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The purpose of this study is to identify the role of the liberal arts education as organizational knowledge creation in the knowledge-based society from the perspective of knowledge management. Firstly, this paper discusses the distinguished characteristics of the knowledge-based society. It also touches on what is demanded for the social structure and social management in the knowledge-based society in which knowledge is considered as a higher level concept than data and information. Secondly, the paper makes an analysis of the issue concerning the liberal arts education in Japan. By making a brief review of the history of the Japanese liberal arts education, the paper discusses an increased emphasis on the importance of the liberal arts in Japan in recent years. Thirdly, the paper examines the liberal arts education as organizational knowledge creation. Moreover, it explains the liberal arts education by using the SECI Model (the process model of organizational knowledge creation) which is regarded as a foundational model of knowledge management. The SECI Model has four modes. They include Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization. The paper identifies the characteristics of these four modes in light of the content of liberal arts education. Fourthly, the paper discusses what is required for university and college students, including the issue concerning the phronesis and the phronetic leadership, in the knowledge-based society. Furthermore, the paper argues the reason why the phronesis and the phronetic leadership are needed in the knowledge-based society. By quoting P.F.Drucker's word, “Management is what tradition used to call a liberal art", the paper explores the interrelationship between the phronesis, the liberal art, and the liberal arts education. |
