Different types of knowledge that can be found in human capital.
Tacit knowledge: This is the type of knowledge that remains at an "unconscious" level, is disjointed and we implement and execute it in a mechanical way without realizing its content. Let's see it practically to be clearer through some questions:
- Why are you holding the steering wheel of your car like that? How do you brush your teeth in the morning? Why are you holding this book like that? Remember the last time I hammered a nail. Why do I hold the hammer that way? When you write on paper, how and why do you do it that way? How do you relate to your co-workers? How do you look at people during a meeting?
The answers to these questions are there, you have them, what happens is that you have never thought and analyzed them. You just do it in a mechanical, intuitive way without looking for an explanation, the knowledge remains below the surface and you are not aware of it until you consciously analyze it.
Generally we need outside help to be able to bring it to the surface or make it explicit. For example, last night, during dinner, my wife was telling me how she learned to cook. She told me that no one had taught her, but that she had learned to cook by watching her mother and practicing. She also told me that she didn't know why she cooked that way she just did it.
Surely, if I had asked the mother to explain why she cooks that way, she would not have been able to explain either, simply because that knowledge to cook is both used mechanically. The way in which knowledge has been transmitted between them is through assimilation, observation and imitation.
If you, dear reader, want to ask her for a cooking recipe, she will do it, what she will not be able to transmit to you is the most tacit part of the process, such as how to hold the pot, how to serve it, how to stir, the right measure of the fire, when to put the food, when to take it out, how to control the cooking, etc. Be careful !!!!, tacit knowledge can be made explicit and transmitted, but another process is required that is more linked, as we said before, to observation, imitation and assimilation. Surely if you install it in her kitchen for a few months, you can remove it.
Getting fully into the level of organizations, tacit knowledge is the most difficult to extract, but it is the most valuable, since this type of knowledge is the one that gives a unique style and very difficult to match by the competition. And generally it is the one that gives added value to the intellectual worker and the knowledge-oriented company.
So the task that companies must face is to make this tacit knowledge explicit (see knowledge creation chapter IV).
Implicit knowledge: Unlike tacit knowledge, implicit knowledge is what we know we have, but we do not realize that we are using it, we simply execute it and put it into practice in a habitual way. Again let's look at some questions to be clearer with this concept:
- How do you save a file when you are using Microsoft's Word program? On what knowledge is a judge based to pass sentences? If I ask you for a cooking recipe. Your favorite, how and what would happen to me? If you speak a second language, how do you speak and use it? How many centimeters is a meter? Is Spain in Asia or Europe? When you commute to work, why do you use that path?
You have the answers to these questions, you have them and you can explain them because they have an explanation and an objective justification, what happens is while you are executing them, you are not aware of what you are doing. You apply implicit knowledge in a habitual way, but not in a mechanical way, since you are fully aware of why you do things in a way.
When employees are asked for help on common procedures, what they do in most cases is to make the implicit knowledge explicit. For example, Mengano uses word processors extensively to carry out his role within the company. When Sultano asks him how to use Microsoft's WinWord, Mengano will make explicit the implicit knowledge that he uses on a daily basis and will say, "go to start, programs, Microsoft Word and that's it."
Explicit knowledge: Explicit knowledge is what we know we have and are fully aware when we execute it, it is the easiest to share with others since it is structured and often schematized to facilitate its dissemination. For the last time, let's go to the questions that will clarify this concept:
- What is your phone number? At what address do you currently live? What is your main task in the company that you currently perform? If you work in customer service, what should you do with a customer complaint? What are the objectives to be met in the organization? Who participates with you in project X? What do you do when the computer "hangs"?
Reaching the level of having explicit knowledge is the most comfortable situation for human capital and the organization will benefit from it. Once this has been achieved, knowledge can be enhanced by establishing procedure manuals, business formats, ways of proceeding, trainings, seminars, etc.
A clear example of what happens when knowledge is explicit we see with franchises, franchises are a business format where all knowledge is made explicit in order to transmit it to franchisees. At Mc Donald's, for example, when you go to one that is in New York, it is the same attention, the same products, the same service and the same business concept as the one in Barcelona, Paris, São Paulo or Korea. This happens because the knowledge that is transmitted is made explicit in a structured way that allows transmission in a hegemonic way.
The same thing happens with books, for example I have a book called "How to create web pages", it has seven chapters and starts from the basics to publication and dissemination on the web. In this book, and many others as well, what the author does is make explicit the knowledge he possesses by putting it into a structure or format with codes that is understandable by the reader.
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