Three Types of Organizational Knowledge: Implications for the Tacit-explicit and Knowledge Creation Debates

Stream: Theorizing and representing organizational learning and knowledge management. This paper documents the findings from research conducted in late 1998 through 1999 that studied the exchange and creation of knowledge between two large American high technology firms involved in an acquisition. The result is a framework of organizational knowledge consisting of three distinct knowledge types each with a tacit and explicit dimension. This has several implications for understanding the dynamics of knowledge in organizations. The first is that is provides insight into the diverse and dynamic nature of knowledge at the level of the organization, which questions the homogeneous and static definition that is currently popular in the literature. Secondly, it suggests that the tacit and explicit dimensions of organizational knowledge are similar to the two sides of a coin rather than separate entities or different ends of a continuum. Thirdly, there is evidence that the creation of organizational knowledge is both a process of transformation and amplification, as suggested by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1994), as well as a complex process similar to the ‘generative dance’ experienced by individuals and groups (Cook & Brown, 1999). The result is an alternative conceptualization of organizational knowledge that brings a new and rich perspective to the debates encircling the search to understand the nature of knowledge in organizations. 1 Nancie Evans, 163 Ashworth Road, Mount Albert, Ontario, Canada, L0G 1M0 Tel: +1 905 473 4293, Fax: +1 905 473 4294, e-mail: [email protected] 2 Mark Easterby-Smith, School of Management, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YX, UK. Tel: +44 1514 594012, Fax: +44 1524 844262, e-mail: [email protected]