The obligatory passage point : abstracting the meaning in tacit knowledge

The lived experience of individuals in the workplace results in an accumulation of dispositions to act. Such dispositions have been termed knowledge [Boisot 1998]. Further, this knowledge is considered to be tacit or explicit [Baumard 1999]. Therefore tacit knowledge is one of the precursors of new knowledge. There have been a number of hypotheses as to how such knowledge is transformed into explicit knowledge [Nonaka et al 2000], and then subsequently diffused [Boisot 1998]. Moreover it is impossible to know the magnitude of tacit knowledge that is not articulated, however insightful, original or crucial it may be. The transformation to the explicit rendition can and will act as a filter in an attempt to eliminate meaningless utterances. Therefore some tacit knowledge will be lost in this process. This is an Obligatory Passage Point (OPP) a concept normally associated with Actor Network Theory [Latour 2005]. This is where the decision is made as to ‘what counts’ as legitimate knowledge and it is irreversible. This obligatory passage point is for all tacit knowledge in a community, an organization or even a nation. The case study presented comprises a small number of individuals working in a third sector environment. Although there is agreement as to what is to be achieved, the how question remains open. Despite the common concrete experiences, the tacit appreciation of the perceived action world varies significantly. A process by which an inventory of tacit knowledge can be established, abstracted and combined to act as a base to affect dispositions and expectations is described. The path to the subsequent generation of actionable knowledge is plotted which can subsequently form the basis for an intervention. The delineation between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge in this context is explored by the application of the obligatory passage point. Utilizing the principles of language by Karl Buller the notion of legitimation is discussed. The OPP is significant because when tacit knowledge is shared, there is a process of gaining inter-subjective agreement which legitimizes the explicit representation of the tacit knowledge. The eye can see and interpret the world, but it cannot see itself. All tacit knowledge is gained through the mind’s eye. The collective minds are seeing the collective tacit knowledge of the group and agreeing

Exploiting tacit knowledge through knowledge management technologies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contributions and suitability of the available knowledge management (KM) technologies, including the Web 2.0 for exploiting tacit knowledge. It proposes an integrated framework for extracting tacit knowledge in organisations, which includes Web 2.0 technologies, KM tools, organisational learning (OL) and Community of Practice (CoP). It reviews a comprehensive literature covering overview of KM theories, KM technologies and OL and identifies the current state of knowledge relating to tacit knowledge exploitation. The outcomes of the paper indicate that Internet and Web 2.0 technologies have stunning prospects for creating learning communities where tacit knowledge can be extracted from people. The author recommends that organisations should design procedures and embed them in their Web 2.0 collaborative platforms persuading employees to record their ideas and share them with other members. It is also recommended that no idea should be taken for granted in a learning community where tacit knowledge exploitation is pursued. It is envisaged that future research should adopt empirical approach involving Complex Adaptive Model for Tacit Knowledge Exploitation (CAMTaKE) and the Theory of Deferred Action in examining the effectiveness of KM technologies including Web 2.0 tools for tacit knowledge exploitation

The Role of Tacit Routines in Coordinating Activity

We explore the influence of tacit routines in obtaining coordination. Our experiment uses simple laboratory "firms," in which we interfere with one kind of firm's ability to develop tacit routines. Thus, our firms vary in the degree to which they rely on this kind of knowledge – instead of other, explicit, mechanisms – for obtaining coordination. We find that interfering with the development of tacit routines harms firms’ ability to coordinate. We then explore the extent to which firms are able to transfer their ability to coordinate activity, either to a new domain or to new members. Our results indicate that tacit routines transfer more easily than other mechanisms to a new, but closely related, domain. However, routine-based firms perform slightly worse in their ability to incorporate new members

A Study to Optimize Heterogeneous Resources for Open IoT

Recently, IoT technologies have been progressed, and many sensors and actuators are connected to networks. Previously, IoT services were developed by vertical integration style. But now Open IoT concept has attracted attentions which achieves various IoT services by integrating horizontal separated devices and services. For Open IoT era, we have proposed the Tacit Computing technology to discover the devices with necessary data for users on demand and use them dynamically. We also implemented elemental technologies of Tacit Computing. In this paper, we propose three layers optimizations to reduce operation cost and improve performance of Tacit computing service, in order to make as a continuous service of discovered devices by Tacit Computing. In optimization process, appropriate function allocation or offloading specific functions are calculated on device, network and cloud layer before full-scale operation.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, 2017 Fifth International Symposium on Computing and Networking (CANDAR2017), Nov. 201

Harvesting Knowledge

{Excerpt} If 80% of knowledge is unwritten and largely unspoken, we first need to elicit that before we can articulate, share, and make wider use of it. Knowledge harvesting is one way to drawout and package tacit knowledge to help others adapt, personalize, and apply it; build organizational capacity; and preserve institutional memory. The so-called know-do gap is one outcome of poor knowledge translation and organizational forgetting. In decreasing order of incidence, that is commonly attributed to (i) shortage of resources, e.g., skills, time, and finance, (ii) lack of buy in at all levels within and across organizations, and (iii) information overload. Shortage of resources affects policymakers, researchers, and practitioners equally. In the 21st century, intra-organizational flows of knowledge have become as important as the resource itself. And so, managing both stocks and flows has become an imperative rather than an alternative for most organizations. Knowledge harvesting is a means to draw out, express, and package tacit knowledge to help others adapt, personalize, and apply it; build organizational capacity; and preserve institutional memory. In addition to context and complexity, the concepts that relate to it are tacit knowledge stocks, tacit knowledge flows, and enablers and inhibitors of tacit knowledge work

Joyful bodies, joyful minds: gender euphoria among transgender adults living in Canada

Gender euphoria is a relatively recent term to describe positive experiences of transgender identity. There is very limited literature on this term and its implications, despite the impact it can have on positively affecting one’s self-esteem and pride. In this thesis I seek to understand how transgender adults living in Canada define and experience gender euphoria. 26 participants responded to an online survey that included a series of questions regarding their experiences with gender euphoria, and their definitions for the term. Their responses suggest that gender euphoria encompasses many emotional, psychological, and interpersonal factors. The participants described gender euphoria as a complex and emotion-driven experience, often brought about by both internal changes to one’s self-perception and the external validation of others

Importance of tacit knowledge towards company performance and its relevance to construction

Valuable human and knowledge resources will be wasted unless organisations make better use of these prime resources. Tacit knowledge in particular is still considered to be relatively unexplored and proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense importance for better organisational performance. The research addresses the importance of people factor and tacit knowledge in construction and examines the contribution towards the company performance and achievement of competitive advantage through a thorough literature review. Principle insights of dominant views on organisational resources are discussed to highlight the strategic nature of tacit knowledge. Labour and knowledge intensive nature of the construction industry is revealed and finally the importance and the significant role of people factor and tacit knowledge in construction are highlighted. This provides the basis for more empirical research on finding importance of tacit knowledge towards organisational performance in the construction industry

Tacit Knowledge and Innovation Capacity: Evidence from the Indian Livestock Sector

To cope and compete in this rapidly-changing world, organisations need to access and apply new knowledge. While explicit knowledge is important, what is often critical is an organisation's ability to create, access, share and apply the tacit or un-codified knowledge that exists among its members, its network and the wider innovation system of which it is a part. This discussion paper explores the role of tacit knowledge in livestock sector innovation capacity though the case of Visakha Dairy, one of the most progressive producer-owned milk marketing companies in India. Analysis of two episodes in Visakha's evolution clearly illustrates how it used tacit knowledge to innovate around challenges. The paper concludes that while tacit knowledge is clearly a major resource that organisations rely on to cope with change, it does not follow that knowledge management approaches that rely on codifying this knowledge are the way forward. Instead, what it does suggest is that better management of the learning processes, through which tacit knowledge is generated, would be a more useful contribution to innovation and innovation capacity - in other words, a shift from knowledge management to learning management.Innovation Systems, Innovation Capacity, Tacit Knowledge, Livestock, India Journal