Tacit knowledge (as opposed to formal, codified or 
explicit knowledge)
 is the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another 
person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. For example, 
stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of 
explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood
 by a recipient. However, the ability to speak a language, use algebra,
[1]
 or design and use complex equipment requires all sorts of knowledge 
that is not always known explicitly, even by expert practitioners, and 
which is difficult or impossible to explicitly transfer to other users.
While tacit knowledge appears to be simple, it has far reaching consequences and is not widely understood.
Definition
The term “tacit knowing” or “tacit knowledge” was first introduced into philosophy by 
Michael Polanyi in 1958 in his magnum opus 
Personal Knowledge. He famously introduces the idea in his later work 
The Tacit Dimension with the assertion that “we can know more than we can tell.”.
[2]
 According to him, not only is the knowledge that cannot be adequately 
articulated by verbal means, but also all knowledge is rooted in tacit 
knowledge in the strong sense of that term.
With tacit knowledge, people are not often aware of the knowledge 
they possess or how it can be valuable to others. Effective transfer of 
tacit knowledge generally requires extensive personal contact, regular 
interaction 
[3]
 and trust. This kind of knowledge can only be revealed through practice
 in a particular context and transmitted through social networks.
[4] To some extent it is "captured" when the knowledge holder joins a network or a community of practice.
[5]
Some examples of daily activities and tacit knowledge are: riding a 
bike, playing the piano, driving a car, and hitting a nail with a 
hammer.
[6]
The formal knowledge of how to ride a bicycle is that in order to 
balance, if the bike falls to the left, one steers to the left. To turn 
right the rider first steers to the left, and then when the bike falls 
right, the rider steers to the right.
[7]
 You may know explicitly how turning of the handle bars or steering 
wheel change the direction of a bike or car, but you cannot 
simultaneously focus on this and at the same time orientate yourself in 
traffic.
Similarly, you may know explicitly how to hold the handle of a 
hammer, but you cannot simultaneously focus on the handle and hit the 
nail correctly with the hammer. The master pianist can perform 
brilliantly, but if he begins to concentrate on the movements of his 
fingers instead of the music, he will not be able to play as a master. 
Knowing the explicit knowledge, however, is no help in riding a bicycle,
 doesn’t help in performing well in the tasks since few people are aware
 of it when performing and few riders are in fact aware of this.
Tacit knowledge is not easily shared. Although it is that which is 
used by all people, it is not necessarily able to be easily articulated.
 It consists of beliefs, ideals, values, schemata and mental models 
which are deeply ingrained in us and which we often take for granted. 
While difficult to articulate, this cognitive dimension of tacit 
knowledge shapes the way we perceive the world.
In the field of knowledge management, the concept of tacit knowledge 
refers to a knowledge possessed only by an individual and difficult to 
communicate to others via words and symbols. Therefore, an individual 
can acquire tacit knowledge without language. Apprentices, for example, 
work with their mentors and learn craftsmanship not through language but
 by observation, imitation, and practice.
The key to acquiring tacit knowledge is experience. Without some form
 of shared experience, it is extremely difficult for people to share 
each other's thinking processes
[8]
Tacit knowledge has been described as “know-how” - as opposed to 
“know-what” (facts), “know-why” (science), or “know-who” (networking)
[citation needed].
 It involves learning and skill but not in a way that can be written 
down. On this account knowing-how or embodied knowledge is 
characteristic of the expert, who acts, makes judgments, 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 just 
performs skillfully without deliberation or focused attention 
[9]
Tacit knowledge vs. Explicit knowledge:
[10]
 Although it is possible to distinguish conceptually between explicit 
and tacit knowledge, they are not separate and discrete in practice. The
 interaction between these two modes of knowing is vital for the 
creation of new knowledge.
[11]
Differences with explicit knowledge
Tacit knowledge can be distinguished from explicit knowledge in three major areas:
- Codifiability and mechanism of transferring knowledge: while 
explicit knowledge can be codified, and easily transferred without the 
knowing subject, tacit knowledge is intuitive and unarticulated 
knowledge cannot be communicated, understood or used without the 
‘knowing subject’. Unlike the transfer of explicit knowledge, the 
transfer of tacit knowledge requires close interaction and the buildup 
of shared understanding and trust among them.
 
- Main methods for the acquisition and accumulation: Explicit 
knowledge can be generated through logical deduction and acquired 
through practical experience in the relevant context. In contrast, tacit
 knowledge can only be acquired through practical experience in the 
relevant context.
 
- Potential of aggregation and modes of appropriation: Explicit
 knowledge can be aggregated at a single location, stored in objective 
forms and appropriated without the participation of the knowing subject.
 Tacit knowledge in contrast, is personal contextual. It is 
distributive, and cannot easily be aggregated. The realization of its 
full potential requires the close involvement and cooperation of the 
knowing subject.
 
The process of transforming tacit knowledge into explicit or 
specifiable knowledge is known as codification, articulation, or 
specification. The tacit aspects of knowledge are those that cannot be 
codified, but can only be transmitted via training or gained through 
personal experience.
Transmission models for tacit knowledge
A chief practice of technological development is the codification of 
tacit knowledge into explicit programmed operations so that processes 
previously requiring skilled employees can be automated for greater 
efficiency and consistency at lower cost. Such codification involves 
mechanically replicating the performance of persons who possess relevant
 tacit knowledge; in doing so, however, the ability of the skilled 
practitioner to innovate and adapt to unforeseen circumstances based on 
the tacit "feel" of the situation is often lost. The technical remedy is
 to attempt to substitute brute-force methods capitalizing on the 
computing power of a system, such as those that enable a supercomputer 
programmed to "play" chess against a grandmaster whose tacit knowledge 
of the game is broad and deep.
The conflicts demonstrated in the previous two paragraphs are 
reflected in Ikujiro Nonaka's model of organizational knowledge 
creation, in which he proposes that tacit knowledge can be converted to 
explicit knowledge. In that model tacit knowledge is presented variously
 as uncodifiable ("tacit aspects of knowledge are those that cannot be 
codified") and codifiable ("transforming tacit knowledge into explicit 
knowledge is known as codification"). This ambiguity is common in the 
knowledge management literature.
Nonaka's view may be contrasted with Polanyi's original view of 
"tacit knowing." Polanyi believed that while declarative knowledge may 
be needed for acquiring skills, it is unnecessary for using those skills
 once the novice becomes an expert. And indeed, it does seem to be the 
case that, as Polanyi argued, when we acquire a skill we acquire a 
corresponding understanding that defies articulation 
[12]
Examples
- One of the most convincing examples of tacit knowledge is facial 
recognition. ‘‘We know a person’s face, and can recognize it among a 
thousand, indeed a million. Yet we usually cannot tell how we recognize a
 face we know, so most of this cannot be put into words.’’. When you see
 a face you are not conscious about your knowledge of the individual 
features (eye, nose, mouth), but you see and recognize the face as a 
whole [13]
 
- Another example of tacit knowledge is the notion of language 
itself—it is not possible to learn a language just by being taught the 
rules of grammar—a native speaker picks it up at a young age almost 
entirely unaware of the formal grammar which they may be taught later. 
Other examples are how to ride a bike, how tight to make a bandage, or 
knowing whether a senior surgeon feels an intern may be ready to learn 
the intricacies of surgery; this can only be learned through personal 
experimentation.
 
- Collins showed [14]
 that a particular laser (The ppTEA laser) was designed in America and 
the idea, with specific assistance from the designers, was gradually 
propagated to various other universities world-wide. However, in the 
early days, 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 while the originators could clearly 
make the laser work, they did not know exactly what it was that they 
were doing to make it work, and so could not articulate or specify it by
 means of monologue articles and specifications. But a cooperative 
process of dialogue enabled the tacit knowledge to be transferred.
 
- Another example is the Bessemer steel process
 — Bessemer sold a patent for 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 because he knew how to do it, even though 
he could not convey it to his patent users. Bessemer's company became 
one of the largest in the world and changed the face of steel making.[15]
 
- As apprentices learn the craft of their masters through observation,
 imitation, and practice, so do employees of a firm learn new skills 
through on-the-job training. When Matsushita started developing its 
automatic home bread-making machine in 1985, an early problem was how to
 mechanize the dough-kneading process, a process that takes a master 
baker years of practice to perfect. To learn this tacit knowledge, a 
member of the software development team, Ikuko Tanaka, decided to 
volunteer herself as an apprentice to the head baker of the Osaka 
International Hotel, who was reputed to produce the area’s best bread. 
After a period of imitation and practice, one day she observed that the 
baker was not only stretching but also twisting the dough in a 
particular fashion (“twisting stretch”), which turned out to be the 
secret for making tasty bread. The Matsushita home bakery team drew 
together eleven members from completely different specializations and 
cultures: product planning, mechanical engineering, control systems, and
 software development. The “twisting stretch” motion was finally 
materialized in a prototype after a year of iterative experimentation by
 the engineers and team members working closely together, combining 
their explicit knowledge. For example, the engineers added ribs to the 
inside of the dough case in order to hold the dough better as it is 
being churned. Another team member suggested a method (later patented) 
to add yeast at a later stage in the process, thereby preventing the 
yeast from over-fermenting in high temperatures.[16]
 
Knowledge management
According to 
Parsaye, there are three major approaches to the capture of tacit knowledge from groups and individuals. They are:
[17]
- Interviewing experts.
 
- Learning by being told.
 
- Learning by observation.
 
Interviewing experts can be done in the form of 
structured interviewing or by recording organizational 
stories.
 Structured interviewing of experts in a particular subject is the most 
commonly used technique to capture pertinent, tacit knowledge. An 
example of a structured interview would be an exit interview. Learning 
by being told can be done by interviewing or by task analysis. Either 
way, an expert teaches the novice the processes of a task. Task analysis
 is the process of determining the actual task or policy by breaking it 
down and analyzing what needs to be done to complete the task. Learning 
by observation can be done by presenting the expert with a sample 
problem, 
scenario, or 
case study and then observing the process used to solve the problem.
[citation needed]
Some other techniques for capturing tacit knowledge are:
[citation needed][original research?]
All of these approaches should be recorded in order to transfer the tacit knowledge into reusable explicit knowledge.
Professor 
Ikujiro Nonaka has proposed the 
SECI
 (Socialization, Externalization, Combination, Internalization) model, 
one of the most widely cited theories in knowledge management, to 
present the spiraling knowledge processes of interaction between 
explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge (
Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995).
See also
References
- ^ Collins, H.M. "Tacit Knowledge, Trust and the Q of Sapphire" Social Studies of Science' p. 71-85 31(1) 2001.
 
- ^ Polanyi, Michael (1966), The Tacit Dimension, University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 4.
 
- ^ Goffin,
 K. & Koners, U. (2011). Tacit Knowledge, Lessons Learnt, and New 
Product Development. J PROD INNOV MANAG, 28, 300-318.
 
- ^ Schmidt,
 F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1993). Tacit knowledge, practical 
intelligence, general mental ability, and job knowledge. Current 
Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 8-9.
 
- ^ Goffin,
 K. & Koners, U. (2011). Tacit Knowledge, Lessons Learnt, and New 
Product Development. J PROD INNOV MANAG, 28, 300-318.
 
- ^ Engel,
 P. J. H. (2008). Tacit knowledge and Visual Expertise in Medical 
Diagnostic Reasoning: Implications for medical education. Medical 
Teacher, 30, e184-e188. DOI: 10.1080/01421590802144260.
 
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_and_motorcycle_dynamics
 
- ^ Lam,
 A. (2000). Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal 
Institutions: An Integrated Framework. Organization Studies 21(3), 
487-513.
 
- ^ Schmidt,
 F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1993). Tacit knowledge, practical 
intelligence, general mental ability, and job knowledge. Current 
Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 8-9.
 
- ^ Lam,
 A. (2000). Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal 
Institutions: An Integrated Framework. Organization Studies 21(3), 
487-51.
 
- ^ Angioni, G., Fare, dire, sentire: l'identico e il diverso nelle culture, Il Maestrale, 2011, 26-99
 
- ^ Schmidt,
 F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1993). Tacit knowledge, practical 
intelligence, general mental ability, and job knowledge. Current 
Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 8-9.
 
- ^ Lam,
 A. (2000). Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal 
Institutions: An Integrated Framework. Organization Studies 21(3), 
487-513.
 
- ^ Collins, H.M. "Tacit Knowledge, Trust and the Q of Sapphire" Social Studies of Science' p. 71-85 31(1) 2001
 
- ^ J.E. Gordon, "The new science of strong materials", Penguin books.
 
- ^ Nonaka,
 Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka (1995), The knowledge creating company: how
 Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation, New York: Oxford 
University Press, pp. 284, ISBN 978-0-19-509269-1.
 
- ^ Parsaye, Kamran; Chignell, Mark (1988), Expert systems for experts, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, p. 365, ISBN 978-0-471-60175-3
 
 
Further reading
- Angioni G., Doing, Thinkink, Saying, in Sanga & Ortalli (eds.) , Nature Knowledge, Berghahm Books, New York-Oxford 2004, 249-261.
 
- Angioni, G., Fare, dire, sentire: l'identico e il diverso nelle culture, Il Maestrale, 2011, 26-99
 
- Bao, Y.; Zhao, S. (2004), "MICRO Contracting for Tacit Knowledge - A
 Study of Contractual Arrangements in International Technology 
Transfer", in Problems and Perspectives of Management, 2, 279- 303.
 
- Brohm, R. Bringing Polanyi onto the theatre stage: a study on Polanyi applied to Knowledge Management, in: Proceedings of the ISMICK Conference, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1999, pp. 57–69.
 
- Brohm, R. (2005), Polycentric Order in Organizations, Erasmus University Rotterdam: Published dissertation ERIM, hdl:1765/6911
 
- Collins, H.M. "Tacit Knowledge, Trust and the Q of Sapphire" Social Studies of Science' p. 71-85 31(1) 2001
 
- Dalkir, Kimiz (2005) "Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice" pp. 82–90
 
- Gladwell, Malcolm 2005. Blink: the power of thinking without thinking. Little, Brown: New York.
 
- Gourlay, Stephen, "An Activity Centered Framework for Knowledge Management". In Claire Regina McInerney, Ronald E. Day (2007). Rethinking knowledge management. Springer. ISBN 3-540-71010-8.
 
- Nonaka, Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka (1995), The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 284, ISBN 978-0-19-509269-1
 
- Patriotta, G. (2004). Studying organizational knowledge. Knowledge Management Research and Practice, 2(1).
 
- Ploszajski, P.; Saquet, A.; Segalla, M. Le savoir tacite dans un 
contexte culturel (z: ), Les Echos, Le Quotidien de L’Economie, 18 
Novembre 2004, Paris 2004
 
- Polanyi, Michael.
 "The Tacit Dimension". First published Doubleday & Co, 1966. 
Reprinted Peter Smith, Gloucester, Mass, 1983. Chapter 1: "Tacit 
Knowing".
 
- Reber, Arthur S. 1993. Implicit learning and tacit knowledge: an essay on the corgnitive unconscious. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510658-X
 
- Sanders, A. F. (1988). Michael Polanyi's post critical epistemology, a reconstruction of some aspects of 'tacit knowing'. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
 
- Smith, M. K. (2003) 'Michael Polanyi and tacit knowledge', the 
encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/polanyi.htm.©
 2003 Mark K. Smith
 
- Tsoukas, H. (2003) ‘Do we really understand tacit knowledge?’ in The Blackwell handbook of organizational learning and knowledge management. Easterby-Smith and Lyles (eds), 411-427. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
 
- Erik Cambria and Amir Hussain: Sentic Computing: Techniques, Tools, and Applications. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, ISBN: 978-94-007-5069-2, 2012
 
- Wenger E. Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge University Press, New York 1998.
 
- Wilson, Timothy D. 2002. Strangers to ourselves: discovering the adaptive unconscious. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA. 0-674-01382-4
 
External links