2. Literature review
2.3. Aim and factors of knowledge and skills sharing
How can the building-knowledge and skills be shared with the Semai people?
2.3.1. Definition and importance of ‘knowledge and skills sharing’
From the observations and the organization’s perspective a different designation of the initial term ‘knowledge transfer’ is preferred. In the majority of proceedings in TSP the organization and its volunteers have a dominant role compared to the locals. However, many Semai are
knowledgeable in local craftsmanship which is unfamiliar with non-Semai people. Their knowledge and skills can also be transferred to the volunteers. Therefore, the definition of knowledge and skills sharing is preferred.
Many factors, both individual and organizational, influence the success of knowledge sharing. It involves a relationship between actors that is also embedded in a structure of other social relationship (Boer, Van Baalen, & Kumar, 2004). The World Bank defined Knowledge Sharing as:
“The systematic capture of knowledge from research and experience; organization and storage of knowledge and information for easy access; and transfer/dissemination of knowledge, often in a two-way exchange” (Gwin, 2003)
In this research, two types of knowledge and skills sharing need to be differentiated. The sharing between the organization and Semai people and between Semai people themselves.
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2.3.2. Aim of level of knowledge transfer using Bloom’s Taxonomy
The goal in answering this sub question is to make recommendations for knowledge and skills transfer to a certain level. The Bloom’s Taxonomy is widely used in the classification of knowledge transfer in education. Under the leadership of Dr. Benjamin Bloom, three domains in education are:
Cognitive: mental skills (knowledge);
Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (attitude or self);
Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (skills).
As described in the sub question, this research will focus on knowledge and skills. A side note must be placed that most models of these domains focus on higher education.
To assess the current state of knowledge and skills of the local people, the research methods of observation, infield interviews and experiments are chosen. This forms a non-unilateral view of the capabilities of the Semai people and supply data for further conclusions and recommendations, supported by literature.
The most well-known model for the cognitive domain is Bloom’s Taxonomy, which is visualised in Figure 18. This is a list of a classification of learning activities with a degree of difficulty. The first ones must be normally mastered before the next one can take place.
Figure 18: Bloom’s taxonomy Source: (Bloom, 1956) Figure 19: Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
Source: (Anderson, Krathwohl, & Bloom, 2001)
This model has been criticized by many and has been reviewed in the mid-nineties by Lorin Anderson, a former student of Dr. Bloom. This model is visualised in Figure 19 and is more known as the Bloom’s Taxonomy and widely used in Education.
The goal of this thesis is to provide recommendations to reach the level of “Applying”. This implies that the person understands what has been taught and knows how to apply it in new situations. It is desired that local people are able to replicate the houses themselves which were built with instructions from outsiders.
The domain ‘Psychomotor’ has not been further developed by the committee of Bloom. However, there are multiple models developed by other researchers. In this thesis the model of Dave (1970)
Evaluation
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is being used since it fits the required basic skills the most. These levels of psychomotor skills are showed in Table 1.
Table 1
Level Definition Key Words
1. Imitate
Observe a skill and attempt to repeat it, or see a finished product and attempt to replicate it while attending to an exemplar.
Copy, follow, mimic, repeat, replicate, reproduce, trace
2. Manipulate
Perform the skill or produce the product in a recognizable fashion by following general instructions rather than observation.
Act, build, execute, perform
3. Precision
Independently perform the skill or produce the product, with accuracy, proportion, and exactness; at an expert level.
Calibrate, demonstrate, master, perfectionism
4. Articulation
Modify the skill or product the product to fit new situations; combine more than one skill in sequence with harmony and consistency.
Completion of one or more skills with ease and making the skill automatic with limited physical or mental exertion.
Create, design, develop, invent, manage, naturally
Source: (Dave, 1970)
2.3.3. Use of traditional knowledge of Semai
A scientific article by Kardooni, Kari, Yahaya, & Yusup found that the Orang Asli have a variety of traditional knowledge in their livelihood. There was also a direct relationship found between age and knowledge: the older the generation, the higher the knowledge (Kardooni, Kari, Yahaya, &
Yusup, 2014). Concerning housing, 25.9% of them had “knowledge on forest resources and conservation”. The article suggests an increase of knowledge of the Orang Asli about the forests will benefit both their lives and sustainable natural resources, especially the younger generation.
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2.3.4. Factors of knowledge sharing
Knowledge sharing has many factors to succeed. Directly related to the people it includes individual factors, organizational factors and social relationships. This knowledge sharing links to the human capital (Almeida, Behrman, & Robalino, 2012). This is visualised in Figure 20.
f
Figure 20: Conceptual model of Knowledge Sharing, derived from
Own work, dirived from: (Boer et al., 2004)
In a World Bank report recommendations are done for training policies and programs in
developing countries. According to this report, three types of interventions can be distinguished:
Pre-employment technical and vocational education and training (TVET);
On-the-job training (OJT);
Training-related active labour market programs (ALMPs) (Almeida et al., 2012).
In this case the method of OJT is used. This can be done through the methods:
Peer Assist
After Action Review
Storytelling
Mentoring
Coaching
2.3.5. Conclusion
For this section the following research question was used: How can the building-knowledge and skills be shared with the Semai people?
TSP suggested to use a construction manual as a Sharing Method. However, there is very little known of this method in literature and will be therefore further complemented in section 3.2.
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