>Now to your question: Can we measure tacit knowledge? I am not sure. How
>can I measure anything which has not yet manifested itself in some or
>other form?
I have been asked this question many times, especially when I present
material on the importance of measuring intellectual capital. If human
capital (a sub-component of intellectual capital) consists primarily of
tacit (inarticulable) knowledge than how can anyone ever measure it?
My response to this question is for managers to realize that it is the
journey that you take in codifying tacit knowledge that provides you with
the added-value measurement you seek as opposed to the end-measurement you
may never find. For example, Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) discuss the
codification of bread-baking which is a highly tacit skill -- an art.
However, through the process of carefully studying and describing the
process that bakers go through, one learns how to make the art a science.
Of course, some tacit knowledge is easier to codify than others but
through the process of explicitly trying to describe the knowledge one
gets closer to sharing, transforming and measuring it. Another example is
the case of the little child who wants to cross the street. She really
doesn't understand integral calculus, geometry, kinematic physics and
physiology which are all instantaneously used to describe the algorithm
required to cross the street. She just does it naturally. However, I can
study this process and watch her cross the street a thousand times and
eventually codify all the processes that go on in her head. This journey
of codification will allow me to measure certain aspects of the knowledge
she doesn't even know she possesses.
Cheers,
Nick
NICK BONTIS
Director
Institute for Intellectual Capital Research
695 Richmond St. Suite #1310
London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5M8
Tel:(519)642-0066 Fax:(519)661-3959
nbontis@ivey.uwo.ca
http://scholars.ivey.uwo.ca/nbontis/ic
--Nick Bontis <nbontis@ivey.uwo.ca>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>