Posted by Denham on March 21, 2000 at 12:20:38:

In Reply to: Re: Model for a Knowledge Audit posted by Jason Rudgley on March 21, 2000 at 10:59:59:

Greetings Jason,

Mapping tacit knowledge is always a hit & miss affair as most times the people who posess true tacit knowledge do not know they have it!. The best way to track tacit knowledge is to compile a social network by asking which people are approached for what topics. Typical questions are:

Who do you go to for help, advice, news, information?
Who has helped you when you could not find the information?
Who knows the shortcuts and ways to get things done around here?
Who is most aware of important changes that influence your work?
People who 'know' where & how to focus their attention are another target source

I find it helps to separate tacit knowledge from implicit knowledge. Implicit knowledge consists of lists, steps, cheatsheets, notes, directories, reminders i.e. information that can be distributed via documents or explained in detail, tacit knowledge is about 'feelings', hunches, intuition, personal associations between clues and cures. There is always a gap between what has been written, recorded, explained or stored and what is still waiting to be 'written-up' that is key in this mapping exercise. Finding tacit knowledge is difficult, putting a financial asset value on tacit knowledge holdings is almost impossible. The place to focus on with your audit is the key competencies and mental models that allow the firm to compete. Tools that claim to 'mine' e-mail and other electronic message media for 'hidden' tacit knowledge really operate in the implicit knowledge area.

Good luck.

---

Follow Ups:

• Re: Model for a Knowledge Audit jason rudgley 18:22:53 03/21/00 (4)
  • Re: Model for a Knowledge Audit jason Rudgley 18:24:57 03/21/00 (3)
    • Re: Model for a Knowledge Audit Jabi Odriozola 12:13:10 03/22/00 (2)
      • Knowledge mapping resources Denham 14:51:01 03/22/00 (1)
        • Re: Knowledge mapping resources Jabi Odriozola 12:31:07 03/23/00 (0)
• Implicit Knowledge Bo Newman 15:28:10 03/21/00 (1)
  • More Implicit Knowledge Denham 22:09:54 03/23/00 (0)

---

Click Here to Post Follow Up in New Forums

    Knowledge Management Think Tank (New)

  

 Subject: 

Message: