Managing Rational and Not-Fully-Rational Knowledge
Jozef Hvorecký, Jozef Šimúth, B Lichardus · Acta Polytechnica Hungarica · 2013
Knowledge management (KM) is a range of strategies and practices in organizations to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable the adoption of insights and experiences.Knowledge is present in organizations in two forms: explicit (wellstructured and unambiguously captured) and tacit (vague or informal, based on experience and beliefs stored in human brains).These two types split knowledge management into its "hard" and "soft" components.Each of them can contribute to an organization's development and prosperity but must be controlled in different ways.In hard knowledge management, the elements of knowledge, insight and experience are embedded in organizational processes and practice.To control them, traditional (rational) managerial approaches can be applied.However, people do not always act rationally.To benefit from knowledge embodied in individuals, more sophisticated strategies should be used.First we show examples of lower rationality studied by earlier researchers.Then, we use the SECI model to disclose situations deserving managers' special care.We demonstrate the presence of non-rationality in all SECI stages and exemplify its manifestations.Our conclusions can help managers concentrate on the core problems of knowledge management and apply it more efficiently.