Types of Knowledge - Tacit vs Explicit Knowledge

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Tacit (or Implicit) Knowledge are the forms of knowledge that are most valuable to an organisation.  Tacit knowledge is personal, context-specific and hard to formalise and communicate.

However, since such knowledge exists in the minds and abilities of employees rather than in offices or warehouses owned by the corporation, there is an ever-present risk of a sudden loss of corporate assets when an employee leaves. According to David Skyrme (1999), stated: “The crux of a knowledge strategy is therefore to seek ways of turning personal tacit knowledge into organisational knowledge”.

Following on from this, two possible strategies are:

• what might be considered as a "Western" way - which is to convert tacit knowledge into a more explicit form, in documents, processes, and databases
• what might be considered as a "Eastern" way - which is to assist tacit knowledge to flow, to be more widely diffused around the organisation through planned socialisation activities that are taken very seriously

Explicit Knowledge is that which the knower is able to express verbally or in writing in unambiguous definitions or rules. It can be easily collected, organised and transferred through digital means.

By contrast, tacit knowledge concerns knowledge of experienced professionals in a given field, often learned informally.

Clearly, it is valuable to an organisation to have professionals who can explain the workings of a business and its context and potentially act as mentors to other members of the workforce.

Figure 23 shows examples of Tacit and Explicit Knowledge:

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Reference(s)
	Book		Ichijo, K. & Nonaka, I. (2006) Knowledge Creation and Management: New Challenges for Managers. Oxford University Press: United Kingdom (UK), England, Oxfordshire, Oxford. [ISBN: 9780195159622]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3DaXaRB].
	Book		Skyrme, D. J. (2007) Knowledge Networking: Creating the Collaborative Enterprise: Creating the Collaborative Company. Taylor & Francis - Routledge: United Kingdom (UK), England, Oxfordshire, Abingdon. [ISBN: 9781136389535]. [Available on: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zc9lw4].

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Reference (or cite) Article
	Kahlon, R. S. (2013) Types of Knowledge: Tacit vs Explicit Knowledge [Online]. dkode: United Kingdom, England, London. [Published on: 2013-01-26]. [Article ID: RSK666-0000079]. [Available on: dkode | Ravi - https://ravi.dkode.co/2013/01/types-of-knowledge-tacit-vs-explicit.html].

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