Three 'Ba' Based Japanese KM Approaches--How Successful Japanese KM Companies Share Context to Create Their Unique Value
Breakout Session 8
Thursday, May 1 | 1:30 pm
Presenter: Naoki Ogiwara, KM consultant, "Ba" conductor, KDI, Fuji Xerox
Since 2000, KDI has supported 60 plus large Japanese organizations as they launch and implement KM initiatives based on APQC's five stages of implementation.
Over the course of this journey, KDI has found that some Japanese companies have successfully changed their ways of working by focusing on the traditional Japanese concept, "Ba" (shared context in motion). "Ba" has helped organizations achieve key goals such as accelerating innovation and reducing costs and cycle times associated with product development. This presentation will introduce three different approaches by highlighting examples and lessons learned from Sony Semiconductor Company (product design), NTT Data (system integration), and Hitachi High-Technologies (product design).
I thought this was a powerful presentation of how to pilot some dramatically different and game changing knowledge sharing approaches in three huge corporations. Naoki's slides are so good that even if you didn't attend, you will get a lot of value.(Download above on this page.) Attend especially to his summary at the end of the critical success factors. Profound and elegant in their simple power.
I agree with Carla in evaluating this as a powerful presentation. In retrospect, the principle of aligning effective "Ba" to the nature of the work and the people seems obvious, but too often we choose to pursue a common approach without regard to the different characteristics of the groups we are working with in different COPs. It reminded me of my studies at UVA where the systems engineering department emphasized the importance of understanding an organization's values before being able to work with them to develop solutions to their problems. I now have a deeper understanding and appreciation that knowledge flow can be enhanced in many ways; physically, virtually-but all start with a thorough understanding of the people, the work they do and the environment they work in.
The link to this page was shared by one of my students. Thanks Evelyn.
We are reading about the concept of Ba and additional research led us to this resource. The case studies presented are fantastic. Thank you.