2. We know much more than we can tell
…BY ALBERT EINSTEIN
… BY POLANYI
tacit knowledge resides in the minds of individuals.
Information is not knowledge…..
The only source of knowledge is experience….
inspiration
insights
intuitions
BASICS
Tacit Knowledge Forms
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3. WHY TACIT
KNOWLEDGE
IS CRUCIAL
Mere information of law is no
longer an USP…..
Clients pay for ‘solutions’
not ‘information’
Information imperfections do not
exist in the practice of law
Real-time transactions require
firms to offer real-time solutions
Practice of law requires firms to
adapt and replicate knowledge
into readily usable form
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4. employees filling out endless questionnaires
conducting interviews with knowledge engineers
conducting brainstorming sessions
facilitating JAD (Joint application design) and
JAR (Joint Application Requirements) sessions
Currently, getting access to tacit
knowledge has relied solely on:
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5. An environment that people can organize their learning
around the social communities in which they belong.
The knowledge of the community is integrated in the life
of communities that share values, beliefs, languages, and
ways of doing things.
Knowledge repositories are:
collections of factual, procedural knowledge that
include manuals, best practices, discussion threads,
corporate directories, and SME directories
Capturing tacit knowledge has led to
the following:
Creation of knowledge repositories
Communities of practice
Enterprise knowledge portalsThe enterprise knowledge portal is a single
infrastructure solution that supports the
distributed KM objectives of the organization
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6. Tacit Knowledge Capture
is a process by which the expert’s thoughts and
experiences are captured.
Tacit knowledge capture
involves the transfer of problem-solving
expertise from some knowledge source to a
repository or a program.
Tacit knowledge capture
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7. Tacit Knowledge Capture
tacit knowledge is difficult to track and capture
Tacit knowledge capture has been largely
ignored in traditional KM systems
Tacit knowledge can only be captured when
it is found
Expertise management becomes a central
tenet of tacit knowledge
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8. Collaboration means working together to fulfill
a shared, collective, bounded goal
• The Gantt Chart
• The Kanban Chart
• The To-Do List
• The All-Encompassing Collaboration Suite
• The Social Network
Tacit Knowledge Capture7
9. Tacit Knowledge Capture
Every time
there is a
problem,
the expert
is consulted
Expert has
a knack for
explaining
things
Expert
maintains
credibility
Expert
shares
expertise
willingly
Expert uses
chunked
knowledge
Who is
EXPERT?!
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10. Tacit Knowledge Capture
Advantages:
- Ideal when building a simple KM system
- Better facilitation
- more confidentiality
Drawbacks:
- The expert’s knowledge is not easy to capture
- Expert knowledge is sometimes dispersed
- are more likely to change scheduled meetings
Which one? A Single Expert or
Multiple Experts!
a Single Expert:
Pros and Cons
Multiple Experts:
Pros and Cons
Advantages:
- Complex problem domains benefit
- consider alternative ways
- Formal meetings
Drawbacks:
-Scheduling difficulties
- Disagreements
-Requires more than one knowledge developer
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11. Tacit Knowledge Capture
Tacit Knowledge as a Source of Competitive Advantage
insights, intuitions, and flashes of inspiration
• innovation process
creativity
• It is often called organizational culture
Because tacit knowledge is much harder to detail, copy,
and distribute, it can be a sustainable source of
competitive advantage
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12. Tacit Knowledge Capture
PROCESS OF CAPTURING TACIT KNOWLEDGE
- Organizational culture
Promoting knowledge-sharing tradition
- Discipline
creating individual discipline and corporate discipline.
- Using technology
Capturing and recording knowledge on Information Systems,
including document management, web-sites/ intranet.
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13. Tacit Knowledge Capture
PROCESS OF CAPTURING TACIT KNOWLEDGE
- Partner Training
Senior Partners to contribute training in a drop-in
fashion and share real-life experiences
- Insulating against attrition
Organize deal de-briefs, discussions on transactional dynamics
- Meetings and conferences
Organizing deal debriefings, informal discussions to discussion
transactional dynamics
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15. Tacit Knowledge Capture14
- Polanyi, M. (1958), Personal Knowledge: Toward a Post-
critical Philosophy, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
-Polanyi, M. (1966), The Tacit Dimension, Doubleday, Garden
City, NY.
- Reber, A.S. (1993), Implicit Learning and Tacit Knowledge:
An Essay on the Cognitive Unconscious, Oxford University
Press, New York, NY.
- Smith, E.A. (2001), “The role of tacit and explicit knowledge
in the workplace”, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 5
No. 4, pp. 311-21.
