Tacit Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge is one of two categories of knowledge. The other is: Explicit Knowledge. While explicit knowledge is
relatively easy to capture and code in organizations, this is much more difficult with tacit knowledge. As a result,
most organizations have concentrated their knowledge management efforts on developing explicit knowledge.

However, tacit knowledge is generally the more important category, ecause it is often a source of the !ore
!ompetence and the !ompetitive Advantage of any corporation. As a competitive advantage, it is sustainale,
ecause it is so hard to copy or imitate. "urthermore it is crucial for making the right usiness decisions and also for
innovation. "rom a financial perspective it is an important part of the #ntangile Assets of any firm.
The term $tacit knowing$ was coined y scientist and philosopher Michael Polanyi. #t is important to note that he
actually descried a process %hence: tacit knowing&, and not a form of knowledge.
'ne way of viewing tacit knowledge is to see it as the glue that is inding the explicit knowledge together. Another
way to descrie it, is as (know-how), as opposed to: (know*what) %facts&, or (know*why) %science&. Another way is
to make distinction etween embodied knowledge and theoretical knowledge. 'n this account, knowing*how or
emodied knowledge is characteristic of the expert, who acts, makes +udgments, and so forth without explicitly
reflecting on the principles or rules involved. The expert works without having a theory of his or her work, he or she
+ust performs skillfully without delieration or focused attention. -nowing*what and knowing*why, y contrast,
involve consciously accessile knowledge that can e articulated and is characteristic of the person learning a skill
through explicit instruction, recitation of rules, attention to his or her movements, etc. While such declarative
knowledge may e needed for the ac.uisition of skills, the argument goes, it no longer ecomes necessary for the
practice of those skills once the novice ecomes an expert in exercising them, and indeed it does seem to e the case
that, as /olanyi argued, when we ac.uire a skill, we ac.uire a corresponding understanding that defies articulation.

Tacit Knowledge is difficult to codify, document, communicate, descrie, replicate or imitate, ecause it is the result
of human experience and human senses. The skills of a master or of a top manager cannot e learned from a
textook or even in a class, ut only through years of experience and apprenticeship.

0onaka and Takeuchi descrie tacit knowledge as a non*linguistic, non*numerical form of knowledge that is highly
personal and context specific and deeply rooted in individual experiences, ideas, values and emotions. "urthermore,
they distinguish etween technical tacit knowledge, meaning skills or concrete $know*how$, and cognitive tacit
knowledge, which refers to ingrained schema, eliefs, and mental models that are taken for granted.

/. 1aumard %Tacit -nowledge in 'rganizations, 2333& has argued that knowledge in general, and tacit knowledge in
particular, can e oth an attriute of individuals and of groups, collectives or organizations. Although organizational
tacit knowledge may e somewhat different from individual tacit knowledge. 4ee also: 1ridging 5pistemologies

Hildreth and -imle %The duality of knowledge, 6776& argue that the common approach to try to convert tacit
knowledge to explicit knowledge, and then handle it using the 8traditional8 approach is flawed. 4ome knowledge
simply cannot e captured. A method is needed which recognizes that knowledge resides in people: not in machines
or documents. They argue that knowledge management is essentially aout people and the earlier technology driven
approaches, which failed to consider this, were ound to e limited in their success. They suggest as practical way
forward to use !ommunities of /ractice, which provide an environment for people to develop knowledge through
interaction with others in an environment where knowledge is created nurtured and sustained. 'ther systems via
which organizations try to develop or capture tacit knowledge include special portals, search engines, resident
experts, and documentation systems for experts.