Showing papers on "Tacit knowledge published in 2010"

Beyond feedback: developing student capability in complex appraisal

Abstract: Giving students detailed feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of their work, with suggestions for improvement, is becoming common practice in higher education. However, for many students, feedback seems to have little or no impact, despite the considerable time and effort put into its production. With a view to increasing its effectiveness, extensive theoretical and empirical research has been carried out into its structure, timing and other parameters. For students to be able to apply feedback, they need to understand the meaning of the feedback statements. They also need to identify, with near certainty, the particular aspects of their work that need attention. For these to occur, students must possess critical background knowledge. This article sets out the nature of that knowledge and how students can acquire it. They must appropriate for themselves three fundamental concepts – task compliance, quality and criteria – and also develop a cache of relevant tacit knowledge.

Trust and tacit knowledge sharing and use

Abstract: Purpose – This study aims to explore the impact of affect‐based and cognition‐based trust of co‐workers on the willingness of professionals to share and use tacit knowledge.Design/methodology/approach – The relationships were examined through data provided by a sample of 202 professionals and managers in world headquarters of an international organization.Findings – The levels of both types of trust influence the extent to which staff members are willing to share and use tacit knowledge. Affect‐based trust has a significantly greater effect on the willingness to share tacit knowledge, while cognition‐based trust plays a greater role in willingness to use tacit knowledge.Research limitations/implications – The data are cross‐sectional and were also collected in one organization. Future studies should consider longitudinal designs across multiple organizations. Alternatively, archival information could be used to measure actual tacit knowledge sharing and use among co‐workers.Practical implications – The re...

Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

Abstract: Much of what we know we cannot say. And much of what we do we cannot describe. For example, how do we know how to ride a bike when we can't explain how we do it? These abilities, which we are unable to articulate, were labeled "tacit knowledge" by chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi, but here Harry Collins analyzes the term, and the behavior, in much greater detail, often departing from Polanyi's treatment. In "Tacit and Explicit Knowledge", Collins develops a common conceptual language to bridge the concept's disparate domains by explaining explicit knowledge and classifying tacit knowledge. Collins then teases apart the three very different meanings, which, until now, all fell under the umbrella of Polanyi's term: relational tacit knowledge (things we could describe in principle if we put in the effort), somatic tacit knowledge (things our bodies can do but we cannot describe, like balancing on a bike), and collective tacit knowledge (knowledge we draw on that is the property of society, such as the rules for language). Thus, bicycle riding consists of some somatic tacit knowledge and some collective tacit knowledge, such as the knowledge that allows us to navigate in traffic. The intermixing of the three kinds of tacit knowledge has led to confusion in the past; Collins' book unravels these complexities and thus enables us to make new and better use of the underlying concept.

Employee participation in decision making, psychological ownership and knowledge sharing: mediating role of organizational commitment in Taiwanese high-tech organizations

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the effect of employee participation in decision making (EPDM) on employees’ positive cognition and attitudes which can lead to their knowledge-sharing behaviour. Consistent with the philanthropic and justice principles of Confucianism, such participation emphasizes the sharing of power with employees, which can satisfy employees’ humanistic needs, give employees a fundamental right to extend a degree of control and psychologically experience ownership of the organization. Employees who perceive they have ownership of the organization regard themselves as important organizational members and then commit to the organization. Knowledge-sharing behaviour contributes to the creation and utilization of knowledge; therefore, high-tech organizations always carefully negotiate with internal power relations in order to make tacit knowledge shared and produce innovation. Psychological ownership makes employees produce organizational commitment which can evoke altruistic spirit, contri...

Bridging intention and behavior of knowledge sharing

Abstract: Purpose – This paper seeks to present an innovative scale that sheds light on the ways in which intentions to share explicit and tacit knowledge impact actual knowledge-sharing behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from a total of 278 hi-tech workers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the research model. Findings – SEM shows that the intention to share explicit knowledge influences explicit knowledge-sharing behavior to an equal extent both directly and indirectly. By contrast tacit knowledge-sharing behavior is influenced directly to a greater extent by the intention to share tacit knowledge and less indirectly by the intention to share explicit knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The study provides a potential tool that may be applied by managers for the purpose of measuring explicit and tacit knowledge-sharing intention and behavior. Its limitations are due to the limited socio-economic and geographic variability of the companies and people that were studied, which may need further studies to substantiate. Originality/value – Whereas there is a consensus as to the need for and the benefits of sharing knowledge, there are no tools for measuring the roots of sharing behavior. The scale presented here captures the underlying intention, measures it, and assesses the resulting behavior.

Professional knowledge and the epistemology of reflective practice.

Abstract: Reflective practice is one of the most popular theories of professional knowledge in the last 20 years and has been widely adopted by nursing, health, and social care professions. The term was coined by Donald Schon in his influential books The Reflective Practitioner, and Educating the Reflective Practitioner, and has garnered the unprecedented attention of theorists and practitioners of professional education and practice. Reflective practice has been integrated into professional preparatory programmes, continuing education programmes, and by the regulatory bodies of a wide range of health and social care professions. Yet, despite its popularity and widespread adoption, a problem frequently raised in the literature concerns the lack of conceptual clarity surrounding the term reflective practice. This paper seeks to respond to this problem by offering an analysis of the epistemology of reflective practice as revealed through a critical examination of philosophical influences within the theory. The aim is to discern philosophical underpinnings of reflective practice in order to advance increasingly coherent interpretations, and to consider the implications for conceptions of professional knowledge in professional life. The paper briefly examines major philosophical underpinnings in reflective practice to explicate central themes that inform the epistemological assumptions of the theory. The study draws on the work of Donald Schon, and on texts from four philosophers: John Dewey, Nelson Goodman, Michael Polanyi, and Gilbert Ryle. Five central epistemological themes in reflective practice are illuminated: (1) a broad critique of technical rationality; (2) professional practice knowledge as artistry; (3) constructivist assumptions in the theory; (4) the significance of tacit knowledge for professional practice knowledge; and (5) overcoming mind body dualism to recognize the knowledge revealed in intelligent action. The paper reveals that the theory of reflective practice is concerned with deep epistemological questions of significance to conceptions of knowledge in health and social care professions.

Relevant factors for tacit knowledge transfer within organisations

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to identify the pertinent factors for tacit knowledge transfer within a major state‐owned Brazilian oil company – Petrobras.Design/methodology/approach – The research analyses the literature concerning tacit knowledge transfer within organisations and, using a quantitative approach based on exploratory factorial analysis, seeks to collect facts in order to identify relevant factors for tacit knowledge transfer within the organisation in question.Findings – It is seen that idiosyncratic factors, the knowledge management strategy adopted by the company, and its organisational structure are relevant elements for the success of tacit knowledge transfer within the organisation.Research limitations/implications – The study was conducted just in the Sales and Marketing division of Petrobras. Therefore, its external validity cannot be tested and any attempt to make a statistical generalisation would be flawed. Another limitation is related to the acuity of perception of the employees inv...

The Centrality of Teachers' Judgement Practice in Assessment: A Study of Standards in Moderation.

Abstract: There is a strong quest in several countries including Australia for greater national consistency in education and intensifying interest in standards for reporting. Given this, it is important to make explicit the intended and unintended consequences of assessment reform strategies and the pressures to pervert and conform. In a policy context that values standardisation, the great danger is that the technical, rationalist approaches that generalise and make superficial assessment practices, will emerge. In this article, the authors contend that the centrality and complexity of teacher judgement practice in such a policy context need to be understood. To this end, we discuss and analyse recorded talk in teacher moderation meetings showing the processes that teachers use as they work with stated standards to award grades (A to E). We show how they move to and fro between (1) supplied textual artefacts, including stated standards and samples of student responses, (2) tacit knowledge of different types, drawing into the moderation, and (3) social processes of dialogue and negotiation. While the stated standards play a part in judgement processes, in and of themselves they are shown to be insufficient to account for how the teachers ascribe value and award a grade to student work in moderation. At issue is the nature of judgement as cognitive and social practice in moderation and the legitimacy (or otherwise) of the mix of factors that shape how judgement occurs.

Generating Dialogue in Assessment Feedback: Exploring the Use of Interactive Cover Sheets.

Abstract: Theoretical approaches to understanding student engagement with assessment and feedback are increasingly emphasising the importance of dialogue in recognition that learning tacit knowledge is an active, shared process. This paper evaluates an experimental approach to providing feedback which was designed to create a dialogue between tutor and student without additional work for staff. Tutors on an outdoor studies degree attempted to set up a dialogue with students by providing written feedback in response to students’ questions about their work, requested on their assignment cover sheets. Data were collected in the form of their feedback questions, interviews with students and a focus group of staff. The data indicate that the approach encouraged students to think about their writing but that students’ limited understanding of staff expectations and standards limits their ability to initiate a meaningful dialogue with their tutors. More positively, the research suggests that if staff capitalise on and dev...

The interplay between individual and collective knowledge: technologies for organisational learning and knowledge building

Abstract: This article presents a framework model that defines knowledge building as a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. Our model brings together Nonaka's knowledge-creating theory and Luhmann's systems theory. It is demonstrated how collaborative knowledge building may occur – in an ideal situation – within an organisation, when people interact with each other using shared digital artefacts. For this purpose, three different technologies are introduced as examples: social-tagging systems, pattern-based task-management systems, and wikis. These examples have been chosen to demonstrate that knowledge building can occur with respect to both declarative and procedural knowledge. The differences and similarities between these technologies, as far as their potential for organisational knowledge building is concerned, are discussed in the light of the framework model.

With a Little Help from Our Colleagues: A Longitudinal Study of Social Networks for Innovation

Abstract: In this paper we investigate the dynamics of networks of employees in the front end of the new product development process. So far, the literature has focused on network structure and has argued that sparse (low density) networks of weak ties are optimal for idea generation. In this paper we include both network structure and network content, and we emphasize the importance of strong ties, density, range, seniority and decision-maker involvement in specific phases of the front end in an environment of uncertainty, ambiguity and tacit knowledge. To test our assumptions, we mapped the full networks of 17 ideas for new product development projects over time in a longitudinal study in two research laboratories. For specific phases of the front end, we found confirmation of our expectations. In addition, it appeared that particularly strong ties between different units advance the adoption chances of ideas. The managerial implication of this latter finding is that communication with good acquaintances or frien...

The firm as an epistemic community: The knowledge based view revisited

Abstract: Based on a social-constructivist conceptualization of knowledge as residing in groups of practitioners, epistemic communities, this paper proposes a new perspective on the knowledge based view of the firm and sketches the outline of a new research agenda. It argues that the cost of governing knowledge processes depends as much on the cognitive background of the exchange partners as on the tacitness of the knowledge. Firms exist because they may form epistemic communities in their own right with enabling and motivational properties superior to those of markets in the governance of knowledge processes across epistemic boundaries. Establishing a firm as an epistemic community requires transaction specific investments that are difficult to realize under market forms of governance.

Academic writing and tacit knowledge

Abstract: The genre of academic writing is discipline dependent, so that neither specialists in academic writing nor practising academics in a discipline can, independently of each other, provide students with the necessary help to develop the ability to write in their academic disciplines. Furthermore, the rules are largely tacit, i.e. they are not explicitly expressed, and expressing them explicitly can have serious effects on good disciplinary writing. The problems of introducing students into good academic writing in their disciplines are therefore not simple and it is suggested that, as words constitute the fundamental building blocks of writing, a better understanding of the problems arising in academic writing can come from a deeper understanding of words, including their translation into different languages. It is furthermore suggested that the difficulties arising from the largely tacit nature of academic writing may be overcome by students and tutors discussing students' descriptions of their work.

Knowledge and practice in multidisciplinary teams: Struggle, accommodation and privilege

Abstract: The importance of translating knowledge across occupational boundaries is frequently identified as a means of generating innovation and improving performance. The creation of the multidisciplinary team is an institutional response to enable such translation and synergy, yet few studies examine the processes of knowledge generation and translation in such teams. This article offers a case study that analyses these processes in decisions about the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Polanyi’s concept of tacit integration is used to reveal how meaning is developed and manifest in team decisions and to examine how the discursive resources embedded in tacit knowledge shape clinical practice. We highlight the foundations and dynamics that privilege the knowledge of some team members to be reconstituted as multidisciplinary group practice. Privileged knowledge then becomes embedded in the practices of the group. We conclude that the creation of a multidisciplinary structure may support rather than challenge exi...

Dimensions of Expertise: A Conceptual Exploration of Vocational Knowledge

Abstract: Preface 1. The Two Faces of Expertise 2. Current Philosophical Debates about Knowing How 3. Skills and Their Discontents 4. Beyond Skill: The Complexities of Competence 5. To Follow a Rule...: The Normative Basis of Practical Knowledge 6. Theory, Underpinning Knowledge and Practice 7. Tacit Knowledge 8. Can There be a Theory of Expertise? 9. Novice, Journeyman, Expert 10. Vocational Education and the Development of Expertise Bibliography Index.

Knowledge creation and business format franchising

Abstract: Purpose – This article aims to contribute to the study of knowledge creation and management in business format franchising by focusing on the question of how franchisors can convert the tacit knowledge held by franchisees (such as insights, ideas, and hunches) to explicit knowledge.Design/methodology/approach – The article is conceptual and is largely anchored on the assumptions of the knowledge management, theories of organisational learning and organisational knowledge creation theory.Findings – The findings emphasise that the conversion of franchisees' tacit knowledge to new explicit knowledge is one of the key knowledge management practices required for successful business format franchising. Proposes that the concept of ba has much to offer in considering knowledge management in a business format franchise system.Research limitations/implications – With regard to future research avenues, conceptual and empirical studies are both needed to obtain a clearer understanding of the dynamic process of knowl...

Knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs: designing epistemic landscapes for development

Abstract: Purpose – With globalization and knowledge‐based production, firms may cooperate on a global scale, outsource parts of their administrative or productive units and negate location altogether. The extremely low transaction costs of data, information and knowledge seem to invalidate the theory of agglomeration and the spatial clustering of firms, going back to the classical work by Alfred Weber and Alfred Marshall, who emphasized the microeconomic benefits of industrial collocation. This paper aims to argue against this view and show why the growth of knowledge societies will rather increase than decrease the relevance of location by creating knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs, due to sharing of tacit knowledge and research and development outputs. Designing epistemic landscapes of knowledge clusters and hubs is, therefore, proposed as a viable development policy.Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data from cluster research as well as the authors' own survey data, mainly on Vietnam, Malaysia and Sin...

Development of a method for ontology-based empirical knowledge representation and reasoning

Abstract: In the knowledge economy era of the 21st century [14,17], the competitive advantage of enterprises has shifted from visible equipment, capital and labor in the past to invisible knowledge nowadays. Knowledge can be distinguished into tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Meanwhile, tacit knowledge largely encompasses empirical knowledge difficult to be documented and generally hidden inside of personal mental models. The inability to transfer tacit knowledge to organizational knowledge would cause it to disappear after knowledge workers leaving their post, ultimately losing important intellectual assets for enterprises. Therefore, enterprises attempting to create higher knowledge value are highly concerned with how to transfer personal empirical knowledge inside of an enterprise into an organizational explicit knowledge by using a systematic method to manage and share such valuable empirical knowledge effectively. This study develops a method of ontology-based empirical knowledge representation and reasoning, which adopts OWL (Web Ontology Language) to represent empirical knowledge in a structural way in order to help knowledge requesters clearly understand empirical knowledge. An ontology reasoning method is subsequently adopted to deduce empirical knowledge in order to share and reuse relevant empirical knowledge effectively. Specifically, this study involves the following tasks: (i) analyze characteristics for empirical knowledge, (ii) design an ontology-based multi-layer empirical knowledge representation model, (iii) design an ontology-based empirical knowledge concept schema, (iv) establish an OWL-based empirical knowledge ontology, (v) design reasoning rules for ontology-based empirical knowledge, (vi) develop a reasoning algorithm for ontology-based empirical knowledge, and (vii) implement an ontology-based empirical knowledge reasoning mechanism. Results of this study facilitate the tacit knowledge storage, management and sharing to provide knowledge requesters with accurate and comprehensive empirical knowledge for problem solving and decision support.

Managing Lessons Learned and Tacit Knowledge in New Product Development

Abstract: OVERVIEW:Every new product development (NPD) team learns a unique set of lessons in solving the many problems that arise in a typical project, and it is important to ensure that these lessons are shared. Since much of the learning is tacit in nature, it is difficult to articulate, to capture, and to disseminate. Therefore, managers face a challenge in trying to stimulate project-to-project learning. Many companies hold post-project reviews (PPRs)—meetings at the end of projects to determine the lessons learned and document them for the future. However, discussing a project, noting down the lessons learned, and entering them into a database is not sufficient. Our research at five leading German companies shows that written reports fail to convey much of the key learning from NPD teams and so managers need to focus on stimulating individual learning and running PPRs in specific ways to generate and transfer tacit knowledge. Managers also need to integrate PPRs with other mechanisms, such as mentoring scheme...

Information Asymmetry in Information Systems Consulting: Toward a Theory of Relationship Constraints

Abstract: Opportunism, or self-interest seeking with guile, is often witnessed in human behavior, and it bedevils human interactions and relationships. Organizations expend considerable effort to reduce opportunism. Agency theory espouses formal contracts as effective constraints on opportunism; however, a consultant's use of tacit knowledge subjects clients to information asymmetry that is not amenable to formal contracts. The principal-professional lens was developed to accommodate the presence of tacit knowledge, but it ignores formal contracts and, like agency theory, ignores the existence of principal opportunism. This examination of information systems (IS) consulting notes that when information asymmetry is present, both clients and consultants sometimes behave opportunistically. The level of information asymmetry, the type of knowledge, and the level of contract specificity in an IS consulting engagement determine the mixture of legal and social constraints that are efficacious. Based on these revelations and the inadequacy of other theories, a theoretical model of relationship constraints is developed to explain the interplay between signaling and screening, knowledge type, contract specificity, and the levels of information asymmetry in predicting adopted constraint mechanisms. For researchers, this new model offers a lens to study opportunism from a knowledge-based perspective, whereas for practitioners it offers the possibility of forestalling a decline in markets due to rampant opportunism.

External knowledge acquisition processes in knowledge‐intensive clusters

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to try to assess the applicability of the SECI model (Nonaka and Takeuchi) to the processes of external knowledge acquisition for firms located on knowledge‐intensive clusters. The paper's intended contribution lies in improving our understanding about the different mechanisms that organizations can use to learn from this kind of environment.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses survey data obtained from a sample of knowledge‐intensive firms from Boston's Route 128, with custom tailored measurement scales. It applies a quantitative method based on questionnaire answers.Findings – Findings show that external knowledge acquisition takes place through three different processes that raise important differences and similarities with the SECI model.Research limitations/implications – Conclusions can only be generalized to firms located in knowledge‐intensive clusters. Nevertheless, some implications for management practice can be derived. Tacit knowledge from the en...

The use of tacit knowledge in occupational safety and health management systems.

Abstract: A systematic approach to occupational safety and health (OSH) management and concepts of knowledge management (KM) have developed independently since the 1990s. Most KM models assume a division of knowledge into explicit and tacit. The role of tacit knowledge is stressed as necessary for higher performance in an enterprise. This article reviews literature on KM applications in OSH. Next, 10 sections of an OSH management system (OSH MS) are identified, in which creating and transferring tacit knowledge contributes significantly to prevention of occupational injuries and diseases. The roles of tacit knowledge in OSH MS are contrasted with those of explicit knowledge, but a lack of a model that would describe this process holistically is pointed out. Finally, examples of methods and tools supporting the use of KM in OSH MS are presented and topics of future research aimed at enhancing KM applications in OSH MS are proposed.