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Knowledge
management/ knowledge sharing and creating a learning culture are key issues
for European companies [R08].
Learning
is related to both sides of knowledge: codified and tacit knowledge. The
learning economy is characterised by continuous drives towards codification,
due to the expansion of infrastructures and ICTs which allow effective
and low-cost transmissions of knowledge. But tacitness appears as the real
key element for effective exploitation of innovative opportunities and
abilities [V12].
One
of the trends at present is the growth of the knowledge society, which
implies a wide sharing of knowledge. Another trend is the professionalisation
of society: occupations are turning into professions which define their
identity by their access to a special kind of knowledge, and the boundaries
between different occupational groups are getting stronger all the time.
We need to realise that knowledge is power and that knowledge is not going
to be shared as easily as many people hope it will be [V11].
Studies
on knowledge management across Europe have come up with the following points:
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questioning
whether organisations can really 'manage' knowledge, unless they accept
the different learning strategies of individual employees, and accept the
socially constructed nature of the learning process;
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recognising
the essential importance of equal attention to 'people processes' (especially
culture change, training, education and facilitation) as well as technology
for successful knowledge management [R17].
The concept
of 'social shaping of technology and work' arising from German tradition
includes the following features: a high degree of control by the workforce
of the work environment ensures productivity and conditions of continuous
learning; workers are developing 'work process knowledge'; the workers'
role is strengthened by an occupational identity [R13].
The
development of work process knowledge has been characterised as follows:
-
Work process
knowledge is constructed in the workplace at the time of use. It may be
generated by resolving contradictions between explicit work-related knowledge
and the worker's direct experience of working conditions.
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Much work
process knowledge in organisations is tacit, because it is embodied in
personal experience and social networks. However, it can be identified,
analysed and expressed in ways that can serve as cognitive tools for performing
work and generating further knowledge in the workplace.
-
Much work
process knowledge is held collectively, and can best be viewed as one aspect
of the culture of the workplace. Thus in an important sense, it is owned
by the workforce [E12a].
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Several
means of promoting work process knowledge have been identified, incl. self
managing teams, participative work re-design, job splitting and 'design
discourses' [E12b].
Knowledge
which formerly belonged to the individual worker or a group of individuals
is objectified in two ways: it is objectified through a process of generalising
individual knowledge and it is objectified through artefacts, for instance
this operation manual by which knowledge can be stored in a memory of the
organisation [V24].
A methodology
has been developed for the purpose of creating mutual gain through knowledge
sharing (KALIF) [E06a]. Practice shows
that knowledge sharing in organisations faces the challenge of profound
change (removing boundaries of the organisational units by bringing about
a real community of practice), the issue of trust (getting the credit for
the input of knowledge made), and the challenge of measurement (evaluating
the effects of the application) [E06b].
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