Intro -- Andy Boynton LO6300

Boynton, Andrew C. (boyntona.bsacd1@mhs.unc.edu)
Fri, 29 Mar 1996 15:21:41 -0500

Greetings.

I'm presently on the faculty of UNC-Chapel Hill, School of Business, and
have done research on knowledge transformation. My research colleague and
I (Bart Victor) have spent 3-4 years thinking and writing about
organizational learning processing that starts with craft-like knowledge,
transform knowledge through different knowledge states, and culminate in
architectural or modular knowhow. We have called this the "right path" of
knowledge development, and we think once achieving modular knowhow, it
provides organizations with the ability to mass customize or become
dynamically stable (a phrase we coined in some or our research). We've had
fun with these ideas and they've resulted in several different cuts on
organizational learning.

Presently, I'm very interested in any research or thoughts about learning
processes or other organizational mechanisms related to transforming
craft-like (tacit) knowhow to knowhow that is suitable for systematic
reuse and replication to achieve scale-economic advantage. I have found
some related research areas.This is what industrial engineering is about
and I've found some literature in computer science related to object
oriented technology, Paul Romer-a Berkeley economist has written a bit on
this, and there is some related material in the popular press in writing
on the management of intellectual capital for reuse in such firms as
Andersen Consulting. But within organizational science and organization
theory, this research issue has been given scant attention--or at least I
can't find anything (beyond Nonaka, Gudland, and related conceptual
research).

Any ideas, thoughts, reactions to this or recommendations on what
literature I could examine?

Thank you.

-- 

"Boynton, Andrew C." <boyntona.bsacd1@mhs.unc.edu>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>