Visualization of knowledge-creation process using face-to-face communication data

No firm can survive without building a mechanism to create knowledge in the 21st century. The knowledge creation theory by Nonaka has successfully generalized a knowledge-creation process in an organization. However, nobody has found a quantitative method for evaluating the process. This paper proposes a technique of visualizing the knowledge-creation process by plotting graphs of face-to-face contact time and number of people contacted. We applied the data of face-to-face communication of an organization to our proposed technique and confirmed that it represented dynamics of the knowledge-creation process. This technique wHl provide a new method of corporate management.