A Behavior-Based Approach for Analyzing Knowledge-Process Dynamics

Understanding and managing knowledge processes have been recognized as critical issues in regard to knowledge management. However, no practical methodology for understanding and managing the knowledge process has been devised because of the tacit nature of the process. This research work proposes a new methodology called “knowledge-process dynamics (KPD)” analysis featuring objective behavioral measurement. KPD analysis utilizes interaction data between workers (collected from wearable sensors) and update history of documents to clarify workers’ behavioral dynamics in the form of a causal-loop diagram. To demonstrate the effectiveness of KPD analysis, it was applied to product-design organizations. The resulting understanding of behavioral dynamics successfully helped a junior manager to idenfity problems and measures related to knowledge processes.