Tacit knowledge

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The concept of tacit knowing comes from scientist and philosopher Michael Polanyi. It is important to note that he wrote about a process (hence tacit knowing) and not a form of knowledge. However, his phrase has been taken up to name a form of knowledge that is apparently wholly or partly inexplicable.

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[edit] Definition

By definition, tacit knowledge is not easily shared. One of Polanyi's famous aphorisms is: "We know more than we can tell." Tacit knowledge consists often of habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves. In the field of knowledge management the concept of tacit knowledge refers to a knowledge which is only known to you and hard to share with someone else, which is the opposite from the concept of explicit knowledge.

[edit] Properties of tacit knowledge

The tacit aspects of knowledge are those that cannot be codified, but can only be transmitted via training or gained through personal experience. Tacit knowledge has been described as “know-how” (as opposed to “know-what” [facts], “know-why” [science] and "know-who"[networking]) . It involves learning and skill but not in a way that can be written down. The simplest example of the nature and value of tacit knowledge is that one does not know how to ride a bike or swim due to reading a textbook, but only through personal experimentation, by observing others, and/or being guided by an instructor. In fact the rules for riding a bike can be articulated, but they are of no use to a learner - they are: to turn left on a bike, first turn slightly to the right; if you are falling to the left steer to the left. But being told this only confuses the learner. Another example, given by Polanyi, is our ability to quickly recognize the face of someone we know in a crowd of strangers.

A classic example of tacit knowledge is the very notion of language itself - nobody has ever learnt a language by being taught the rules of grammar - it was learnt as a child. Other languages are merely grafted on to this initial stereotype. See Information Routing Group

Similarly reading cannot be explicitly taught although methods such as learning the alphabet and synthetic phonemes create rich environments to acquire tacit knowledge about language and reading.

Tacit knowledge has been found to be a crucial input to the innovation process. A society’s ability to innovate depends on its level of tacit knowledge of how to innovate (conduct research, develop prototypes of new products & processes, adapt these prototypes into models fit for mass-production) and of how to implement innovations into manufacturing, defense, communications, transportation, etc.

Eugene Gendlin has developed practices for explicating 'what we know but can't yet say' - knowledge we 'feel' - for both theory development and self-exploration. His book 'Experience and the Creation of Meaning' describes seven ways in which 'explicit' and 'implicit' knowing come from each other. R K Wagner and R J Sternberg, authors of Tacit knowledge inventory for managers (Psychological Corporation, San Antonio, 1991) have also worked on methods for explicating tacit knowledge. Others, however believe it is not possible to explicate it.

An excellent discussion of tacit knowledge using algebra as an example is in:

H.M. Collins, The Tea Set: Tacit Knowledge and Scientific Networks, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Bath, reprinted in B. Barnes and D. Edge (eds.)Science in Context: Readings in the Sociology of Science, Open University Press, 1982.

" algebra cannot be reduced to a set of formal rules. “all types of knowledge however pure consist in part of tacit rules which may be impossible to formulate in principle. For instance the ability to solve an algebraic equations includes such normally non articulated knowledge as that the symbol ‘X usually means the same whether it is written in ballpoint, chalk or print or spoken irrespective of the day of the week or temperature of the air. But in another sense, ‘X’ stands for anything at all and may only mean the same – exactly (e.g. 2.75 grammes, 2.75 inches etc) on coincidental and unimportant occasions. Again, sometimes a capitalised X or an italicised X may have a distinctive meaning. Capital X in the equation X = 5Y is the same as X in the equation 5Y = X, but is not the same as in X = 5Z, unless Y = Z. on the other hand, ‘X’ is being used in the same way in all the equations. This list of tacit rules as it is extended becomes more confusing and comes to resemble a list of all the examples of the uses of X which have ever been made. But such a list cannot serve at all as a guide to the use of X in the future, Learning algebra consists of more than the memorisation of sets of formal rules; it also involves knowing how do things (e.g. use ‘X’; correctly – use logical inferences) which may have been learned long before”

H.M. Collins, The Tea Set: Tacit Knowledge and Scientific Networks, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Bath, reprinted in B. Barnes and D. Edge (eds.)Science in Context: Readings in the Sociology of Science, Open University Press, 1982.

He went on to show in some detail how a particular laser (The TEA laser) was designed in America and the idea, with specific assistance , was gradually propagated to various other Universities world wide. Even when specific instructions were sent, other labs failed to replicate the laser, it only being made to work in each case following a visit to or from the originating lab or very close contact and dialogue. It became clear that the originators while they clearly could make the laser work they did not know exactly what it was they were doing to make it work and so could not articulate or specify it by means of monologue articles and specifications.

Other examples are the Bessemer process – Bessemer sold a patent to his advanced steel making process and was sued by the purchasers who couldn’t get it to work – in the end Bessemer set up his own steel company which became one of the largest in the world and changed the face of steel making.

It is clear that whether or not tacit knowledge can be explicated, it can be transmitted by Lateral media Information Routing Groups and lateral communication, albeit in an often invisible way. This raises the question as to whether one should bother to explicate it - why not simply set up systems to transmit it and all will be well - unless a power entity seeks to capture, control and market it of course.

Tacit knowledge may seem a simple idea but the implications are huge and far reaching – all sort of enormous technological and social mistakes have occurred because people pushing certain policies – technical or social have lacked the vital tacit knowledge – either leading to misguided and therefore doomed policies, or misguided implementation of a good policy so still leading to failure.

For example it is clear that politicians, civil servants and managers in general, do not really understand how computers can and can’t be successfully applied to problems and which problems are or are not amenable to computerised solutions; also how people can and can’t be successfully organised – consider the examples of the old British local court paper based maintenance orders system compared to the fiasco of the centralised and computerised, but now disbanded Child Support Agency, or the disaster which was initially the centralised Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority only saved by having local checking centres. [citation needed]

Similarly in WW2 the RAF found that having radar plots going directly onto the WAAFS plotting room often gave unsatisfactory results. As a result the Filter Room was introduced where experienced fighter pilot officers were installed to screen the incoming radar plots, which vastly improved operational efficiency – these experienced officers had the necessary tacit knowledge which could not be adequately conveyed to the WAAFS, their controllers, or put into a manual. [citation needed]

[edit] Knowledge management

There are many implications for organizational learning and knowledge management, including:

  • The difficulty inherent in tacit knowledge transfer is that subject matter experts and key knowledge holders may not be aware--hence, unable--to articulate, communicate and describe what they know. Thus, tacit knowledge can be a sustainable competitive advantage.
  • Tacit knowledge is embedded in group and organizational relationships, core values, assumptions and beliefs. It is hard to identify, locate, quantify, map or value.
  • Tacit knowledge is embedded in human capital. This makes it valuable as a strategic advantage over competitors in terms of innovations, trade secrets, ideas and new technologies.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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