New
President Interview -- Part 40 November 6, 2018
Tacit
Knowledge in the College
Preliminary remarks
It has been more
than 12 months since we heard from the College President. The last installment
concerned emotional intelligence. This installment concerns tacit
knowledge. Tacit knowledge is non-verbal
and non-recorded quiet knowledge. It may
be organizationally specific or a general knowledge of people, their psyche, and situational sociology. It includes the stories of how things work or do
not work.[1]
Q> What is
the role of tacit knowledge in the running of the College? Are institutional stories recorded?
Answer> The accountants can’t measure
tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is not
stored in the college files or library. Tacit knowledge is not recordable in
rules, plans, or documents. Tacit knowledge includes the ability to read faces,
understand emotions, and decipher how objects and processes work so that the
tasks can be done. The acquisition of tacit knowledge comes with experience and
that is reason veteran, experienced workers are more valuable than neophytes
and recent graduates.
Let me tell
you a story that happens in highly functional organizations. Person AB has been with the organization for
many years. AB has created many systems
within his department and the organization to enable people to work more
efficiently and in concert. Today AB
announces he is leaving for a new job.
Everyone is happy for him including his managers. The manager wants to hire a replacement as
soon as possible so that AB can train him.
AB agrees to stay and help hire and train a replacement. The hiring process goes well. The organization has a good-bye party and the
company even gives him certificate of appreciation. AB leaves the company in
good hands and goes on to his next organization with good connections and
bridges to the old place.
Hold on
--- This is not how it goes. My colleague in another college told me how
his college “works.” Person XYZ held an
important administrative role and announced two months in advance a plan to
retire at the end of the semester. The
college gave him a good-bye party. The
accountants say (to themselves) that this is an opportunity to save money. We will not hire a new person until XYZ
leaves. We will not even advertise the position is open. The president of the college does nothing to
start the hiring process or even figuring out the role of a potential new
person. No one even discusses, the job
requirements or the needs and wants of the college. In the end, XYZ says “good riddance” and
never shares the tacit knowledge. The
college cleans out his office of all papers and the computer files are wiped
clean. Nothing is saved. The college loses XYZ’s knowledge and the
students suffer.
Q> Wow! Are you exaggerating?
Answer> Yes, a little. Experience is a powerful teacher. Our pay scale is designed so we can hire experienced
faculty and staff and pay them more than new graduates. Experience is valuable in the way we teach,
run the organization, and influence the community. Learning to ask the right questions
is as important as learning from a book or class. If we know the right questions, seeking the
answers are easier. Training, expertise,
and academic preparation are only part of what we bring to the job. While colleges claim to teach research skills
and encourage life-long learning, the organizational culture at many colleges
does not practice what they teach.
Q> Let’s return
to the first question. What tacit
knowledge needs to be saved? How does
one save it?
Answer> Our college has someone assigned the task of archivist and
chief knowledge officer. The person
helps develop policies concerning what to save and how best to save it. In the archivist role, this person supervises
the saving, storage and retrieval college records and documents. College
records means documenting events and processes.
The storing and retrieving of student records is part of another
department’s role. For example, if a
department is undergoing a re-accreditation process we have procedures and
policies to save the documents from the preparation of the self-study. The people in charge must also write reports
describing the process including what they learned that could make the next
round go easier. The lessons learned in
the process are saved for the next person who may be tasked with this job. While this report is not tacit knowledge, the
narratives help others understand the tacit knowledge that was part of the
process.
Q> How does one save tacit
knowledge?
Answer> Using my definition it is not
possible to teach tacit knowledge with documents. Tacit knowledge cannot be
recorded with words or symbols. Tacit knowledge is used when you “go with your
gut” or answer, “how do you feel about the situation?” One needs a personal connection such as a
mentor or colleague. They will point out
what is going on in the organization in a way that documents do not
preserve. The mentor may be able to show
the new person the people and processes that are needed to get a task
done. The mentor may be able to pass on
some of the people knowledge gained over the years. Empathy, which involves the reading of the emotional
needs of others and social skills, which enable us to act artfully and
professionally are skills that can be taught with words but one needs
experience to use these skills effectively.
Q> How
does knowledge get transferred? Is the transfer
of knowledge one of the college’s goals?
Answer> One theory of education is the
knowledge provider has a broad overview of what the learner needs to know. Knowledge
is the result of understanding and interpreting data and information. Explicit knowledge is the written and recorded
knowledge that is presented to the learner.
The provider needs ways to give the learner multiple sensual experiences
to help internalize the information.
Through practice and mentoring the knowledge provider will give a path
to internalize knowledge. The learner will develop a “feeling” about the
knowledge that will influence behavior. We
call this influence or change in behavior education. The mastery of knowledge is both a science
dependent on rules that are always present and an art, which is situationally
dependent. The “art” is also called “a gut
feeling.” The learner who becomes an
excellent student or worker is one who balances the rules with the feeling to
do what is right. Sometimes doing the
“right thing” is counter to following the rules
Q> Are
you confusing classroom learning for credit with learning how the organization
works?
Answer> Classroom learning is needed
to give a conceptual approach to a discipline.
Without understanding the historical or scientific process, one cannot
have “gut feelings” that are correct when problem solving. The character of Jethro Gibbs on NCIS knows his agents are trained
well. He frequently says, “go with your
gut” rather than telling his subordinates exactly what to do. Creativity and solving tough problems always
requires both following the rules and thinking out of the box.
In her
doctoral dissertation in 2013 Linda Guzzo[2] “Case
Study: The Transfer of Tacit Knowledge from Community College Full-Time to
Adjunct Faculty” says that knowledge is a valuable commodity. She questions whether the inadequate
transfer of tacit knowledge from the full-time faculty to the adjunct faculty
affects student outcomes, student success and institutional effectiveness. The answer, without even reading her
conclusion, based on my experience and talking with fellow college presidents
is, “yes, performance is affected.” If
there is not transfer of tacit knowledge, it is likely the whole communications
process is lacking.
If I contact
an organization and no one, can tell me who is in charge to solve a particular problem
that is a symptom of poor knowledge transfer.
If one of my faculty or staff members does not know how to direct a
student to finding the correct person to solve the problem, that is a symptom
of poor knowledge management.
Q> We are
out of time for this interview. Thank
you very much.
[1] The picture is
someone staring tacitly. It is from a
source that I assume is public domain.
[2] Guzzo, Linda R. “Case Study: The
Transfer of Tacit Knowledge from Community College Full-Time to Adjunct
Faculty.” ProQuest LLC, ProQuest LLC, 1 Jan. 2013. Retrieved from EBSCOhost,
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