Developed by Ikujiro Nonaka (1994) and by Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi (The Knowledge-Creating Company, 1995), on the tacit dimension of Michael Polanyi (1966).
Sorts how knowledge moves in an organization into four conversions between tacit and explicit forms, showing which conversion a knowledge system is missing.
When to reach for it
A knowledge base that has become a document graveyard, slow onboarding, or expertise that leaves with the senior people who hold it.
How it runs
- Name the knowledge problem.
- Check each mode: shared experience, articulation, combining documents, practice.
- Find the missing or weak mode.
- Design for it: shadowing, metaphor sessions, synthesis, or deliberate practice.
- Run events that pass through several modes in order.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, Organization Science, 1994
- The Knowledge-Creating Company, 1995
- The Tacit Dimension, 1966