2005
Cartesis renforce sa position sur le marché japonais en nouant un partenariat avec Diva
Cette nouvelle alliance permettra à l'éditeur de diffuser ses solutions de Business Performance Management auprès des plus grandes entreprises japonaises.
Cartesis, premier éditeur mondial spécialisé dans les logiciels de Business Performance Management (BPM), et DIVA, leader japonais du développement de systèmes de comptabilité dédiés à la consolidation, ont annoncé une alliance stratégique. Selon les termes du contrat de partenariat, DIVA localisera la solution Cartesis ES Planning et assurera la conduite des actions de marketing et de distribution, ainsi que les services de maintenance de la solution Cartesis sur le marché japonais.
Les équipes de DIVA travailleront en étroite collaboration avec celles
de Cartesis pour localiser Cartesis ES Planning, et en faire une
application spécifiquement conçue pour répondre aux besoins complexes
des grandes entreprises japonaises d'envergure mondiale. Cartesis ES
Planning fournit à travers toute l'entreprise un socle robuste et
évolutif, unifiant sous une seule et même interface les processus
métier critiques comme la modélisation d'entreprise, l'analyse de
scénarii, en faisant varier les hypothèses, la définition d'objectifs,
l'élaboration budgétaire du bas vers le haut de l'organisation, le
rolling planning et la gestion prévisionnelle. Cartesis ES Planning
constitue une composante essentielle de la suite logicielle Cartesis
BPM Extended Suite, plate-forme unique de Business Performance
Management totalement intégrée.
Didier Benchimol, CEO de Cartesis, déclare : « Notre objectif au Japon
est de construire des relations fortes avec des partenaires qui
comprennent parfaitement les besoins du client. DIVA est leader sur le
marché japonais dans les domaines de la comptabilité et des systèmes de
gestion Groupe et affiche plus de 400 clients dont une part
significative figure parmi les valeurs les plus importantes du Tokyo
Stock Exchange. Nous nous réjouissons d'avoir abouti à cet accord qui
nous permettra d'offrir notre gamme de solutions BPM à un plus grand
nombre d'entreprises japonaises. Ce partenariat permettra en outre à
nos deux sociétés de renforcer leurs positions respectives sur le
marché japonais ».
S'exprimant au sujet du partenariat, Tetsuji Morikawa, Président de
DIVA, déclare : « Le rôle de DIVA ne se limitera pas seulement à
localiser Cartesis ES Planning. Il s'agira également d'intégrer les
données et de les relier à notre système DivaSystem de consolidation
comptable pour, in fine, offrir une solution efficace dédiée à
l'élaboration budgétaire et à la consolidation des comptes ».
En matière de marketing, de
commercialisation et de maintenance à fournir pour la suite BPM de
Cartesis, Tetsuji Morikawa ajoute : « Notre objectif étant d'apporter à
nos clients des solutions qui améliorent efficacement leurs opérations
de consolidation comptable et de gestion, nous nous réjouissons de
diffuser les produits Cartesis qui viennent compléter les
fonctionnalités de notre système DivaSystem. Nous le ferons en offrant
aux clients le même niveau de services que pour nos propres solutions
».
Cartesis a lancé dès aujourd'hui les
travaux de localisation de Cartesis ES Planning, constituant la
première étape du partenariat entre les deux sociétés. DIVA prévoit le
lancement opérationnel de son offre de services dédiés aux produits
Cartesis dès avril 2006, après la conduite d'actions supplémentaires de
formation, de certification et de marketing.
(source www.decideo.fr, japan-kmanagement.over-blog.com)
Modélisation et simulation d'approches stratégiques selon une méthodologie de logique floue
La logique floue est un ensemble de théories mathématiques qui traite
de la représentation et de la manipulation de connaissances imparfaites
(imprécises, incertaines voire incomplètes)
Zadeh a posé la première pièce de l'édifice en 1965 par la théorie des
sous-ensembles flous, qui laisse pour un élément la possibilité
d'appartenir à un ensemble, à un niveau d'appartenance donné allant de
0 (pas du tout) à 1 (totalement). D'une telle théorie, on peut en
déduire une nouvelle logique qui s'affranchit notamment des principes
de tiers-exclu et de non-contradication. Autre logique, autre
formulation des choses.
En 1975, Mamdani jeta les bases du
contrôle flou, une des applications les plus fameuses de la logique
floue. Dès lors, les réalisations industrielles n'ont pas tardé à
apparaître (automatisme, robotique, intelligence artificielle...).
C'est en Asie du Sud-Est (au Japon
notamment) que la logique floue a connue ses plus grands succès.
Peut-être cette approche est-elle entrée en résonance avec d'autres
manières d'appréhender les dualités...
L'objectif de cet exposé est de développer une nouvelle approche de l'analyse stratégique par la logique floue.
En guise d'illustration, nous présenterons ici un modèle dont le but
est d'évaluer la capacité concurrentielle d'une entreprise, et basé sur
le principe du contrôle flou. Puis nous testerons ce modèle sur un
secteur d'activités donné, celui des Télécom en Europe. Ce test
illustrera les possibilités de l'outil en termes de simulation et
d'aide à la prise de décision.
Fournir une alternative aux approches stratégiques classiques
Tout le corps théorique de l'analyse stratégique est basé sur une
analyse binaire de l'économie et de l'environnement concurrentiel de
l'entreprise. Cela peut peut-être s'expliquer par le fait que les
premières tentatives de formalisation théorique stratégique ont été
menées par des ingénieurs (Igor Ansoff), ou par des économistes
industriels (Michael Porter), pour prendre les plus connus.
On peut émettre l'hypothèse que cela a
fortement influencé l'idée que l'avantage concurrentiel d'une
entreprise pouvait largement être expliqué par sa position
concurrentielle relativement à ses concurrents. Le résultat est la
"Part de Marché Relative" (Relative Market Share), largement
popularisée par la matrice du Boston Consulting Group.
Tout le raisonnement stratégique depuis
les années 60 a été centré sur l'idée que la part de marché de
l'entreprise (être leader ou co-leader) était au cœur du débat
stratégique. Or, on peut se poser la question de savoir si le fait
d'être le premier ou le second en termes de parts de marché constitue
une garantie de survie de l'entreprise. Plus encore, on peut se
demander s'il est la conséquence de l'aptitude de l'entreprise à
exploiter ses compétences et ses atouts stratégiques, ou seulement le
fruit de conditions de marché particulières.
Souvenons-nous de Pan Am, Atari. Ces
entreprises étaient leaders sur leurs marchés, mais pas en termes de
profitabilité. Elles sont des victimes du paradigme de la course à la
part de marché.
La logique floue comme alternative à l'approche binaire classique
Si on jette un coup d'œil sur la réalité économique, sociétale et sur
l'environnement concurrentiel dans lequel les entreprises évoluent, on
est face à des données souvent imprécises, incertaines et souvent
exprimées en termes du langage humain, à des échelles de valeur dont
les classes ont des limites mal définies (les différentes phases du
cycle de vie par exemple), à des interlocuteurs humains introduisant
des descriptions subjectives. Voilà autant de raisons qui peuvent
conduire à utiliser la logique floue.
Concrètement, les décideurs sont
confrontés à une réalité moins structurée, moins binaire, plus
aléatoire et plus imprécise que les outils qu'ils mettent en œuvre.
La première pierre de l'édifice : la mesure de la capacité concurrentielle
Le but poursuivi ici est de mettre à la disposition des décideurs un premier outil de modélisation stratégique dont la finalité est d'estimer le potentiel stratégique de l'entreprise. Nous l'appelons "Competitive Capability Index" ou CCI. Cet indice ne mesure pas l'avantage concurrentiel, encore moins la position concurrentielle de l'entreprise. Il rend compte de son potentiel stratégique (s'il est élevé) ou de l'effort à fournir pour l'améliorer (s'il est faible).
Le CCI est déterminé par trois variables clés : "Life cycle", "Cost Structure" et "Differentiation"
- L'indice "Life Cycle" est ici exprimé en termes d'évolution
économique et technologique, et des besoins des clients. C'est ici une
variable contextuelle qui nuancera l'impact des deux autres variables.
En accord avec Gerry Johnson et Kevan Scholes dans « Exploring
corporate Strategy », les phases de cette variable seront Embryonnaire,
Croissance, Maturité et Déclin.
- L'indice "Cost Structure" mesure la capacité de
l'entreprise à gérer et maîtriser ses charges opérationnelles. En
exploitant cette compétence, elle peut concevoir une stratégie basée
sur une meilleure structure de coûts que ses concurrents.
- L'indice "Differentiation" mesure la capacité de
l'entreprise à créer de la valeur grâce à ses investissements R&D
et Processus d'innovation. En exploitant cette compétence, elle peut
concevoir une stratégie basée sur une meilleure capacité de
différenciation que ses concurrents...
Si vous souhaitez consulter l'article dans sa totalité, veuillez télécharger le fichier suivant : Gentili.pdf .
(source www.decideo.fr)
21 décembre 2005
Entovation parle du Knowledge Management au Japon
Entovation, l'excellent site internet sur le Knwoledge Management Parle de la voie japonaise du knowledge Management
The Knowledge Sun Rising in Japan:
Recruit Company Illuminating the Way
Debra M. Amidon
Given the extraordinary economic success of Japan in the 1980's, the knowledge agenda is no secret to the Japanese. Indeed, the roots of the movement in the United States are based in the relative technology transfer - redefined as Knowledge Exchange - between the two nations. In fact, the Asian roots are a tribute to Ikujiru Nonaka and his student Hiroyuki Itami, author of Mobilizing Invisible Assets (1987). However, with the economic downturn described as the 'Bubble Economy' and the Asian financial crisis, Japan has been rather invisible in the worldwide knowledge circles; but the dawn may now be approaching.
Under the leadership of Eiko Kouno, President of Recruit Co, Ltd, and Yukio Okubo, Head of their Works Institute (http://www.works-i.com), a research team directed by Reika Sho organized a 3-month project resulting in a forum of nearly 200 managers representing almost as many Japanese firms in a Symposium entitled: "Intellectual Capital Management." The event featured an entire issue of the Works Journal dedicated to the topic as well as three case study videos expertly produced featuring leading examples of Human Capital programs in action.
In the opening remarks, Recruit leadership outlined their definition of Intellectual Capital - complete with a corporate value enhancement model illustrating the interrelationship between Human, Relational and Structural Capital. At the heart is the distinction from and relationship between the 'Knowledge Worker' and the 'Knowledge Community' with Human Capital Management (HCM) - the next generation of Human Resource Management in organizations. Mr. Okubo asked the audience "How will Intellectual Capital take root in the Japanese society?"
Recent Economic Conditions
Based upon US State Department Notes, Japan operates as a Constitutional Monarchy and is the second-largest economy in the world after the United States. It has a reservoir of industrial leadership and technicians (67 million workers), well-educated and industrious workforce (99 per cent literacy), high savings and investment rates, and intensive promotion of industrial development and foreign trade that have produced a mature industrial economy. While Japan's long-term economic prospects are considered quite good, Japan has been experiencing its worst recession since WWII. Of particular note is the significant multi-billion dollars of direct foreign investment to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia, the Middle East (including Palestine), Africa, Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe - not to mention leadership in the Gulf War. In fact, they are noted as the world's largest aid donor (US$9 billion plus) since 1989.
It is interesting to note, however, that there are some discrepancies in recent reporting statistics that show Japan rated No. 1 in terms of technological innovation according to recent Michael F. Porter analysis; but they are listed as last (i.e., No. 46) in terms of educational application in recently published IMD studies. Noted economists, such as MIT's Rudi Dornbush, have little faith in the future of Japan's positioning as articulated in a 1998 Convocation, but Peter Drucker - in conversation with Isao Nakauchi - in a book called Drucker on Asia (1997) suggests that "…within the next twenty or thirty years Japan will develop a vigorous social sector of their own." This 'social sector', far more than government or business, represents the traditional values of a culture. It represents the traditions and values of the local community. The book further outlines the shift from government as the leader of the people's society to one of the assertion (or contribution) of every Japanese citizen.
Also of note, Recruit is featured as a young company with a corporate spirit of freedom and magnanimity. Their corporate philosophy, rare in Japan, stresses the individual ability of each employee: "Innovative ideas and proposals from younger employees are actively utilized". This is consistent with the notion of the "unit of one" that was researched at Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's and is now prevalent in the knowledge literature.
3 Case Study Examples
They were vivid examples complete with video interviews - some of the best I've seen.
Skandia Futures Center
First, the Skandia Futures Center (Vaxholm, Sweden) was featured as it has been in nearly every industry example. What was unique about the Japanese treatment of the video was likening the concept to the 'Ba' described by Ikujiru Nonaka in the California Management Review (Spring 1998). Through a series of interviews, Skandia managers were able to outline precisely how individuals can produce value and how that value can find itself to the bottom-line. With a focus on the environment, auditors can spend more time on success factors than documenting indicators of cost. This is the structural way to look at many complex variables. This is not dissimilar to what the 'Ba' environment provides for the conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge.
Leif Edvinsson (now with UNIC) in his follow-up presentation suggested that the Knowledge Economy is raising the bar on innovation as companies and as nations. Now a professor of Knowledge Economics, Leif described the new economic rules. 1+1=2 is industrial mathematics. 1+1=11 is holistic mathematics - capitalizing upon the combinatorial factors outlined by M'Pherson that were described in Creating the Knowledge-Based Business. "Unless you take advantage of driving for the 9 differential, you will lose the future in seconds. Measurement systems should be based upon the business potential by calculating resources for the future often found outside - not inside - an organization."
The Evolution of Matsui
Second, Michio Matsui, President and CEO of Matsui Securities Co., Ltd., explored the evolution of the company which now enjoys a top ranking in the number of on-line trading transactions in contrast to 5 years ago when it was ranked only 30th. What might be some of the secrets of success for an 80-year old company who within the last 10 years has transformed itself and may be providing leadership for the industry?
In 1998, Matsui became an on-line broker and no longer provides other financial products. The customer target is the individual investor who wants to trade stocks at a low commission without receiving any investment advice. Although the President appears to be making all the decisions, in actuality the employees connected by a LAN are involved in the decision-making mechanism that is agile and takes advantage of accumulated knowledge. In short, Matsui's innovation capability - idea to action - enables a new rate that is one-third the existing rate. With an innovative "box-rate" system - modeled after Disneyland (USA), they have been able to provide a unique and distinctive competence to the market and capitalizing upon unexpected and lucrative trading volumes.
The company has been able to realize significant success by implementing some of the core concepts of the Knowledge Economy:
- The decision-making mechanism is fast, vast and simultaneous
- All employees are considered knowledge-workers, responsible for expanding the company's information-base.
- Accumulated knowledge becomes the source of accountability to customers. There are no branches or sales representatives. The support center handles all customer inquiries.
- One potentially risky decision was to eliminate customers who were not interested in the company's new product direction, rather than the reverse, which is ordinarily the case.
- Matsui's human capital is its employee base and the knowledge thereof. It's relational capital is its customer base and the structural capital is the decision-making mechanism.
The company is an excellent example of the new Knowledge Value Proposition that balances the economics, behavior and technology in ways that benefit its constituency.
Mirai Kogyo
Third, Mirai Kogyo (translated Future Industries) was the third video featured. This company originating in 1965 is a lead organization with a late entry into the electric equipment and parts market. The corporate principle - "Always Think" - is displayed in every corner of the buildings and company literature. The company enjoys more than 1,600 patents with an impressive 30 per cent market share. In contrast to Matsui (above), this company caters to customers providing many products to customers that do not even reap a profit. Regardless, the company maintains a gross margin and operating profit of significant levels - 40 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively.
- Mirai Kogyo has managed to transform what might be considered as a guideline into an operating principle and the corporate culture.
- Mirai believes that fewer rules is better in order to concentrate on the core principle.
- Mirai always thinks of the needs of their users, equipment constructors and installers (i.e., the Strategic Business Network) simultaneously. They gather information (and knowledge) directly by visiting them on site.
- Mirai promises next day delivery even though such products may be manufactured at a loss.
- Company employees are rewarded US$4.50 for each new idea proposed. Each year, nearly 10,000 proposals are reviewed.
Summary
These three examples are diverse illustrations of how the concepts and principles of the Knowledge Economy can be put into practice with significant economic benefit for companies willing to experiment with new management methodologies.
In the closing panel, it was the first time in the evolution of the 13+-year knowledge movement that Ikujiro Nonaka, Leif Edvinsson (notably the first CKO) and Debra M. Amidon shared the platform. The essence of the dialogue was too robust to share here; but a request was made for the video to be made available in English and at that time will be outlined for ENTOVATION readers.
Intellectual Olympics
In separate meetings, we were able to speak with ENTOVATION colleague, Dr. Akira "Stoney" Ishikawa who is featured on the Global Knowledge Leadership Map and participated in Global Learn Day IV. Chairman of the International Exchange Committee of Aoyama Gaknin University, he published an article - 'Framework for the Intellectual Olympics' - in the Journal of International Politics, Economics and Business (1998). The concept originating in Japan in the 1960’s (i.e., almost 35 years ago) provides for a well-balanced development of the physical, spiritual, technical and intellectual power of humans. "Knowledge and intelligence need to be used and widely shared for the sake of sustainable development of this our global village."
New Japanese Resources
Thanks to the able translation skills of Naomi Yabe - http://www.assisty.com - and in cooperation with the Works Institute, several Japanese versions of ENTOVATION materials will shortly be mage available at the ENTOVATION Website: The Litmus Test, The Momentum of Knowledge Management and the Global Momentum of Knowledge Strategy. See What's New at http://www.entovation.com.
Le Directeur de the Knwoledge Management Society of Japan, parle des entreprises japonaises
Author:
Hideo Yamazaki, PhD.
Senior Researcher, Management Information Consulting Dept.,
Nomura Research Inst. Ltd.
Professor, Knowledge MBA School Tokyo
Pattent, University of America
Tel: +81-3-5203-0682 E-mail: h-yamazaki@nri.co.jp
Japan
I. Introduction
Therefore, when “knowledge-community building” emerged in the USA at the end of 20th century, lots of researchers as well as
practitioners, including myself, immediately showed keen interest and
started research on knowledge-community building in the USA and Europe.
Since
then, as a leading member of Knowledge Management Society of Japan
(KMSJ), I kept advocating the importance of this issue in Japanese
academic as well as business circles. In 2001, I headed “Theoretical KM
Research Group” of KMSJ, one of the special interest group at KMSJ.
Under my leadership, this group specialized in knowledge-community
building for the past four years, and it is the only public research
and practice group of “communities of practice” in Japan.
One of the interesting feature is that Japanese
“knowledge-community building” is not exactly similar to the
“communities of practice” as was defined by Etinne Wenger (Wenger 1998
2002) in the USA, but much rather resembles “knowledge communities” on
internet such as Askme, Abuzz etc. The difference between “communities
of practice” and “knowledge communities” is that while in case of
“communities of practice” the scope of member participation is clearly
defined by job description (such as copy-machine repairmen’s
community), whereas in the case of “knowledge communities” member
participation is very vague, wide open and irrespective of minute job
description, covering, in some cases, all the employees working in a
big company.
II. Increase in Japanese “knowledge communities”
During
the past three years, I wrote four books that are related to “knowledge
communities” operational in Japanese companies. It is a matter of
regret that these books are all in Japanese. However, in this article,
I have conveyed some of the essence of my books.
First of all, one of the common features of Japanese “knowledge communities” is that most of them are on-line communities.
In Japan, with the tradition of life-ling employment, there is almost no interest
in face-to-face “knowledge communities”. It is true that in the book
“Knowledge Creating Company; How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics
of Innovation”, the importance of face-to-face based tacit knowledge
transfer was strongly emphasized. However, it is obvious even in Japan
that traditional face-to-face based communities are not suitable for
new idea generation for knowledge age, but rather are suitable for
skill transfer for the industrial age.
Second,
in these three years, Japanese companies have been experiencing a sort
of Cambrian Explosion of on-line based “knowledge communities”.
Actually,
the size, structure, leadership and purposes of Japanese “knowledge
communities” are quite diversified. As far as the size of “knowledge
communities” is concerned, to the best of my knowledge, while the
smallest one has only 180 members within Japan, the biggest one has
more than 10,000 members scattered all over the world. As for
structure, while some “knowledge communities” are based on on-line
magazines for only issuing newsletters, others are based on
Q&A-type community-system just like Askme or Abuzz.
Some of
the “knowledge communities” have community-facilitators whiles others
don’t. The interesting issue is that whether or not “knowledge
communities” have community-facilitators, some “knowledge communities”
are highly operational and efficient while others are not.
To give you a clear picture of Japanese “knowledge communities” I would like to give you an interesting example.
Ricoh, well known manufacturers of copying machines in Japan,
was surprisingly nominated to one of the finalists of MAKE 2003. I am
not sure why Ricoh was nominated. However, as far as I know, this
company is excellent on knowledge-community building in a typical
Japanese way.
Ricoh has on-line newsletter-based “knowledge
communities” with more than 10,000 participants from all over the
world. This on-line newsletter is full of specific and useful business
knowledge, such as how to persuade customers to buy Ricoh digital
cameras, as well as the articles useful for employees. It is said that
Ricoh’s strength lies in the on-line newsletter from “knowledge
communities”. The “knowledge community” at Ricoh was started by one of
its senior staff members. Top management at Ricoh praised his voluntary
efforts and nominated him to the position of company coordinator. His
work as coordinator of Ricoh’s “knowledge community” is very simple. As
editor of company newsletter, he issues a mailing-list-based newsletter
every week. Employee fan letters from all over the world are also
attended to. Most of these letters are automatically made open to
public on intranet homepages. The regularity of this simple operation
produced a big on-line community, with more than 10,000 participants.
In case a participant wanted to communicate with other
community-participants, all he had to do was to send a fan letter to
the coordinator. These fan letters are actually used for the purpose of
message exchange within knowledge community. This simple community
functioned very well as a catalyzer, and as a result, more than 300
directly business related and Q&A-type knowledge communities were
born in Ricoh, at a later stage. I suspect that this simple
news-letter-community operation brought about a new and strong on-line
knowledge- community culture to Ricoh.
III. Company-Community Building Japan Japan Japan
With
the long tradition of inward-looking and high-context based
company-communities, Japanese companies are highly sensitive to the
change of employee mentality as well as company culture. As far as
face-to-face based communities, backed by lifelong employment and
seniority-rule, are concerned, Japanese companies are confident of its
success. However, when it comes to on-line based knowledge communities
with open and low-context flavor, they are quite new to Japanese
companies. Therefore, I presume that new cultural mix of western
COP(communities of practice) and oriental collectivism is emerging in
the shape of on-line based knowledge communities at the beginning of
21st Century.
With the mixture of traditional culture and new
technology, interestingly, Japanese knowledge communities have the
following unique local features that are different from global standard
COP Model:
1) Most of knowledge communities are IT based;
2) They retain traditional collective decision-making flavor;
3) Nickname based on-line communities are increasing in number;
4) They prefer one big knowledge community; and
5) There is a vertical as well as horizontal knowledge exchange;
(The
last feature might sound strange to readers outside of Japan. Some
readers might insist that knowledge communities for vertical knowledge
exchange are not communities, but rather pyramid-based traditional
organizations on IT network.)
1. Most of knowledge communities are IT based.
Actually I can confidently say that 90% of knowledge communities (communities of practice) in
In the new
circumstances of economy of speed, Japanese companies are transforming
themselves into transparent ones and are making themselves open to
employees, to benefit from the flexible knowledge power of young
employees. Another important point is that Japanese companies have
gradually noticed that “fresh and new ideas” emanates not from an
introverted community environment but from an open and individual
treasured community environment. That is why low-context and
intranet-based knowledge communities are installed so rapidly in
Japanese companies.
2, Retaining traditional collective decision-making flavour
In
the building of a knowledge community, companies should give some
consideration to middle managers as well as young employees.
In
Japanese companies, the current mainstream of middle managers are the
people who joined companies, fresh out of college. They have been
trained to be adaptable for consensus -based collective
decision-making. Interestingly, some sort of a consensus-based
traditional flavour can be seen in newly built Japanese knowledge
communities.
3, Nick-name based on-line communities
Another
feature is that in some top-level companies, knowledge communities are
operational on an employee-nick-name basis (knowledge exchange based on
handle name). Actually, this trend is a big surprise even to me, though
I was born and raised in
However, it is being gradually accepted in business community
that the use of a nickname enables employees to exchange knowledge more
easily, irrespective of organizational hierarchy. Interestingly, use of
nickname revived altruism, another Japanese tradition of collectivism,
in the new form.
4, One big knowledge community is preferred.
Japanese
companies prefer one big knowledge community to a collection of small
ones. Some knowledge communities include all employees, including these
of subsidiaries. For example, the knowledge network of Mitsubishi
Electric Company covers 90,000 employees working in all the group
companies. Japanese companies have a long paternalistic tradition, that
regards all the employees as family members.
In a sense, development of a large knowledge community is the resurrection of paternalism.
5, Vertical as well as horizontal knowledge exchange
In
Japan, the flexi time system has become more and more popular with
companies these days. To take an extreme example, a salesman in an
IT-based office uses his cellar phone and PC to customers, and on a
given day may return home without visiting company his office at all.
In many cases, researchers in the R&D division may work either at
home or in the laboratory, depending on their convenience. It is quite
natural that in this sort of environment, top managers begin to
consider managing employees directly through an IT network. So it is
natural that in business circles, knowledge communities look very
promising for top managers as they can exchange conversation directly
and get their message through to employees, and have them swing in
action.
Therefore, as soon as knowledge communities become
operational, top managers show keen interest in them and sometimes
actively take part in them. The coordination between community members
and top management is one of the important jobs for community
facilitators.
In
In
this context, both traditional high-context communities based on
face-to-face communication and newly born knowledge communities
surprisingly coexist in advanced Japanese companies. I call this “dual
context community”, the new social environment of Japanese companies.
IV. Some Actual Cases Japan Tokyo Japan Japan
Besides
Ricoh, there are some other marvellously successful examples in KMSJ.
To the best of my knowledge these following cases are the most advanced
knowledge communities in
1. Sumitomo Life Insurance
The sumitomo group is one of the biggest traditional collection of financial and industrial group companies in
Sumitomo
Life Insurance launched a knowledge community in the autumn of 2001.
Currently, roughly 6,000 voluntary participants are exchanging
knowledge in the Q&A style on intranet. While they use Japanese
native software, their Q&A system is along the same lines as the
American born Q&A community system. Sumitomo’s knowledge community
is one big community, covering all its 12,000 core employees. It is
said that half of the core employees have voluntarily enrolled in the
knowledge community and more than 400 Q&As are exchanged every
month.
It is said in KMSJ that Sumitomo Life is a typical success
case of knowledge community building. From research by KMSJ some the
success factors are;
# Nomination of community coordinators.
These community coordinators were nominated by top management.
#Support of employees.
In
#Earnest support of CEO.
With the knowledge community operational, the CEO can see through the intranet what is going on in the field every day.
What
is interesting is that with the success of knowledge community,
official organizations also took part in knowledge communities. Some
questions, such as ones relating to fringe benefits, could not be
properly answered by individual employees. In such cases general
affairs division cleared doubts. Johnson Japan Johnson Japan Johnson , USA Japan Johnson Japan USA USA Japan They have more than 80 years history behind them in the food
manufacturing business, with about 2,200 employees. Q.P.Corporation is
a typically traditional company in Japan.
Lastly, I must point out that all
the participants at Sumitomo knowledge community use nicknames, the
so-called handle names, that is very popular on internet. Resultantly,
in Sumitomo Life “knowledge contribution rewards” are all announced and
given to employees using nicknames.
In Sumitomo Life the low-context
society emerged through intranet, coexisting with traditional high
context society on face-to-face basis. I believe that these are the
beginnings of the emerging Japanese company.
2. Johnson and
Johnson and
Johnson and
As far as employee
participation goes, all the members of Ethicon Div., including support
staff, were automatically registered into the newly born knowledge
community.
Interestingly, at the initial stage of community launch,
it was decided that each participant would write a essay or a poem
regularly and put it on the homepage of the knowledge community. This
may seem like a waste of business time. However, in
At
the first launch of knowledge communities, participants started seeking
and giving advices through Q&A under real names. However, the
number of daily Q&A exchanges were few, and many times almost nil.
So they decided on the use of nicknames and as a result, surprisingly,
the Q&A exchange increased rapidly by almost five times.
As for
Mr. top manager at the Ethicon Division, he occasionally uses two
different names in different contexts. When he gives official
instructions, he uses his real name and official title. He does this
also when giving management briefing to knowledge community. On the
other hand, when he takes part in knowledge discussion on intranet, he
uses a nickname such as “an Ex-Trading Champ.”
Another interesting
example is when the top manager compiles strategy plans or
reorganization plans all the plans drafted are sometimes disclosed on
knowledge community for employee discussion. Any employee in the
Ethicon Division can express his opinion as to whether drafts are
acceptable, or whether drafts are to be modified or rejected. The point
is that through discussion, all the employees well understand the
spirit and content of the plan. Therefore, a very quick and smooth
installation of a new plan can be expected. It is a sort of new type of
consensus-based management through employee participation on intranet.
As you know, traditional Japanese collectivism consisted of
consensus-based management.
J&J Japan also have a very good
community coordinator Mr. K. Onozaki, manager of knowledge engineering
department. As a coordinator of the knowledge community, if he feels it
is necessary to be physically present anywhere in Japan , he meets with employees for a face-to-face discussion, and work is discussed over a drink or meal.
Here
in Johnson and Johnson, it seems that traditional Japanese spirit is
being reborn in a new shape - the combination of knowledge communities
on intranet and close social community in a physical sense.
3, Q.P.Corporation
Q.P.Corporation is a Japanese company manufacturing and marketing mayonnaise and salad dressings in Japan.
To begin with, therefore,
they launched only one big knowledge community, covering all the
subsidiaries as well as the main company. Two years later, they
gradually started setting up sub-communities for pure
knowledge-exchange purposes by following natural community evolution.
First,
the knowledge management team started a company newsletter service for
all the group employees in a lotus-notes environment, and set up a
mail-magazine. This newsletter service, together with a bulletin board,
where any employee can express his opinion on knowledge-related
articles is quite interactive. At an early stage, all the articles in
the newsletter were directly prepared by knowledge management team
only. At a later stage, some articles were compiled and posted by
employees on a voluntary basis.
Nowadays top management as well as
official organization participate in knowledge communities. For
example, last year, marketing division occasionally recruited employee
volunteers for sampling new diet foods, and to promote new products in
their neighbourhood. Top management sometimes contact and ask community
coordinators for help, to conduct opinion surveys, for food-related
matters, of employees or their family-members.
It seems that with knowledge community, Q.P.Corporation is definitely changing its company culture.
V. Conclusion
Another interesting aspect is that
nickname-based knowledge exchange and low-context communication, can
coexist with high context communication on a facet-to-face basis. It
was this phenomenon of a community at the crossroads of Japanese
history that attracted me to the jobs of knowledge-community
researcher, promoter builder and consultant. I can say with confidence
that the building of knowledge communities is a typical Japanese
post-Nonaka approach.
Position des entreprises Japonaises
Rapport 2003
The ASIAN Most Admired Kowledge Enterprises (MAKE) STUDY
L’étude MAKE est une partie du programme de recherche TELEOS. Cette étude MAKE a été établie en 2002 afin de récompenser les organisations (entreprises, associations) en Asie qui développaient les meilleurs dispositifs organisationnels afin d’atteindre des hauts niveau de compétitivité dans les domaines de l’innovation, le développement de produit, l’efficacité opérationnelle et l’excellence dans les produits et les services.
Cette étude MAKE est basée sur la méthode de recherche Delphi. Dans la suite du document nous reprendrons sans le traduire le contenu le plus important de l’étude MAKE.
Etape de sélection des entreprises asiatiques.
An Asian-based panel of Fortune Global 500 senior executives and leading knowledge management experts selects the Asian MAKE Winners. The 2003 Asian MAKE survey was sentto the chief executive officer, chief financial officer and chief technology officer/chief
information officer of each of the 122 Asian-headquartered Fortune Global 500 companies (by sales). Additionally, 384 Asian chief knowledge officers and leading knowledge management practitioners were selected for the expert panel. Altogether, the 2003 Asian MAKE expert panel consisted of 750 members.
In the Asian MAKE study there are three rounds of consensus building. In the first round, expert panel members identify possible Asian MAKE enterprises. In the second round, each expert panel member selects a maximum of three Asian organizations from the nomination list. Those organizations selected by at least 10% of the panel are recognized as Asian MAKE Finalists.
In the third and final round, the Asian MAKE Finalists are measured against each of the eight
knowledge performance dimensions which are the visible drivers of competitive advantage:
• creating an enterprise knowledge-driven culture.
• developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership.
• delivering knowledge-based products/services/solutions.
• maximizing enterprise intellectual capital.
• creating an environment for collaborative knowledge sharing.
• creating a learning organization.
• delivering value based on customer knowledge.
• transforming enterprise knowledge into shareholder value.
A total of 61 Asian organizations were nominated as 2003 Asian Most Admired Knowledge
Enterprises. Out of this group, 27 organizations were recognized as 2003 Asian MAKE Finalists
Parmi
les 18 finalistes de l’étude MAKE, il se trouve qu’il y a 9 entreprises
Japonaises, soit exactement 50% des entreprises sélectionnées.
For the second year in a row, Toyota Motor has captured the top position in the Asian MAKE
study. Toyota Motor is recognized for its enterprise knowledge-driven culture, developing
knowledge workers through senior management leadership, organizational learning and creatingenterprise value based on customer knowledge.
Seven
organizations repeated as Asian MAKE Winners: Fuji Xerox, Infosys
Technologies, Kao,Samsung SDS, Sony, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Company and Toyota Motor.Newcomers to the Asian MAKE winner’s circle
are: BHP Billiton, Canon, Eisai, Honda Motor,LG Electronics, Nissan
Motor, Samsung Electronics, Singapore Airlines, Tata Steel, Toshiba and Wipro Technologies.
Table
3 shows the five Asian MAKE Winners which received the largest number
of 2003 Asian MAKE nominations from the expert panel’s senior
executives and knowledge management practitioners.
Parmi les 5 entreprises recevant des récompenses entant que finalistes, 3 sont japonaises, soit 60% des entreprises.
Le lecteur pour consulter avec intérêt l’intégralité de ce rapport MAKE.
20 décembre 2005
Nonaka et Takeuchi: leurs positions vis à vis de la Connaissance
Nonaka et Takeuchi(
http://www.ics.hit-u.ac.jp/faculty/detail.php?id=113 )sont les deux experts japonais qui ont beaucoup écrit sur le Knowledge Management, mais ils ont aussi fait couler beaucoup d'encre à propos de leurs concepts sur le Knowledge Management au Japon.
1°)La vision de Mr Takeuchi sur le Knowledge Management au Japon était la suivante en 1998:
The 'knowledge boom' has hit the West like lightning in recent years. Its roots go way back to Plato, in 400 BC, but knowledge is heralded today as one of the newest ideas in business management.
Beyond Knowledge Management:
Lessons from Japan
Ó June 1998 HIROTAKA TAKEUCHI
Emerging from the West is a wide consensus on the strategic importance of managing knowledge well. A recent poll of executives from 80 large companies in the US, such as Amoco, Chemical Bank, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak and Pillsbury, showed that four out of five believed managing knowledge of their organisations should be an essential or important part of business strategy. These executives have also come to realise that they have a long way to go to managing knowledge well. In the same poll, only 15 per cent felt they managed knowledge well.
Lewis Platt, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, contends that successful companies of the 21st century will be those that do the best job of capturing, storing and leveraging what their employees know. He is using the phrase, "Knowledge is our currency", as a mantra to spread his message across Hewlett-Packard's worldwide Organization.
CONCLUSION
This paper serves as a warning to Western managers who have jumped on the "knowledge management" bandwagon. Although the growing recognition of knowledge as the critical resource is welcome news, the hoopla in the West associated with knowledge management could be a blessing in disguise. As we have seen, the focus in the West has been on (1) explicit knowledge, (2) measuring and managing existing knowledge, and (3) the selected few carrying out knowledge management initiatives. This bias reinforces the view of the Organisation simply as a machine for information processing.
What Western companies need to do is to "unlearn" their existing view of knowledge and pay more attention to (1) tacit knowledge, (2) creating new knowledge, and (3) having everyone in the Organisation be involved. Only then can the Organisation be viewed as a living organism capable of creating continuous innovation in a self-organising manner.
This paper has argued that knowledge holds the key to generating continuous innovation. An old concept dating back to 400 BC has emerged in the West as the newest management idea. It would be pitiful, however, if it ended up being just a buzzword or if "knowledge management" degenerated into little more than a fad, as many management concepts have done in the past. For example, re-engineering started out as a perfectly sensible management concept when first written about in 1990. But the hype which subsequently developed meant that the human factor was too quickly ignored. It would be tragic if history repeated itself with knowledge management.
WHY KNOWLEDGE?
Why are managers in the West so enthralled with knowledge? Several fundamental shifts are working to fuel the knowledge movement. They include the following:
• a shift to knowledge as the basic resource,
• a shift to knowledge-based industries, and
• a shift to growth as the top managerial priority. We will examine each below.
SHIFT TO KNOWLEDGE AS THE BASIC RESOURCE
Peter Drucker contends that knowledge has become the resource, rather than a resource. Knowledge has sidelined capital and labour to become the sole factor of production:
"The central wealth-creating activities will be neither the allocation of capital to productive uses nor "labour"... Value is now created by "productivity" and "innovation", both applications of knowledge to work."
The productivity of knowledge is going to be the determining factor in the competitive position of a company, an industry, an entire country. No country, industry, or company has any "natural" advantage or disadvantage. The only advantage it can possess is the ability to exploit universally available knowledge.
Knowledge workers, who now constitute 35 per cent to 40 per cent of the workforce, will become the leading social group as a result of this shift. According to Drucker, "They will own both the 'means of production' and the 'tools of production'...the former through their pension funds, which are rapidly emerging in all developed countries as the only real owners; the latter because knowledge workers own their knowledge and can take it with them wherever they go."
SHIFT TO KNOWLEDGE-BASED INDUSTRIES
Knowledge-based industries are becoming the leading industries in today's economy. To quote Drucker again:
"The industries that have moved into the centre of the economy in the last forty years have as their business the production and distribution of knowledge and information, rather than the production and distribution of things. The actual product of the pharmaceutical industry is knowledge,- pill and prescription ointment are no more than packaging for knowledge. There are the telecommunications industries and the industries, which produce information-processing tools and equipment, such as computers, semiconductors, and software. There are the information producers and distributors: movies, television shows, videocassettes. The "non-businesses" which produce and apply knowledge - education and health care - have in all developed countries grown much faster than even knowledge-based industries."
Knowledge-based industries include both the service sector and the manufacturing sector. The service sector includes industries where knowledge is effectively the product (such as management consulting or training) as well as industries where the product is based on the application of knowledge (such as architecture). The manufacturing sector includes industries, which produce products with high-knowledge intensity (such as packaged software), as well as those which produce products based on the application of knowledge (such as pharmaceuticals).
SHIFT TO GROWTH AS THE TOP MANAGERIAL PRIORITY
In the last five to seven years, Western managers focused their attention on cutting costs to the bone through downsizing and re-engineering. Recently, however, they discovered that the removal of all slack from a worker's day runs counter to creativity and innovation, which are the engines of growth. Nonaka and Takeuchi argue that Japanese companies have advanced their position in international competition because of their skills and expertise at organisational knowledge creation, which is the key to the distinctive way that Japanese companies innovate.
Organisational knowledge creation is defined as the capability of a company as a whole to create new knowledge, disseminate it through the Organisation, and embody it in products, services and systems. Japanese companies, which have shunned downsizing and re-engineering for the most part, even during the recent recession, are especially good at utilising this process to bring about innovation continuously and incrementally.
The knowledge boom in the West
Signs of what some call the 'knowledge boom' are visible everywhere in the Western business world today. They include new books and journals, knowledge management conferences, knowledge management services backed up by knowledge databases, and new corporate titles among other things. Consider the following: Five new books on knowledge and intellectual capital have been published in the first five months of 1997 alone, with more to come.
These practitioner-oriented books on measuring and managing knowledge include the following (in alphabetical order):
- Verna Allee, The Knowledge Evolution Expanding Organizational Intelligence. Boston: Butterworth Heinemann, 1997
- Debra M. Amidon, Innovation Strategy for the Knowledge Economy: The Ken Awakening. Boston: Butterworth Heinemann, 1997
- Leif Edvinsson and Michael S. Malone, Intellectual Capital: Realizing Your Company's True Value by Finding Its Hidden Brainpower. New York: Harper Business, 1997
- Thomas A. Stewart, Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations. New York: Doubleday, 1997
- Karl-Erik Sveiby, The New Organizational Wealth: Managing and Measuring Knowledge-based Assets. San Francisco: Berrett Koehler, 1997.
New journals, newsletters and electronic media dedicated to knowledge have been established in recent years. For example, they include the following: o Knowledge Technology Journal, published by IC' in Austin, Texas
- Journal of Knowledge Management, to be published by IFS International Limited in September,
1997 in
London. - Knowledge Inc., a newsletter published in Mountain View, California
- Knowledge Management Forum, an electronic conferencing medium in West Richland, Washington.
Some 40 conferences on "knowledge management" were held throughout the US and Europe in 1996. Most of these conferences were organised by consulting firms, accounting firms, think tanks and management associations.
The market for "knowledge management" services jumped from $US400 million in 1994 to $US2.6 billion in 1996, according to Dataquest.
Consulting firms are leading the way in building "knowledge databases", which are attempts to pull scattered information throughout the organisations together and convert it into organisational memory in the form of a database. For example:
Andersen Consulting set up Knowledge Xchange; Booz Allen & Hamilton developed Knowledge On-Line; Ernst & Young created their Center for Business Knowledge, KPMG Peat Marwick established A Knowledge Manage; and Price Waterhouse has Knowledge View.
A new corporate title, Corporate Knowledge Officer (CKO), has been created in some 30 plus Fortune 500 companies. Some of these companies converted the Corporate Information Officer (CIO) title to the CKO title, while others are using the two simultaneously.
The creation of a new title on knowledge has not been restricted to the corporate world. The academic world has followed suit as well. The first chaired professorship dedicated to the study of knowledge and its impact on business was created at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, in May 1997. The chair, named the Xerox Distinguished Professorship in Knowledge, was funded by a donation given jointly by Fuji Xerox Co Ltd of Japan (80 per cent) and Xerox Corporation of the US (20 per cent). Ikujiro Nonaka, who holds a joint appointment at Hitotsubashi University and Japan's Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, was chosen to hold the first chaired professorship as a visiting professor. Nonaka was dubbed "Mr Knowledge" in a recent article by The Economist (31 May 1997).
As evident from above, the "knowledge boom" has hit the West like lightning in recent years. Knowledge management, which Business Week defines as "the idea of capturing knowledge gained by individuals and spreading it to others in the Organization", has become one of the most popular management ideas. It contains two dimensions:
- Measuring knowledge (or intellectual capital), and
- Managing it.
European companies have been international leaders in measuring knowledge, while American companies have often been cited as the leaders in managing knowledge effectively.
MEASURING KNOWLEDGE
European companies have taken the lead in developing measurement systems for their intangible assets and reporting the results publicly. They include (1) Skandia AFS, a subsidiary of the Skandia insurance and financial services company, (2) WM-data, a computer software and consulting company, (3) Celemi, a company that develops and sells creative training tools, and (4) PLS-Consult, a management consulting firm. All of the companies listed here are Scandinavian companies - the first three being Swedish and the fourth being Danish. They have all been influenced by the pioneering work of Karl-Erik Sveiby of Sweden, who developed a method of accounting for intangible assets in companies in the late 1980s.
Collectively, these companies developed hundreds of indices and ratios in an effort to provide a comprehensive view of intellectual assets at hand. For example, these companies measure such things as "business development expenses as a percentage of total expenses", "percentage of production from new launches", "information technology investments as a percentage of total expense", "information technology employees as a percentage of total employees", "percentage of employees working directly with customers", and the like as indicators of intellectual capital.
In addition, these companies actually report these indices in their annual reports to show how effectively intellectual assets are leveraged. The Skandia AFS annual report, for example, highlights the process of transforming "human capital", which is an asset the company cannot own, into "structural capital", which can be owned by the company. Human capital is defined as the combined knowledge, skill, innovativeness and ability of the company's individual employees to meet the task at hand. It also includes the company's values, culture and philosophy. Structural capital is defined as the hardware, software, databases, organisational structure, patents, trademarks and everything else of organisational capability that supports those employees' productivity - in a word, everything left at the office when the employees go home. Structural capital also includes customer capital and the relationships developed with key customers.
MANAGING KNOWLEDGE
American companies have taken the lead in managing knowledge effectively. The best practices in service industries where knowledge is effectively the product come mostly from American management consulting firms. The roles that "intelligent interrogators" at McKinsey & Company and the "knowledge integrators" at Andersen Consulting play in managing knowledge are well documented. These knowledge managers are responsible for keeping the knowledge database orderly (e.g. Knowledge Xchange in the case of Andersen Consulting), categorising and formatting documents and deleting the obsolete. They are also charged with cajoling consultants into using the system and identifying topics that ought to become research projects.
In the manufacturing industries, I have had first-hand experience working with GE and Hewlett-Packard, both of whom have received favourable press coverage in the knowledge management field. At GE, I served as one of the facilitators of its Work-Out program, which began in 1989. Work-Out exemplifies an attempt on the part of large companies to create the opportunity for hidden knowledge to be made public.
Hewlett-Packard has been embarking on a number of knowledge management initiatives in recent years to create a purposeful process for capturing, storing, sharing and leveraging what employees know. One of the outcomes of this initiative is the formation of KnowledgeLinks, a program in which an internal consultancy group located at headquarters collects knowledge from one Hewlett-Packard business and translates it so that the other businesses can apply it. An on-line version of KnowledgeLinks is now available, enabling managers to receive a screenful of documents, war stories and best practices on how others have dealt with key management issues in the past - such as decreasing time-to-market, outsourcing manufacturing, managing retail channels and others. The KnowledgeLinks web sites not only provide access to what others have done, but whom to contact as well.
Knowledge management in Japan
AS EVIDENT FROM THE ABOVE, the boom that has hit the West like lightning is not about knowledge per se, but about knowledge management. Europe appears to have an edge on measuring knowledge and the US on managing it.
To repeat, knowledge management is about capturing knowledge gained by individuals and spreading it to others in the Organisation. Where does Japan stand with respect to knowledge management? "Nowhere" is probably the most accurate answer.
Visible signs of the boom we saw in the West are nowhere to be found in Japan ... no onrush of new books and journals on knowledge management being published, no conferences being organised, no new databases being formed, and no new corporate titles being created. Neither are Japanese companies sending their managers in droves to Scandinavia to learn how knowledge is being measured, nor to the US to observe how knowledge initiatives are being managed at Hewlett-Packard, GE or 3M, as they have typically done with other new management ideas.
Why are Japanese companies not jumping on the bandwagon with respect to knowledge management? It is not because they do not fully recognise the importance of knowledge as the resource and as the key source of innovation. They do, as Nonaka and Takeuchi pointed out in The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of innovation. What they are not convinced about is the value of simply measuring and managing existing knowledge in a mechanical and systematic manner. They doubt if that alone will enhance innovation.
Japanese companies' reluctance to accept knowledge management reflects Ikujiro Nonaka's influence. Nonaka's thoughts about knowledge are different from the popular Western view in two respects according to The Economist:
"The first is his relative lack of interest in information technology. Many American companies equate "knowledge creation" with setting up computer databases. Professor Nonaka argues that much of a company's knowledge bank has nothing to do with data, but is based on informal "on-the-job" knowledge - everything from the name of a customer's secretary to the best way to deal with a truculent supplier. Many of these tidbits are stored in the brains of middle managers - exactly the people whom re-engineering replaced with computers.
The second thing that makes Professor Nonaka stand out is his insistence that companies need plenty of slack to remain creative.
Nonaka seems to be posing two fundamental questions about knowledge management in the above quote. Can you measure the tidbits of knowledge stored in the brains of managers? Can you really create new knowledge by trying to micro-manage it?
Nonaka draws -a clear distinction between knowledge management and knowledge creation, as illustrated by the following episode. In naming the first chaired professorship dedicated to the study of knowledge and its impact on business, the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, initially recommended the title "Xerox Distinguished Professorship of Knowledge Management." Nonaka inquired if the title could be changed to Xerox Distinguished Professorship of Knowledge Creation." As a compromise, they agreed to call it "Xerox Distinguished Professorship in Knowledge".
The Japanese approach to knowledge differs from the West in a number of ways. We will highlight three fundamental differences here:
- how knowledge is viewed,
- what companies do with knowledge, and
- who the key players are.
To repeat, in Japan,
- knowledge is not viewed simply as data or information that can be stored in the computer; it also involves emotions, values, and hunches;
- companies do not merely "manage" knowledge, but "create" it as well; and
- everyone in the Organisation is involved in creating
- organisational knowledge, with middle managers serving as key knowledge engineers.
There are two kinds of knowledge. One is explicit knowledge, which can be expressed in words and numbers and shared in the form of data, scientific formulae, product specifications, manuals, universal principles, and so forth. This kind of knowledge can be readily transmitted across individuals formally and systematically. This has been the dominant form of knowledge in the West. The Japanese, however, see this form as just the tip of the iceberg. They view knowledge as being primarily tacit, something not easily visible and expressible.
Tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to formalise, making it difficult to communicate or share with others. Subjective insights, intuitions and hunches fall into this category of knowledge. Furthermore, tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in an individual's action and experience, as well as in the ideals, values or emotions he or she embraces.
To be precise, there are two dimensions to tacit knowledge. The first is the "technical" dimension, which encompasses the kind of informal and hard-to-pin-down skills or crafts often captured in the term "know-how". Master craftsmen or three-star chefs, for example, develop a wealth of expertise at their fingertips, after years of experience. But they often have difficulty articulating the technical or scientific principles behind what they know. Highly subjective and personal insights, intuitions, hunches and inspirations derived from bodily experience fall into this dimension.
Tacit knowledge also contains an important cognitive" dimension. It consists of beliefs, perceptions, ideals, values, emotions and mental models so ingrained in us that we take them for granted. Though they cannot be articulated very easily, this dimension of tacit knowledge shapes the way we perceive the world around us.
The difference in the philosophical tradition of the West and Japan sheds light on why Western managers tend to emphasise the importance of explicit knowledge whereas Japanese managers put more emphasis on tacit knowledge. Western philosophy has a tradition of separating "the subject who knows" from "the object that is known", epitomised in the work of the French rationalist Descartes. He proposed a concept that is called after him, the Cartesian split, which is the separation between the knower and the known, mind and body, subject and object.
Descartes argued that the ultimate truth can be deduced only from the real existence of a "thinking self", which was made famous by his phrase, "I think, therefore I am." He assumed that the "thinking self" is independent of body or matter, because while a body or matter does have an extension we can see and touch but doesn't think, a mind has no extension but thinks. Thus, according to the Cartesian dualism, true knowledge can be obtained only by the mind, not the body.
In contrast, the Japanese intellectual tradition placed a strong emphasis on the importance of the "whole personality", which provided a basis for valuing personal and physical experience over indirect, intellectual abstraction. This tradition of emphasising bodily experience has contributed to the development of a methodology in Zen Buddhism dubbed "the oneness of body and mind" by Eisai, one of the founders of Zen Buddhism in medieval Japan.
Zen profoundly affected samurai education, which sought to develop wisdom through physical training. In traditional samurai education, knowledge was acquired when it was integrated into one's "personal character". Samurai education placed a great emphasis on building up character and attached little importance to prudence, intelligence and metaphysics. Being a "man of action" was considered more important than mastering philosophy and literature, although these subjects also constituted a major part of samurai education.
The Japanese have long emphasised the importance of bodily experience. A child learns to eat, walk and talk through trial and error. He or she learns with the body, not only with the mind. Similarly, a student of traditional Japanese art - for example, calligraphy, tea ceremony, flower arrangement or Japanese dancing - learns by imitating the moves of the master. A master becomes a master when the body and mind become one while stroking the brush (calligraphy) or pouring water into the kettle (tea ceremony). A sumo wrestler becomes a grand champion when he achieves shingi-ittai, or when the mind (shin) and technique (gi) become one (ittai).
There is a long philosophical tradition in the West of valuing precise, conceptual knowledge and systematic sciences, which can be traced back to Descartes. In contrast, the Japanese intellectual tradition values the embodiment of direct, personal experience. It is these distinct traditions that account for the difference in the importance attached to explicit and tacit knowledge.
KNOWLEDGE CREATION, NOT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
The distinction between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge is the key to understanding the differences between the Western approach to knowledge (knowledge management) and the Japanese approach to knowledge (knowledge creation). The West has placed a strong emphasis on explicit knowledge and Japan on tacit knowledge.
Explicit knowledge can easily be "processed" by a computer, transmitted electronically, or stored in databases.
But the subjective and intuitive nature of tacit knowledge makes it difficult to process or transmit the acquired knowledge in any systematic or logical manner. For tacit knowledge to be communicated and shared within the organisation, it has to be converted into words or numbers that anyone can understand. It is precisely during the time this conversion takes place - that is, from tacit to explicit - that organisational knowledge is created.
The reason why Western managers tend not to address the issue of organisational knowledge creation can be traced to the view of knowledge as necessarily explicit. They take for granted a view of the Organisation as a playing field for "scientific managements and a machine for "information processing". This view is deeply ingrained in the traditions of Western management, from Frederick Taylor to Herbert Simon.
Frederick Taylor prescribed "scientific" methods for the workplace, the most important being time-and-motion studies. Time-and-motion studies encourage "a preoccupation with allocating resources, ...monitoring and measuring performance, and manipulating organisational structures to set lines of authority. Taylor developed "an arsenal of tools to promote efficiency and consistency by controlling individuals' behaviour and compelling employees to comply with management dictates. Scientific management had little to do with encouraging the active cooperation of workers. As Kim and Mauborgne point out, "Creating and sharing knowledge are intangible activities that can neither be supervised nor forced out of people. They happen only when people cooperate voluntarily.
Nonaka also contends that the creation of knowledge cannot be managed. The notion of creating something new runs counter to the "control" mentality of traditional management science: "Given a certain context, knowledge emerges naturally. You will have to give your employees a lot of latitude, not try to control them," says Nonaka. He sees the experiences and judgments of employees, their commitment, their ideals and their way of life as an important source of new knowledge. This tacit dimension is ignored by Taylor's scientific management.
Herbert Simon developed a view of Organisation as an "information-processing machine." He built a scientific theory of problem solving and decision making based on the assumption that human cognitive capacity is inherently limited. He argued that effective information processing is possible only when complex problems are simplified and only when organisational structures are specialised. This Cartesian-like rationalist view led him to neglect the human potential for creating knowledge. He did not see human beings as those who actively discover problems and create knowledge to solve them.
The Japanese emphasis on the cognitive dimension of knowledge gives rise to a wholly different view of the Organisation - not as a machine for information processing but as a "living organism". Within this context, sharing an understanding of what the company stands for, where it is going, what kind of a world it wants to live in, and how make that world a reality, becomes much more crucial than processing objective information. Highly subjective, personal and emotional dimensions of knowledge have virtually no chance for survival within a machine, but have ample opportunity to grow within a living organism.
Once the importance of tacit knowledge is realised, one begins to think about innovation in a wholly new way. It is not just about putting together diverse bits of data information. The personal commitment of the employees and their identifying with the company and its mission become crucial. Unlike information, knowledge is about commitment and beliefs; it is a function of a particular stance, perspective or intention. In this respect, it is as much about ideals as it is about ideas; and that fact fuels innovation. Similarly, unlike information, knowledge is about action; it is always knowledge "to some end." The unique information an individual possesses must be acted upon for new knowledge to be created. This voluntary action also fuels innovation.
Although we have made a clear distinction bet explicit and tacit knowledge, they are not totally separate. They are mutually complementary. They interact with each other in the creative activities of human beings. Nonaka and Takeuchi's theory of knowledge creation is anchored to a critical assumption that human knowledge is created and expanded through social interaction between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. This interaction gives rise to four modes of "knowledge conversion": (1) from tacit to tacit, which is called socialisation, (2) from tacit to explicit, or externalisation, (3) from explicit to explicit, or combination, and (4) from explicit to tacit, or internalisation.
Knowledge conversion is a "social" process between individuals as well as between individuals and an Organisation. But in a strict sense, knowledge is created only by individuals. An Organisation cannot create knowledge by itself. What the Organisation can do is to support creative individuals or provide the contexts for them to create knowledge. Organisational knowledge creation, therefore, should be understood as a process that "organisationally" amplifies the knowledge created by individuals and crystallises it as part of the knowledge network of the Organisation.
The infatuation in the West with knowledge management reflects the bias towards explicit knowledge, which is the easier of the two kinds of knowledge to measure, control and process. Explicit knowledge can be much more easily put into a computer, stored into a database, and transmitted online than the highly subjective, personal and cognitive tacit knowledge. Knowledge management deals primarily with existing knowledge. But in order to create new knowledge, we need the two kinds of knowledge to interact with each other through the actions of individuals within the Organisation.
MIDDLE MANAGERS AS THE KEY PLAYER
In Japan, creating new knowledge is not the responsibility of the selected few but that of everyone in the Organisation. No one department or group of experts has the exclusive responsibility for creating new knowledge. Front-line employees, middle managers and top management all play a part. But this is not to say that there is no differentiation in the roles that these three play. In fact, the creation of new knowledge is the product of dynamic interaction among the three kinds of players.
Front-line employees are immersed in the day-to-day details of particular technologies, products or markets. While these employees have an abundance of highly practical information, they often find it difficult to turn that information into useful knowledge. For one thing, signals from the marketplace can be vague and ambiguous. For another, these front-line employees can become so caught up in their own narrow perspective that they lose sight of the broader context. Moreover, even when they do develop meaningful ideas and insights, it can still be difficult to communicate the importance of that information to others. People don't just receive new knowledge passively; they interpret it actively to fit their own situation and perspectives. Thus, what makes se rise in one context can change or even lose its meaning when communicated to people in a different context.
Top management provides a sense of direction on where the company should be headed. It does so, first of all, by articulating a "grand theory" on what the company "ought to be". In highly universal and abstract terms, the grand theory set forth by top management helps to link seemingly disparate activities or businesses into a coherent whole. Second, top management provides direction by establishing a knowledge vision in the form of a corporate vision or policy statement. Its aspirations and ideals determine the quality of knowledge the company creates. Third, top management provides direction by setting the standards for justifying the value of the knowledge that is being created. It needs to decide strategically which efforts to support and develop.
Middle managers serve as a bridge between the visionary "ideals" of the top and the often chaotic "reality" of those on the front line of business. Middle managers mediate between the "what ought to be" mindset of the top and the "what is" mindset of the front-line employees by creating middle-level business and product concepts. In other words, if top management's role is to create a grand theory, middle managers create more concrete concepts that front-line employees can understand. The mid-range theory created by middle managers can then be tested empirically within the company with the help of front-line employees.
Middle managers, who often serve as team leaders of the product development team in Japan, are in a key position to remake reality according to the company's vision. In remaking reality, they take the lead in converting knowledge. Although they facilitate all four modes of knowledge conversion, middle mangers make their most significant mark in converting tacit images and perspectives into explicit concepts. They synthesise the tacit knowledge of both frontline employees and top management, make it explicit, and incorporate it into new technologies, products or systems. In this sense, middle managers are the true knowledge engineers of what Nonaka and Takeuchi call "the knowledge-creating company".
Middle managers are the key to continuous innovation in Japan. They are at the very centre of a continuous iterative process involving both the top and the frontline (i.e., bottom) employees called middle-up-down. In the West, however, the very term "middle manager" has become a term of contempt, synonymous with "backwardness", "stagnation" or "resistance to change." Some have argued that middle managers are "a dying breed" or "all unnecessary evil".
Another impression we have is that the responsibility for knowledge management initiatives in the West rests with the selected few, not with everyone in the Organisation. Knowledge is managed by a few key players in staff positions, including information processing, internal consultancy or human resources management. In contrast in Japan, knowledge is created by the interaction of frontline employees, middle managers and top management, with middle managers in line positions playing the key synthesising role.
With a few exceptions, notably GE and Hewlett-Packard, frontline employees are not an integral part of knowledge management. This situation is similar to the days of Frederick Taylor, which did not tap the experiences and judgments of front-line workers as a source of knowledge. Consequently, the creation of new work methods for scientific management became the responsibility of the selected few in managerial positions. These "elites" were charged with the chore of classifying, tabulating and reducing the knowledge into rules and formulae and applying them to daily work. The danger of knowledge management is in having the responsibility for capturing the knowledge gained by individuals and spreading it to others in the Organisation rest in the hands of the selected few.
D'une manière générale les propos de Takeuchi sont toujours d'actualité aujourd'hui en 2005. Takeuchi a développé ses idées sur the Japanese Knowledge Management dans son livre:
Can Japan Compete?
by Porter, Michael, and Takeuchi, Hirotaka, and Sakakibara, Mariko
About this title: World-renowned competition strategist Porter and his colleagues explain why American assumptions about Japan have proved inaccurate, what this nation must do to come back, and what its journey can tell us about how to succeed in the global economy.
2°) La vision de Mr Nonaka en 1996 sur la connaissance était la suivante:
From the conversation with Professor Ikujiro Nonaka
Tokyo, Japan
February 23, 1996
Claus Otto Scharmer
C. O. Scharmer: Professor Nonaka, why and when did you become interested in knowledge creation?
Ikujiro Nonaka
A turning point from information to knowledge came when I participated with my colleagues Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ken-ichi Imai in the Harvard Business School 75th Anniversary Colloquium on productivity and technology. We agreed to do a joint project to study the innovation processes at several Japanese companies. What we found was that the existing theory of information processing is not enough... Innovation process is not simply information processing. It's a process to capture, create, leverage, and retain knowledge…. In very simple terms, information is the flow, and knowledge is the stock…
Drawing especially on Polanyi, I conceptualized knowledge in terms of two types, tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is personal, context-specific, and therefore hard to formalize and communicate. Explicit knowledge, on the other hand, is transmittable in formal and systematic language.
This dynamic process is the key to organizational knowledge creation. This interaction between the two types of knowledge brings about what we call four modes of knowledge conversion – that is, socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization (see Figure 1).
| To tacit knowledge | To explicit knowledge | |
|---|---|---|
| From tacit knowledge | Socialization | Externalization |
| From explicit knowledge | Internalization | Combination |
I emphasize the positive roles of middle managers. In the U.S., middle managers are denigrated as cancer. We see middle managers playing a key role in facilitating the process of organizational knowledge creation. They serve as the strategic "knot" that binds top management with front-line managers. They work as a "bridge" between visionary ideals of the top and the often chaotic realities of business confronted by front-line workers.… In the middle-up-down (MUD) model, top management creates a vision or a dream, while middle management develops more concrete concepts that front-line employees can understand and implement. The MUD model is not an either-or approach; it is an interactive process of both top-down and bottom-up.
A hypertext organization is the dynamic synthesis of the bureaucratic structure and the task-force structure, and it reaps benefits from both…. Moreover, it adds another layer, the knowledge base, that serves as a "clearinghouse" for the new knowledge generated in the bureaucratic structure and the task force…
It seems to me that organizational learning theories do not comprehend the whole dynamic process of knowledge creation. I see learning as related to the mode of internalization, namely conversion from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge. Learning theories cannot explain the innovation process or the total process of organizational knowledge creation.
My criticism of learning perspectives are twofold: First, they have not developed any comprehensive theory. They lack the view on the fundamentals of epistemology: what is knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and what constitutes learning.… They are focused on the relationship between individuals and groups, but not clear about the relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, and inter-organizations. Second, they generally consider learning as an adaptive process: They are trapped in the behavioral concept of stimulus-response.
Knowledge has something to do with truth, goodness, and beauty. Then the question is what is true? In management, it is determined by the size and height of justification. How much personal belief or aspiration can be approved by a group, an organization, a community, and a global society...
This conversation with Ikujiro Nonaka outlines the context in which he developed his pathbreaking theory of knowledge creation. He also talks about two key managerial and organizational concepts that he and his coauthor Hiro Takeuchi presented in The Knowledge Creating Company: middle-up-down management (MUD) and the hypertext organization. A hypertext organization can be thought of as having three distinct layers: the business system layer, the project layer, and the knowledge-base layer. The hypertext organization can be thought of as operating in two modes: driven and integrated by top management (top management appoints the project teams), or more distributed by all individuals, who each participate in all three layers. In his book Nonaka described the first mode. In the interview he says that the second mode could be developed in the West..
Figure 1: Spiral of Organizational Knowledge Creation: The process of knowledge creation is based on a double spiral movement between (a) tacit and explicit knowledge and (b) individual-group-divisional and corporate-wide levels.
VI. Knowledge Has to Do with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
V. Organizational Learning vs. Knowledge Creation
There are five enabling conditions
in my theory: intention, autonomy, fluctuation/creative chaos, redundancy, and finally requisite variety… Fractal or holographic structures…IV. Hypertext Organization and Middle-Up-Down Management
III. The Spiral of Organizational Knowledge Creation
II. From Information Processing To Knowledge Creation
L'université d'Hitotsubashi, coeur du KM au Japon
Nonaka et Takeuchi sot les maitres à penser en matière de Knowledge Management. Nous avons expliqué dans de précédents articles que le gouvernemetn japonais avait institutionalisé le KM sur l'ensemble du territoire japonais et sur l'ensemble des activités commerciales, industrielles et de services au Japon.
Cette institutionalisation a été possible par la formation d'un grand nombre de cadres japonnais aux techniques du Knowledge Management. Cette formation a été réalisée au sein de l'université d'Hitotsubashi. C'est cette université qui recueille en son sein l'intégralité de la formation au knowledge management au Japon, elle en est le fer de lance, et les deux principaux acteurs de ce dynamisme de la formation en KM au Japon sont Mr Takeuchi et Nonaka.
Un livre a d'ailleurs était écrit par ces deux experts sur la fomration en KM à Hitotsubashi.
Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management
by Takeuchi, Horotaka, and Nonaka, Ikujiro, and Takeuchi, Hirotaka
About this title: Knowledge Management (KM) is the art and science of utilizing knowledge as the most important resource towards gaining competitive advantage in today's business environment. Despite the huge and growing interest in KM, there has been no serious attempt to bridge theory and practice, the practices of East and West, the soft side (organizational capabilities) with the hard side (information technology), or the practices of large companies with start-ups. Until now. Written by the Dean of Hitotsubashi Business School in Tokyo, the world's leading centre of KM, and featuring contributions from... 
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Nonaka et Takeuchi ne s'y trompent pas, chacun ont été professeurs au sein de l'université d'Hitotsubashi, et ils restent attaché à ce que cette université reste un fleuron du Knowledge Management au Japon.
Hitotsubashi ICS Reveals Secrets of Knowledge Management
| February 27, 2004 |
HONOLULU— On February 27, 2004, Hawai‘i professionals, businesses, and organizations gathered at a special forum on knowledge management hosted by JAIMS and the University of Hawaii College of Business. Featured were Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS) professors Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, dean of ICS. World-renowned in his field, Nonaka presented an overview of his dialectic approach to knowledge management to begin the forum. Nonaka’s dialectic approach involves combining diverse and often contradictory knowledge to create higher states of knowledge and skills into an ideal synthesis. |
“ [Japanese] have tons of tacit knowledge but don't know how to articulate it,” Takeuchi said, “A lot of the challenge of the Westerners is the opposite. You have tons of knowledge [in your head], but how do you convert that and share it with your employees so that that knowledge is shared in your guts?”
Following his presentation, Takeuchi then facilitated a panel discussion and group brainstorming with the audience. The panel was composed of Hitotsubashi ICS professors Satoshi Akutsu, Yoko Ishikura, Ken Kusunoki, and Emi Osono who each contributed chapters to Takeuchi and Nonaka’s newly published book, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management.
The panel and audience discussions focused on Hawai‘i’s future in business and how it can be improved using Nonaka’s dialectic approach to knowledge management. Ideas ranged from finding and utilizing Hawai‘i’s unique and advantageous qualities to transforming its perceived weaknesses into strengths in the global market.
The forum was a special engagement co-presented by JAIMS and the University of Hawaii College of Business in appreciation of the partnership with Hitosubashi ICS, the first national entity in Japan to offer an MBA degree taught exclusively in English.
Business Week voted Takeuchi as one of the top 10 “management-school professors in demand for in-house corporate education programs” in the world. Fortune introduced him as “among the intellectual leaders of the younger, globally-minded generation that is coming to power in Japan” in a two-page featured article on his work on knowledge creation. Prior to joining Hitotsubashi, he taught at the Harvard Business School for seven years. Takeuchi has authored many articles and books including his recent book, Can Japan Compete? which was co-authored by Michael E. Porter.
Nonaka is the first Xerox Distinguished Professor of Knowledge at the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and is also visiting dean and professor at the Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration. He has presented his work to the executives of the Nippon Keidanren and is acknowledged to be a leader of the knowledge creation movement.
2°) Un enseignement qui se diversifie.
Grae à l'action de Takeuchi et Nonaka, le KM se développe au Japon, et la management est de plus en plus étudié à l'université.
Masaharu Kuhara, Ph.D.
1. Goal of the course(Half of full course jointly run with Professor Morino)
In this course, we will examine Japanese style management and corporations’ strategy based on various materials and analyze them by concepts and theories.
Students will learn the strategies of Japanese companies which have succeeded and failed as well as pros and cons of Japanese style management.
In the global business environment it is very important to understand the different type of capitalism which helped Japan to become one of the leading econom in the world.
.2.Method of teaching
|
This course in interactive course and students are required to participate in the class discussions very heavily. Though interactive discussions we will create knowledge by combining various students’ tacit knowledge to convert into explicit knowledge. I will try to create “Ba”(environment) to share and create new knowledge in the classroom.
•
Presentation and Discussion
•Every students should participate in Presentations and Discussions
•Each student will make 20minutes presentation and 10minutes discussion at the latter part of each class.
•Students are encouraged to use PowerPoint for the presentation
3. Outline of each class
Part 1 What is Japanese Management?
We will look at woven structure of Japanese Style Management from historical perspective and their success and problems as well as their contribution to the economic success.
Lecture 1. Overview of Japanese Management
1. Moriaki Tuchiya & Konomi, Yoshinobu “Japanese Management-What was all about?” (“Sharing the Future of Japanese Management”, LTCB International Library, 1995)
2. Michael Porter & Hiro Takeuchi “Rethinking Japanese management” (Porter & Takeuchi “Can Japan Compete?” Macmillan Press, 2000)
(Homework reading)
1. William Carter “Japanese Industry” ASK., Ltd.,2000
Lecture 2 Human Capitalism
1. Hideyuki Itami “The Human Capitalism of the Japanese Firm as an Integrated System” (Imai and Komiya eds. “Business Enterprise in Japan” The MIT Press,1996
2. Sanford M. Jacoby “Management and the Variety of Capitalism” (“The Embedded Corporation” Princeton University Press,2005)
(Homework Reading)
l Kotaro Tsuru “Changing Employment System-the Relationship between Firm and Employees” (“The Japanese Market Economy” LTCB International Foundation, 1994)
Lecture 3 Japanese Kaisha
1. Noboru yoshimura & Philio Anderson “ Why Another Books on Japanese management?” “The Making of a Salaryman” “An Insider Perspective on the Kaisha” (Yoshimura & Anderson “Inside the Kaisha “ Harvard Business School Press, 1997)
2. Rochelle Kopp “What Happens with Japanese Companies Hire Americans?” “Personnel Management Problems of Japanese Multinationals” “Working in Japan for a Japanese Company” (kopp “The Rice paper Ceiling”Stone Bridge Press, 1994)
Lecture 4. Why Did Japanese Companies Fail
We will look at why many Japanese companies failed after the bubble burst and discuss the rebirth of them.
1. William H. Overbolt “Japan’s economy: at war with itself” (Foreign Affairs, January/February,2002)
2. Clayton Christensen, Thomas Craig and Stuart Hart “The Great Disruption” (Foreign Affairs March-April,2001)
(homework reading)
1. Richard Katz “The Incredible Shrinking Japan” (Katz “Japanese Phoenix” M.E.Sharp,2003)
Part 2 Strategic Management of Japanese Corporations
Following the concepts we will analyze the Japanese firms’ strategies.
Lecture 4 Managing Change
1. Nissan
l “Saving the Business without Losing the Company” (Harvard Business Review January, 2002)
l “One Man Makes a Difference” (David Magee “ How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan” Harper Collins, 2003)
2. Olimpus
l Yoko Ishikura “Knowledge Management and Global Competition”(Takeuchi and Nonaka “Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management” John Wiley & Sons,2004)
Lecture 5 Resource based view
1. Canon
l “Canon: Competing on Capabilities?” “How Put the Flash Back in Canon” (Business Week Online , September 16, 2002)
l “How East Meets West in Canon” (business Week Online September 13,2002)
2. Toyota
l Jeffrey K. Liker “”How Toyota Became the World Best Manufacturer” (“The Toyota Way” McGrawhill,2004)
l Taiichi Ohno ”Genealogy of the Toyota Production System” (“Toyota Production System”, Productivity Press 1978)
Part 3 Future of Japanese Management
We will focus on the future of management of Japanese Companies.
Lecture 6, Can Japan Compete?
1. Michael E. Porter and Hirotaka Takeuchi ”Fixing What Really Ails Japan” (Foreign Affairs, May-June 1999)1
2. Richar Katz “Overcoming Dual Economy” (Katz “Japnanese Phenix” ME Sharp, 2003)
Lecture 7. Theoretical Implications
We will discuss about some theoretical implications of Japanese Management.
1. .Ikujiro Nonaka, Rrryoko Toyama and NoboruKonnno “Emergence of Ba” (Nonaka eds. “Knowledge Emergence” Oxford University Press, 2001)
2. Christensen and Roth “Summary Concepts”(“Seeing What’s Next” HBS Press, 2004)
4.Information
Japanese corporation case book
nToyota http://www.global.toyota.com/
nSONY http://www.sony.co.jp/en/index.html
nCanon http://www.canon.com/index.html
Jean Yves Prax parle du concept Ba
Cette page a été réalisée en reprenant mot pour mot les propos tenus par jean Yves Prax, l'expert francais sur la question du Knowledge Management Japonais. Vous pouvez retrouver toutes les explications de Jean Yves prax sur le Japanese Knwoledge Management sur le site: www.polia-consulting.com
Ce texte est une courte synthèse de la convention qui s’est tenu à Tokyo en mars 2005, sous l’égide de la Knowledge Management
Japanese Chi : Edge of evolution
La grande majorité des interventions concourraient effectivement à l’élaboration d’une nouvelle tendance managériale vers cette notion de CHI, dont la meilleure traduction semble être WISDOM of KNOWLEDGE
Bien entendu comme toujours dans ce pays, il faut garder une certaine humilité et se méfier des traductions trop simplistes, car ces notions (Ba, Chi) s’incarnent tellement dans la culture japonaises qu’elles sont purement intraduisibles. Mais on peut dégager des lignes de force qui, à mon avis, sont très inspirantes pour nos sociétés occidentales et finalement, se recoupent assez bien, vocabulaire mis à part, avec les tendances nettement observables chez nous
La pyramide du Chi
Le Ba représente (voir plus bas) un lieu d’interaction et de partage, où se crée une culture partagée : confiance, estime mutuelle, empathie ; chacun s’enrichit de l’autre, puise son énergie dans le groupe, mais on n’y cherche pas le consensus, on y respecte les différence de points de vue, les tensions nécessaires à l’apprentissage. De manière un peu provocatrice, Takeuchi dit « le dialogue consensuel est une perte de temps, seul le conflit fait grandir ». Il faut replacer cette « mini-provocation » dans la société japonaise encore très emprunte de politesse et règles de préséance (le « non » est quasiment absent du vocabulaire japonais »)
C’est
à partir du Ba, seulement, que peut s’élaborer une connaissance
collective et innovante : de la tension positive entre les points-de
vue naît un nouveau concept (emerging pattern). Mais l’accumulation de
connaissance n’a aucun intérêt si elle n’est pas tirée par un facteur
d’ordre supérieur. C’est là qu’intervient la notion de Chi (wisdom of knowledge), où la Sagesse
Notons que le kanji du Chi, qui est le logo de la KMSJ
Le point supérieur du triangle, nommé G... pour Goal, ou God, représente les valeurs universelles, mais l’auteur Takanashi préfère le présenter comme les « vital elements referring to personal aptitude, behaviour, human relations and aspirations ». Il le traduit également par « Wisdom od mind ». Bien sûr tout cela prend beaucoup de sens quand on se réfère aux cultures bouddhiste et shintoïste pratiquées au Japon et largement présentes dans leur vie quotidienne, y compris professionnelles.
Encore un délire d’intellectuels ?
Vu de Paris, on peut se croire en plein délire d’intellectuels mystiques, mais au-delà du vocabulaire un peu "ésotérique", cette tendance managériale n’est finalement pas très éloignée de celle annoncée par la « knowledge based Society » de Peter Drucker, voire du « développement durable » et dans laquelle, le sommet de la pyramide des valeurs n’est pas « short term profit », mais « better life ».
On est vite convaincu quand on assiste à une présentation du Chi par le Chairman de Honda qui n’a pourtant rien d’un rêveur !
Ou encore quand le Directeur Général de Fuji-Xerox essaye de nous vendre une photocopieuse en 5 étapes (qui rappellent la méthode des 5 pourquoi de Peter Senge) :
Ce texte est une synthèse des conférences et rencontres faites à Tokyo dans le cadre d’un séminaire de la KMSJ la Science la Technologie
Rencontre avec I. Nonaka photo prise par Joël Frigière
Résumé
La création collective de savoir s’inscrit dans des règles implicites de psychologie de groupe qui puisent leurs racines dans des valeurs et traits culturels très profonds et lointains. Dès lors, il n’est pas étonnant que ces modalités de fonctionnement des groupes soient très différentes selon que nous avons affaire à une communauté d’américains, de français ou de japonais, pour ne prendre que ces trois exemples.
Ce texte court présente le concept de Ba, concept impossible à traduire en français tant il est enraciné dans la culture japonaise, mais qui désigne ce mode particulier d’interaction cognitif au sein de la communauté.
Conférence de Nonaka
"To tell you the truth, I don’t know what is knowledge"
"Knowledge is a dynamic human/social process of justifying personal belief and skill toward the truth . But there is probably no way to reach the truth ; truth is embedded in real life."
A travers cette humilité typiquement orientale, Nonaka place les sentiments humains au centre de la dynamique de création collective de Savoirs. Il poursuit en disant :
"Ba is Place-Time-People, a dynamic relation in context that enables creation of an Atmosphere : Shared context in motion Emotions and truth are changing rapidly ; we must share deep thoughts, not explicit knowledge.
Ba does not seek for simplification but complexity ; it provides enabler for :