How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

The knowledge-creating company

Dorothy Leonard-Barton warns readers upfront that her new book, "Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation," is not a quick read. Indeed it is not, though the author, a Harvard Business School professor, tries hard to soften a knot of strategy research with true-life examples from several technology companies. Unfortunately, business books tend to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger movies: the special effects and twists are a lot more important than the basic plot, which doesn't change much.

"Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation"

This question, posed to Jim Collins over dinner one evening, inspired the book Good to Great. Collins and his research team spent five years answering that question. What makes this book so interesting is not only what was discovered, but the rigor of the discovery process. Collins and his team of twenty dedicated researchers did not hypothesize or theorize, but went directly to data to find the answers.

Good to great.

This book is not another parable of Japan's economic success; it provides rich and systematic descriptions of Japanese microeconomic institutions and interprets their work in terms familiar to Western economists. A systematic, in-depth analysis of Japanese institutions of this kind has never been available before. In making his comparative analysis of the Japanese system, Professor Aoki critically examines conventional notions about the microstructure of the market economy that have strongly shaped and influenced economists' approach to industrial organization (e.g., hierarchy as the alternative to the market, the firm as a propery of the stockholders, and market-oriented incentive contracts). While these notions may constitute an appropriate foundation for the analysis of the highly market-oriented Western economies, the author has found that a more complete understanding of the Japanese economy requires us to broaden such 'specific' notions. At one level, therefore, this book may be regarded as a provocative exercise in comparative industrial organization and the theory of the firm. To the extent that this approach is convincing, the book suggests a reordering of focus and emphasis in these studies.

Information, incentives, and bargaining in the Japanese economy

Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off

– The purpose of this paper is to deal with tacit signals and organization performance development. Tacit signals are personal guiding beliefs that arise from tacit knowledge. The paper describes theoretical hypotheses how tacit signal method is utilized in competence measurement and organization performance improvement. Theories are evaluated by empirically grounded study., – The tacit signal approach is linked to human pressure‐performance theory of inverted U‐curve, known as Yerkes‐Dodson law. Moreover, a new mental model of five interrelated competences is used in order to understand the pluralistic nature of organization development. These five competences are management, leadership, culture, skills, and processes. The paper describes how competences can be studied by tacit signals, offering positive elements for both management and performance. The case study is done in Finnish commercial business enterprise of approximately 1,000 employees., – Empirically grounded case study supports the theoretical approach, showing that tacit signals are in correlation to organization performance. Tacit signals help working groups identifying their collective dissonance in a way that will help them to increase emotional intelligence and performance. In the case, company significant improvement in profitability is found., – The paper connects researcher innovation of tacit signals to organization competence measurement. This paper supports hypotheses that persons have tacit knowledge of personal situation at pressure‐performance curve. This situation can be measured for each competence by tacit signal inquiry which guides to optimal improvement which strengthens the group emotional intelligence and increases performance. The described tacit signal method and system intelligence model gives additional value to further scientific studies.

Human tacit signals at organization performance development

Article presents human competencies and human resource development (HRD) connection to business performance. The paper has two main contributions: firstly, to present the concept of optimal workplace innovations and secondly, to present plausible scientific explanation why human resource development may increase productivity.

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/476591.pdf

Organization Human Resources Development Connection to Business Performance

Kesti Marko The Tacit Signal Method in Human Competence based Organization Performance Development Rovaniemi: University of Lapland, 2012, 187 pp., Acta Universitatis Lapponiensis 236 Dissertation: University of Lapland ISSN 0788-7604 ISBN 978-952-484-566-3 The dissertation deals with organization performance improvement using tacit signal development process. Tacit signals are human-based guiding opinions that rise from situation based tacit knowledge related to organization human competencies. Tacit signals are utilized as organization development inquiries in connection to the development process for implementing optimal improvement actions in the workplace level. Optimal workplace innovations are collectively agreed to be the development actions with the best value for improving the working society competencies and performance. The aim of the dissertation is to study eff ective organization development process based on tacit signal method that utilizes the employee tacit knowledge. In this study the human resource based organization performance development phenomenon is studied within the work society and the organizational level. The dissertation has two main targets: fi rstly, to study the eff ectiveness of the tacit signal development process in organization performance improvement and secondly, to increase management and scientifi c knowledge of the way in which human resource development aff ects organization performance scorecards. The research tries to fi nd out causal-explanation why eff ective organization development can enhance better business performance. Even though management and organization development have been studied in vast amounts, there are only a few studies in which the results can be generalized to benefi t the organizations generally. Awareness of both teamwork and employee well-being meaning for organization’s performance has increased. Many studies indicate that certain human resource practices have improved the organization performance, but are lacking the explanatory power and generalizability. In this research the human tacit signal development process is evaluated using practical case studies and scientifi c methodology. Also the human factors are considered in the research in the competence based organization system intelligence model, describing the organization complexity and dynamic nature. This system intelligence model is built from human competencies that are interacting with each other causing tendencies to support or prevent the organization development. Because organization is dynamic, a need for dynamic heuristic development process that adapts to the situational human development needs is required Management should understand the phenomenon of how eff ective organizational development of human resources simultaneously improves the

/pdf/the-tacit-signal-method-in-human-competence-based-4iq7fv4t1p.pdf

The tacit signal method in human competence based organization performance development

This article describes a method for human capital scenario analysis, one that may be used as an organizational intelligence (OI) tool capable of supporting management decision-making. Here, scenario analysis supports a knowledge management based (KM-based) decisional method for integrating human resource (HR) and fiscal data in performance measurement. This OI scenario analysis tool may be used in strategic management, organizational development, performance measurement, and HR-related risk mitigation. The aim is to strengthen decisional capacity with regard to the management of human capital and in general with regard to the advancement of organizational performance and productivity goals. The approach taken is that of human capital scenario analysis using system dynamics methods. Scenario analysis equations are developed on the basis of empirically-grounded research that has been conducted for several years at private companies and municipal organizations in Finland. The scenario analysis (SA) tool successfully integrates organization-level human resource knowledge management with business scorecards, thereby assisting management decision-making. Through their use of the SA tool, managers can advance organizational learning and improve strategic decision-making. Human resource and organizational competencies are considered together, so that managers may consider key factors affecting future performance comprehensively, in their long-range decision-making. The SA model was developed during a period of steady economic growth in Finland. While the model was created using the most germane literature and empirically grounded research, contextual factors such as relative economic prosperity may limit generalizability to other contexts. The article describes how human resource metrics and competencies may inform performance measures, in particular business scorecards. The development of key competencies improves organizational performance and performance outcomes. As suggested by game theory, and by models of tacit communications, organizational competencies can be developed and performance outcomes enhanced by using “tacit signals” that are conducive to the realization of desired scenarios.

Human capital scenario analysis as an organizational intelligence tool for performance management

In many organizations the labor workforce is the single most important factor for business performance, but also the most difficult to analyze. Traditional analyzing and forecasting methods do not explain the phenomenon how human capital affects business economics, and therefore they are not too widely used in strategic management. This article introduces Human Capital Production Function (HCPF) as an analyzing method that combines the tangible and intangible assets of human capital with financial scorecards in a way that explains the meaning of human resources for business performance. Intangible assets can be measured using tacit signal method which can be connected to organization system intelligence. The article studies HCPF validity in longitudinal business case data and tests the use of HCPF in scenario-analyzing in a statistical average business services company in the Singapore region.

/pdf/human-capital-production-function-5d2ow3ew0k.pdf

Marko Kesti

Papers

Human tacit signals at organization performance development

Organization Human Resources Development Connection to Business Performance

The tacit signal method in human competence based organization performance development

Human capital scenario analysis as an organizational intelligence tool for performance management

Human Capital Production Function