Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

José Manuel Cardenas and Mauro Spinola
Tacit group: In <strong>the</strong> transformation process <strong>of</strong> knowledge, individuals depend on o<strong>the</strong>rs to share
<strong>the</strong>ir own learning. The tacit group denotes those concepts that can appear to be in <strong>the</strong> shared
experience <strong>of</strong> group, with <strong>the</strong> conditioning that such knowledge provides value to <strong>the</strong> group.
However, it is information that remains implicit, in strict sense; in o<strong>the</strong>r words, <strong>the</strong> type <strong>of</strong>
information that is accepted as true by everyone, but that has never been presented explicitly.
One example <strong>of</strong> this is that all members <strong>of</strong> a research group use <strong>the</strong> same word processor, since
someone suggested that this is <strong>the</strong> best method to use to work on writing articles.
In <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> investigating, <strong>the</strong> tacit group used <strong>the</strong> view <strong>of</strong> Erden, VonKrogh & Nonaka (2008), in
<strong>the</strong> sense that <strong>the</strong> construction <strong>of</strong> tacit group goes through four levels (Fig. 1). These levels begin with
a group <strong>of</strong> assemblages, when crew members are getting to know each o<strong>the</strong>r, and <strong>the</strong>re is not an real
sharing <strong>of</strong> ideas and confidence has not been consolidated. An intermediate level <strong>of</strong> sharing is <strong>the</strong>
Collective Action. When <strong>the</strong> group is consolidated it passes to a stage <strong>of</strong> Phronesis or "prudence,”
where actions are taken based on <strong>the</strong> tacit knowledge shared at <strong>the</strong> previous levels and finally; <strong>the</strong>
maximum level that can reach <strong>the</strong> group tacit knowledge. Collective improvisation, is a level that
indicates a need to innovate all <strong>the</strong> time, and <strong>the</strong> group responds positively to all <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> opportunities
to share and develop common goals.
Figure 1: Different levels in <strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> group tacit knowledge. Font: (ERDEN ET AL, 2008)
During <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> research, <strong>the</strong> methodology for <strong>the</strong> discovery <strong>of</strong> individual tacit knowledge
was also applied individually to discover <strong>the</strong> tacit group. The difference here was that <strong>the</strong> concern for
storytelling had to be related to <strong>the</strong> group goals, and <strong>the</strong> perception <strong>of</strong> how critics or contributions
about <strong>the</strong> articles were being sent. This way, <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> information technology in this process could
be accurately evaluated.
6. Results
The results <strong>of</strong> observations and interviews were processed using <strong>the</strong> concepts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>oretical
references and verifying <strong>the</strong> adherence <strong>of</strong> those concepts with <strong>the</strong> stories told by interviewees. The
first result is that <strong>the</strong> level <strong>of</strong> trust <strong>of</strong> individuals positively influences <strong>the</strong> generation <strong>of</strong> tacit knowledge
and transfer/transformation <strong>of</strong> it since socialization is <strong>the</strong> most prominent part <strong>of</strong> learning and creation
<strong>of</strong> tacit knowledge and tacit information. Ano<strong>the</strong>r way that this happens is through "trial and error".
To determine <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> IT in <strong>the</strong> transformation/transfer <strong>of</strong> knowledge, <strong>the</strong> following data was
collected:
Individual tacit: The KMS are formed at <strong>the</strong> individual level from <strong>the</strong> knowledge or unfamiliarity <strong>of</strong>
tools, or information systems, needed to perform specific functions <strong>of</strong> storing and indexing
databases. Namely, it is defined as KMS individual, such as instrumentation created by <strong>the</strong> user
for managing <strong>the</strong> explicit knowledge that he/she possesses. However, <strong>the</strong> individual handles <strong>the</strong>
sources <strong>of</strong> knowledge in accordance with aspects that are quite tacit. As an example, <strong>the</strong> criterion
<strong>of</strong> a citation <strong>of</strong> an author may be based, not only on <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> quotations, but based more on
<strong>the</strong> references to o<strong>the</strong>r researchers in <strong>the</strong> same line.
Tacit group: In this case, <strong>the</strong>re was always a leadership or governance for determining <strong>the</strong>
context <strong>of</strong> work. But, even if <strong>the</strong>re is a consensus in <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> technological tools to share
knowledge and <strong>the</strong> ways in which it will be disseminated, <strong>the</strong> user has to fit <strong>the</strong> information
system chosen. Therefore, this leads to tacit information in <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> junction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> people
who share knowledge. This is from <strong>the</strong> adherence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> user with a KMS, or <strong>the</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> it. So that
179