The Dark Side of Tacit Knowledge

Tacit knowledge by its very nature actually ‘emerges’ from the people’s heads.

The various mental processes that shape and construct certain knowledge are very difficult to comprehend. This sort of knowledge is a key behind exercising judgment in human decision-making and employing intuition or ‘gut-feeling’.

It is seen in experienced managers; because of their tacit knowledge and expertise based on this sort of knowledge, they are able to make better-informed and effective intuitive decisions. However, there is also a probability of these managers making a wrong judgment ending up in wrong decisions.

This paper was inspired by the authors’ experience when delivering presentations on knowledge management issues. In several cases members of the audience responded by observing that some tacit knowledge is inaccurate, incorrect or inappropriate.

Therefore, it is a possibility that the tacit knowledge that we are trying to capture may not be useful. Their objection seems valid when we find out various examples of big judgmental mistakes made by managers that risk and jeopardize a whole project. Through this short paper we acknowledge this fact and endeavor to explain the factors that affect the effectiveness of the tacit knowledge.

The paper also examines what can be done to make sure that tacit knowledge stays effective when captured and used in decision-making.

Extraído de Biases and Heuristics in Judgment and Decision Making: The Dark Side of Tacit Knowledge

Tayyab Maqsood, Andrew D. Finegan, Derek H. T. Walker