Uncovering Tacit Knowledge: A Pilot Study to Broaden the Concept of Knowledge in Knowledge Translation

BACKGROUND: All sectors in health care are being asked to focus on the knowledge-to-practice gap, or knowledge translation, to increase service effectiveness. A social interaction approach to knowledge translation assumes that research evidence becomes integrated with previously held knowledge, and practitioners build on and co-create knowledge through mutual interactions. Knowledge translation strategies for public health have not provided anticipated positive changes in evidence-based practice, possibly due in part to a narrow conceptualization of knowledge. More work is needed to understand the role of tacit knowledge in decision-making and practice. This pilot study examined how health practitioners applied tacit knowledge in public health program planning and implementation. METHODS: This study used a narrative approach, where teams from two public health units in Ontario, Canada were conveniently selected. Respondents participated in individual interviews and focus groups at each site. Questions were designed to understand the role of tacit knowledge as it related to the program planning process. Data were analyzed through a combination of content analysis and thematic comparison. RESULTS: The findings highlighted two major aspects of knowledge that arose: the use of tacit knowledge and the integration of tacit and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge included: past experiences, organization-specific knowledge, community contextual knowledge, and the recognition of the tacit knowledge of others. Explicit knowledge included: research literature, the Internet, popular magazines, formal assessments (surveys and interviews), legislation and regulations. Participants sometimes deliberately combined tacit and explicit knowledge sources in planning. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot demonstrated that front-line public health workers draw upon both tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge in their everyday lived reality. Further, tacit knowledge plays an important role in practitioners\u27 interpretation and implementation of explicit research findings. This indicates a need to broaden the scope of knowledge translation to include other forms of knowledge beyond explicit knowledge acquired through research. Strategies that recognize and support the use of tacit knowledge, such as communities of practice or networks, may be important components of a comprehensive approach to knowledge translation. This study provides support for further investigation of the role of tacit knowledge in the planning and delivery of effective public health services

Facilitating knowledge sharing in Chalco: the role of communities of practice

Communities of practice (CoPs) have recently become key components in organizational knowledge management initiatives (Wenger, 2004). They have achieved prominence in the context of knowledge management and organizational learning both with scholars and practitioners. Many researches (Ardichvili et al., 2003; Davenport & Voelpel, 2001; Davenport & Probst, 2002) have investigated how some multinational companies integrated different kinds of CoPs into their knowledge management systems. But those studies focus mainly on the regions of the Western countries. There are limited researches conducted on other social context. This research therefore is to address CoPs in a Chinese organization - Chalco and investigates how the Learning Groups as the communities of practice facilitate knowledge sharing in the company. This research adopts the Nonaka‘s (1994) organizational knowledge creation model (SECI) and defines the organizational knowledge sharing as two parts of organization knowledge creation process: socialisation and externalisation. It examines how the Learning Groups facilitate tacit knowledge sharing (socialization) and the knowledge conversion from tacit to explicit (externalization). This research takes the social constructionist standpoint, trying to understand individuals‘ experience of participating Learning Groups in the company, through the interpretive lens. It adopts a qualitative approach using in-depth interviews to gather data which are then analysed using the narrative analysis approach paying attention to individuals‘ experience expressed through their interview accounts. Through narrative analysis, the way in which Learning Groups facilitate tacit knowledge sharing and the conversion from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge has been emerged. Some influences of Chinese cultural and social factors to the knowledge were also found. The finding of this study suggests that there are some knowledge sharing barriers caused by both organizational factors and cultural factors. The Learning Groups in Chalco have been playing very positive roles in overcoming those barriers and facilitating knowledge sharing in the company. The findings of this research can benefit to both academics and practitioners. It will help the related academics to understand how the Chinese cultural and social influences on knowledge management practice and how CoPs facilitate knowledge sharing in such context. It also provides an example of best practice on knowledge management for other business managers and government policy makers so that they can develop appropriate knowledge management strategies for the benefit of their companies and the social development

A Culturally Grounded Approach to Nepalese Grandmothers’ Caring Work: Developing Dohori as a Narrative Methodology

The social sciences have a growing seismic shift from prioritising positivist, objective, and generalizable knowledge to accepting subjective qualitative knowledge. This has given rise to various art-based methods that leverage multi-sensory storytelling/narrative. To further advance innovation in qualitative narrative methods, I will present the Dohori narrative, an indigenous Nepali poetic storytelling method for narrative research with older grandmothers doing care work. I start by presenting a discourse on Dohori to understand better the history and traditional and cultural underpinning of the method. Provided a brief background to Nepali grandmother immigrants and then discussed the promise of Dohori as a form of culturally relevant narrative interviewing with this population. To demonstrate this, I provide an examplar case study adopting a conventional narrative interview and then Dohori to show the differences. The study showed that Dohori has the potential to elicit stories, emotions, and tacit knowledge and access other areas of consciousness that traditional narrative interviews are not privy to. I conclude by arguing for the adoption of Dohori and similar dialogical poetic methods for research with indigenous populations, especially minority groups with limited voice

Modeling functional requirements using tacit knowledge: a design science research methodology informed approach

The research in this paper adds to the discussion linked to the challenge of capturing and modeling tacit knowledge throughout software development projects. The issue emerged when modeling functional requirements during a project for a client. However, using the design science research methodology at a particular point in the project helped to create an artifact, a functional requirements modeling technique, that resolved the issue with tacit knowledge. Accordingly, this paper includes research based upon the stages of the design science research methodology to design and test the artifact in an observable situation, empirically grounding the research undertaken. An integral component of the design science research methodology, the knowledge base, assimilated structuration and semiotic theories so that other researchers can test the validity of the artifact created. First, structuration theory helped to identify how tacit knowledge is communicated and can be understood when modeling functional requirements for new software. Second, structuration theory prescribed the application of semiotics which facilitated the development of the artifact. Additionally, following the stages of the design science research methodology and associated tasks allows the research to be reproduced in other software development contexts. As a positive outcome, using the functional requirements modeling technique created, specifically for obtaining tacit knowledge on the software development project, indicates that using such knowledge increases the likelihood of deploying software successfully

Use of IC information in Japanese financial firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of: how Japanese financial firms (JFF) acquire and use company intellectual capital (IC) information in their common routine equity investment decisions, how this activity contributes to knowledge creation in the JFFs, and how investee company knowledge creation is affected by the JFFs.<p></p> Design/methodology/approach – The research employed a multi-case design, using four JFF cases. The investigation was performed in terms of Nonaka and Toyama's “theory of the knowledge creating firm”.<p></p> Findings – IC information contributed to earnings estimates and company valuation. Emotional information contributed to JFF feelings and confidence in their information use and valuation. JFF knowledge was an important component of the key interacting and informed contexts used by JFFs. This generated opportunities to improve disclosure and accountability between JFFs and their investee companies. Common patterns of behaviour across the JFFs were counterbalanced by variety and differences noted in JFF behaviour.<p></p> Practical implications – The findings provide important insights into how JFF knowledge creating patterns could limit or progress a common language of communication between companies and markets on the subject of IC. This could impact on the quality of corporate disclosure and accountability processes.<p></p> Originality/value – The paper demonstrates that there is a need for further use of qualitative studies of financial market behavior. Especially in the area of understanding the communication of IC between firms and financial markets, the potential of using sociology of finance approaches appears to be considerable

Practitioner accounts and knowledge production: an analysis of three marketing discourses

Responding to repeated calls for marketing academicians to connect with marketing actors, we offer an empirically-sourced discourse analysis of the ways in which managers portray their practices. Focusing on the micro-discourses and narratives that marketing actors draw upon to represent their work we argue that dominant representations of marketing knowledge production present a number of critical concerns for marketing theory and marketing education. We also evidence that the often promoted idea of a need to close the gap between theory - as a dominant discourse - and practice, as a way of doing marketing, is problematic to pursue. We suggest that a more fruitful agenda resides in the development of a range of polyphonic and creative micro-discourses of management, promoting context, difference and individual meaning in marketing knowledge production