Leadership for Enabling Organisational Knowledge Creation

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to clarify the specific substance of leadership that enables organisational knowledge creation in relation to improvements on the production line in the manufacturing department of Nissan Motor Company. Design/methodology/approach - This study adopts a new approach that adds a first and second-person's viewpoint to the theory of knowledge creation (Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Originality/value - By applying a new approach, this research shows that the core of leadership that enables knowledge creation through qualitative analysis and interpretation of the interviews is the management of interaction through ideas and practice of the leader and followers. In order to explain such interaction, my study proposes the model of the interaction enabling knowledge creation by leader-follower. Practical implications - Substantiated analysis of leadership clarifies what kind of mutual interaction to manage between himself/herself and the follower in order to enable organisational knowledge creation at the production site. In addition, the application of this research will assist in developing future leaders who enables knowledge creation and creating an organisation's environment such leaders.