Knowledge Depreciation
To investigate knowledge depreciation regarding the cause and rate of decay, the shipyard study, automobile, and franchise study were conducted. Shipyard study has to do with the research focusing on the knowledge depreciation. The data was gathered from the liberty ship at the time of world war 11. Other data of the same was found in the rapping study, where evidence about learning in the ship was founded (Argote, 2012). The liberty ship production program focus on studying organization learning as well as forgetting. Liberty ship was later built in like 16 different shipyards in the United States. The majority of workers that were employed lacked experience in the shipbuilding. Therefore, the liberty ship production program is the most suitable for studying organizational learning, forgetting, and transfer. A lot of ships were built from homogenous raw material in the varied organization by people who had no prior industry experience.
The study holds that certain factors cause decay or depreciation of knowledge. Knowledge can depreciate because the product, as well as the process, has changes that render the older knowledge absolute. The incomplete transfer of the knowledge can be seen In the two models of L-1011. The first knowledge acquired from the initial model could not be applicable or relevant to the second model. Knowledge can also get lost because organizational records have been lost (Argote, 2012). The knowledge depreciates when the equipment for storing the data or that information is no longer accessible. The organization can have knowledge at some point and loss due to different factors. Turnover in the organization also leads to knowledge depreciation. In the liberty shipment, individuals are employed minus industry experience; however, it will take the organization a lot of resources, be it in terms of finance or time to educate or allow them to learn on the job. Also, the knowledge could have leaned through the transfer method, such as observation. Knowledge can be learned through transfer.
The turnover issue can make workers depart with the knowledge and skills with them. It also deprives the organization off a member who is interdependent and had developed the relationship-specific assets. The effect of turnover on organizational learning and forgetting directly depends on who turns. From the automobile study, the turnover from the high performing employee negatively affected the organizational productivity.as for the poor performers; their turnover did not affect knowledge depreciation or reduce organizational production. Lastly, the franchise study also investigated if there is knowledge depreciation in a fast-food franchise. The knowledge that depreciates so quickly can be hard to be transferred. The result gathered in this study holds that the depreciation rate of knowledge in the industry is so rapid compared to other studies discussed above.