Understanding Tacit Knowledge in Decision Making

2017 ◽  
pp. 418-435
Author(s):  
Terry Mortier ◽  
David Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Medical Laboratory ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Health Field

The “semi-professional” sector of the economy continues to grow and represents one of the largest areas in the economy and within higher education programs. Of these programs, the health professions are showing the largest growth. Decision-making, reflective thinking, critical thinking, and reflective practice have all been described as contributing to professional knowledge development in these professions (; ; ; ). Professional knowledge is a collective term encompassing the explicit and tacit knowledge needed for effective practice. The explicit knowledge in these fields has received extensive study, but implicit knowledge remains largely unexamined. In this chapter, the authors examine the nature of tacit knowledge for semi-professionals in the health field and how it shapes their work environment. Specifically, this chapter presents the results of a study of medical laboratory scientists, and provides Implications for professional development, theory, and further research.

Understanding Tacit Knowledge in Decision Making

2021 ◽  
pp. 1086-1103
Author(s):  
Terry Mortier ◽  
David Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Medical Laboratory ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Health Field

The “semi-professional” sector of the economy continues to grow and represents one of the largest areas in the economy and within higher education programs. Of these programs, the health professions are showing the largest growth. Decision-making, reflective thinking, critical thinking, and reflective practice have all been described as contributing to professional knowledge development in these professions (; ; ; ). Professional knowledge is a collective term encompassing the explicit and tacit knowledge needed for effective practice. The explicit knowledge in these fields has received extensive study, but implicit knowledge remains largely unexamined. In this chapter, the authors examine the nature of tacit knowledge for semi-professionals in the health field and how it shapes their work environment. Specifically, this chapter presents the results of a study of medical laboratory scientists, and provides Implications for professional development, theory, and further research.

scholarly journals Tacit knowledge in unstructured decision process

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-39
Author(s):  
Fábio de Oliveira Lucena ◽  
Silvio Popadiuk
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Decision Process ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Evaluation Phase ◽  
Interpretative Analysis

Purpose This paper aims to identify the expressions and flows of tacit knowledge in the unstructured decision process. In this type of process, decision-makers use not only the explicit knowledge but also aspects such as intuition, experience and other forms of tacit knowledge. The research developed a qualitative approach, through a study of multiple cases, and applied semi-structured interviews to ten executives. The analysis of data was carried out according to Flores (1994) interpretative analysis of text technique. Results indicated that there was the insertion of tacit knowledge in all unstructured decision-making routines. It was also detected the need to explicitly add the routine of evaluation to the Mintzberg et al.’s (1976) model as elements of tacit knowledge were also identified at this stage of the decision-making process. Design/methodology/approach The research has taken a qualitative approach, through a study of multiple cases, applying semi-structured interviews to ten executives. The analysis of data was carried out according to technique for interpretative analysis of the text. Findings Results indicated that there was tacit knowledge in all unstructured decision-making routines. Also detected was the need to explicitly add the routine of evaluation to the model. Research limitations/implications It was unable to perform psychological studies to investigate the deepest cognitive and emotional aspects of managers, and it does not address, in depth, some issues that are related to tacit knowledge in decisions and that would be considered relevant. Practical implications Although this research was unable to dissect the composition of tacit knowledge in unstructured decision process, a better understanding of the aspects that make up the knowledge in question has been developed, providing some decision-making guidelines to managers. Social implications The language between communications actors can share decision-making rules to assist in the production and process of arguments necessary for the debate, evaluation and attribution of institutionally recurrent decisions. Originality/value The original contribution is present in a detailed description of the expressions of flows of tacit knowledge in unstructured decision-making processes, based on the model of Mintzberg et al. (1976). From the influence of tacit knowledge, it was found that the model in question needs to consider the relevance of the evaluation phase, as a stage equivalent to the other described by Mintzberg et al. (1976). These aspects have been better explained in the introduction and conclusion. Participant observation was not possible because the decision had already been taken by the informant at the moment of the interviews.

scholarly journals A Values-based Methodology in Policing

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Jens Erik Paulsen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Quality Control ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Work ◽  
The Past

Professional work is currently based on explicit knowledge and evidence to a greater degree than in the past. Standardising professional services in this way requires repetitive (or at least similar) scenarios and might be seen as a challenge to professional autonomy. In the context of policing, officers perform a range of familiar tasks, but they may also encounter novel challenges at any moment. Moreover, police tasks are not well-defined. Therefore, many missions require police officers to rely on common sense, tacit knowledge or gut feeling. In this article, I argue that a values-based methodology may serve as a tool to help evaluate decisions in unfamiliar situations, to learn from experience, as well as be a quality control for established routines. Keywords:  ethics, policing, decision-making, values, experiential learningroutines.

Illuminating the decision-making strategies of anesthesia providers in challenging cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 653-657
Author(s):  
Joshua Biro ◽  
David M. Neyens ◽  
Candace Jaruzel ◽  
Catherine D. Tobin ◽  
Myrtede Alfred ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Medication Errors ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Practice Recommendations ◽  
Medication Delivery ◽  
Anesthesia Providers ◽  
Healthcare Work ◽  
Realistic View

Medication errors and error-related scenarios in anesthesia remain an important area of research. Interventions and best practice recommendations in anesthesia are often based in the work-as-imagined healthcare system, remaining under-used due to a range of unforeseen complexities in healthcare work-as- done. In order to design adaptable anesthesia medication delivery systems, a better understanding of clinical cognition within the context of anesthesia work is needed. Fourteen interviews probing anesthesia providers’ decision making were performed. The results revealed three overarching themes: (1) anesthesia providers find cases challenging when they have incomplete information, (2) decision-making begins with information seeking, and (3) attributes such as expertise, experience, and work environment influence anesthesia providers’ information seeking and synthesis of tasks. These themes and the context within this data help create a more realistic view of work-as-done and generate insights into what potential medication error reducing interventions should look to avoid and what they could help facilitate.

scholarly journals STANDARDISING MAINTENANCE JOBS TO IMPROVE GROUPING DECISION MAKING

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 2701-2710
Author(s):  
Julie Krogh Agergaard ◽  
Kristoffer Vandrup Sigsgaard ◽  
Niels Henrik Mortensen ◽  
Jingrui Ge ◽  
Kasper Barslund Hansen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
True Variance ◽  
Complex Decision ◽  
Maintenance Decision ◽  
Maintenance Activities

AbstractMaintenance decision making is an important part of managing the costs, effectiveness and risk of maintenance. One way to improve maintenance efficiency without affecting the risk picture is to group maintenance jobs. Literature includes many examples of algorithms for the grouping of maintenance activities. However, the data is not always available, and with increasing plant complexity comes increasingly complex decision requirements, making it difficult to leave the decision making up to algorithms.This paper suggests a framework for the standardisation of maintenance data as an aid for maintenance experts to make decisions on maintenance grouping. The standardisation improves the basis for decisions, giving an overview of true variance within the available data. The goal of the framework is to make it simpler to apply tacit knowledge and make right decisions.Applying the framework in a case study showed that groups can be identified and reconfigured and potential savings easily estimated when maintenance jobs are standardised. The case study enabled an estimated 7%-9% saved on the number of hours spent on the investigated jobs.

Knowledge creation and utilization in project teams

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ihuoma Oluikpe
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relational Processes ◽  
Knowledge Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tacit Dimension ◽  
Organizational Results

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the knowledge processes that interplay in the social construction and appropriation of knowledge and to test these constructs empirically in project teams. Design/methodology/approach – Literature research and quantitative survey were used. The research identified project success, faster completion times, operational efficiency, innovation and generation of new knowledge as dominating project management expectations in the past ten years. It studied how these projects construct and appropriate knowledge within project teams to achieve these five objectives. Using a quantitative approach, data were sought from 1,000 respondents out of a population of 10,000 from 11 project management areas in eight world regions to test the conceptual model in real-world scenarios. The data gathered were analyzed using quantitative analysis tools and techniques such as reliability, correlation and regression. Findings – There is a lingering difficulty within organizations on how to translate tacit knowledge into action. The transfer and utilization of tacit knowledge was shown to be embedded and nested within relationships. Innovation in projects was found to be mostly linked to replication and codification of knowledge (explicit dimension) as opposed to interpretation and assimilation (tacit dimension). Arriving at a mutual interpretation of project details and requirements does not depend on canonical (formal documentation) methods but mostly on non-canonical (informal) and relational processes embedded within the team. Originality/value – This work studies, in empirical and geographical detail, the social interplay of knowledge and provided evidence relative to the appropriation of knowledge in the project organizational form, which can be extrapolated to wider contexts. The work scoped the inter-relational nature of knowledge and provided further evidence on the nebulous nature of tacit/intangible knowledge. It also proved further that organizations mostly rely on explicit knowledge to drive organizational results, as it is easily actionable and measurable.

Research on Knowledge Discovery and Stock Forecasting of Financial News Based on Domain Ontology

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (03) ◽  
pp. 953-979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingling Zhang ◽  
Minghui Zhao ◽  
Zili Feng
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Acquisition ◽  
Knowledge Discovery ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Online News ◽  
Domain Ontology ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Financial News ◽  
Knowledge Reasoning

In the era of big data, how to obtain useful knowledge from online news and utilize it as an important basis to make investment decision has become the hotspot of industrial and academic research. At present, there have been research and practice on explicit knowledge acquisition from news, but tacit knowledge acquisition is still under exploration. Based on the general mechanism of domain knowledge, knowledge reasoning, and knowledge discovery, this paper constructs a framework for discovering tacit knowledge from news and applying the knowledge to stock forecasting. The concrete work is as follows: First, according to the characteristics of financial field and the conceptual cube, the conceptual structure of industry–company–product is constructed, and the framework of domain ontology is put forward. Second, with the construction of financial field ontology, the financial news knowledge management framework is proposed. Besides, with the application of attributes in ontology and domain rules extracted from news text, the knowledge reasoning mechanism of financial news is constructed to achieve financial news knowledge discovery. Finally, news knowledge that reflects important information about stock changes is integrated into the traditional stock price forecasting model and the newly proposed model performs well in the empirical analysis of polyester industry.

Knowledge management for library building design

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 2-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixian Yi
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Innovative Design ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – In the digital age, constant changes in libraries inform contemporary building design. An innovative library building design is a complicated process and can be viewed as a continuous process of the use of tacit and explicit knowledge and innovative tools and approaches. Knowledge management (KM) can bring about the much needed innovation, and transform tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. For the design of a library to be successful, it is necessary to apply KM to library building design. The purpose of this paper is to look at key change impacts, to explore how to manage knowledge in building design and to identify key design principles. Design/methodology/approach – This paper looks at key change impacts, explores how to manage knowledge in library building design and pinpoints design principles. Findings – This paper finds that KM can be vital to library building design, and it can be used in all stages: to examine the internal and external environments, transform tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge by using portals, and analyze existing and future issues and trends. When effectively used, KM will result in innovative design strategies and also will reduce the time and costs of the building design and plan processes. The main principles of library building design are flexibility, accessibility, safety and security, applicability, adaptability, efficiency, and sustainability. Practical implications – This paper provides a useful overview of how to manage knowledge in library building design and design principles. Originality/value – The views, discussions, and suggestions will be of value to improve the effectiveness of library building design.

Education at the Crossroads

2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan Janik
Keyword(s):  
Continuing Education ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Michael Polanyi ◽  
Life Long Learning

Drastic changes in professional education have led to a need to emphasize that education must be a matter of life-long learning. About this there can be no doubt: the question is how should we conceive life-long learning. I argue on the basis of recent research in Sweden that professional knowledge is in its most crucial dimension what Michael Polanyi called ‘tacit knowledge’ and as a result that the humanities are indispensable to any concept of continuing education worth taking seriously.

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