Emergence of Common Tacit Knowledge in an

International IT Project: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Miwa Nishinaka (Miwa-Nishinaka@jaist.ac.jp)

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

ICKM 2013,

9th International Conference

on Knowledge Management

Nov. 1, 2013

JAIST (Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)

http://www.jaist.ac.jp/index-j2.shtml

Prof. Umemoto translated

Nonaka’s The Knowledge-Creating Company

Contents of Presentation

1. Outline

2. Background

3. Literature Review

4. Research Questions

5. Case Study

6. Findings

7. Conclusions

8. Summary

Outline

� Purpose:

� Proposal for a novel concept and a novel theoretical model

� Methods:

� Literature review and a case study

� Results:

� A concept: Project knowledge management from the perspective of

cross-cultural settings

� Theoretical model: Knowledge processes in international projects

Background

� The commercial use of Internet started in 1990s

� Expansion of globalization

� Increase of offshoring in Japanese companies in 2000’s

� Knowledge management in cross-cultural projects is one of the key

factors for competitive advantage

� The difficulties are being reported

� Project knowledge management in cross-cultural settings is required

Cross-cultural projects are regarded

as fields of knowledge creation and emergence

Literature Review - Results

Unexplored

Areas� Nature of Knowledge

� Knowledge processes

- SECI Model

� Concept of Ba

� Virtual settings

� Knowledge Strategies

Knowledge

Management� Factor related

- Virtual project settings

- Sharing/Transfer/Reuse

� Process related

Knowledge Management

Theories Focusing on Projects

� Sociology base

- Culture influence on knowledge management

� Boundary spanner

� Management on international project

Cross-Cultural Knowledge

Management

� Knowledge Management base

- Influencer of sharing knowledge

To clarify unexplored areas, the literature review was done

Literature Review - Results

� Research on knowledge processes in international

projects

� Knowledge processes including tacit knowledge in

international project settings

� Tacit knowledge processing in virtual settings

Unexplored areas are found:

Research Questions

Subsidiary Research Questions:

1. How does tacit knowledge interact in each local

setting and/or between local settings?

2. How does tacit knowledge interact in virtual

settings?

Major Research Question:In international project settings, what kind of knowledge

is processed and how it is shared / created / utilized?

Case Study - Overview

� Case Study for the three companies

� Japanese chemical company in Tokyo (Company A),

� A subsidiary of Company A in Singapore (Company S),

� IT helpdesk function in Company S was outsourced to

Company H

1980’s 20102009

Company A:

Overseas operations

started in Singapore

IT policy was

defined

Company S:

became subsidiary

A project begun to create

an IT managing scheme

A weekly meeting had

started in a virtual setting

� Background

Case Study - Situation

Company A

Company S

IT Helpdesk was outsourced to Company H

� In 2010, IT policy of Company A - to control all IT of Company S

� Company A wanted to create a managing scheme

� Servers were in Japan

� Singapore users used the servers in Japan from Singapore

� Company H didn’t have IT authorization of the servers

Servers

Users

Case Study - Issues

In 2010, a project had started to create an IT managing

scheme.

� In 2011, the plan had been gradually delayed

� Uncertain why this happened.

� The discussion had started to re-evaluate the IT policy

� In May 2012, a series of semi-structured interviews was

conducted to detect issues and to recommend improvements.

Company A and S had an issue

with international interactions

Case Study - Interviews and the results

� Interviewees: Interviews conducted in May 2012

Systems Engineer in IT department in JapanA (Japan)O

P

M

H

K

Name

H (Singapore)

S (Singapore)

A (Japan)

A (Japan)

Company

Systems Engineer in Helpdesk in Singapore

General Manager in Singapore (Assignee from Japan)

Manager who is in charge of the accounting system of

Japan

Project Manager in IT department in Japan

Role

Case Study – Analysis method Qualitative analysis by MAXQDA

“Governance” code

Governance_A1 IT Policy_B1

“Localization” code

Governance_A3

Governance_A2

De-contextualization(*1)

IT Policy_B2

Re-contextualization

Relation map between codesGovernance

IT Policy

Localization_B2

・・・・

・・・・・

・・・・ Localization

Coding1. Interview results are

transcribed.

2. Scripts are segmented with codes. (coding)

(*1) De-contextualization is an analysis method which takes out of context and abstracts the characteristics.

Segmented parts with codes are

categorized

Case Study – Analysis Results

An ultimate goal as a result of a solutionLocalization

Codified solution for the difference of

context by defining tasks clearly.Framework

Personalized solution for the difference of

context. Intermediary person.Boundary spanner

The ways of thinking is differentDifference in context

Some requirements of local was not

acknowledged

Requirements of

Company S

IT Roles / responsibilities are not clearly

defined

Ambiguity of

responsibilities

The central control or the local control?Undecided IT Policy

Managing scheme was not fit the actual localGovernance

Eight codes were extracted by de-contextualization

Issue

Root cause

Solution

Case Study – Analysis ResultsRelation map between codes from the re-contextualization results

Solutions for

‘Difference in

context’

Root cause, Influencer,

The ways of background thinking is

different between Japan and Singapore

Governance Undecided IT Policy

Ambiguity of responsibilities

Boundary spanner

(Personalized)

Issues found by interview (Tacit Knowledge, or

explicit knowledge including a tacit part of Local)

Common issuesIssues of

Company AIssues of

Company S

Difference in context

Requirements of Company S

Framework (Codified) Localization

Understanding of each local's own

thinking (=difference in context) will

emerge international common

knowledge

Issue group

Root cause group

Solution group

� Common issues had been recognized by both Company A and S.

� The members suggested solutions how to mitigate the difference in

context, but failed to notice the root cause.

� Once the difference in context was understood in each local, the issues

were solved.

� To understand the difference in context means to understand each

local’s own thinking including tacit knowledge.

� Understanding the difference in context means the international

common knowledge was shared and created, and gradually emerged.

� ‘Localization’ was an organizational scheme as a final goal.

Case Study – Analysis Results

International Common Knowledge was gradually emerged

Findings

� The findings from the analysis results are:

� Each local setting has its own tacit knowledge

� The other side sometimes does not acknowledge the tacit knowledge of others

� International common knowledge will emerge from understanding of each local's own thinking

� The findings from the interviews are:

� A member in the field sometimes knows the actual situation the most.

� Even in virtual settings, the frequency of interactions, including informal transactions, would help to understand tacit knowledge.

The IT policy was changed to delegate a part of

IT authorization to Company S in 2013

Findings – the knowledge situation

� The knowledge situation of the project:

� Explicit knowledge is shared between each local setting

� Tacit knowledge which belongs to each local setting remains.

Local settings

Tacit

Knowledge

Virtual settings

Local settings

Explicit

KnowledgeInternational

Common Explicit

Knowledge

International Project

Tacit

Knowledge

Explicit

Knowledge

Conclusions - Answers to the Research Questions

� Major research question: In international project settings,

what kind of knowledge is processed and how it is shared /

created / utilized?”

� Even though explicit knowledge is shared between each

local setting,

� tacit knowledge is processed in each local setting

� can be transferred from one local setting to the other.

Conclusions - Answers to the Research Questions

� Subsidiary research question 1: How does tacit

knowledge interact in each local setting and/or between

local settings?”

� A1:

� The other local’s tacit knowledge can be internalized

and localized.

� Once tacit knowledge is shared between local

settings and international common tacit knowledge is

emerged by the interactions, knowledge processes

will be in a virtuous cycle.

Conclusions - Answers to the Research Questions

� Subsidiary research question 2: How does tacit

knowledge interact in virtual settings?”

� A2:

� Frequent informal or formal interactions via

telephone, email or TV conference help to transfer

tacit knowledge even in virtual settings.

Frequency is a key.

Conclusions – Theoretical implication

� The theoretical model of knowledge management in

international projects from cross-cultural perspectives

Local settings

Tacit

Knowledge

Virtual settings

Local settings

Explicit

KnowledgeInternational

Common Explicit

Knowledge

International Project

Tacit

Knowledge

Explicit

Knowledge

International

Common Tacit

Knowledge

Summary

� A literature review was presented to describe unexplored areas in knowledge management.

� Findings from a case study were presented describing the situation and issues that arise in knowledge processes in international projectsettings.

� From the results of the findings, a theoretical model is presented on knowledge management in international settings.

Thank you very much!

References(1)

Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H., The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. New York: Oxford University Press (1995)

Gourlay S. “The SECI model of Knowledge Creation: Some Empirical Shortcomings,” 4th European Conference on Knowledge Management(2003)

Umemoto, K., Managing Existent Knowledge Is Not Enough: Knowledge Management Theory and Practice in Japan. In Choo, C.W. and Bontis, N. (eds.), Strategic Management of Intellectual Capital & Organizational Knowledge, New York: Oxford University Press, pp.463-476 (2002)

Katzy, B. Evaristo, R. and Zigurs, I., “Knowledge Management in Virtual Projects: A Research Agenda,” Proceedings of the 33rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2000)

Koskinen, K., “Tacit Knowledge as a Promoter of Project Success,” European Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management, 6, pp.41-47 (2000)

Dixon, N. M., Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know, Boston: Harvard Business School Press (2000)

Milton, N., Knowledge Management for Teams and Projects, Oxford: ChandosPublishing (2005)

References(2)

Liebowitz, J. and Megbolugbe, I., “A Set of Frameworks to Aid the Project Manager in Conceptualizing and Implementing Knowledge ManagementInitiatives,” International Journal of Project Management, 21, pp.189-198 (2003)

Koster, K., International Project Management, London, SAGE Publications Ltd., (2010)

Holden, N. J., Cross-cultural management: A knowledge management perspective, Harlow, UK: FT Prentice Hall (2002)

Gopal, A. and Gosain, S., “The Role of Organizational Controls and Boundary Spanning in Software Development Outsourcing: Implications for Project Performance,” Information Systems Research, pp.1-23 (2009)

Boden, A. et al., “Knowledge Sharing Practices and the Impact of Cultural Factors: Reflections on Two case Studies of Offshoring in SME,” Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, 24(2), pp.139-152 (2010)

Abbott, P., “Offshoring: Cross-Cultural Strategies from the Offshore Provider's Perspective,” In Willcocks, L. P. and Lacity, M. C. (eds.), The New IT Outsourcing Landscape - From Innovation to Cloud Services. U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.206-221 (2012)

Appendix:

Background - Social backgroundTrend of IT offshoring development size (Survey result of 250 Japanese IT companies in 2010)

（Extracted March 24, 2012 from Premier at http://www.keidanren.or.jp/japanese/policy/2011/096/shiryo.pdf）

Influenced by

Lehman Shock

in 2008

China India Philippines Korea Vietnam US Australia West Europe

No data

Unit: $100000

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Literature Review - Results

explored

unexplored

Knowledge Management in

international/global projects� Nature of Knowledge

� Knowledge processes

- SECI Model

� Concept of Ba

� Virtual settings

� Knowledge Strategies

� Factor related research

� Sociology base

- Culture influence on

knowledge management

(factor related)

� Boundary spanner

� Knowledge processes in

international/global projects - Virtual project settings

- Sharing/Transfer/Reuse

Unexplored Area

� Management on International

project

� Process related research

Knowledge Management

Cross-Cultural Knowledge

Management

Knowledge management theories

focusing on projects

� Knowledge Management base

- Influencer of sharing knowledge

(factor related)

� Knowledge processes including

tacit knowledge

� Tacit knowledge processes

in virtual settings

Case Study – Analysis method

Coding

Codes