軟體研發人員之隱性知識分享研究-以通信網路業系統廠之PDA軟體工程師為例

Abstract

員工所具備的隱性知識，是企業組織維持競爭優勢及永續經營的基礎，而員工的隱性知識分享則是組織進行知識管理的重要任務之一。由於隱性知識具有內隱、不易言傳等特性，因此，如何建立有效的分享機制，是所有重視知識創新的企業組織所需面對的挑戰。綜合過去研究，研發部門的隱性知識分享活動相當頻繁，其中軟體工程師更是具備高度內隱技能的人員類型。因此，本研究嘗試以通信網路業系統廠之PDA軟體研發部門人員為研究對象，並採用深度訪談法及內容分析法，分別訪談了台灣地區四家上市公司中，不同職位階層共十二名之軟體研發人員；並以其中一名資深工程師五個月的工作日誌進行內容分析，以便探討軟體研發人員在工作情境中，其主要使用的隱性知識類型、隱性知識分享方法及分享動機。

主要研究結果包括：一、軟體研發人員最常使用之隱性知識類型為「專業技術」、「內部人脈」及「客戶資訊」。二、軟體研發人員分享隱性知識最常利用的正式管道為「內部會議」、「師徒制」及「工作輪調」；非正式管道則包括「做中學」、「面對面溝通」及「觀察/模仿」；分享對象則以「同儕」為主；而管理個人隱性知識的策略則包括編碼化及個人化策略，其中前者強調將隱性知識外顯化，利用文件的形式保存，而後者則重視對人脈的管理及運用。三、軟體研發人員分享隱性知識之動機以「團體互動層次」因素為主，其中以「互利」、「聲譽」及「信任」為前三項主要因素；其次是「個體層次」之因素，其中以「利他」、「成就感」及「工作挑戰」為前三項主要因素；最後是「組織情境層次」之因素，但根據本研究結果，這方面的因素影響並不大。本研究最後也針對隱性知識分享管道及分享動機提出一些具體改善建議，對於關心組織知識管理及隱性知識分享之機構組織具有參考價值。The Implicit Knowledge possessed by employees is the foundation of competition advantage and sustainable management for business organizations. Sharing Implicit Knowledge is one of the important tasks of business organizations to conduct Knowledge Management. However, since Implicit Knowledge is tacit and difficult to verbalized, how to build a mechanism to encourage knowledge sharing becomes a challenge for all the business organizations, whichput great emphasis on knowledge innovation. Sum up past studies, it shows that implicit knowledge sharing is particularly frequent in the department of research and development. Moreover, the works of software engineer require highly tacit skills. Hence, this study targets on the PDA software engineers of Communication and Network System vendors and adopts two research methods: In-depth Interview and Content Analysis. Twelve software engineers of four listed companies in Taiwan, each of them comes from different working levels, are interviewed. Moreover, five-month work log of one senior engineer among them is collected for Content Analysis. The purpose of this study is to investigate the types, sharing methods and motives of Implicit Knowledge used by the software engineers in working circumstance.

The main study results include: 1. the types of Implicit Knowledge most used by software engineer are professional skills, internal relations, and customer information. 2. The formal channels for sharing Implicit Knowledge are internal meetings, mentoring, and job rotation. Informal channels are learning by doing, face-to-face communication, and observation/imitation. And peer group is the major sharing companion. There are two strategies to manage personal Implicit Knowledge. One is Codification Approach, the other is Personalization Approach. The former put emphasis on making Implicit Knowledge explicit and preserved in the form of document. The later emphasizes how to manage and make use of relations. 3. The first level, which influences the motive of Implicit Knowledge sharing of software engineers the most, is group interaction level. Besides, among that level, mutual benefit, reputation, and trust are the prior three and main factors. Second is the individual level, mainly includes: altruism, achievement and challenge. The last level is the organizational situation level. But according to this study, this level does not make much influence on the motive of Implicit Knowledge sharing. As the result, for those institutions which concern about Organizational Knowledge Management and Implicit Knowledge sharing, this study provides practical advices to improve the channels and the motives of sharing Implicit Knowledge.