Drawing the Boundaries of Codified Knowledge Transfer

The goal of this paper is to examine an instance of the codified knowledge transfer process in non-routine activities from the socio-organizational perspective. We examined knowledge codification, decodification and mechanisms to transfer knowledge considering two aspects: the role of context and the portion of tacit knowledge embedded in codified knowledge. The empirical evidence came from a higher education institution that used ‘course guidelines’ (codified knowledge) as part of its mass-education strategy. Findings indicated that different assumptions key stakeholders had regarding the nature of knowledge, the role of context, the portion of tacit elements contained in CK, and the codification decodification activities helped to explain the codification process. Moreover, the codification process was part of a wider process of commodification that attempted to create a knowledge product plausible of storage and distribution. This is a new form of organizing knowledge that involves dividing, codifying and replicating knowledge by third parties. The paradox of this situation is that, while the codification strategy implies in the separation of the processes of codification and decodification, the adequate decodification process needs integration between those two processes.