The Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

Knowledge plays a key role in the information revolution. Major challenges are to select the "right" information from numerous sources and transform it into useful knowledge.

Without the ready exchange of information, knowledge cannot be created, decisions cannot be made. Without knowledge, innovations cannot be adopted. The interconversion of tacit and explicit information provides the social interactions required for creating knowledge. Studying a cook, writing a recipe, creating a menu, and practicing a technique are all examples of interconversion of tacit and explicit information.

The "Iceberg" metaphor - Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Relationship

Each of those steps also requires interactions with others in order to proceed. Thus knowledge is created and innovations are adopted only through a web of social interactions.

Tacit knowledge is the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. For example, stating to someone that London is in the United Kingdom is a piece of explicit knowledge that can be written down, transmitted, and understood by a recipient. However, the ability to speak a language, use algebra, or design and use complex equipment requires all sorts of knowledge that is not always known explicitly, even by expert practitioners, and which is difficult to explicitly transfer to users. While tacit knowledge appears to be simple, it has far reaching consequences and is not widely understood.

On the other hand, explicit knowledge is the knowledge that has been articulated, codified, and stored in certain media. It can be readily transmitted to others. The information contained in encyclopedias is good examples of explicit knowledge.

Tacit knowledge based on common sense, and explicit knowledge based on academic accomplishment is both underutilized. Organizations must begin to create worker-centered environments to encourage the open sharing and use of all forms of knowledge

Conversion between these two forms of information by the interaction of human beings creates new knowledge, the ability to take an action. There are four possible processes on the path to knowledge creation:

1. Tacit-to-tacit (socialization) – the direct exposure, testing and acquisition of information between individuals. Learning by observing, imitating and practicing, or become ’’socialized’’ into a specific way of doing things, like learning from mentors and peers. E.g. watch someone.

2. Tacit-to-explicit (conversation) – the articulation of personal information into defined, decision-producing form. Record discussions, descriptions and innovations in a manual and then use the content to create a new product. Converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge means finding a way to express the inexpressible. E.g. write something.

3. Explicit-to-explicit (combination) – the combination of diverse pieces of information to produce new knowledge, like using numerous data sources to write a financial report. E.g. analyze results.
 
4. Explicit-to-tacit (internalization) – the subjective process of making new information one’s own. Re-frame or interpret explicit knowledge using a person’s frame of reference so that knowledge can be understood and then internalized or accepted by others. A person’s unique tacit knowledge can be applied in creative ways to broaden, extend or re-frame a specific idea. Tacit knowledge does not become part of a person’s knowledge base until it is articulated and internalized. E.g. memorize something.

Tacit knowledge is acquired, taught and shared through knowledge fairs, learning communities, study missions, tours, advisory boards, job rotation, stories, myths and task forces. Ways to teach both tacit knowledge and formal academic knowledge or job skills are similar. Experienced people teach tacit knowledge directly to less experienced people by ’’ showing them the ropes’’. Tacit knowledge is taught indirectly by writing down answers to these questions:

- What do you know about your strengths, weaknesses, values and ambitions?
- What are the strengths, weakness, values and ambitions of others with whom you work?
- How would you approach a similar job differently in the future?

People can be trained to use this newly acquired information to improve their ability to acquire and apply tacit knowledge. It is also important to locate the most valued people in the organization and determine why they are so highly valued.

Organizations that recognize and use their employees’ steadily growing wealth of tacit and explicit knowledge to solve problems and achieve goals have a major competitive advantage. However, many organizations need to improve how they acquire and share tacit and explicit knowledge. Supportive, interactive learning environments built on trust; openness and collective ownership definitely encourage knowledge acquisition and sharing. New knowledge is created when people transfer and share what they know, internalize it and apply what they learned. The value and worth of individual, group and corporate intellectual assets grow exponentially when shared and increase in value with use. Human inertia is the biggest obstacle to knowledge management.

Major concepts underlying the entire spectrum of knowledge, like knowledge sharing and open communication, should be tied to corporate financial variables. Monetary and non-monetary (intrinsic motivators,) should be used to rewarded people for their abilities to recognize, store and share knowledge. Monetary motivators are bonuses and percentages of corporate profits. Intrinsic motivators are non-financial rewards, like peer recognition and opportunities to do challenging work.

Ultimate judges of success are supervisors, team members, partners, shareholders and many others in the value chain. Vital tacit knowledge vanishes when companies reorganize, merge, or downsize.

The need for training in knowledge-based areas is endless. However, people welcome opportunities to teach others how to acquire and transform data and explicit information into tacit knowledge. ’’Learners’’ and ’’teachers’’ report that their most rewarding and meaningful learning experiences are one on one. These learner-centered ways to share tacit knowledge are examples of intrinsic, or self-motivators. The strong desire many people have to use and share their tacit knowledge will further increase the momentum and direction of the knowledge revolution.

Organizations that do not permit the easy conversion of information will create less knowledge and adopt fewer innovations. This is often seen by the inability of organizations to convert tacit information into forms usable by all. Some groups punish socialization and conversation in the community.

Wisdom can never be attained without the rapid flow of information in a community.

Tangible Intangible

Microsoft recently released Windows 8 as their new Operating System. The platform focuses on touch technology; primarily it was designed to be used in tablet computers. The traditional “Start Menu” was already gone, and been replaced by the “Metro Style” menu. Due to legal issues, they renamed the term “Metro” into Modern UI. Although Microsoft receives a very fair rating on their new OS, because it has a lot of competitors, especially in mobile computing: IOS, and Android, by which are more stable and user friendly for consumers. Most consumers still prefer to use Apple, and Android phones, rather than to use Windows phones.

Windows 8 Modern UI

Microsoft has a bad reputation on its first releases of Operating Systems, that’s why most companies don’t want to buy Windows 8. Like Windows Vista, Windows 8 may seem to be very unstable, and there will be application compatibility issues. They have chosen to stick with Windows 7, which is the most stable OS to date.

Lots of ideas and great minds that were combined to create this new operating system.  From planning, conceptualization, and programming, Microsoft came up with Windows 8. They even started developing Windows 9 as the successor, which is expected to be released in 2015.

These ideas, concepts, and knowledge are the intangible assets of the organization. Intangible assets can also become tangible. It can be in a form of a document, a website, a database, or a device that will serve as references or information resource of the company. These are the “tangible intangible” of the organization.

Computer programmers are paid to create new applications. Managers are compensated to solve problems. IT Specialist are there to solve problems on business applications, infrastructure, and to provide enterprise solutions for their clients.

Since the knowledge of a person is intangible, usually brought out when an employee go home, organizations came out with the use of a knowledgebase. Knowledgebase connects the firm’s experts, ideas, processes, guidelines, proven processes and templates, and regardless of geography or specialty and avoiding long costly hours of repeating work. In case that an employee left the company, there will be an available reference regarding his work, especially procedures that can be turn over to the new employee.

IBM Blue Pages

Another tangible intangible of an organization is the Corporate Yellow Pages. We call it “Blue Pages” in IBM. It is like an online profile/ resume, which contains the contact information of an employee, including the job description, expertise, and accomplished projects. Corporate Yellow Pages connects inquirers to experts to save time, reduce error and guess work, and prevents the reinvention of countless wheels (email, Skype, IM, Blogs, Search Queries, and similar tools). These are maps that show where the knowledge of the enterprise is located. Corporate Yellow Pages can be used as a tool for collaboration. By this tool, the organization can easily track those qualified employees to solve problems and capable of handling certain projects.

Next, is the Lessons Learned. Lessons Learned is a documentation of what went right and wrong, what worked and did not work, together with guidelines and / or checklist for others who are engaged to similar projects. Eliminates rework and prevents potential failure. This is useful in commencing a project so that those best procedures or practices are applied, and also prevent potential mistakes that may happen in the future. Lessons Learned is also relevant in events that happen from the past. It shows what good actions must be taken; eliminating inappropriate actions so that the failure won’t happen again.

The last tangible intangible considered a “must have” of the organization is the Competitor Intelligence System. Competitor Intelligence System talks across organizational boundaries that include continuously updated and organized knowledge about suppliers, customers, and competitors. Knowing your competitors strengths and weaknesses will be a great advantage for your organization. You can formulate your own strategy based on your company’s opportunities and threats. Gathering competitive intelligence is not an option, and most businesses can’t afford to dedicate resources to the function. CI system can help small and larger businesses become aware of their market and their competitors more efficiently and effectively.

There you have it, the four tangible intangible of the organization. Since these systems are interrelated, you can form a chain out of these systems, and create a knowledge portal reporting system for the organization.

Intangible assets can be tangible assets. Information and Knowledge can be converted into tangible assets which will give a lot of benefits for the organization.

“Using high-speed microprocessors, intranets, whizzy search-engines, you can automate, spiff up, hyperlink, and turbocharged the apparatus to preserve what might otherwise deteriorate, and catalog what might otherwise disappear.”

Everything Happens for a Reason

Holy week is a solemn week of reflection about Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, that’s why it is said to be a wonderful time to attend masses, bible studies, and retreats. Some people enjoy their vacation by going to beaches; do some extreme sports, nature tripping, and a lot more.

But, I’ve chosen to be with my relatives, contemplated about the Word of God, the blessings that I’ve received for the past years, and attended the Triduum Mass.

I also recalled my past experiences, my achievements, and the problems that I conquered. These experiences help me develop my leadership skills, and attained the job position that I desired.


A Blast from the Past

During my college days, I was one of the active students who always participate in school events. I’m an active member of AMA Microsystems and Philippine Institute of Computer Engineering Students. These two IT organizations help AMA students by providing training and seminars. As a one of the leaders, I conducted review classes, mentoring to students, and became an adviser for design projects.

My father died when I was in 2nd year college because of cancer. We were having a financial problem that time, which may result me to stop pursuing my studies. But I’ve decided to take a part-time job, and I was employed in a fast food chain as a service crew. Although I discern that it is difficult, I made this decision in order to help my mother in all our financial expenses.  This setup greatly affects my performance. My grades went down; there are times that I didn’t have an adequate sleep, and I don’t have time to review my lessons prior to taking the exams. After six months, I made a decision to quit my part-time job and focus on my studies. I’m very grateful that my mother understands my situation. I resort to help her in our canteen business every morning before attending my classes.


 As a Trainer, an Environmentalist, and a Choir member

Meeting new people is my passion, that’s why I really love to join organizations. At the age of 9, I was invited by our parish priest to join the Knights of the Altar and became an acolyte (altar server), and then later I became a choir member for our church. From that experience, I became closer to God and knowledgeable about the Bible. Serving God is priceless; I believe that you must put God first in your life than anyone else. Singing and praising Him is really great experience.

Allan Mejia with the Bukas Palad Music Ministry 

I also got an opportunity to be part of the Bukas Palad Online Community Choir, met the Bukas Palad Music Ministry, and sing with them, especially on their regular church services, and events.

Our parish priest appointed me to conduct training about computer for the Silbi Libis Project. My students were our parishioners who want to develop their computer skills.



Teaching with different types of people is really a challenge. I have students who were younger and older than me. Still, the project became successful.

And then I became an active member and a volunteer for Mother Earth Foundation. I conducted training on Solid Waste Management, and participated in events together with other non-government organizations. I created and maintained the organization’s website, made brochures, pamphlets, and manuals.


Working at IBM

Working at IBM is a great opportunity. I was given a chance to lead projects, work with different nationalities, and excel in my profession.

I was assigned as technical support lead for 3 accounts; Airline, Online marketing, and Apple. Because of our dedication and good performance, our team received an IBM Ovation Award.

And then, I became a Desktop Engineering Specialist, my responsibility is similar to a Subject Matter Expert (SME). I’m the contact person for all support and production applications, and became the project lead for application and desktop deployments, as well as TSE Team Lead.


The Project Move

The Project Move is the most challenging project that I engaged with, wherein we have to move our entire infrastructure from EDSA Square to Hanston Square. The first challenge is that, we only have three weeks to accomplish the task, and we must move the accounts without disruption in the operations.

We transferred the accounts one by one, and making sure that upon transferring the accounts, there will be no problems on network, as well as in the applications. Unexpectedly, we experienced a lot challenge, since network specialists haven’t configured yet the accounts’ network. Even the domain services are unreachable, which caused the delay in the project.

And since I’m the lead for desktop deployments, I began to coordinate with the other specialists, and guided the Technical Support Team for testing and troubleshooting. Given that a lot of LOBs are already transferred in the new site, we have to support them 24/7, which had caused me a lot of extended hours and sleepless nights. Every time we encounter a problem we must immediately fix and coordinate the impacted constituencies within the IT team, and our clients.


Desire for Advancement and Expanding My Network

APC Buddies

I began studying new technologies, and became an IT Certified Professional for Microsoft and VMware. I also gained an ITILv3 Foundation Certification for IT Service Management. Gaining Microsoft Certification in Windows Server 2008 led me to become a Systems Administrator, and became an Operations Lead for Server Compliance Team. 
I attended a lot of soft skills training, by which really help me develop my leadership skills.


Since I’m aiming for a Technical Management position; I’ve decided to pursue my Master’s Degree in Information Systems in Asia Pacific College.

I joined the Microsoft Partner Network to be more knowledgeable on Microsoft products, and became a Pre-Sales Technical Specialist for Private Cloud: Management and Virtualization.

Since I want to expand my professional network, I signed up and became an active member of the following organizations: Philippine IT Organization (Phil-IT Org), Philippine Computer Society (PCS), and Wikimedia Philippines.


IT Architect Mentoring Program

I was inspired by the Growth Market Units (GMUs), and became interested in the IT Architect profession. IT Architects have both technical and management skills/capabilities.  Fortunately, I've got a mentor from Singapore. He is an Infrastructure Architect. I already took up the initial courses for IT Architect. I arrange meeting with my mentor every month in order to track my development. I’m very grateful because I have the support of my manager in pursuing this profession.

All these experiences mold me to become a good leader. It is truly, that everything happens for a reason. You will definitely learn from your experiences. Every challenge is an opportunity. And lastly, feedback is a gift, because it gives you a room for improvement.

The 4 Cs of leadership that shines in me: Character, Competence, Concern, and Communication.


“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."  -- John Quincy Adams --

Alter Ego

Last December, IBM Global Process Services celebrated their Christmas Party with a theme “Alter Ego” with a tag line “Each of us is Wearing a Mask”. 

An alter ego is a second self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. A person who has an alter ego is said to lead a double life.  Alter ego is also used to refer to the different behaviors any person may display in certain situations.

We, Filipinos, are famous in being joyful. They often say, even we have a lot of problems; facing natural disasters, and calamities, financial problems, and emotional problems; we still make ourselves laugh, and always wear a smile. Bamboo’s song composition “Pinoy Ako” was truly inspirational. The song implies that we have a kind of “amulet” which we use as our shield to overcome all the problems in our life. And this powerful amulet is no other than our faith to God.

In the workplace, we often see smiles especially when you greet someone. We do not notice if the smile that is manifested by a person is real. In fact, a lot of them have different meanings. Perhaps, we still must wear a smile when working, especially when facing our clients and customers.  Call center agents are very talented in terms of changing their disposition when handling calls; whether their caller is an irate or a nice customer.

I, myself is good in handling problems and difficulties in life. I forget my personal and family problems when working, because I believe it will greatly affect my performance. This is a great way of controlling my personal emotions in different situations, especially when facing and interacting with my colleagues.

Each of us possesses different personalities that we can play in our daily life. Maybe you have a different personality while working in your office, and you play a different personality when you’re at home. But the most dominant is our personality that we acquired from our parents and environment. This is not easy to change, because this is our own nature, our true self, by which makes us different from other person. 

Human brains are capable of recording actual experiences of internal and external events, the most significant of which are recorded during the first five years of life. The states of being are not roles but psychological realities and phenomenological realities. The state is produced by the playback of recorded data of events in the past, involving real people, real times, real places, real decisions, and real feelings. Recorded events are inculcated in the subconscious mind and have automatic playback capability that can either be harmonious or unpleasant.


Although we have those recordings, we can choose what to play from those recordings. We can turn-off what are unnecessary, and or negative behavior that we acquired from those events.

An adult do not react to problems and challenges no matter how complex and great they are, but instead responds to provide solutions and innovations. We must respond like matured individuals and act with a systematic perspective in our life.

"I hide all problems behind my smile. Behind my smile is a world of pain. You think you know me, but you have no idea."