Sharing Tacit Knowledge Within Organizations: Evidence From The Czech Republic

Knowledge is a changing system with interactions among experience, skills, facts, relations, values, thinking processes and meanings. Literature differentiates between the two dimensions of knowledge, explicit and tacit. Explicit knowledge can be expressed in formal and systematic language and can be shared in the form of data. ICT makes this process easy these days. Tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to discover. Explicit knowledge and intuition, mental models, experience, crafts and skills etc., create it. It is partly or fully subconscious, deeply rooted in action, procedures, routines, commitment, ideas, value and emotions of individuals or groups. It is very difficult to turn into data. Attempts to formalize it usually lead to its damage. Even though tacit knowledge is an important asset that enables us to do practical activities, many organizations underestimate it. This article discusses the basic theoretical background of tacit knowledge, its importance for modern organization and the results of research on tacit knowledge management in organizations in the Czech Republic (Central Europe). The research is qualitative and helps us to monitor development of knowledge management activities in our country. It started in 2004, continues to this day and currently provides the experience of 145 organizations.