Assignment 

Knowledge Management

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 Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2

Answer to Question- 1...............................................................................................................2

Knowledge management............................................................................................................2

Tacit knowledge.....................................................................................................................3

Explicit knowledge.................................................................................................................4

Contrast Between Tacit and Explicit Knowledge..................................................................5

The SECI Model and Knowledge Conversion.......................................................................7

Socialization........................................................................................................................7

Externalization....................................................................................................................8

Combination........................................................................................................................8

Internalization.....................................................................................................................8

Answer to Question- 2...............................................................................................................9

The Cameron and Quinn Competing Values Culture Model.....................................................9

Clan Culture......................................................................................................................10

Hierarchy Culture.............................................................................................................11

Adhocracy Culture............................................................................................................12

Market Culture..................................................................................................................12

Answer to Question- 3.............................................................................................................15

Communities of Practice..........................................................................................................15

Conclusion................................................................................................................................18

References................................................................................................................................19

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Introduction

This report is prepared to discuss the concept of knowledge management and its application
in the business world. Knowledge management is a continuous process which includes
learning from existing pieces of information and exercising this knowledge in practical
worlds. This report is divided into answering three questions on different knowledge
management concepts. The first question answers the concepts of knowledge management
and two different types of knowledge management concepts which are tacit knowledge and
explicit knowledge. The second question answers the SECI model which illustrates four types
of model conversion. And then the last question answers the question on the concept of
communities of practices and its application in a retail company from a given company
scenario and the downside of this mechanism in an organization.

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Answer to Question- 1

Knowledge management

Knowledge management, in the words of the late Carl Frappaolo, one of the top practitioners
and experts in the field, is ‘’the harnessing of collective understanding to promote
responsiveness and creativity.’’ An essential priority for information professionals continues
to be promoting knowledge exchange among employees to support business objectives.
Removing obstacles to information flow is a priority for organizations with successful,
relevant content-shared cultures. Knowledge management is the planned and methodical
alignment of a company's personnel, systems, business operations, and organizational design
with the goal of enhancing value via innovations and reuse. In order to promote ongoing
organizational active learning, this coordinating is accomplished through producing,
disseminating, and putting information to use as well as by ingesting the most insightful
lessons and industry best practices into organizational memory. The utilization of a
company's intellectual assets to produce successful business results is reflected in strategy,
policy, and practices at all levels of the company. One of the major concepts in a book
written by Takeuchi and Nonaka (The Knowledge-Creating Company) explains how tacit
knowledge and explicit knowledge are different, which can be regarded as the basic topic for
discussion (1995). Identifying what tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge is a general idea
in knowledge management. The difficulty is in making tacit information explicit or codifying
it in written form in order for it to be disseminated. Technology now matures quickly because
of fierce competition. In that aspect, arming yourself and your business with as much
knowledge as you can is one way to secure a competitive advantage. On the contrary,
recognizing employee contributions to fresh knowledge is what distinguishes successful
organizations from their rivals. These knowledge-based businesses have quick internal
development, expansion, and dissemination of both fresh and dated information.

Tacit knowledge

The knowledge that relates to skills, information, abilities, and talents gained through
experiences that are frequently difficult to express, transmit and communicate is regarded as
Tacit Knowledge (Lein, 2022). Tactic knowledge is a sort of knowledge that encompasses a

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variety of knowledge categories, including the type of knowledge that makes each individual
unique (Nason, J. and Smith, G., 2021). Tactic knowledge is the knowledge that someone
gains from both their professional life and personal development or through life experiences.
It is frequently casual, hard to explain or articulate, and subjective since it is impacted by our
own perspectives and goals. There are a number of other names for tacit knowledge that are
sometimes used, including experiential knowledge, Know-how knowledge. 

Figure 1: Tacit Knowledge Representation  

(Source: Prabhakaran, 2022)

Knowing something without being able to articulate how you know it is known as having
know-how or knowing how to do it. A cricket batsman, for instance, could have hit a ball for
six measuring the distance up to 115 meters above the ground, but it's possible that he or she
won't be able to go into great detail about how they swung the bat to get that result. Our
vision of the environment and how we behave in it are influenced by abstract tacit
knowledge. 

Language, learning another language, aesthetics, innovation, sales, leadership, and sense are a
few examples of tacit knowledge. Habits, routines, intuitions, actions, reactions, instincts, and
behaviors are common ways that tacit knowledge is represented. The greatest strategy to
increase knowledge is to dedicate time to studying the subject and gaining direct experience,
even if knowing the foundations of a topic is required before developing tacit knowledge. It is
worth more since it takes more time and effort. To learn tacit information, one cannot simply

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train someone through a course. Tactic knowledge may be acquired via a variety of
techniques, such as simplifying processes, going through experiences, conducting error-prone
experiments, gathering data during a research project, documenting outcomes, and then using
the data to make strategic decisions.

Explicit knowledge

One of the most essential forms of information that may be transferred to benefit an
organization is explicit knowledge. And a thorough comprehension of it will enable one to
ensure the success of a business. The knowledge that has been written down and digitally
preserved in documents, memoranda, books and reports etc., information that has been
documented and is actionable is known as Explicit knowledge. Which is simple to recognize,
explain, use, and share. An explicit piece of knowledge is easy to record, disseminate and
communicate. Let's say a person develops a new WordPress application and publishes
thorough instructions for using it; this information constitutes your explicit knowledge. The
ability for individuals to comprehend, read, and observe the same information as everyone
else and to be on the same page is made possible by the documentation of explicit knowledge
for a corporation. A firm may grow in various ways by developing an internal knowledge
base with a wealth of information about your company, its goods, or other services and
making it readily available to your staff. Both new and seasoned workers can benefit from the
opportunity to learn more about your business and its roles within it.

Figure 2: Explicit Knowledge Representation  

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 (Source: Ellis, 2009)

Contrast Between Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

Figure 3: Tacit vs Explicit Knowledge 

(Source: Nason, J. and Smith, G., 2021)

Here, we can see explicit knowledge are those information that can be tacit knowledge
transmittable one person to another. Explicit knowledge can also be kept stored in manuals,
books, digital documents etc. Which can be used by more than one person at a time
simultaneously. Whereas tacit knowledge can primarily resides in one heart and mind.
Transmission of this knowledge is not fast and requires personal effort when communicating
to receiver.

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 Figure 4: Tacit vs Explicit Knowledge 

(Source: Nason, J. and Smith, G., 2021)

The SECI Model and Knowledge Conversion

Nonaka (1995) suggested the SECI model, which is a famous conceptual framework. Four
types of knowledge conversion are included in the SECI model includes internalization-
explicit to tacit, socialization- tacit-to-tacit, combination- explicit to explicit, and
externalization- tacit to explicit. It explains the creation, transmission, and re-creation of
explicit and tacit knowledge inside organizations. Although it was initially presented in
relation to corporate organizations, the concept is easily adaptable to the field of education
(Andersen, 2011). The key draw of the concept is how well the organization's virtual norms
and knowledge resources are enhanced by this knowledge conversion mechanism. The main
goal of the model is to handle a process of moving from one knowledge kind to another.

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 Figure 5: Four types of knowledge conversion 

(Source: Mabbett, 2020)

Socialization

The process of transferring tacit information through practice, imitation, and observation is
referred to as socialization (Anderson, 2011). The establishment of a real-world or online
setting for social interaction within a particular population frequently preempts it.
Observation, supervision, imitation, and direction are all methods of passing down
knowledge in Socialization (Mabbett, 2020). The environment for the transmission of
experience must be such that both the receiver and the sender of input information may
engage more in open dialogue in order to carry out the socialization process.

Teaching or apprenticeships are the strongest examples of socialization.

Externalization

In externalization, making implicit knowledge into explicit concepts is required. Making

implicit information apparent, or externalization is the process through which knowledge is
solidified and made accessible to others, serving as the foundation for new knowledge
(Vestergaard Olsen, N., 2021). Given how profoundly ingested tacit knowledge is, this

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process is crucial for the creation and diffusion of knowledge. In order for the tacit
knowledge to be more easily shared within the firm, it is made explicit and codified in
manuals, papers, etc.

Combination

This is the simplest variant, which entails organizing and integrating knowledge, wherein
various explicit knowledge kinds are combined, and papers or other codified information
sources are combined to develop new information, which is the process of tacit-to-tacit
knowledge conversion.
The creation of prototypes is an example of combination conversion.

Internalization

Praxis is another name for internalization. It entails a person acquiring information and
applying it in a having to learn and applying context (Davidmann, M., 2017). In order to deal
with experience and understanding skills extensively, several sorts of knowledge are
implemented and utilized in real settings.
This may be seen, for instance, in a corporation with written policies that are subject to
change over time.

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Answer to Question- 2

The Cameron and Quinn Competing Values Culture Model

A system of values and beliefs developed by employees, organizational culture is a social

phenomenon that, taken as a whole, consists of concepts and ideas that hold employees
together. Values, attitudes, views, rituals, conventions, expectations, and socialization make
up organizational culture and influence how people behave in a workplace (Denel, 2013).
Various studies indicate that an organization's culture clearly affects the employees'
dedication, production, and efficiency (Cartwright, R., 2018). Many successful organizations
have particular organizational cultures that enable them to survive in environments of intense
competition and the consequences of globalization in addition to the usual financial cycle
(Andersen, 2011). To classify corporate cultures, Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron developed
a four-box culture model. The organizational culture approach is the foundation of the
"Competing Values Model," which is used in the analysis of organizational culture type
(Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1983). Cameron and Quinn made changes to this model in 1999.
Every organizational culture type indicates the organization's level of development and
change, according to this concept. The cultural structure of companies is explained by
Cameron and Quinn using four different culture typologies (Gilbert, 2012). These four
distinct cultural typologies are those of human relationships and development -clan type
culture, harmony with the environment -adhocracy type culture, hierarchy -bureaucracy type
culture, and market type culture.

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 Figure 6: Four types of cultural models 

(Source: Johnson, 2018)

Clan Culture

A cohesive group of people is how the clan culture operates. The clan organizational culture
depicts a community where employees are close to each other with both formal and informal
relations (Employment, 2015). A person who values and is driven by involvement,
cooperation, open communication, and devotion is the best candidate for the position in clan
culture. In clan organizational culture, employees may have interests that could be similar to
other employees, and their work commitment and observation of the organization's work
norms strictly could also be similar (Gilbert, 2012). The coordination clan culture develops
throughout the entire business when connections among your employees inspire trust is one
of the main advantages of this culture.

Under this culture, employees contribute to the business in a manner that extends beyond the
scope of their respective tasks in order to generate ideas and look for solutions from a variety
of perspectives (Gilbert, 2012). There is a commitment to giving workers a safe and
pleasurable work environment and ensuring they have all they need to be content. Teams of

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connected individuals are deeply linked with the mission that an organization tries to achieve.
This culture provides a healthy environment for the growth of employees and helps them play
the role they are assigned successfully because this culture model prioritizes workers' well-
being. An organization’s vision and goals become a common target for which members of the
clan come together around and create a structure that is horizontal. Where teamwork is a
priority in Clan culture, active engagement and solid cooperation built on collaboration and
trust are requirements. In this culture, executives lead their personnel in a friendly manner
because they foster the concept of family (James, 2016). If employees can build a friendly
bond amongst themselves, they can work unitedly to overcome the obstacles of an
organization. Because organizational structures are frequently informal, flat, or horizontal,
there are fewer barriers among different levels of employees and executives. As they juggle
several duties, employees' roles may not be properly defined. 

Hierarchy Culture

When companies are inwardly focused and centred on stability and control, hierarchies
emerge and become successful. Through controlled operational procedures, hierarchies
provide structure and discipline to operations. With these ideals, companies turn inward to
promote control and effectiveness. Additionally, companies make certain that everything is
carried out in a streamlined, systematic, and organized manner (Miller, M.,2021). In
comparison to other companies, these ones could be less adaptable to shifting conditions and
market needs (John, 2017). Leaders believe that the more seasoned workers are trustworthy
and much more able to make the right judgments when they use this strategy, which evaluates
staff performance according to employment position and hierarchy.

This approach is created with a view to having many years of constant good performance and
continuous development, which encompasses a separate view compared to another cultural
model (Johnson, 2018). Responsibilities are expected to be carried out by members of a team
in a proper manner. New products, services, and projects are to be introduced systematically
and gradually, and decisions flow from top to down of the organizational structure (Lein,
2013). Because of the predictable workplace atmosphere in the hierarchy culture of an
organization, people who thrive on regularity will find authoritative employment appealing
(Mark, 2019). They are aware of the proper times to arrive at work, perform their job, and
leave. Security is something they appreciate since they are aware of what is expected of them.
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Adhocracy Culture

Innovation and risk-taking activities are exercised under this organizational culture. A
company culture that can swiftly adapt when circumstances changes are regarded as an
adhocracy in the world of business (Riddle, 2015). Under this culture, employees and
executives become committed to thriving for innovation, trying to set up standards to
maintain quality of services and products, keeping the progress of the company stable, and
figuring out efficient ways to solve complex scenarios (Streeter, 2012). Adhocracy exists
where there are pro-active, receptive, and flexible organizations (Vestergaard Olsen, 2021).
Flexible work environments, employee participation, and a focus on individual own effort are
traits of adhocracy. Because it enables them to react quickly to meet external needs,
businesses reward high work velocity, risk-taking, and innovation. They are, therefore,
innovative in their work and eager to come up with new products and find efficient ways to
achieve prosperity (Vestergaard Olsen, 2021). These companies could expand and mature
fast, but they might also lack the same level of management oversight and nurturing settings
as other companies. In this organizational culture, management frequently gains from
innovative ideas and inventive approaches that staff members come up with to solve
challenges.

Market Culture
Market organizations, which place a heavy emphasis on the internal environment while also
looking externally, are driven to improve an institution's market position as they are fully
conscious of it (Riddle, 2015). They are united by their common desire to perform tasks and
prosper in the contemporary market which faces frequent competition in the market (Streeter,
2012). As a consequence of their keen focus on clients' and suppliers' needs, organizations
place a high priority on giving clients outstanding service and enhancing their market
position.

Since results are everything in a company with a market culture, many employees are
frequently intensely competitive (Mark, 2019), and executives typically set high standards
and are strict because winning and eliminating all competitors are crucial to the procedures,
actions, fundamental principles, and corporate strategies to satisfy customer needs. For a
significant possibility of job stress or pressure of work in this culture, choosing an applicant
with the aforementioned traits is essential to preventing poor hiring. When a market culture is

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present (Mark, 2019), customers are at the core of how a firm makes choices. Product
satisfaction, experiences in other store branches, experiences on the internet, and client care
are all included, which needs to study customer demands continuously and is needed for the
growing business.

Amongst Cameron and Quinn’s four types of culture, which we have discussed above, it
would be wise to consider the Market Culture of Asda, the second-largest retailer in the UK
(Lein, 2013). Asda, despite being the second largest retail company, has to face severe
competition for its product sales and customer acquisition. Market culture can help Asda
overcome this fierce competition to retain and strengthen its position. A retail company
always seeks to identify and fulfil customer needs to differentiate itself from the rest of the
other retail companies in order to have a larger customer base (Valamis, 2022). A retail
company such as Asda, if having a strong market culture bases it, can choose on the needs of
its customers. This will help them produce and deliver products in accordance with
customers' wants and demands, as well as ensure the in-store, online, and customer service
experiences (Johnson, 2018). But in order to reap the benefit of Market Culture, extensive
consumer research has to be conducted by Asda, which is very crucial to the success of the
business. Customers will profit from this culture since they will be able to locate and learn
about whatever they might wish to buy online and will also get the best deals which can boost
the company's popularity among its customer. Asda will generate higher profits by adopting a
market culture since this culture places a strong emphasis on outcomes, performance, and
competition, which boosts both the productivity of staff and the profitability of the business.
Teams in this kind of organizational culture frequently achieve their goals and go above and
beyond. The market corporate culture, which strongly emphasizes the client, will drive Asda
to continually enhance its goods and services. For example, the numerous ways in which
smartphones are being improved both inside and externally and the enormous amount of
responses to these changes that the smartphone industry has, as a result, enable a company
that sells smartphones to get more customers compared to companies that do not improvise
(Quinn 2018). Asda employees will have a high level of ambition under this culture, which
will motivate them to succeed in the market culture. Additionally, they will focus more on
productivity and performance, which helps the business overall. Asda's teams will work
together under this culture to chase its major victories, creating an environment that may be
gratifying for employees.

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Answer to Question- 3

Communities of Practice

Communities of practice are informal networks of people who are drawn together by a love
for a common endeavor and a shared body of knowledge. The majority of businesses strive
diligently to take advantage of the reality that information drives today's economy. To gather
and disseminate concepts and know-how, they employ business units, multi-tasking teams
work groups with a focus on customers or products, to mention a few organizational types. In
order to progress in a field of professional activity, communities of practice frequently
concentrate on exchanging best practices and producing new information. A crucial
component of this is continuous interaction (Gezon & Kottak, 2004). Nobody would argue
against these organizational strategies' extinction since they are frequently quite successful.
However, a new organizational form is beginning to take shape that holds the potential to
supplement current frameworks and profoundly accelerate learning, transformation, and
information exchange. The community of practice is what it's known as. A stated agenda for
a given week may or may not be present in a community of practice, and even if it is, it may
not be strictly adhered to. In communities of practice, however, individuals inevitably share
their experiences and expertise in free-flowing, inventive ways that encourage fresh
approaches to issues. The idea of a community of practice proved to be an effective lens
through which to view knowledge and learning. These are currently being highlighted by a
rising number of individuals and organizations across several industries as a means of
enhancing performance. However, it is inevitable that individuals in communities of practice
will exchange their knowledge and experiences in free-flowing, inventive ways that
encourage innovative approaches to issues. The community of practice may appear to be
another fundamental management task since its main external knowledge information is
abstract. It may help firms acquire and keep talent by generating new business lines, solving
challenges, promoting the adoption of best practices, and developing people's professional
abilities. Communities of practice form bonds with one another so they may share knowledge
and care for one another's reputations. Various actions help communities build their practices.
The following are a few common instances, like asking for information when seeking

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assistance from others to solve an issue, working on this layout and brainstorming ideas, etc.
There are several professional communities. They are a common occurrence, possibly so
common that it frequently slips our minds. Information systems were the primary focus of the
early attempts to manage knowledge, which had dismal outcomes. Nowadays, practically
every organization of a respectable size doesn't have a communities-of-practice effort of
some kind (Gezon & Kottak, 2004). It offered a fresh perspective that put the emphasis on
individuals and the social mechanisms that allow them to collaborate and learn from one
another.

Using the features of a community of practices, Asda can increase the association of its
employees in achieving various targets of the company. Since the retail company is scattered
throughout the UK, it will be easy if the retail company can be formulated and implement
communities of practices which will be followed by all branches and employees of the
company. These practices will help teams to work together to meet customer needs, provide
services, promote the company, maintain its existing customer base, and gain a competitive
advantage over other retail companies (Cartwright, 2018). Teamwork will foster a healthy
work environment that will help an employee to learn skills that he lacks with the help of
other members of the team. Using the communities of practices, employees of Asda retail
company can build a friendly-relationships both in a formal and informal way (Davidmann,
2017).  This will instil a sense of belonging in employees' minds, and this will reduce the
high employee turnover as a result, Asda retail company can retain its existing skilled
employees which can complete tasks efficiently compared to new recruits (Gezon and
Kottak, 2014). This mechanism will also help the employees of Asda be more innovative in
their work, by enabling them to think freely and work in teams to find unique solutions for
existing organisational problems.

Because of the detrimental effects on the community of practice, they are not commonly used
in organizations. Communities of practice are resistant to oversight and interference due to
their natural, informal, and casual character. It is that creating and maintaining communities
of practice or integrating these with the remainder of an organization is not especially simple
(Gezon and Kottak, 2014). This is a practice which collaborates lots of people together. As a
result, this mechanism consumes a lot of time. Skilled workers lagged because they had to
keep the slow pace of unskilled workers in order to coach them. Resources are also needed
most compared to other mechanisms available in organizations. The team are to be
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coordinated in a way that each member plays a significant role . And team management could
lead to more time, and it is also difficult to come up with an instant solution for a problem
when faced with an adverse situation.

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Conclusion

Knowledge management is a process of learning and applying sophisticated concepts from

existing data in the business world. This mechanism is very useful to employees and
executives of an organisation. There are various types of knowledge management concepts
which are explicit, implicit, tacit, etc knowledge transmission and representation methods.
This method helps an organization overcome barriers when interacting with each other.
Communities of practice foster teamwork and encourage learning. Asda the second largest
retail company can use the mechanism and benefit of knowledge management, it can use the
four types of knowledge conversion methods and benefits of communities of practices to
develop its brand value even more while retaining its existing customer base while
coordinating workers scattered throughout the UK.

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