Tacit Knowledge Vs Explicit Knowledge

 

In the realm of knowledge management, two distinct types of knowledge hold pivotal roles: practical knowledge and abstract knowledge. Such concepts that can be mostly associated with organizational instances mold the awareness of humanity and ways of learning.

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVVJW5poypA

Understanding Tacit Knowledge

Tacit knowledge is the silent, personal, and mostly beyond the conscious realization of knowledge that individuals possess. It covers understandings, might, and different skills among others that are difficult to fully codify or pass them directly to other people. Well, Michael Polanyi developed the concept of tacit knowledge which is based on our direct experience and it is a great contribution in taking decisions and solving problems.

Case in point of an intangible knowledge is apt skills and experience, which is presented as a chef who knows without a doubt how much of a spice to use or intuition of an experienced investor who knows what the trends of the market are, and cultural intuition of someone who has a definite understanding of the specific context (Polanyi, 2009).

Exploring Explicit Knowledge

Explicit knowledge, on the other hand, is a type of knowledge that is organized, explicated, and readily available for transmission by using dialect, figures, equations, indicators, and other quantitative structures. It is the type of facts, figures, and other data that can be easily documented, stored and therefore stored and shared enabling other people to access and use such information. Instructional information like handbooks, databases, textbooks, and directions also comes under explicit knowledge.

There are various examples of explicit knowledge. This includes manuals and guidelines that contain a detailed description of the step-by step process for completing a task, scientific formulas and theories in which data is represented by mathematical equations, and data bases with records that contain structured information such as customers’ data (Nonaka, 1995).

Key Differences and Interplay

The difference between tacit and explicit knowledge is that the latter can be expressed and shared explicitly while the former can only be inferred in someone's behavior patterns. Unlike explicit knowledge, tacit one is very much a matter of how it emerges from within individuals and is very much a difficult concept to explicate and transfer directly. Still, these two forms of knowledge are interchangeable; they frequently combine to give more holistic view in some situation.

For example, such type of knowledge may be highly instrumental in the task to give the expression for implicit knowledge. Suing such manner of sharing, e.g. narrative, guidance or hands on experience, tacit information can be dissected and transformed into explicit knowledge, that can be available to the public. For instance, formal knowledge can transform into tacit knowledge because of on-the-job trial and error, experience, and so on (Davenport, 1998).

Implications for Knowledge Management

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Knowledge management tackles both tacit and explicit knowledge, therefore the dynamics of these should be understood well for increased efficiency within the organizations. Both forms of knowledge are important and their proper application can be succeeded by organizations' strategies.
The kinds of measures could be creating dedicated platforms of the knowledge exchange, building the experienced and develop the professionals, forming structured learning programs as well as to promote innovative cross-functional collaborations among departments, for instance. The learning outcome can, therefore, be facilitated through knowledge exchange, involving tactile and explicit kinds of knowledge, bridging shortages in gaps and at the same time, help colleagues, peer learn and develop.

Conclusion
Tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge are two basic functions of the human intellect and experience. Through the stewardship of their knowledge assets, organizations can not only but also to innovate, evolve, and generate competitive advantage in a landscape that evolves with the advancement of knowledge and information.

Reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVVJW5poypA

Harry Collins 2010 june 15 Tacit and Explicit Knowledge University of Chicago Press 9780226113821, 0226113825.

Polanyi, Michael. "The Tacit Dimension. " Routledge, 2009.

Nonaka, Ikujiro and Takeuchi, Hirotaka. "The Knowledge-Creating Company: "How the Japanese Companies Create Innovation Dynamics." By Oxford University Press, 1995.

Davenport, T. H. and Prusak L. "Working Knowledge: "Knowing What They Know and How Organizations Manage" was the title of the article published by Harvard Business Press in 1998.