This thesis documents an investigation into the role that tacit knowledge takes in the mental life of senior managers. The research resulted from the author???s work in New South Wales in facilitating assessment and development centres over a five year period, carried out in collaboration with senior managers from several organizations. A frequent comment made by senior managers was that there seemed to be a gulf between the data obtained objectively from behaviourally measured managerial competencies and the senior managers??? own perceptions of their managerial behaviour. Having earlier researched the role of thought processes out of awareness, the author developed the overall aim of the present study ??? to develop some form of training procedures for senior managers that would enhance the use of tacit processes in their managerial behaviours. The present dissertation begins with a literature review related to the development of understanding of the role of tacit processes in the mental life of senior managers. First a review is presented of investigations of organisational behaviour reported in the literature on tacit knowledge, including issues such as learning, teams, leadership, distributed cognition and culture. Study of the role of tacit knowledge was found to be present in the study of management behaviours and during the process of the present research, related publications increased in frequency. Finally a review is presented of psychological research into the nature of tacit knowledge. This focuses on a range of historical and current views and on the author???s own earlier study of implicit learning carried out in the early 1990???s. Study One is focused on examination of the process of coding tacit assumptions. This begins with documentation of the ontology, epistemology and methodology underpinning this research. Grounded theory, a well-recognised method of qualitative analysis, was selected as most appropriate for this study and its philosophy, rationale and methods are presented. The aim of Study One was to examine the effect of repeated interviews on the codifying of tacit assumptions of senior managers. The initial research was with 13 senior managers, who were interviewed either once or on multiple occasions. The initial interviews of two of these senior managers were analysed as pilot studies, and these analyses are presented in the present dissertation. The main body of this research comprises multiple interviews (five each) carried out with two of the original thirteen senior managers. The results confirmed the importance of the method of investigation but failed to provide any depth of understanding. Apart from consolidating cognitive closure on a set of managerial competencies, attempting to render tacit knowledge explicit (making the tacit conscious) provided no other significant benefit to the senior managers. The extension of some of these previously tacit assumptions into current cognitive functioning, when coded, assisted in the retention of organisational knowledge but offered no real benefit to the senior managers themselves, no depth of self-knowledge. Study Two arose from a more realistic understanding of tacit processes. The aim of Study Two was to find a way of harnessing the influences of tacit assumptions without trying to surface them ??? to make them ???conscious.??? This is consistent with the writings of such researchers as Nonaka (1991), Baumard (1999) and Spender (2005). By adapting an existing method focusing on subtle mental processes (developed by Norm Kagan in the context of teaching counselling skills and developed further for research first by Diment, Walker and Hammer and then by Sheehan and McConkey ), the author has further developed a technique (The Explicit/Tacit Interface Technique ??? ET~IT) that accesses the tacit processes in the service of the senior manager???s aims. A multiperspective analysis was applied to the feedback interviews of six subjects. This generated a set of characteristics of the ET~IT that hold promise for it to become a useful management development tool. Cohen and Levinthal???s (1990) concept of ???absorptive capacity??? is discussed as a possible starting point for indicating individual differences in successful interfacing with tacit processes. Finally recommendations for further improvement, consideration of constraints and their minimization and methods for evaluating future research into the tacit assumptions of senior managers are presented. Study Two concludes with discussion of how the results can be used as part of senior management development.

It was in 2004 that the first case study was done by on the ongoing Reverse Auction Bidding at Texas A&M University. This long-term study has developed from a single case study, completed by van Vleet, to a series of case studies, now combined with personality testing of all participants. van Vleet developed a Microsoft Access database system and Active Server Pages web based user interface for the study. The first case study involved five participants with no prior experience in Reverse Auction Bidding. A study with five participants is considered competitive in accordance with the standard economic Herfindahl Index. van Vleet, concluded that the results showed a level of co-operation in the bidding game between the nominal competitors. In 2010 John Nichols coined the term "tacit collusion" to identify this apparent behavioural pattern observed in the bidding. A significant element of the studies from 2005 to 2009 has been to investigate the "tacit collusion" behaviour. Tacit collusion is not considered an illegal economic behaviour. In 2006 Seth Gregory encountered significant problems with a study involving ten participants using the Access database, as a result of Access' limitations on the number of connections. Gregory's study was migrated to a Microsoft SQL database that was developed by Wellington (2006) and which overcame the limitations. SQL database systems can generate a significant quantity of data which create a computer science problem, now commonly termed 'Data rich - analysis poor'. This study is the first in a series of studies to undertake a detailed statistical study of the early case studies to provide a set of algorithms for development of SQL queries for automated real-time data analysis of future Reverse Auction Bidding case studies. This study showed that a fifth order polynomial fit the contract time compared to the job number. Analysis of the number of bids per minute for the fifteen minutes of bid time showed a log-polynomial equation which provided a reasonable fit to the data. Two sub-games were postulated to describe the operational aspects of the auction. The first game, termed the - game, is between the players with the objective of maximizing average return and the second game, termed the - game, has the objective of average cost minimization for the purchasers and maximization of revenue for the seller group. In conclusion, Reverse Auction Bidding systems are not bid shopping, but the tenet that the purchaser will reduce costs in this type of system compared to the traditional closed bid system is not confirmed with van Vleet's data and any careful consideration of the results of canny players in the 'game suggests higher than average returns for some bidders. The results show a number of patterns in the data that warrant further study, particularly the characteristics of the canny players in the alpha game suggests higher than average returns for some bidders. The results show a number of patterns in the data that warrant further study, particularly the characteristics of the canny players.

This thesis documents an investigation into the role that tacit knowledge takes in the mental life of senior managers. The research resulted from the author???s work in New South Wales in facilitating assessment and development centres over a five year period, carried out in collaboration with senior managers from several organizations. A frequent comment made by senior managers was that there seemed to be a gulf between the data obtained objectively from behaviourally measured managerial competencies and the senior managers??? own perceptions of their managerial behaviour. Having earlier researched the role of thought processes out of awareness, the author developed the overall aim of the present study ??? to develop some form of training procedures for senior managers that would enhance the use of tacit processes in their managerial behaviours. The present dissertation begins with a literature review related to the development of understanding of the role of tacit processes in the mental life of senior managers. First a review is presented of investigations of organisational behaviour reported in the literature on tacit knowledge, including issues such as learning, teams, leadership, distributed cognition and culture. Study of the role of tacit knowledge was found to be present in the study of management behaviours and during the process of the present research, related publications increased in frequency. Finally a review is presented of psychological research into the nature of tacit knowledge. This focuses on a range of historical and current views and on the author???s own earlier study of implicit learning carried out in the early 1990???s. Study One is focused on examination of the process of coding tacit assumptions. This begins with documentation of the ontology, epistemology and methodology underpinning this research. Grounded theory, a well-recognised method of qualitative analysis, was selected as most appropriate for this study and its philosophy, rationale and methods are presented. The aim of Study One was to examine the effect of repeated interviews on the codifying of tacit assumptions of senior managers. The initial research was with 13 senior managers, who were interviewed either once or on multiple occasions. The initial interviews of two of these senior managers were analysed as pilot studies, and these analyses are presented in the present dissertation. The main body of this research comprises multiple interviews (five each) carried out with two of the original thirteen senior managers. The results confirmed the importance of the method of investigation but failed to provide any depth of understanding. Apart from consolidating cognitive closure on a set of managerial competencies, attempting to render tacit knowledge explicit (making the tacit conscious) provided no other significant benefit to the senior managers. The extension of some of these previously tacit assumptions into current cognitive functioning, when coded, assisted in the retention of organisational knowledge but offered no real benefit to the senior managers themselves, no depth of self-knowledge. Study Two arose from a more realistic understanding of tacit processes. The aim of Study Two was to find a way of harnessing the influences of tacit assumptions without trying to surface them ??? to make them ???conscious.??? This is consistent with the writings of such researchers as Nonaka (1991), Baumard (1999) and Spender (2005). By adapting an existing method focusing on subtle mental processes (developed by Norm Kagan in the context of teaching counselling skills and developed further for research first by Diment, Walker and Hammer and then by Sheehan and McConkey ), the author has further developed a technique (The Explicit/Tacit Interface Technique ??? ET~IT) that accesses the tacit processes in the service of the senior manager???s aims. A multiperspective analysis was applied to the feedback interviews of six subjects. This generated a set of characteristics of the ET~IT that hold promise for it to become a useful management development tool. Cohen and Levinthal???s (1990) concept of ???absorptive capacity??? is discussed as a possible starting point for indicating individual differences in successful interfacing with tacit processes. Finally recommendations for further improvement, consideration of constraints and their minimization and methods for evaluating future research into the tacit assumptions of senior managers are presented. Study Two concludes with discussion of how the results can be used as part of senior management development.

No description available.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2008. / Thesis Advisor(s): Nissen, Mark ; Kamel, Magdi. "December 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on February 5, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-102). Also available in print.

This thesis is an in-depth case study of an interdisciplinary, paradigm breaking, research team who are seeking to develop cultured red blood cells (RBCs) for transfusion using stem cells (known as the BloodPharma project). It answers the research question: What can an in-depth case study of the BloodPharma project reveal about everyday scientific practice and the project management of a large research programme? The BloodPharma project occupies a unique position within the stem cell arena due to the size and multi-disciplinary nature of the project team, and the unique risk profile of cultured RBCs. The historical significance of blood donation is combined with the modern innovation of stem cell usage, to create a product which is both novel but also highly emotive. The case study comprises interviews with a range of stakeholders, laboratory observation, and participant observation of public outreach activities. In addition presence at team meetings and teleconferences has allowed an in-depth analysis of the project progression. The thesis has also drawn heavily on science and technology studies and scientific literature, as well as on information gathered from a wide variety of conferences and workshops. Key findings indicate that early stage laboratory work in this interdisciplinary project is achieved through the standardisation of work across different research spaces, with training and visual aids used to overcome the hurdle of tacit knowledge associated with the development of stem cell technologies. In designing early stage laboratory work the team looked to the human body as a benchmark of in vivo RBC production, using in vivo cells as a dual standard for which the team must aim, but cannot fall short of. Scale-up and standardisation were identified as the key challenges to the translation of this early stage laboratory work into a clinically useable product. These challenges require new expertise and innovation, and are an example of the translational obstacles of tacit knowledge and visual techniques which are found in the wider stem cell field. The use of target markets was identified by the team as a stepping stone to larger scale production, although in common with other stem cell therapies the clinical trials route to first-in-human use is still unclear. The uncertainty of regulation for stem cell products, and specifically how this relates to the BloodPharma project, is also a key finding of this thesis. Interactions with the regulatory system are seen as a necessity but also represent an area of confusion for laboratory researchers, requiring much specialist knowledge to understand and navigate regulatory documents. Regulatory expertise is brought to the BloodPharma project through reliance on particular members of staff. Public outreach has formed an important part of the BloodPharma project and shows the scientists stepping outside their primary area of expertise, a reflection of the broader trend amongst academic research to demonstrate ‘broader impact criteria’. Public outreach for the BloodPharma team was found to occupy a unique niche, given that the team must balance the promotion of a future product with the preservation of the current donation system. This research is of a case study which goes beyond the boundaries of the laboratory, to look not only at early stage laboratory work, but also at the way in which the team envisions future translation and regulatory hurdles, and the public outreach which must combine to develop a novel stem cell therapy. The thesis is the first in-depth case study to follow a large, interdisciplinary, stem cell team through the work they carry out both within the laboratory space, and outside it; challenging the idea of what it means to carry out scientific work in this novel area of stem cell therapies.

Doctor of Philosophy / Tacit knowledge represents a challenge to knowledge elicitation due to the assumption that this type of knowledge cannot be articulated. We argue that Polanyi's (1966:4) widely cited notion that “we know more than we can tell” represents a weak model of language that does not acknowledge the grammatical patterns in spoken discourse that we, as speakers, apply tacitly. We investigate the hypothesis that individuals articulate what they know through grammatical patterns, referred to as under-representation, without direct awareness. This thesis develops and pilots a grammar-targeted interview method aimed at unpacking specific grammatical features that occur in spoken discourse. The model of language from which these features are derived is Systemic Functional Linguistics. We report findings from three empirical studies of tacit knowledge in corporate organisations where we used the grammar-targeted interview technique to elicit tacit knowledge in the areas of knowledge management, requirements analysis and performance reviews. We compare this interview method with a content-targeted approach. The results show that the grammar-targeted technique produces less under-represented discourse thus allowing tacit knowledge held by the interviewees to be made visible. Based on the linguistic analyses undertaken in these field studies we propose that Polanyi’s expression “we know more than we tell” be reformulated to “we tell more than we realise we know”.

No description available.

Knowledge plays an increasingly important role in business, company, and organization,it is the ability for organization to learn and assimilate new knowledge in orderto make plans or business progresses. However, when comes to the tacit knowledge,in most cases, as Polanyi (1969) said ”we can know more than we can tell”, whichmeans in our daily lives, most of the knowledge stored in our brain can not be expressedout to others easily, we call this kind of knowledge ”tacit”. Therefore, tacitknowledge holds most part of our knowledge - and at the same time - harder to identifyand share.There is an popular approach called ’Community of Practice (CoP)’ which aimsat creating and sharing knowledge through informal practicing and learning. Thus,in this study, a qualitative research is desired to be made on the approach of communityof practice as well as its effects on tacit knowledge sharing. The purpose of thisstudy is to understand the pattern of sharing tacit knowledge among communitieswith social communication technologies (Tencent QQ) embedded, and to explorethe mechanisms of generating and transferring tacit knowledge with ”community ofpractice”.

Reverse auction bidding is an online auction system. A purchaser's primary objective in using a reverse auction is to obtain the lowest possible bid for goods and services on a construction project. With this type of bidding, it is normal that the purchaser will only consider price, instead of a bidders' work history and experience. As a reverse auction is an online service, the common misperception is that a purchaser can reach a broader market to obtain the lowest possible price. It is a controversial bidding system. No previous research has been undertaken by the Texas A&M University Reverse Auction Bidding study group into potential owner interference with the bidding system for a reverse auction. Six bidders were asked to participate in the Reverse Auction Bidding process for a series of construction projects in Houston. Each participant was also asked to complete a Keirsey Temperament Sorter Test type I and II to determine each participant's personality. After the tests, the six participants competed in an online reverse auction bidding game. The primary objective of this research is to analyze the impact of an owner's interference in a reverse auction bidding scenario. In this test, one of the six bidders acted as the owner's surrogate to interfere with an ethical process and reduce the owner's costs. The other five bidders were unaware of the surrogate's role in the bidding. The primary directive given to the surrogate bidder was to drive down the cost of the projects. The results for the research study show that the owner's surrogate can affect the bidding process. Interference results in reduced returns for the bidders when compared to an uncompromised bidding scenario. It is clear that the method used is unethical.