Abstract

These days, organizations concentrate on knowledge creation to improve their innovative processes (such as new product development)  as well as routine activities. The process of knowledge creation has been vague before the evolution of the SECI knowledge creation theory, which was widely accepted, validated and implemented in several research fields. This research concentrates on the evaluation capability of this theory, and introduces the use of SECI theory to examine organizational practices. The assessment framework is developed upon the literature review and implemented based on content analysis method. The results of using this method for assessing a process audit in a car manufacturer , has helped researchers to identify the role of different activities in a process audit, and evaluate the role of each activity in creating working knowledge for the organization. Any divergence to the original consequence proposed in SECI theory has been analyzed, and some improvements are proposed to bring the sequence back to what is proposed in knowledge creation theory.

Key words: Knowledge creation, SECI theory, automotive industry, knowledge creation assessment.