 In this topic we are going to talk about a very important dimension of knowledge which is the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge. It is something which you may have come across in other courses as well because we discuss it in terms of a number of things. We discuss it when we are talking about learning and human resource management. In this topic we are going to particularly look at the difference between and the importance of explicit and tacit knowledge particularly of the tacit knowledge and how is it used and why is it important for knowledge management and knowledge creation. You would already know a little bit about tacit knowledge but let's look at the definition of it. Tacit knowledge basically is person specific. It is not something which could be the tacit knowledge that I have. Nobody else can have that because the way I deliver the lectures probably even if somebody tries to replicate that nobody else will be able to do that exactly in the same way because it is something which is inbuilt in my personality and that is something which is related to my personality and therefore it is person specific. Similarly a surgeon who is conducting a surgery, one particular surgeon who is doing it in that way that is only going to be his skill. Obviously when somebody else will replicate it, it won't be wrong or it won't be something which is disastrous but that is only going to be the skill of that person or when a person paints, for example, so sadh khan can only be one sadh khan and nobody else can replace the tacit knowledge that he has. So in some kind of disciplines tacit knowledge is more. In some disciplines tacit knowledge is a little bit limited and it can be more replicated. For example, in the fine arts, the actors for example, an actor with a big name, a celebrity with a big name that cannot be replicated. People do try to replicate that but there are the actors which have made name in their particular fields, nobody can replicate that. We can learn from that but that is the tacit knowledge that they have. But in some other fields, in the other disciplines, a lot of knowledge is something which is not tacit and that is something which can be easily replicated. So tacit knowledge, it consists of personal experiences, it consists of skills and it consists of attitude. So the attitude of a person, how you behave in a certain situation? Do you get panicked? Are you calm and peaceful? Do you react or do you respond? All these are attitudes and they are kind of person specific and therefore they are hard to formalize. You cannot create a formula for that. This is the formula that when you are exposed to in a challenging situation, how are you going to react? You will react in your own personal way and you may learn but your personality cannot be taken out of that reaction and therefore it is difficult to communicate to others. It's not possible to communicate how you are doing something. If you are, for example, speaking well, it's difficult to tell somebody else how to speak well. Well, you can say you should be confident, you can say that you should have a good vocabulary, you should say that you should practice in front of the mirror. But even if somebody listens to this, confidence is something which cannot be transferred like it cannot be communicated. It is something which needs to be developed. It is something which is person bound. So tacit knowledge is knowledge which is person bound, person specific and it consists of subjective things which cannot be formalized and therefore cannot be communicated. On the other hand is explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is kind of simple to understand and explicit knowledge by contrast is independent of the person who holds it. So the difference is that you can make explicit knowledge independent from the person who has it. So for example, if there is a book then it is independent knowledge. If it is in somebody's mind then it doesn't matter. It can go in the minds of a number of people. It's not linked with the mind of the person who has read it. It is independent of the person who holds it. So when something can be written in a book, when something can be written in a formula, when something can be written in some kind of instructions, that is explicit knowledge and therefore it can be easily communicated and shared in a number of forms. For example, hard data, scientific formulas, codified procedures or universal principles for example, there are theories, there are universal principles which can be easily communicated. The difference between explicit and tacit knowledge is that explicit knowledge can be transferred through written routines and instructions. So you can just tell somebody you need to do this. You need to learn this, you need to memorize this, you need to practice this. But tacit knowledge is something which is highly content specific. The content that is specific to that content. For example, the painting is the same painting, its content cannot be replicated or its content cannot be described. Mona Lisa is a Mona Lisa. So it is highly content specific. Even if you make a copy of Mona Lisa, well that is not something which is going to make you learn how to be creative in arts. It exists in an individual's memory as accumulated beliefs and experiences. So what I understand about life is something which has developed through my beliefs, through my experiences, your understanding about life is based on your experiences. If your experiences are very much different from my experiences, then you will not look at life and you will not react to life in the same way that I do. And it is often invoked when circumstances dictate. So tacit knowledge is not something which you are always communicating. It is not something which you are applying to your task all the time. It is not something which is part of your work description. It is something which comes out when a certain situation arises. So it is mostly manifested in personal interactions.