The Knowledge Spiral

The Concept

Organizational knowledge creation is a spiral process in which knowledge continuously converts between tacit and explicit forms while expanding in scope from individual to group to organization to inter-organization.

The spiral has two dimensions:

• Epistemological: The cycle through SECI modes (tacit ↔ explicit conversion)
• Ontological: The expansion from individual knowledge to organizational knowledge

Knowledge starts with individuals, becomes shared through teams, gets institutionalized across the organization, and potentially extends to networks of organizations. At each level, the SECI cycle repeats, amplifying and crystallizing knowledge.

Why It Matters

The spiral model explains how individual insight becomes organizational capability:

1. An individual has tacit knowledge (personal skill or intuition)
2. Through Socialization, they share it with close colleagues
3. Through Externalization, the team articulates it as a concept
4. Through Combination, the concept integrates with existing organizational knowledge
5. Through Internalization, people across the organization embody it in practice
6. The new tacit knowledge becomes the basis for further spiraling

This is how a baker’s feel for dough becomes a product specification becomes a company capability.

How to Apply

Feed the spiral continuously:

• Don’t treat knowledge creation as a one-time project
• Design processes that cycle through all four SECI modes
• Expand the community of interaction as concepts mature

Watch for spiral breakdowns:

• Pure socialization creates knowledge that can’t scale (limited sharability)
• Pure combination creates documentation no one uses (no embodiment)
• Missing externalization means tacit knowledge never becomes organizational

Design enabling conditions:

• Intention: organizational direction for what knowledge to pursue
• Autonomy: freedom for individuals to generate unexpected opportunities
• Fluctuation/Creative Chaos: triggers for reflection and new patterns
• Redundancy: overlapping information that facilitates tacit transfer
• Requisite Variety: internal diversity matching environmental complexity

Limitations

The spiral is a conceptual model, not a precise mechanism. Real knowledge creation is messier, stages overlap, loops reverse, expansions stall.

The model was developed primarily from Japanese manufacturing contexts. Its applicability to knowledge-intensive services or globally distributed organizations requires adaptation.

Related: 06-molecule—seci-framework, 07-molecule—middle-up-down-management