In many companies, people automatically assume that explicit knowledge is more reliable and accurate—a way of thinking that dates back at least to the era of scientific management.When an executive says, “Cut to the chase, just give me the numbers,” he or she is declaring his allegiance to episteme by attempting to exclude information that arrives through subjective means.
But organizations that favor explicit over tacit knowledge limit their capabilities in several ways. They define competence as the ability to rank high in metrics rather than to succeed in real-world business, and so they may promote senior leaders who do not fully understand the subtleties of their enterprise. Such companies also promote a view of people’s skills as static and so fail to invest in the development of talent. Finally, they get mired in IT-based knowledge systems that constrict, rather than enhance, communication among their staff.
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