Tacit knowledge is the kind of knowledge that cannot easily be documented, and can only be learnt through observations, imitations and practices etc. While knowledge can be documented (i.e. explicit knowledge) and shared across different teams relatively easily, most of the business knowledge generated in modern organisations are in fact tacit knowledge that cannot be preserved and shared easily. Sharing tacit knowledge could be particularly hard in virtual teams who work in different parts of the world, as most time the time the sharing must be done via different IT tools. This presentation explores and discusses the general factors that affect tacit knowledge sharing in virtual project teams.

1. Amanda Lam
Tacit knowledge sharing in virtual teams:
is it even possible?
BarCamp 2014
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2. • Product Manager at jobsDB
• Product management experience:
• jobsDB job seeker features on desktop site, mobile sites and
apps
• Android app for CJOL
• Self-service job ad posting service
• BEng Computer Systems Engineering, University of Warwick
• MSc Programme and Project Management, University of Warwick
(graduate in 2015)
Who is Amanda?
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3. Let me share a
story…
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4. Before a product launch
preparation meeting…
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5. Product launch
preparation meeting
• Product marketing
strategies
• Product selling
techniques
• Customer services skills
Any questions?
Q&A session
5

6. Product launch
preparation meeting
So what should we do next?We need your help to align with
your Marketing team to execute
this marketing plan…
Are they really listening?
Hmm, at least they still
ask… that's not too bad!
Q&A session
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7. Product launch
preparation meeting
No question.
Any more questions?
All good!
We are ok, thanks!
No more. Thanks!
Oh shxt…
Q&A session
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8. After the meeting…
Hi  I have seen your marketing promotion page draft. It seems that its message tone and page
design do not align with our current branding guidelines.
Conversations on Microsoft Lync…
Product Manager
Oh? Which parts are not okay?
Marketing
Manager
Let me send you Singapore’s example…
Product Manager
11:35am
11:36am
11:36am
11:37am
I see. So what are your suggestions?
Marketing
Manager
11:37am
Can I call you now and show you my screen to explain further?
Product Manager
11:38am
Sure.
Marketing
Manager
11:38am
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9. What are the insights of this story?
• Before the meeting, we've sent the country product representatives
an email with document attached, but they still don't understand
what are we saying!
• Having a teleconference with international virtual team members is
a tiring experience, because：
• We can't see each others' immediate response, not sure if they
understand or not
• We have different cultural background and English standards
• In order to maintain the order of the meeting, meeting is
dominated by Hong Kong headquarters, and hence lack of
interactivity.
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10. • Using an Instant Messenging system (e.g. Microsoft Lync in sthe story) for
follow-up helps abstract knowledge sharing, because:
• The tool supports individual conversations, and supports instant
transferring of documents and images etc. This encourages frequent
bidirectional interactions
• The tool supports screen sharing and voice conversations,
and this lets knowledge receivers observe your real-time demonstration,
and this helps them understand abstract knowledge more
• However, using a single tool has its own constraints, e.g.
• If the email and the meeting didn't exist, and everything just rely on the
Microsoft Lync conversations, the Thailand Marketing Manager may need
more time to really understand our requirements
• Therefore using multiple tools at different context concurrently can help
complementing the weaknesses of tools. 10
What are the insights of this story?

11. Explicit knowledge
and
Tacit knowledge
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12. • Facts and theories that are easily to learn.
• Describable in words, the “know-what” aspect of the knowledge. Commonly
seen in prints, electronic media, documents, blueprints, manuals or patents.
• Knowledge that are open, conscious, logical, structural and directly shareable.
What is explicit knowledge？
Courtesy: Flickr
(Grant 1996, Smith 2001, Nonaka 1994, Wong, Radcliffe 2000, Kikoski, Kikoski 2004)
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13. • Know-how knowledge that cannot be easily documented, and learning it
often requires observations and practices.
• Can be learnt through imitation, face-to-face interactions, best practices,
knacks and special techniques.
• Knowledge that is personal, abstract, unconscious, illogical; and sharing such
knowledge is often unstructured and indirect.
What is tacit knowledge？
Courtesy: Wikipedia Commons
(Grant 1996, Smith 2001, Choo 2000, Wong, Radcliffe 2000, Athanassiou, Nigh 2000, Smith 2001, Kikoski, Kikoski 2004)
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14. • Driving, sports (swimming, ball games, ice skating)
• Handcrafts and art creation techniques
• Fashion tastes
• Technical techniques, e.g. coding best practices
• Interpersonal skills
• Instincts of problem identification
• Grabbing insights from data
Examples of tacit knowledge
Courtesy: Flickr、
Wikipedia Commons
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15. The SECI Knowledge Conversion Model (Nonaka et al. 2000)
Learn more
about the
products
through IM or
face-to-face
interactions
Product
manager
prepares the
document
Product launch
manager
combines and
summarise
documents
from several
product
managers.
Country
product
representatives
listen to what
HK office
shared in the
meeting.
Conversions between
Explicit knowledge and Tacit knowledge
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Socialisation
Learn through
interpersonal
relationship
Externalisation
Able to explain the
knowledge explicitly
Internalisation
Learn the generalised
knowledge and keep it
ingrained in mind
Combination
Linking, organising and
generalising multiple
sources of information
Tacit
TacitTacit
Explicit
Tacit
ExplicitExplicit
Explicit

16. • Tacit knowledge cannot be documented
easily
• Tacit knowledge must be learnt through
lengthy observations, practices, thinking
and figuring out processes
• Existing knowledge management tools
are biased to explicit knowledge sharing
• Knowledge sharers and receivers cannot
express and observe on IT tools for a
prolonged period
Why sharing tacit knowledge in
virtual teams is so difficult？
Courtesy: Wikipedia Commons
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17. • Whether Tacit knowledge is…
• codifiable
• complex
• informative
• relevant to knowledge receivers
• Knowledge sharers and receivers:
• Are mutually trusted
• Interact frequently
• Perceive that the knowledge sharing is fair
• Have adequate time for knowledge sharing
• Use the approriate tools
Factors affecting sharing of tacit knowledge
(Hendriks 1999, Gertler 2003, Kearns, Lederer 2003, Zakaria et al. 2004, Cho, Lee 2004, Lin 2007a, Lin 2007b , Ryan, O'Connor 2009, Seidler-de Alwis, Trkman,
Trkman 2009 , Hartmann 2008, Li 2010, Tohidinia, Mosakhani 2010, Xue et al. 2011, Chow 2011)
Courtesy: Wikipedia Commons
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18. • Knowledge sharers’…
• Teaching techniques
• Language and culture background
aligns with knowledge receivers
• Knowledge receivers’…
• personal background and context
• absorptive capacity
• language and culture background
matches with knowledge sharers
(Hendriks 1999, Gertler 2003, Kearns, Lederer 2003, Zakaria et al. 2004, Cho, Lee 2004, Lin 2007a, Lin 2007b , Ryan, O'Connor 2009, Seidler-de Alwis, Trkman,
Trkman 2009 , Hartmann 2008, Li 2010, Tohidinia, Mosakhani 2010, Xue et al. 2011, Chow 2011)
图片来源：Open Source Hong Kong
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Factors affecting sharing of tacit knowledge

19. • Organisational culture and policies
• Clear knowledge sharing objectives
• Management endorsement
• Organisational structures, departmental
independence and relationships
• Rewarding policies
• Office politics and culture
(Hendriks 1999, Gertler 2003, Kearns, Lederer 2003, Zakaria et al. 2004, Cho, Lee 2004, Lin 2007a, Lin 2007b , Ryan, O'Connor 2009, Seidler-de Alwis, Trkman,
Trkman 2009 , Hartmann 2008, Li 2010, Tohidinia, Mosakhani 2010, Xue et al. 2011, Chow 2011)
Courtesy: Amanda Lam @ jobsDB
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Factors affecting sharing of tacit knowledge

20. Our research
Exploring factors affecting the use of IT tools in tacit knowledge
sharing for virtual project team in an international collaborative
product development environment
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21. • Multi-methods Exploratory Case Study approach
(Yin 2008)
• Repertory Grid Technique,
a elicitation technique from psychology
• Data collection methods
• Face-to-face interactions
• Surveys
Feel free to participate!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TJSF36D (English)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PJ6G967 (中文)
Methodology
Courtesy: SAGE
Publications
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22. Personal background of interviewees and
survey participants
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23. Preliminary results
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24. How to share tacit knowledge in virtual
teams effectively via IT tools?
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25. Factors that affect tacit knowledge sharing
are also applicable to virtual teams
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26. • Most people use a mixture of new (e.g. WhatsApp) and traditional tools (e.g.
phone)
• Traditional and new tools complement each other
• Traditional tools have strengths in popularity
• New tools support better bidirectional interactions, which benefits tacit
knowledge sharing
How social networking tools influence
people sharing tacit knowledge？
Courtesy: Microsoft, WhatsApp, Skype
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27. • In the world of knowledge management, tacit knowledge is just a tip
of the iceberg. Most knowledge are tacit knowledge that cannot be
preserved easily
• The research findings helps management to:
• Formulate better communication strategies for virtual teams
• Better leverage IT tools to preserve tacit knowledge
• Coordinate with resource planning and personnel training
• As a result, promotes overall sharing efficiency and effectiveness to
achieve a better competitive advantage
Management implications of this research
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28. Thank you!
Follow me on twitter:
@amanda_lam
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