Replying to LO23888 --
Dear Colleagues,
I felt compelled to jump in on the tacit-explicit subthread that has been
taking place currently, especially responding to AM de Lange and Fred
Nichols' recent fascinating contributions. Consider: we in the West are
very hung up on making the tacit explicit. Why? Because if we could do
this successfully, we can: put it in books and databases, make a course
about it, measure it (a whole other conversation), sell it, replicate it,
and do other interesting things with it. However, we consistently
underrecognize the tacit-to-tacit transmission of knowledge, one of the
underlying premises of Nonaka and Takeuchi's work (that great example of
learning to make bread from the Osaka bakers), and the currency of
learning in Japan. Why don't we spend more time, money, theoretical
energy, etc., on exploring the transmission of tacit knowledge? Yes, there
is now a lot of work on communities of practice and coaching (a fuzzy term
to me), but still very little exchange of personnel and
apprenticeships/on-the-job training. If we ask why that is so, we can say
that it is not in our tradition, it is expensive, we can't measure the
results, it's risky in terms of accuracy of knowledge transmitted, it
subverts the expert system, etc. But I think the deeper explanation is
that tacit-to-tacit transmission of knowledge is wholly relationship
based. And that is a threat to our "deep-seated cultural learning" (this
term from Sara Keck at Pace Univ.), which tells us that relationships in
business are transactional, what the Japanese call "dry" as opposed to
"wet." In short, what I'm saying is that it may be worthwhile to look at
why we focus so much on the tacit-to-explicit dimension. I feel that we
won't get to the depths of organizational learning unless we develop these
relationship-based learning structures.
Best,
Dori Digenti
Dori Digenti
Learning Mastery
5 Claremon St.
Somerville, MA 02144 USA
Tel 617-625-5292
Fax 603-994-8683
Email: digenti@learnmaster.com
Learning Mastery website:
http://www.learnmaster.com
Collaborative Learning Network website:
http://www.collaborative-learning.org
--Dori Digenti <digenti@learnmaster.com>
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