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Showing papers on "Tacit knowledge published in 2013"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An integrated model to understand key factors of employee knowledge sharing intentions through constructs prescribed by two established knowledge management research streams is developed and confirms that reciprocity, enjoyment, and social capital contribute significantly to enhancing employees’ tacit and explicitknowledge sharing intentions.

469 citations


Book
29 Apr 2013

263 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined what discourse interactions reveal about teacher learning in Lesson Study (LS) contexts as teachers plan and discuss research lessons and created motivating conditions enabling collective access to imagined practice and joint development of micro practices.

243 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the existing debates in the literature regarding tacit knowledge sharing using IT and identify key research gaps that lay the foundations for future research into tacit knowledgesharing using the social web.
Abstract: Purpose – Researchers debate whether tacit knowledge sharing through information technology (IT) is actually possible. However, with the advent of social web tools, it has been argued that most shortcomings of tacit knowledge sharing are likely to disappear. The purpose of this paper is two‐fold: first, to demonstrate the existing debates in the literature regarding tacit knowledge sharing using IT; and second, to identify key research gaps that lay the foundations for future research into tacit knowledge sharing using the social web.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews current literature on IT‐mediated tacit knowledge sharing and opens a discussion on tacit knowledge sharing through the use of the social web.Findings – First, the existing schools of thought in regards to IT ability for tacit knowledge sharing are introduced. Next, difficulties of sharing tacit knowledge through the use of IT are discussed. Then, potentials and pitfalls of social web tools are presented. Finally, the paper con...

222 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: TMS and team tacit knowledge can differentiate between low- and high-performing teams in terms of effectiveness, where more effective teams have a competitive advantage in developing new products and bringing them to market.
Abstract: Context Sharing expert knowledge is a key process in developing software products. Since expert knowledge is mostly tacit, the acquisition and sharing of tacit knowledge along with the development of a transactive memory system (TMS) are significant factors in effective software teams. Objective We seek to enhance our understanding human factors in the software development process and provide support for the agile approach, particularly in its advocacy of social interaction, by answering two questions : How do software development teams acquire and share tacit knowledge ? What roles do tacit knowledge and transactive memory play in successful team performance ? Method A theoretical model describing the process for acquiring and sharing tacit knowledge and development of a TMS through social interaction is presented and a second predictive model addresses the two research questions above. The elements of the predictive model and other demographic variables were incorporated into a larger online survey for software development teams, completed by 46 software SMEs, consisting of 181 individual team members. Results Our results show that team tacit knowledge is acquired and shared directly through good quality social interactions and through the development of a TMS with quality of social interaction playing a greater role than transactive memory. Both TMS and team tacit knowledge predict effectiveness but not efficiency in software teams. Conclusion It is concluded that TMS and team tacit knowledge can differentiate between low- and high-performing teams in terms of effectiveness, where more effective teams have a competitive advantage in developing new products and bringing them to market. As face-to-face social interaction is key, collocated, functionally rich, domain expert teams are advocated rather than distributed teams, though arguably the team manager may be in a separate geographic location provided that there is frequent communication and effective use of issue tracking tools as in agile teams.

154 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present three broad frames of mind (openness, situational awareness, and a healthy respect for the restraint/action paradox), which each encompass a set of habits of mind, to create a useful framework that allows one to unlearn reductionist habits while adopting and embedding those more conducive to working in complex systems.
Abstract: Complexity thinking is increasingly being embraced by a wide range of academics and professionals as imperative for dealing with today’s pressing social–ecological challenges. In this context, action researchers partner directly with stakeholders (communities, governance institutions, and work resource managers, etc.) to embed a complexity frame of reference for decision making. In doing so, both researchers and stakeholders must strive to internalize not only “intellectual complexity” (knowing) but also “lived complexity” (being and practicing). Four common conceptualizations of learning (explicit/tacit knowledge framework; unlearning selective exposure; conscious/competence learning matrix; and model of learning loops) are integrated to provide a new framework that describes how learning takes place in complex systems. Deep reflection leading to transformational learning is required to foster the changes in mindset and behaviors needed to adopt a complexity frame of reference. We then present three broad frames of mind (openness, situational awareness, and a healthy respect for the restraint/ action paradox), which each encompass a set of habits of mind, to create a useful framework that allows one to unlearn reductionist habits while adopting and embedding those more conducive to working in complex systems. Habits of mind provide useful heuristic tools to guide researchers and stakeholders through processes of participative planning and adaptive decision making in complex social–ecological systems.

154 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results reveal that social capital at both levels jointly influences an individual's explicit and tacit knowledge sharing, and when individuals possess a moderate betweenness centrality and the whole team holds a moderate network density, team members’ knowledge sharing can be maximized.

113 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The relationship between disciplines is strongly influenced by national funding agencies and a great deal of tacit knowledge about the management of interdisciplinary research programs and projects is held by such bodies.
Abstract: The relationship between disciplines is strongly influenced by national funding agencies and a great deal of tacit knowledge about the management of interdisciplinary research programmes and projects is held by such bodies. Funders' support is critical to achieving the potential value-added of interdisciplinarity and these agencies have key roles to play, especially in shaping large-scale interdisciplinary initiatives. This paper reports on an empirical study and offers some lessons for public policy aimed at promoting learning and generating benefits that are broadly applicable across future efforts to tackle complex, multi-dimensional research challenges. There are key practical organisational steps that could be taken to promote and support collaborative working and integration for large-scale interdisciplinary research initiatives. Awareness of these critical processes can benefit funders as well as practitioners if interdisciplinary research is to achieve its full potential. Copyright The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

111 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: By supporting accurate prescribing and treatment planning, the electronic library contributed to enhanced patient care and helped prepare trainee doctors for discussions with their seniors, assisting the interchange between explicit and tacit knowledge.
Abstract: Background: The amount of information needed by doctors has exploded. The nature of knowledge (explicit and tacit) and processes of knowledge acquisition and participation are complex. Aiming to assist workplace learning, Wales Deanery funded “iDoc”, a project offering trainee doctors a Smartphone library of medical textbooks. Methods: Data on trainee doctors’ (Foundation Year 2) workplace information seeking practice was collected by questionnaire in 2011 (n = 260). iDoc baseline questionnaires (n = 193) collected data on Smartphone usage alongside other workplace information sources. Case reports (n = 117) detail specific instances of Smartphone use. Results: Most frequently (daily) used information sources in the workplace: senior medical staff (80% F2 survey; 79% iDoc baseline); peers (70%; 58%); and other medical/nursing team staff (53% both datasets). Smartphones were used more frequently by males (p < 0.01). Foundation Year 1 (newly qualified) was judged the most useful time to have a Smartphone library because of increased responsibility and lack of knowledge/experience. Preferred information source varied by question type: hard copy texts for information-based questions; varied resources for skills queries; and seniors for more complex problems. Case reports showed mobile technology used for simple (information-based), complex (problem-based) clinical questions and clinical procedures (skills-based scenarios). From thematic analysis, the Smartphone library assisted: teaching and learning from observation; transition from medical student to new doctor; trainee doctors’ discussions with seniors; independent practice; patient care; and this ‘just-in-time’ access to reliable information supported confident and efficient decision-making. Conclusion: A variety of information sources are used regularly in the workplace. Colleagues are used daily but seniors are not always available. During transitions, constant access to the electronic library was valued. It helped prepare trainee doctors for discussions with their seniors, assisting the interchange between explicit and tacit knowledge. By supporting accurate prescribing and treatment planning, the electronic library contributed to enhanced patient care. Trainees were more rapidly able to medicate patients to reduce pain and more quickly call for specific assessments. However, clinical decision-making often requires dialogue: what Smartphone technology can do is augment, not replace, discussion with their colleagues in the community of practice.

107 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An in-depth analysis of data collected at an interactive knowledge translation symposium that focuses on facilitation as an intervention to enhance evidence uptake, with a greater understanding of factors contributing to successful or unsuccessful facilitation.
Abstract: Background Facilitation is considered a way of enabling clinicians to implement evidence into practice by problem solving and providing support. Practice development is a well-established movement in the United Kingdom that incorporates the use of facilitators, but in Canada, the role is more obtuse. Few investigations have observed the process of facilitation as described by individuals experienced in guideline implementation in North America. Aim To describe the tacit knowledge regarding facilitation embedded in the experiences of nurses implementing evidence into practice. Methods Twenty nurses from across Canada were purposively selected to attend an interactive knowledge translation symposium to examine what has worked and what has not in implementing evidence in practice. This study is an additional in-depth analysis of data collected at the symposium that focuses on facilitation as an intervention to enhance evidence uptake. Critical incident technique was used to elicit examples to examine the nurses’ facilitation experiences. Participants shared their experiences with one another and completed initial data analysis and coding collaboratively. The data were further thematically analyzed using the qualitative inductive approach of constant comparison. Results A number of factors emerged at various levels associated with the successes and failures of participants’ efforts to facilitate evidence-based practice. Successful implementation related to: (a) focus on a priority issue, (b) relevant evidence, (c) development of strategic partnerships, (d) the use of multiple strategies to effect change, and (e) facilitator characteristics and approach. Negative factors influencing the process were: (a) poor engagement or ownership, (b) resource deficits, (c) conflict, (d) contextual issues, and (e) lack of evaluation and sustainability. Conclusions Factors at the individual, environmental, organizational, and cultural level influence facilitation of evidence-based practice in real situations at the point-of-care. With a greater understanding of factors contributing to successful or unsuccessful facilitation, future research should focus on analyzing facilitation interventions tailored to address barriers and enhance facilitators of evidence uptake.

106 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the practices and processes of trust building and use in collaborative networking for product innovation and to compare face to face with virtual networking, and identified how different dimensions of trust are located in the trust building processes.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the practices and processes of trust building and use in collaborative networking for product innovation and to compare face to face with virtual networkingDesign/methodology/approach – Guided by a literature review and preliminary participant observation, 16 open ended interviews collected data about the processes in 11 small biotech firms These data were inductively analysed by the constant comparative method to develop explanatory themesFindings – Trust was seen as a requirement for successful collaborative innovation, but the paper identified how different dimensions of trust are located in the trust building processes Trust works by creating a platform of confidence that fosters flows of information and the exchange of tacit knowledge Two types of trust relationships, the technical and the social, work in different ways to produce different, but complementary, types of trust Virtual environments suit technical trust building but are less suited

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results indicated that sharing of tacit knowledge is facilitated by an engaging environment, such as those found in automated production lines.
Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that facilitate tacit knowledge sharing in unstructured work environments, such as those found in automated production lines.Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a qualitative approach, and it draws data from a four‐month field study at a blown‐molded glass factory. Data collection techniques included interviews, informal conversations and on‐site observations, and data were interpreted using content analysis.Findings – The results indicated that sharing of tacit knowledge is facilitated by an engaging environment. An engaging environment is supported by shared language and knowledge, which are developed through intense communication and a strong sense of collegiality and a social climate that is dominated by openness and trust. Other factors that contribute to the creation of an engaging environment include managerial efforts to provide appropriate work conditions and to communicate company goals, and HRM practices such as the prov...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose that tacit knowledge sharing can lead to knowledge stratification and that it is likely to encode knowledge in behavioral schemas, apparently similar to organizational routines, but as a matter of fact more complex and refined: cognitive scripts.
Abstract: The management of knowledge is increasingly considered as a main source of competitive advantage for corporations. It is argued that organizations enjoy a competitive advantage if they know how to expand, disseminate, and exploit organizational knowledge internally. Moreover, organizations can achieve their strategic goals by encouraging knowledge sharing, flexibility, and adaptation to change. Furthermore, our position is that tacit knowledge sharing can lead to knowledge stratification. And that it is likely to lead to encode knowledge in behavioral schemas, apparently similar to organizational routines, but as a matter of fact more complex and refined: the cognitive scripts. Even if apparently similar to organizational routines, the scripts strongly differ from them in terms of power of replication, inertia degree, and search potential. The present study focuses on the analysis of the script localization in the organization as an important starting point for the understanding of the dynamics of knowledge stratification and encoding. Thus, hypothesizing kinds of knowledge reuse within spin-off decisions as well. The plausibility of the mentioned hypotheses is tested by a multivariate statistics approach.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that population health studies may have greater health impact when KT is incorporated early and explicitly into the research design, and particular attention should be paid to collaborative approaches, stakeholder identification and engagement, the nature and sources of evidence used, and the role of the research team working with the local study community.
Abstract: Background: Despite the considerable and growing body of knowledge translation (KT) literature, there are few methodologies sufficiently detailed to guide an integrated KT research approach for a population health study. This paper argues for a clearly articulated collaborative KT approach to be embedded within the research design from the outset. Discussion: Population health studies are complex in their own right, and strategies to engage the local community in adopting new interventions are often fraught with considerable challenges. In order to maximise the impact of population health research, more explicit KT strategies need to be developed from the outset. We present four propositions, arising from our work in developing a KT framework for a population health study. These cover the need for an explicit theory-informed conceptual framework; formalizing collaborative approaches within the design; making explicit the roles of both the stakeholders and the researchers; and clarifying what counts as evidence. From our deliberations on these propositions, our own co-creating (co-KT) Framework emerged in which KT is defined as both a theoretical and practical framework for actioning the intent of researchers and communities to co-create, refine, implement and evaluate the impact of new knowledge that is sensitive to the context (values, norms and tacit knowledge) where it is generated and used. The co-KT Framework has five steps. These include initial contact and framing the issue; refining and testing knowledge; interpreting, contextualising and adapting knowledge to the local context; implementing and evaluating; and finally, the embedding and translating of new knowledge into practice. Summary: Although descriptions of how to incorporate KT into research designs are increasing, current theoretical and operational frameworks do not generally span a holistic process from knowledge co-creation to knowledge application and implementation within one project. Population health studies may have greater health impact when KT is incorporated early and explicitly into the research design. This, we argue, will require that particular attention be paid to collaborative approaches, stakeholder identification and engagement, the nature and sources of evidence used, and the role of the research team working with the local study community.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study was conducted on an integrated project delivery (IPD) project at its early stage and it was found that tacit knowledge sharing leads to the integrated project team flexibility through building connections between team members and increasing team dynamic capabilities.
Abstract: The integrated project team has received wide attention and acceptance in the construction industry due to the adversarial nature of traditional contracting. With a growing trend toward the integration of all project parties, team flexibility emerges as an important factor to the success of more complex and dynamic construction projects. This research focuses on the flexibility of the integrated project team and explores its antecedents. Based on the literature that has found team flexibility is dependent on team dynamic capabilities, team dynamic capabilities was further studied and it was found that tacit knowledge sharing serves as a determinant of team flexibility at a deeper level. A case study was conducted on an integrated project delivery (IPD) project at its early stage. By using social network analysis, it was found that tacit knowledge sharing leads to the integrated project team flexibility through building connections between team members and increasing team dynamic capabilities. The primary contribution of this study is finding the linkage from tacit knowledge sharing to the integrated project team flexibility, which can provide a theoretical guide for the integrated project team to improve its ability to survive in the dynamic environment of construction projects.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Four different categories of tacit knowledge are developed that are derived from the basic tenants of the resource-based framework and distinguished between the discrete and linked forms of productive tacit knowledge that is possessed by individuals and administrative tacitknowledge that is held by managers within an organization.
Abstract: Despite growing evidence that suggests that tacit knowledge can serve as a critical resource, there has been little effort to understand how such a form of personalized knowledge can provide strong advantages to an entire group or organization. In this paper, we develop four different categories of tacit knowledge that are derived from the basic tenants of the resource-based framework. More specifically, we distinguish between the discrete and linked forms of productive tacit knowledge that is possessed by individuals and administrative tacit knowledge that is held by managers within an organization. Next, we evaluate the role of each of these four different forms of tacit knowledge by focusing on the contribution of players and managers of professional sports teams. Our analysis of a large sample of Major League Baseball teams from 1985 to 2001 provides significant support for the importance of each of these categories of tacit knowledge for the performance of an organization.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the findings of a qualitative investigation of intellectual capital (IC) in the engineering industry in the UK within the context of a recession, finding that there is an interrelatedness of the components of IC, knowledge of IC management as a strategy is low and the academic discourse on IC is limited.
Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a qualitative investigation of intellectual capital (IC) in the engineering industry in the UK within the context of a recession.Design/methodology/approach – Due to the fact that IC involves tacit knowledge which can often be “non‐verbal” or in some cases “non verbalable”, intuitive and unarticulated (Hedlund), qualitative methodology was chosen as it allows the flexibility to explore the IC in the target population in greater detail and to explore area/ideas of interest that may have developed during the data collecting process. Ten interviews were conducted on companies chosen from the Reed Business database’s classification of precision engineering. Data collection was via a semi‐structured interview, the results were coded into Nvivo and analysed.Findings – It was discovered that there is an interrelatedness of the components of IC, knowledge of IC management as a strategy in the engineering industry is low and the academic discourse on IC...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The resulting three-dimensional ‘expertise-space’ can be explored in a number of ways which reveal the narrowness of the analysis and the mistakes that have been made under the one-dimensional model.
Abstract: Psychologists and philosophers tend to treat expertise as a property of special individuals. These are individuals who have devoted much more time than the general population to the acquisition of their specific expertises. They are often said to pass through stages as they move toward becoming experts, for example, passing from an early stage, in which they follow self-conscious rules, to an expert stage in which skills are executed unconsciously. This approach is ‘one-dimensional’. Here, two extra dimensions are added. They are drawn from the programme known as Studies of Expertise and Experience (SEE) and its ‘Periodic Table of Expertises’. SEE, which is sociological, and/or Wittgensteinian, in inspiration, takes expertise to be the property of groups; there are ‘domains’ of expertise. Under SEE, level of expertise grows with embedding in the society of domain experts; the key is the transmission of domain-specific tacit knowledge. Thus, one extra dimension is degree of exposure to tacit knowledge. Under SEE, domains can be big or small so there can be ‘ubiquitous tacit knowledge’, such as natural-language-speaking or other elements of general social behaviour, which belong to every member of a society. The second extra dimension is, therefore, ‘esotericity’. The resulting three-dimensional ‘expertise-space’ can be explored in a number of ways which reveal the narrowness of the analysis and the mistakes that have been made under the one-dimensional model.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the literature on learning, knowledge collaboration and participation for sustainable innovation as discussed by the authors shows that niche innovations and systemic innovation typically require so-called "2nd order learning processes", in which tacit knowledge and implicit frames have to be adjusted.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge effectiveness has been investigated and the mediating roles of learning orientation and co-production in the process of tacit knowledge sharing have been identified.
Abstract: Purpose – This study focuses on the relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge effectiveness. By learning orientation and co-production, this study demonstrates the indirect effects of knowledge sharing on knowledge effectiveness. Moreover, the direct and indirect effects of knowledge sharing – which vary with the different levels of tacit knowledge – on knowledge effectiveness are examined. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed model is tested using a structural equation model that involves LISREL and multi-group analyses. Findings – Knowledge sharing increasingly affects knowledge effectiveness under the condition of explicit knowledge. The mediating roles of learning orientation and co-production in the process of tacit knowledge sharing become apparent. Originality/value – Knowledge sharing across organizations can be regarded as a dynamic process. In view of the increasing importance of knowledge sharing across organizations, this study provides insight into the method of receiving use...

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: This chapter describes research on one organization learning from another—on knowledge transfer across organizations, and examples of how knowledge acquired in one establishment is relevant for others.
Abstract: Great Ormond Street Hospital in Great Britain learned from Ferrari racing crews how to handle patient handovers or transitions from one unit to another more effectively and, thereby, improved patient care (Naik, 2006). General Motors Corporation built identical plants in Argentina, Poland, China, and Thailand so that knowledge acquired at one plant would be relevant for and transferable to others (Blumenstein, 1997). Intel uses a “copy exactly” approach to their multiple facilities in which establishments are replicated down to the color of their paint so that knowledge acquired in one establishment is relevant for others (Reinhardt, 1997). These examples illustrate the importance organizations attach to transferring knowledge in organizations. The organizations realize benefits when one of their units “learns” from another unit or organization. This chapter describes research on one organization learning from another—on knowledge transfer across organizations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe theory building research to improve the transfer of knowledge between universities and businesses that are collaborating together, using pilot studies and in-depth interviews based on real-life innovation projects.
Abstract: One means of innovation is the adoption of new knowledge from external sources. This article describes theory building research to improve the transfer of knowledge between universities and businesses that are collaborating together. Using pilot studies and in-depth interviews based on real-life innovation projects, the research identified and confirmed two hypothetical constructs; that successful knowledge transfer comes from the transfer of tacit knowledge; and that tacit knowledge can best be transferred in this arena using rich media channels. This article describes the research and goes on to assess a range of channels for their media richness and their ability to transfer tacit knowledge. This article then positions this in the frame of collaborative or open innovation. It concludes that selection of the appropriate channel can improve the innovation through the transfer of knowledge between organisations and presents a model for successful application.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the current challenges associated with occupational safety and health (OSH) in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is presented in this article, where OSH knowledge management and e-learning are considered in turn in the light of current research knowledge, with examination of the challenges and requirements of small businesses.

Journal ArticleDOI
30 Dec 2013
TL;DR: It is argued that organizations should consider the knowledge hidden in the big data as tacit knowledge and they should take advantage of the cumulative experience garnered by the companies and studies done so far by the scholars in this sphere from knowledge management perspective.
Abstract: In the process of conducting everyday business, organizations generate and gather a large number of information about their customers, suppliers, competitors, processes, operations, routines and procedures. They also capture communication data from mobile devices, instruments, tools, machines and transmissions. Much of this data possesses an enormous amount of valuable knowledge, exploitation of which could yield economic benefit. Many organizations are taking advantage of business analytics and intelligence solutions to help them find new insights in their business processes and performance. For companies, however, it is still a nascent area, and many of them understand that there are more knowledge and insights that can be extracted from available big data using creativity, recombination and innovative methods, apply it to new knowledge creation and produce substantial value. This has created a need for finding a suitable approach in the firm’s big data related strategy. In this paper, the authors concur that big data is indeed a source of firm’s competitive advantage and consider that it is essential to have the right combination of people, tool and data along with management support and data‐oriented culture to gain competitiveness from big data. However, the authors also argue that organizations should consider the knowledge hidden in the big data as tacit knowledge and they should take advantage of the cumulative experience garnered by the companies and studies done so far by the scholars in this sphere from knowledge management perspective. Based on this idea, a big data oriented framework of organizational knowledge‐based strategy is proposed here.

Book
28 Feb 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the concept of Knowing in Practice: Aesthetic Understanding and Tacit Knowledge, and the critical power of the practice lens in the study of organizational life.
Abstract: Contents: Introduction Part I: Practice-based Theorizing 1. Practice-Based Theorizing on Learning and Knowing in Organizations: An Introduction' 2. Knowing in Practice: Aesthetic Understanding and Tacit Knowledge 3. Knowing as Desiring. Mythic Knowledge and the Knowledge Journey in Communities of Practitioners 4. Situated Knowledge and Situated Action: What do Practice-Based Studies Promise? 5. Through the Practice Lens: Where Is the Bandwagon of Practice-Based Studies Heading? Part II: Key Concepts 6. Sensible Knowledge and Practice-Based Learning 7. Knowing in a System of Fragmented Knowledge 8. Learning in a Constellation of Interconnected Practices: Canon or Dissonance? 9. Aesthetics in the Study of Organizational Life 10. The Passion for Knowing 11. Practice? It's a Matter of Taste! Part III: Methodological Insights for a Practice-based Approach 12. When Will He Say: 'Today the Plates are Soft'?: Management of Ambiguity and Situated Decision-Making 13. Do You Do Beautiful Things?: Aesthetics and Art in Qualitative Methods of Organization Studies 14. Organizational Artifacts and the Aesthetic Approach 15. The Critical Power of the Practice Lens

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that only 45% of spin-offs use codified research findings from the university, while 55 % use tacit knowledge that was acquired at the university.
Abstract: The assumption that research findings provide the basis for spin-off projects at universities has been found up to now in literature and the practice. Supported by the theory of knowledge, the empirical study presented here shows that this idea is too limited. Only 45 % of spin-offs use codified research findings from the university, while 55 % use tacit knowledge that was acquired at the university. These spin-offs use knowledge beyond research findings, starting companies in the shadow of publications by academic institutions and drawing from the realm of tacit knowledge at universities. Tacit start-up knowledge is present in all scientific disciplines of universities; even the exploitation- and patent-oriented engineering sciences account for almost half of the start-ups. Start-ups based on tacit knowledge lead to both technology-oriented and service companies. They also do not differ from codified knowledge-based start-ups in the number of jobs that they create. The discovery of the tacit knowledge spin-offs as a phenomenon has an entire series of implications for the practice and research. The tacit start-up potential was not considered previously in the university promotion instruments and start-up consultancies. Furthermore, we can assume that tacit knowledge-based start-ups are only an initial indication of the innovation potential within the tacit realm of knowledge for universities and research institutes.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: This chapter reviews the diverse views of tacit knowledge discussed in the literature from a wide range of disci-plines, reflect on their commonalities and differences, and proposes a conceptual framework for requirements engineering that characterizes the different facets of tacitknowledge that distinguish the different views.
Abstract: The use of tacit knowledge is a common feature in everyday communication. It allows people to communicate effectively without forcing them to make everything tediously and painstakingly explicit, provided they all share a common understanding of whatever is not made explicit. If this latter criterion does not hold, confusion and misunderstanding will ensue. Tacit knowledge is also commonplace in requirements where it also affords economy of expression. However, the use of tacit knowledge also suffers from the same risk of misunderstanding, with the associated problems of anticipating where it has the potential for confusion and of unravelling where it has played an actual role in misunderstanding. Thus, the effective communication of requirements knowledge (whether verbally, through a document or some other medium) requires an understanding of what knowledge is and isn’t (necessarily) held in common. This is very hard to get right as people from different professional and cultural backgrounds are typically involved. At its worst, tacit requirements knowledge may lead to software that fails to satisfy the customer’s requirements. In this chapter, we review the diverse views of tacit knowledge discussed in the literature from a wide range of disciplines, reflect on their commonalities and differences and propose a conceptual framework for requirements engineering that characterises the different facets of tacit knowledge that distinguish the different views. We then identify methodological and technical challenges for future research on the role of tacit knowledge in requirements engineering.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new ontological framework which supports processing technologies participation in Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is proposed, which uses semantic web service formalism to describe technology based on tacit knowledge embedded in the domain ontology and explicit knowledge acquired from the users.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 2013
TL;DR: By taking a phenomenological perspective and building on a seminal anthropologists' work, Tim Ingold, this paper counters the limitations in service design that tends to see its process as a contained series of fixed interactions or systemized process of methods.
Abstract: What is holding back service design from making a distinct departure from a product-centred to a socio-material human-centred framework? We have a concern for co-designing that is often discussed as a generic method to develop empathetic connections and understandings of people and their contexts. In this use, mastering the craft of co-designing had inadvertently isolated the method from the practitioner, fragmenting its process as a series of static events or a tool for deployment in staged workshops. Contributing to current debates on co-designing and design anthropology, our paper seeks to re-entangle co-designing back into its lived and enacted contexts. We see co-designing as a reflexive, embodied process of discovery and actualisation, and it is an integral, on-going activity of designing services. Co-designing can catalyse a transformative process in revealing and unlocking tacit knowledge, moving people along on a journey to 'make real' what proposed services might be like in the future. Co-designing plays a critical role especially when it involves the very people who are enmeshed in the realisation of the proposed services itself. As such, our case study of a weekend Ordnance Survey Geovation camp pays closer attention to how this took place and discusses the transformative process that was central to it. By taking a phenomenological perspective and building on a seminal anthropologists' work, Tim Ingold, our paper counters the limitations in service design that tends to see its process as a contained series of fixed interactions or systemized process of methods. Through Ingold, we see 'the social world as a tangle of threads or life-paths, ever ravelling here and unravelling there, within which the task for any being is to improvise a way through, and to keep on-going. Lives are bound up in the tangle.' Similarly, we view co-designing as being and becoming, that is constantly transforming and connecting multiple entanglements.

01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, a study identifies employee related attributes that contribute to the prediction of employees' attrition in organizations, and a framework for a software tool that can implement therules generated in this study was also proposed.
Abstract: Employee turnover is a serious concern in knowledge based organizations. When employees leave an organization, theycarry with them invaluable tacit knowledge which is often the source of competitive advantage for the business. In order foran organization to continually have a higher competitive advantage over its competition, it should make it a duty to minimizeemployee attrition. This study identifies employee related attributes that contribute to the prediction of employees’ attritionin organizations. Three hundred and nine (309) complete records of employees of one of the Higher Institutions in Nigeriawho worked in and left the institution between 1978 and 2006 were used for the study. The demographic and job relatedrecords of the employee were the main data which were used to classify the employee into some predefined attrition classes.Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) and See5 for Windows were used to generate decision tree modelsand rule-sets. The results of the decision tree models and rule-sets generated were then used for developing a a predictivemodel that was used to predict new cases of employee attrition. A framework for a software tool that can implement therules generated in this study was also proposed.Keywords: Employee Attrition, Decision Tree Analysis, Data Mining