An interesting characteristic about knowledge is that when it is

shared, his value grows exponentially; creating the possibility

of endless returns.
Sharing creates the feeling to be part of a community, and applied to
the business context; to be part of something bigger.
That is way knowledge sharing opens a new way of finding the
appropriate way of being shared and to find incentive
mechanisms through contractual schemes which fit better the
knowledge-based organization.
(So, is to exchange ideas). Knowledge sharing is also called
Social dilemma, as it is a problem (dilemma) that arise
between people (social), inside a community. But some other
issues are confused along the way as organizational culture,
incentives (pay-off) and trust.
The result will be different depending on the kind of knowledge the
business is dealing with. Related to the literature it is stated that
there are two degrees of organizational knowledge: Articulation and
Aggregation.
The articulation degree has two kinds of knowledge: Explicit and tacit.

The first one is easy to communicate, are concepts and

frameworks.
The second is hard to communicate, because includes skills and
abilities.

The aggregation degree has two types: collective and individual.

The individual is when the knowledge is produced by one

person.
Collective is produced by the interaction between people.

When you combine all kinds of knowledge, you have 4 classes:

collective-tacit,

collective-explicit,

individual-tacit

and

individual-

explicit.
Firms have to be prepared to support these four classes of knowledge,
especially

the

collective-tacit,

because

is

the

most

important

knowledge results of employees interaction (collective) and this

knowledge is composed by skills and know-how (tacit). Knowledge
management programs are being implanted in companies to manage
this precious resource. That is why knowledge management is
important not only to create, but to modify, improve and share
knowledge.
For that reason, four models for the transfers and creating of
knowledge are written in the literature:
- Socialization refers to the share of tacit knowledge creating an
interaction between individuals. It is a gradual process where the
know-how is developed, for that is necessary the spatial
proximity. What it means is that geographical and cultural
proximity within the firm plays a main role.
- Externalization is the way of tacit knowledge into explicit
knowledge, via theories, concepts, models... For the knowledge to
remain inside the firm and completing the local knowledge.
- Combination is combining explicit knowledge in a way to create
new knowledge from the preexisting one. This conversion
method is kind of appellant where several agents are
involved. The physical proximity doesnt matter anymore,
thanks to the communication technologies which make easier
this work.

- Internalization the change of explicit knowledge into tacit form.

For the transmission and application of the knowledge inside
the firm the local proximity is a mandatory issue. Experience of
agents trying to integrate the knowledge will be a main asset, while
they are trying to communicate it.
That's why the company has to encourage the creation and
dissemination of knowledge within the company. Especially
because knowledge is something difficult to be copied. It's
difficult to get knowledge of one company and apply it into
another one, because knowledge is also based on the history,
culture, location and working staff. The knowledge produced in a
specific company, could not be useful to another one or if its useful,
the adaptation would be very expensive. Produce knowledge inside
the company appears more efficient because it will be produced
based on organization needs.
Coming back to knowledge management, knowledge sharing is an
important part of it.

Not only create knowledge is important, but

share it too. Firms have to encourage Knowledge Sharing, for

them to be sure that knowledge goes from one corner to the
other inside company and everybody could enjoy it. Some
consequences of knowledge sharing increase the efficiency,
efficacy

and

productivity.

Besides

that

knowledge

can

generate new ideas, solutions, products and innovation. It is

possible because different ideas and knowledge interact to each
other, and the final result is new knowledge and ideas.
Each company has a different knowledge management strategy. It
can change according to companys goal, structure, culture, etc. With

the current technological resources, knowledge sharing is easier.

Ideas can flow from one department to another. Companies have to
make sure that knowledge sharing is part of their culture and they
have to make employees understand its importance. Many employees
like to share, to cooperate, because they fell important, helpful, or
they participate because they want be respected, admired, have
status, etc.
Due to all that when the firm decides to integrate knowledge
sharing in their future, many pros and cons arise.