Tacit knowledge sharing and organizational culture model of competitive values framework: A theoretical research

Abstract

Tacit knowledge sharing is considered to be the factor which allows to facilitate decision-making and to increase competitive ability and effectiveness of organization. Even if coded knowledge is easier to diffuse, the role of tacit knowledge is often essential for being able to use coded knowledge. Coded knowledge can even be unusable without the augmentation of tacit knowledge. The role of organizational culture is highly relevant for tacit knowledge sharing, which is social activity, face-to-face interaction and therefore can be influenced only through culture. This paper represents a theoretical research about how the types of organizational culture according to the Competitive Values Framework model are supportive for tacit knowledge sharing. The Competing Values Framework consists of four culture types: clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy. Clan culture is found to support tacit knowledge sharing all, factors described refer to clan culture values and description. Adhocracy culture is the second culture type most supporting tacit knowledge sharing. Market and hierarchy hardly do so, and organizations willing to increase tacit knowledge sharing will have to increase the presence in their culture of clan and adhocracy types. These findings provide with insights, which put us closer to better understanding what factors to use to change organization in the direction of "high" tacit knowledge sharing. The article does not claim the final truthfulness of these conclusions, but more calls for further practical research to validate or disclaim them as well as provide with the extent of validity of these conclusions, which the author will carry out. This paper is made within grant-maintained project of GA CR (Czech Science Foundation): Reg. No. 406/08/0459, "Developing Managerial Tacit Knowledge".