Keywords

1 Introduction

The role of knowledge began to be an important resource since the 80’s because it can create value for the enterprise. It may be defined as the most significant resource of our time, a kind of hallmark of modern society. The increased importance of knowledge has marked a crucial step in modern theories of economics and business [1]. This does not mean that up to this time there was no knowledge in enterprises, but simply that his administration was done unconsciously and without considering the importance of the relationship between knowledge and value to the company [1].

The possession of knowledge does not ensure the enterprise to obtain the benefits that could derive from it, but it requires interaction between people who possess such knowledge and are able to create new. So, she made space the need to capitalize on the business knowledge fostering the acquisition, re-use, dissemination, and creation. This has resulted in a growing interest in the concepts of knowledge engineering and from the role of organizational memory and processes of accumulation of organizational knowledge. The creation of social enterprise is therefore attributable to an action aimed at managing knowledge.

They play a major role in the context of corporate knowledge and are enablers for optimal operation of processes. The proper management of the flow of knowledge involves the maintenance and continuous updating of Best Practice, avoiding obsolescence, and making sure that they are the basic elements of competitiveness. Specifically, this paper defines the life cycle of Best Practice to promote the continuous improvement of business processes, whether production or coordination.

2 Knowledge Management Flow

The knowledge is manifested in different forms in the organization [2]:

  • Tacit: represented by what people know but do not know how to express in a formal way through the normal channels of communication, typically based on writing. Tacit knowledge is closely linked to the person, depends heavily on the context and it’s hardly made explicit and formalized typically being much less of a practical nature.

  • Implicit: is that component of the knowledge that you cannot or do not want to express, but of which you are aware and that you would be able to explain, formalize, communicate.

  • Explicit: available in documentary form in the format: Structured or when stored in enterprise databases, management systems, processes, systems for the representation of knowledge that make use of ontologies.

Semi-structured: or when stored in the web pages of corporate intranets and the Internet (based on HTML and XML). Non- structured: when stored in textual documents of any kind used in the organization. In particular, according to Nonaka and Takeuchi, Japanese creators of the theory of knowledge, the creation of knowledge is to be understood as a diffusion process in which knowledge is created by individuals within the network of systematized knowledge of the organization. From here Nonaka proposes the model called Organizational Knowledge Conversion which presents the process of knowledge management as a spiral in which new knowledge is created always [3]. Figure 1 shows the spiral on the dynamics of knowledge creation based on conversions tacit/explicit through the processes of socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization.

Fig. 1.
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Spiral of organizational knowledge creation

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This spiral develops along two dimensions: the first, called “epistemological”, concerns the interactions between tacit and explicit knowledge, the second dimension, the “ontological”, concerns the individual and the organization. According to this model an organization is able to create knowledge only through individuals working in it, in the hope, therefore, a valuation and an incurrence of the most creative by inserting them in a collaborative environment in which knowledge is created.

This process is governed by the SECI model, proposed by the same Nonaka (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
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SECI model

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The SECI model consists of four modes of knowledge conversion: socialization (tacit to tacit), externalization (tacit to explicit), combination (explicit to explicit), and internalization (explicit to tacit).

  • Socialization is the process of sharing tacit knowledge through observation, imitation, practice, and participation in formal and informal communities. The socialization process is usually preempted by the creation of a physical or virtual space where a given community can interact on a social level.

  • Externalization is the process of articulating tacit knowledge into explicit concepts. Since tacit knowledge is highly internalized, this process is the key to knowledge sharing and creation.

  • Combination is the process of integrating concepts into a knowledge system.

  • Internalization is the process of embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge.

The SECI model shows that the process of knowledge creation is cyclical, was born at the individual and develops at a group level, ending at the organizational level. In order for this process to take place it is necessary to implement models of social interaction that support the realization of the SECI process, among them we can mention, in particular, the Ba and communities of practice. The model of social interaction called Ba (Japanese term that means “place, a place, an arena for creative exchange”), which was introduced by the same Nonaka defines the ways in which people communicate in order to achieve the above process of converting knowledge from tacit to explicit. The interactions can take place physically or virtually through special software tools. Nonaka identifies different types of Ba each specialized to support a different stage of the process SECI: Originating Ba for the phase socialization, Dialoguing Ba for the’ externalization, Systemizing Ba to implement the combination and Exercising Ba for internalization [4]. The interplay between the four categories of ba is illustrated in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.
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Four categories of ba

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Another model of representation of social interactions aimed at the generation and development of corporate knowledge is that of communities of practice, groups of employees who share a common heritage of knowledge and interact informally, exchanging knowledge on issues of mutual interest; information exchanges result in the generation and sharing of new knowledge. Communities of practice are easily implemented through collaborative tools of the social network business, plus the ability to capture and capture a portion of tacit knowledge, making it explicit.

The ICT knowledge management are the real enabler of any strategy for knowledge management. Understanding the potential offered by the different technological solutions available is crucial for their correct application: the attempt to create a management culture of shared knowledge, based solely on an organizational approach and on the active collaboration between people, without the presence an appropriate computer system, leads to results necessarily partial and potentially disastrous.

3 Benchmarking and Best Practice

The analysis of business processes to maximize the performance is certainly one of the elements that characterize the management of an organization. One possible approach to this problem is realized by comparing the processes characterizing their business model with those of other organizations or with new models, assessing the characteristics and ensuring any improvements. This approach is called benchmarking and has been formally defined as “the search for industry best practices that lead to have superior performance” [5]. In other words, benchmarking is an activity which consists in “learn, share best practices and adapt to a business reality” [6].

This operating mode essentially comprises three steps:

  • understand the need to improve a process;

  • find a best practice that improves the process;

  • Assess extent to which this process has been improved.

The first two steps refer to a process of continuous research typical of benchmarking, which therefore differs from traditional analysis of competitiveness as it is a constantly evolving, which compares business processes with all the “better” that can be researched or proposed, both inside and outside the organization. This research has potential limitations, since any process can be challenged by another at any time, the more it stimulates the creativity of the business community and it is open to all possible instances of itself, the more it is likely to find a best practice that take the place of a process currently in place.

The last phase involves, essentially, the verification of the performance of the best practices applied to the process that you are trying to improve, whereas the concept of performance is very variable and dependent on the particular organization you are analyzing. It seems clear that the concept of best practices is central in the whole organization and how much goes to impact on all business processes. A best practice can be defined as “the best way currently known to implement a particular business process”, the adjective “best” is often questioned, preferring the term good practice, highlighting the fact that this solution is subject to a continuous cycle of monitoring and review, which often leads to finding another best practice for the same process. It can, therefore, affirm that a best practice constitutes the operating model currently used to implement a series of similar processes, but which must be continually questioned, with the aim of finding another that further improve the performance of the process.

Many best practices are inherent in the company’s tacit knowledge, that certain processes are carried out under conditions resulting from the practice, but not formally defined. Therefore, in addition to managing the best practices defined, it is appropriate to prepare strategies to try to extract the tacit, perhaps preparing communities of practice, communicate, and collaborate through social networks. The two approaches are complementary in the sense you cannot think of extracting best practices from the corporate tacit knowledge without good organization of best practices already formalized.

The essence of best practices is therefore to find a better solution to a given problem and to share in the company, with immediate advantages of different types: [7]

  • identify and replace practices “poor” and obsolete;

  • minimize costs through improved productivity and efficiency;

  • facilitate the resolution of problems through the search for solutions to similar problems;

  • ensure consistency, having the certainty that a given business process is always done in a certain way;

  • decrease the time of learning, because of the greater simplicity of creating educational materials for standardized processes;

  • improve the overall quality of the products or services offered.

In the literature point to six fundamental points for the identification and sharing of best practices [8]:

  • Identify the real needs: never lose sight of the main purpose of a best practice, or improve a business process in order to understand where we can provide added value to the organization. In this sense, in search of best practices should involve primarily corporate sectors in difficulty or performance deficit.

  • Discover best practices: there are potentially many ways to find a best practice. A first approach consists in observing the operating procedures that have produced good results in other organizations and assess whether they can become best practices for their own. A second approach is embodied in formalizing a best practice, starting from the above company tacit knowledge, which is going to shape a practice applied in an informal way thanks to the skills of workers. A final approach is to harness the creativity of the workers, who should have the opportunity to promote their own ideas to improve a process, the best insights could be explored and eventually formalized as a best practice. 

  • Template: the description of the good practice is generally placed in a repository according to a standard format. A typical template should include the following sections:

  • Title - short descriptive title (may be accompanied by a short abstract);

  • Profile - short sections that outline processes, function, author, keywords, etc.

  • Context - where it is applicable? What problem does it solve?

  • Resources - what resources and skills are needed to carry on the good practice?

  • Description - what are the processes and steps involved?

  • Margins for improvement - there are good performances associated with this practice?

  • Tools and techniques used

  • Validate best practices. Best practice is cyclical in nature, in the sense that its actual dowry to be “better” must be constantly challenged through precise operations evaluation of existing best practices and validation of new ones. A usual approach is to have a team of auditors including external experts, both internal and external to the organization. Equally important are the input and feedback (i.e. the last beneficiaries) of best practices.

  • Dissemination and application. A database of good practices is a useful starting point, but many organizations are essential to accompany him with a face-to-face sharing of the knowledge of good practice. Usual ways of knowledge sharing of good practice include: communities of practice, improvement groups, learning events organized, etc.

  • Develop and support infrastructure. It is needed to make sure that you have the necessary infrastructure to have a proper management best practices. This infrastructure is generally included in the more general business knowledge, so much so that he has often mentioned that the best practices involving both tacit and explicit knowledge. A modern social network, an advanced DMS and a suite for semantic knowledge management constitute the minimum equipment to implement a modern management best practices.

There are different methods of business process management using best practices as a driving force. The following is a list of those considered most relevant, with no presumption of completeness:

  • Six Sigma: This methodology, which was introduced in the 80 s by Motorola, is its assumptions in the approach of Deming’s PDCA cycle, the model developed for the improvement of quality on a long haul through the continuous refinement of processes and to an optimal use of resources. Six Sigma seeks to combine the European trend to improvement through systematic changes (breakthrough) with the Japanese approach to continuous improvement pursued through “baby steps”. All business processes are analyzed, with the assertion that each process can be measured, and that therefore it is possible to intervene with measures to improve only after you have performed the measurements of the characteristic parameters or indicators more representative and having analyzed the data thus obtained [9].

  • TOGAF: created in 1995, is based on the Technical Architecture Framework for Information Management (TAFIM) of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It is a standard infrastructure to handle the corporate structure, with the ultimate goal of maximizing productivity and process performance. TOGAF consists of three basic parts: the Architecture Development Method (ADM), which describes how to get enterprise architecture specific to a particular organization that meets certain requirements, the Enterprise Continuum, a sort of repository of all possible assets of the company that can be taken as an example to develop its architecture, the TOGAF Resource Base, a set guidelines, templates and various information useful to support architects in the use of ADM [10].

  • eTOM: The Business Process Framework (eTOM), formalized in 2003, is a multi- level, hierarchical view of business processes deemed necessary to achieve an efficient and profitable. At a conceptual level, the framework has three main process areas: Strategy/Infrastructure/Product, Operations and Management. The strong point for this approach is to encourage reusing Process from different organizations with a consequent lowering costs while improving Performance Process [11].

  • ITIL: providing a broad set of best practices related to IT processes, ITIL is one of the most widely used framework for the management of the companies or IT departments. Its key element is the continuous evaluation and possible improvement of services offered, both from the company point of view and from that of the client. Published for the first time in England between 1989 and 1995 by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) under the aegis of the Central Communications and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), was initially used almost exclusively in the United Kingdom and the Netherland, from its second version, developed since 2000, its use has spread on a global scale and is probably one of the most well-known frameworks [12].

  • Kaizen: Japanese management strategy which means “continuous improvement”. Its definition is derived, in fact, from the Japanese words “kai” which means “continuous” or “change” and “Zen” which means “improvement”, “better” This method encourages and supports small improvements to be done day after day, in a continuous manner. The kaizen, initially presented by Toyota in the 80 s and applied increasingly in the world, is based on the principle of the emergence of corporate knowledge from below, i.e. on the understanding that the performance of business processes can be increased only through the analysis of the proposed improvements by workers in the field of collaborative [13].

4 Best Practice and Business Competencies

The study of various business skills, particularly in relation to the fact that a worker who is in possession or not, is often approached with an assessment resulting from studies carried out in 1980 by brothers Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus faculty at the University of California [14]. This scale describes, dividing it into five levels (Fig. 4), the phase of acquisition of skills by the worker, through which he became adept at grooming a given process:

Fig. 4.
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Novice-to-expert scale

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Table 1 describes for each of these levels, the manner in which an employee who as that level of competence for a given process, it relates to a best practice that describes it:

Table 1. Dreyfus model and best practice
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It is evident that more experienced it becomes a worker in a particular process, the more you run the risk that he may turn away from best practices. Minimize this risk involves not only bind workers to follow best practices, but also entice workers with high levels of competence in the provision of new best practices.

5 Knowledge Enterprise Model: Best Practice

From the analysis made in the previous paragraphs show the need to address two key issues for modern organizations: knowledge and process performance. The latter is achieved by managing the most of a particular area of business knowledge, those best practices introduced earlier. The strength of the model is proposed, shown in Fig. 5, is to leverage corporate knowledge to better manage the life cycle of best practices and consequently improve the performance of business processes.

Fig. 5.
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Best practice life cycle

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The cycle is divided into two main phases: a formal and one informal. Formal refers to the management of best practices with regard to the nature of their improvement to a process, in other words, this phase sees the best practices as a formal proposal for the improvement of a business process, typically made explicit by means of special template document. A proposal, whether it is a compilation of a new or a revision to an existing best practice, follows a precise business process before becoming possibly process standards. This path depends strictly on the organization, but the steps that compose it can be traced to the following steps:

  • Compile/Revision: is the creation of new best practices or bring changes to existing BP. During this phase, an issue resolved, such resolution shall be made available to everyone in the company, entering all the information into a template set up and submitting to being published such best practices.

  • Publish: completed the drafting process, the best practice passes being published to undergo the procedure for official authorization and validation to become operational.

  • Validate: is the time in which the best practice is subjected to a control both formal content, before being sent to final approval.

  • Authorize: is when the best practices, as well as approved in its form and content, is emitted and thus made available to other users of the system, and in general, all users who have the necessary access rights. Typically, is evaluated, empirically, in some cases, the improvement in performance of which has described the process through the implementation of best practices. This phase, like the three previous ones, by one or more persons empowered, which can operate independently or in collaboration with specialized tools (wiki, forum, etc.).

The phase described above only covers the steps of combining and subsequent internalization of the SECI model that deals exclusively with the explicit knowledge, for more in a strictly structured. To lower management best practices in the entirety of enterprise knowledge management, it is necessary to introduce a phase called informal, that manages to bring out instances arising from tacit knowledge and implicit. This phase can be defined by the following steps:

  1. i.

    Sharing proposals for improvement: after the phase of socialization, made possible through the collaborative tools provided by the social network business, you can enjoy the considerations expressed by workers in reference to a particular business process. Their tacit or implicit knowledge can lead to deduce proposed improvements resulting from the practice in carrying out a specific process or even from simple intuitions.

  2. ii.

    Analysis of proposed candidates. The proposals that emerged in the previous step are discussed and refined by the user community, thanks to the outsourcing process. At this point the knowledge of individual workers has been clarified and is potentially available to the entire business community.

  3. iii.

    Selection of proposals for improvement. The knowledge has emerged, at this point, needs to be conveyed to the processes on which the company has need or interest to invest.

6 Conclusions

Best practices are a powerful way to leverage corporate knowledge, increasing competitiveness through continuous improvement and constant asset of the organization. Knowledge, whether express, implied, or constructive, of the workers is used to bring continuous improvements to business processes. If explicit knowledge is easily managed through a workflow like a document management, tacit or implicit needs to be extracted and fed. An ideal approach is to examine the activities of the workers on the social network business, in particular the interactions and communications made through collaborative tools. In this way, the activities are possible externalization and internalization to make explicit the implicit knowledge and make manifest the tacit. For these purposes collaborative tools, typical of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 are not characteristic enough, we need more sophisticated tools that are based on emerging semantic technologies in the Semantic Web.

To achieve interoperability and the development of knowledge models extracted, the challenges of the future in the following directions:

  • Ontology alignment. Study, definition, and development of the approaches for extracting approximate matching in order to harmonize heterogeneous ontology conceptualization. The result of a matching operation is the evaluation of relation between two ontologies. Concepts matching enable us to augment knowledge discovery performances.

  • Ontology Merging. Study, definition, and development of the approach to create ontology from two or more source ontologies. The new ontology will unify and in general replace the original source ontologies. By the merging of the concepts ontology, we intend to support knowledge Extraction applications through reduction of redundancy.