Organizational knowledge is created through a continuous
cycle of interaction between an epistemological and an
ontological dimension of knowledge, also referred to as the
spiral of knowledge creation (Nonaka, 1994). Exhibit 1 shows an
enhanced graphical representation of Nonaka’s (1994) model. Thespiral of organizational knowledge creation has four elements of
interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge: socialization,
externalization, combination, and internalization (SECI). In
each of the four phases, existing knowledge is converted into
new knowledge. While each of the four elements of knowledge
conversion can create knowledge autonomously, the theory of
organizational knowledge creation centers on the dynamic and
continuous interaction between the elements (Nonaka, 1994).