The Continued Practice of ‘Ethos’: How Nissan Enables Organizational Knowledge Creation

Abstract

This article examines knowledge creation in relation to improvements on the production line in the manufacturing department of Nissan Motor Company and aims to clarify embodied knowledge observed in the actions of organisational members who enable knowledge creation will be clarified. For that purpose, this study adopts an approach that adds a first, second, and third-person's viewpoint to the theory of knowledge creation (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Embodied knowledge, observed in the actions of organisational members who enable knowledge creation, is the continued practice of ‘ethos’ (in Greek) founded in Nissan Production Way as an ethical basis. Ethos is knowledge (intangible) assets for knowledge creating companies. Substantiated analysis classifies ethos into three categories: the individual, team and organisation. This indicates the precise actions of the organisational members in each category during the knowledge creation process. This research will be successful in its role of showing the indispensability of ethos—the new concept of knowledge assets, which enables knowledge creation—for future knowledge-based management in the knowledge society.

Keywords:

• enablers of organisational knowledge creation
• ethos
• knowledge assets
• first, second and third-person's viewpoints; SECI process

Notes

1. “Karakuri” is a type of Japanese traditional craftsmanship, which was invented in the 1770s. Its famous example is a doll, which carried tea. The distinguishing characteristic of Karakuri is that mechanisms do not rely on any dynamic force like electricity or batteries. A doll, for example, moves by utilising the weight of the cup, which is put on its arm. Bearing the mechanism of Karakuri in mind, the members are working to implement cheap automation at the production site.