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10 Chapter 1

Table 1.1
Comparison of properties of tacit versus explicit knowledge

Properties of tacit knowledge Properties of explicit knowledge
Ability to adapt, to deal with new and Ability to disseminate, to reproduce, to access
exceptional situations and re-apply throughout the organization
Expertise, know-how, know-why, and Ability to teach, to train
care-why
Ability to collaborate, to share a vision, to Ability to organize, to systematize, to
transmit a culture translate a vision into a mission statement,
into operational guidelines
Coaching and mentoring to transfer Transfer knowledge via products, services,
experiential knowledge on a one-to-one, and documented processes
face-to-face basis

tangible form such as words, audio recordings, or images. Tacit knowledge tends to
reside within the heads of knowers , whereas explicit knowledge is usually contained
within tangible or concrete media. However, it should be noted that this is a rather
simplistic dichotomy. In fact, the property of tacitness is a property of the knower:
that which is easily articulated by one person may be very diffi cult to externalize by
another. The same content may be explicit for one person and tacit for another.
There is also somewhat of a paradox at play here: highly skilled, experienced, and
expert individuals may fi nd it harder to articulate their know-how. Novices, on the
other hand, are more apt to easily verbalize what they are attempting to do because
they are typically following a manual or how-to process. Table 1.1 summarizes some
of the major properties of tacit and explicit knowledge.
Typically, the more tacit knowledge is, the more valuable it tends to be. The
paradox lies in the fact that the more diffi cult it is to articulate a concept such as story ,
the more valuable that knowledge may be. This is often witnessed when people make
reference to knowledge versus know-how, or knowing something versus knowing how
to do something. Valuable tacit knowledge often results in some observable action
when individuals understand and subsequently make use of knowledge. Another
perspective is that explicit knowledge tends to represent the fi nal end product whereas
tacit knowledge is the know-how or all of the processes that were required in order
to produce that fi nal product.
We have a habit of writing articles published in scientifi c journals to make the work as fi nished
as possible, to cover up all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or how you had the
wrong idea at fi rst, and so on. So there isn ’ t any place to publish, in a dignifi ed manner, what
you actually did in order to do the work. (Feynman 1966).