Semantic Web-Based Information Systems: State-of-the-Art ...

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Figure 15. The SECI sprial of knowledge creation
• Externalization:.The process of articulation and conversion of tacit knowledge
into explicit knowledge.
• Combination: The process of restructuring and aggregating explicit knowledge
into new explicit knowledge.
• Internalization: The process of reflecting on and embodying explicit knowledge
into tacit knowledge.
As illustrated in Figure 15, a knowledge-creating spiral occurs when these modes
of interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge are elevated from the individual
to the group and organizational levels. “Organizational knowledge creation, therefore,
should be understood as a spiraling process that organizationally amplifies the
knowledge created by individuals and crystallizes it as part of the knowledge network
of the organization. This process takes place within an expanding community
of interaction, which crosses intra- and inter-organizational levels and boundaries”
(Takeuchi & Nonaka, 2004).
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) emphasize that, on the organizational level, the spiral
of knowledge creation is driven by organizational intention (i.e., an organization's
aspiration to achieve its goals). Moreover, they introduce the Japanese concept of
ba, which roughly means place for interactions as a crucial enabler for effective
knowledge creation. Within an organizational context, it is the role of managers to
maintain the necessary manifestations of such ba in order to support the knowledge
creation spiral and to make it efficient for the purposes of the organization.
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