Is Tacit Knowledge Really tacit?

2013

Group or year of entry 2009 Title of report Sharing Tacit Knowledge in an Organization Number of pages and appendices 34 + 10 Teacher Mark Badham Living in the information society, where information is constantly created, transferred, managed and used, leads to the phenomenon of a knowledge economy. In an economy as such, capital is defined by intellectual capabilities; therefore, knowledge is the most valuable asset of an organization. For this reason, communicating and organizing knowledge is essential. Two types of knowledge can be distinguished; explicit and tacit knowledge. The first one is based on academic information, which can be learned formally, such as the information in encyclopedias. As for the tacit knowledge, it can be gained mostly from experiences, from other people, as for instance, riding a bike or speaking a language. Tacit knowledge is currently in the spotlight of knowledge communication development. It is not easy to convey this kind of knowledge. The only way this can happen if people work together in a harmonized environment, being ready to share their knowledge. In order to help facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge, a lot of research is being conducted on how such tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge. This study researches the sharing of tacit knowledge in the target organization, which employees numerous short-term interns. Considering that this organization's services depend on knowledge-intensive activities, knowledge is the organization's most valuable asset. Therefore, knowledge transfer is one of their core issues. Furthermore, the general sharing of knowledge and the current stage of knowledge management have both been analyzed, in order to support the questions of this study. The study's main research question is as follows: How is tacit knowledge shared in project-based working processes within the organization? The research method is both qualitative and qualitative. Interviews and questionnaires support the assessment of the current stage of sharing tacit knowledge, knowledge in general and knowledge management within the target organization.

Elsevier, 2019

Purpose: The paper identifies the difficulties associated with managing tacit knowledge in its entirety among distributed individuals and proposes its categorization into types/kinds as a solution for its effective externalization and measurement. The categorization process implies the identification of those types or kinds of tacit knowledge which could be externalized and measured easier than others. The paper posits that such categorization is a step in the right direction for better tacit-to-explicit transformation. Design: The paper is designed based on literary evidences supporting that some parts or instances of tacit knowledge could be more easily externalized/transformed into explicit form than other forms. This research through the analysis of opinions and ideas focuses on building up the relationship between tacit knowledge and these two constructs. The paper will introduce a comparative analysis between opinions and ideas and tacit knowledge. Findings: The relationships and correspondences between opinions/ideas and tacit knowledge are developed and a Reflection-articulation-interpretation model which demonstrates these relationships and the externalization to explicit knowledge. Practical implications: The introduced relationships between Tacit Knowledge Instances, Opinions and Ideas as well as the externalization model form the basis for proper tacit knowledge externalization based on its categorization. The authors believe that if tacit knowledge is categorized into types, this will have positive effects on improved tacit knowledge externalization. Originality: The proposed Model and the framework are not only original but, to the authors knowledge, are a unique attempt addressing tacit knowledge categorization and how opinion/ideas are externalized. Abstract Purpose: The paper identifies the difficulties associated with managing tacit knowledge in its entirety among distributed individuals and proposes its categorization into types/kinds as a solution for its effective externalization and measurement. The categorization process implies the identification of those types or kinds of tacit knowledge which could be externalized and measured easier than others. The paper posits that such categorization is a step in the right direction for better tacit-to-explicit transformation. Design: The paper is designed based on literary evidences supporting that some parts or instances of tacit knowledge could be more easily externalized/transformed into explicit form than other forms. This research through the analysis of opinions and ideas focuses on building up the relationship between tacit knowledge and these two constructs. The paper will introduce a comparative analysis between opinions and ideas and tacit knowledge. Findings: The relationships and correspondences between opinions/ideas and tacit knowledge are developed and a Reflection-articulation-interpretation model which demonstrates these relationships and the externalization to explicit knowledge. Practical implications: The introduced relationships between Tacit Knowledge Instances, Opinions and Ideas as well as the externalization model form the basis for proper tacit knowledge externalization based on its categorization. The authors believe that if tacit knowledge is categorized into types, this will have positive effects on improved tacit knowledge externalization. Originality: The proposed Model and the framework are not only original but, to the authors knowledge, are a unique attempt addressing tacit knowledge categorization and how opinion/ideas are externalized.

Journal of Management Studies, 2001

With the emergence of the resource‐based view of the firm and of the concept of core competencies, intangible resources, and tacit knowledge in particular have been argued to occupy a central place in the development of sustainable competitive advantage. This is because tacit knowledge is argued to be difficult to imitate, to substitute, to transfer and it is rare. However, there is little empirical research to support this theoretical proposition. Tacit knowledge has so far resisted operationalization. This paper sets out to define the term tacit knowledge and proposes to redefine it, within the context of the resource‐based view of the firm, as tacit skills. A methodology (based on causal mapping, self‐Q and storytelling) for empirically researching the subject is outlined.

Knowledge is mainly divided into two parts explicit and tacit. There are several studies which talk about explicit knowledge, but actually few studies talk about tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is an important issue which needs more exploration so authors are recently focusing on. The nature of tacit knowledge makes acquiring and extracting tacit knowledge not an easy task since it is complicated in its nature. As a result this research talks about tacit knowledge. Also authors explain main characteristics of tacit knowledge. Authors think that this research is worth reading because it covers and analyzes most relevant research which talks about tacit knowledge. More over it develops guidelines for acquiring and extracting tacit knowledge. This developed Guideline can be used for almost large organizations with a little adaptation related to job nature of the organizations. Finally, applying our guideline will facilitate acquiring tacit knowledge without wasting a huge amount of cost or effort.

The paper addresses issues related to the confusion surrounding conceptual understanding of tacit knowledge and its transferability in organization's realm from an original perspective. Lately, at every level: country, industry and organization, attention to knowledge has intensified due to the realization that in "post-capitalist society" knowledge is increasingly replacing traditional driving forces of economy: labor, capital and natural resources as the primary factor in economic growth. Knowledge use is now considered as imperative in all aspects of an organization. In literature there exist various typologies of knowledge, however, in organizational science most common classifications of knowledge include two general types: tacit and explicit. This paper brings clarity to the concept of tacit knowledge, nexus between tacit and explicit knowledge and effects of advances in technologies on the codification capability of tacit knowledge. It argues that many types of tacit knowledge that were considered as inexplicable just recently thanks to new technologies have become transferable. Drawing examples from knowledge science literature the author questions the rigid belief of some scholars in ineffability of tacit knowledge. The author also claims that organizations need to reassess their knowledge related strategy, particularly, in relation to tacit knowledge if they would like to develop sustainable competitive advantage from effective knowledge use. Findings: The author shows how new technologies are changing our perception of tacit knowledge and why it is time for organizations to reevaluate their knowledge strategy.