"Tacit Knowledge" versus "Explicit Knowledge": Approaches to Knowledge Management Practice

This paper explains two fundamental approaches to knowledge management. The tacitknowledge approach emphasizes understanding the kinds of knowledge that individualsin an organization have, moving people to transfer knowledge within an organization,and managing key individuals as knowledge creators and carriers. By contrast, theexplicit knowledge approach emphasizes processes for articulating knowledge held byindividuals, the design of organizational approaches for creating new knowledge, andthe development of systems (including information systems) to disseminate articulatedknowledge within an organization. The relative advantages and disadvantages of bothapproaches to knowledge management are summarized. A synthesis of tacit andknowledge management approaches is recommended to create a hybrid design for theknowledge management practices in a given organization.