Tacit Knowledge As a Source of Competitive Advantage in Cricket
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1 TACIT KNOWLEDGE AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN CRICKET Tacit knowledge as a source of competitive advantage in cricket NaveedYazdani [email protected] Director School of Professional Advancement & Associate Professor Management University of Management & Technology Lahore Abdul RasheedKausar [email protected] Professor Knowledge Management & Director Institute of Applied Sciences University of Management & Technology Lahore This paper has been presented in the organized by School of Business and Economics University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan This paper has been included in the conference proceedings with good intentions, where the conference and its organizers are not liable at all for the contents of this paper and / or any part of it. For more information about the conference please visit the conference website: http://cgr.umt.edu.pk/icobm2013/index.html or write the organizers at [email protected] Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-07-3) 2 ABSTRACT This theoretical paper expounds the basic tenet of knowledge-based-view (KBV) of the firm that tacit knowledge lies at the basis of sustained competitive advantage accrued to a company. This is because tacit knowledge embodies the intangible, valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable human core capabilities and competencies. Taking lead from Berman et al. (2002) study of National Basketball Association (NBA), this paper proposes to use the notion of Collective Mind or stock of tacit knowledge of a Cricket team and suggests a positive relationship between shared team experience (a proxy for tacit knowledge) and team performance. The paper also suggests that over a period of time the relationship may turn negative because of the knowledge ossification or reutilization of tacit knowledge schemas acquired by the players. Future research implications for other formats of Cricket apart from ODI matches and other sports are also discussed Key Words: Tacit Knowledge, Collective Mind, Sustained Competitive Advantage, Knowledge Ossification, Knowledge Management and Sports Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-07-3) 3 INTRODUCTION The notion of ‘collective mind’ (CM) (Weick& Robert, 1993; Lam, 2000) is well researched in the context of decision making by top management teams (TMT) in organizations. CM is thought to be a product of not only quality of interactions taking place between individuals with highly developed interpersonal skills but also time spent by the members together as a team. CM causes the groups or teams to behave in similar ways through a process not much different from the medical notion of ‘contagion’ (Forsyth, 2009, p. 514)whereby contagious diseases spread by proximity and exposure to a patient or group of patients apparently invisibly. Carl Jung used the term to capture the idea of ‘Corporate Brain’ of an organization whereby corporate members think and behave similarly (Truch, 2004, p. 95). CM is especially relevant to the development of tacit knowledge because this form of knowledge represents a vast body of personal knowledge (Polanyi (1958) present in the subconscious of individuals. Tacit knowledge is difficult to articulate explicitly and hence is acquired through direct observation or socialization which demands spending long periods of time together (Brockmann& Anthony, 1998; Flood et al., 1997; Hittet al., 2001). Knowledge management literature links the RBV logic of strategic management (Penrose, 1959; Barney, 1991; Juga, 1999; Wernerfelt, 1984; Grant, 1991; Day, 1994; Teeceet al., 1997; Selznick, 1957; Prahalad& Hamel, 1990; Amit&Schoemaker, 1993) with knowledge-based-view (KBV) for crafting business strategies (Massingham, 2004). Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-07-3) 4 This is because KBV views tacit knowledge as valuable, rare, inimitable and non- substitutable resource. The link between RBV and KBV develops because like resources tacit knowledge is also underpinned by the notions of resource heterogeneity and immobility, value, rareness, imperfect imitability and substitutability. Tacit knowledge like resources therefore forms the core ofthe sustained competitive advantage accrued to any company or organization. According to RBV theorists these resources (very much like tacit knowledge) cannot be purchased from open market but need to be developed inside the firm (Ladoet al., 2006; Sveiby, 2001) and require extensive time, capital and social complexity handling skills for their development. What could be a better example of such resources than the human resource of a company (Bartlett &Ghoshal, 2002) which are rare in terms of their acquired skills and tacit knowledge which in turn is difficult to imitate and hence highly valuable? Since knowledge is defined as capacity to act (Polanyi, 1958; Wittgenstein, 1995), therefore people are the starting point in strategy formulation because of all the organizational assets and resources only people have the capacity to act rationally. According to RBV theorists it is the tacit knowledge of individuals which serves to generate the sustained competitive advantage for a company. This is because this knowledge is not only valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable but because of these very attributes it creates causal ambiguity and isolating mechanisms due to which others cannot copy or imitate the source of sustained competitive advantage or else the Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-07-3) 5 competitive advantage would not be sustained but readily accessible to others (Lippman&Rumelt, 1982; Kogut& Zander, 1993; Teece& Pisano, 1998). This paper is based on the work of Berman et al., (2002) who linked tacit knowledge with the sustained competitive advantage in case of a sports team, Basketball1. They argue that individual tacit knowledge forms the overall collective mind or stock of collective knowledge of a group or team. They also argue that this collective tacit knowledge takes time to develop through learning and that this relation is subject to diminishing returns. What they mean by diminishing returns is that at first learning leads to development of tacit knowledge at a much quicker rate which with the span of time however starts slowing down till a time comes that it starts to decay and decrease. They term this decaying effect as knowledge ossification. They therefore postulate an inverted U relation between accumulated tacit knowledge through experience over a period of time and the performance of a group or team. While linking tacit knowledge with Basketball Berman et al base their argument on the observation that this knowledge is largely hidden and very difficult to express explicitly. It can be acquired through what Nonaka& Takeuchi (1994) call a ‘socialization’ process where tacit-tacit knowledge transfer occurs by direct observations much like a master- apprentice relationship. Human skills are also tacit in the sense that they are invisible, 1 Current sports theorists and psychologists (Smith & Bar-Eli, 2007, p. 468; Jones, 2006, p. 6) call for change of role of sports coaches from trainers to teachers. This emphasis implies the importance of understanding and transferring technical as well cognitive elements of tacit knowledge (Nonaka& Takeuchi, 1994) in case of sports. Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-07-3) 6 developed over a period of time through practice and knowledge gained through direct observations and repeated experiences (Nelson & Winter, 1982). Playing Basketball at National Basket Association (NBA) level demands high degree of a set of skills which are unconsciously engrained in a player’s mind as a pattern or gestalt. Applying this to sports Berman et al. argue: “(Tacit knowledge) involves pattern recognition, it is acquired through cumulative experience, it operates unconsciously in the background, it is difficult if not impossible to articulate, and it forms the basis of valuable human skills - from hitting a baseball to playing chess…..” In the same lines this paper argues that playing Cricket at international level demands a variety of highly specialized skills which are learnt over a period of time and that their acquisition is quite like tacit knowledge development both at individual and team levels through the development of collective mind. The skills of individual players will sharply increase when they play with seasoned and experienced players. Through learning curve effect this gain will be speedy in the beginning but slow down or even decay as the shared experience of playing together increases. This knowledge ossification would occur because the acquired skills or tacit knowledge or mental schemas will tend to be routinized in a player’s mind over a period of time with the result that new knowledge acquisition will either be flattened or start decreasing. Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-07-3) 7 THEORY DEVELOPMENT AND THE RESULTANT PROPOSITIONS Interdependence within organizations is considered an important and crucial contingency in determining organizational and departmental structural implications (Daft et al., 2009, p. 276-280). It is also thought to be directly linked with coordination requirements at departmental and organizational levels (Andrew et al., 1976). This implies that a mechanistic organization