Knowledge codification

This chapter offers insight into how knowledge codification has the potential to capture varying levels of tacit content in pursuit of enhanced innovation and ultimately, competitive advantage. It recognizes the need for and importance of codifying knowledge in a variety of ways to allow codified material to move from lower to higher explicit content. We propose that newly articulated knowledge is codified immediately and that informal and formal codification exercises create boundary objects that can be made more complete or explicit through critique, review and reflection on these codified materials. This approach also enhances employee engagement in the codification/re-codification process. The value of involving operators in codification, using existing codebooks, optimizes articulation and codification by inviting a focused review of existing codified material and the subsequent standardization of codified knowledge: it also releases new tacit knowledge within a forum designed to immediately codify this newly articulated knowledge. The proposed knowledge codification framework offers users the potential to apply the principles exhibited in this chapter in practice.