Participating in an auction and winning items by placing bids has been in practice since at least 500 B.C. Auctions have evolved since then and anyone can now participate in one online and buy items ranging from clothes, electronics, automobiles and homes using online auction websites, such as eBay. A Reverse Auction varies from the traditional style of Auction where items or services are won by placing successive higher bids until the auction ends. The study of Reverse Auction was first introduced to Texas A & M University in 2004 and continues today, using a SQL based web system. This current research provides a detailed statistical analysis of the fourth case study in this long running work. This fourth case study involved the participation of five bidders who had no prior experience in Reverse Auctions. A Microsoft Access database system and ASP web based user interface was developed and used to conduct these initial studies. However, due to the limited capability of the Access system to handle more than a limited number of connections or bidders, a Microsoft SQL database and web system was developed in 2006 and has been used in all subsequent studies. Case studies have involved up to ten participants. The results from the fourth case study show that a Reverse Auction can result in an increase in the average cost of the job to the owner. Also, there is evidence of game play amongst the bidders and against the purchaser that causes their profits to rise as they gain proficiency in the game. This behavior has been termed as 'tacit collision', but it is considered a byproduct of the system and not illegal behavior. This study analyzes the fourth study data to investigate if the behavior termed "tacit collusion" is evident in the bidding data. This analysis is completed by performing a detailed statistical analysis of the bidding data. Analysis of the profit percentages illustrates the different stages of the game play amongst the bidders. This game play behavior is illustrated by plotting average number of bids to the profit made by each bidder. The data clearly suggests that the players became efficient in their bidding strategy, although some bidders are more efficient than others. This observation negates the common conception that Reverse Auctions will result in lowering average costs for the owners. The individual data of bidders for bids and profit reveal why some players were able to obtain higher than average results and why the others were not. This study can be taken further by analyzing the patterns of the successful and unsuccessful players to determine what causes them to gain or lose profits.

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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”.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-95) and index.

Disp. Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2006.

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If companies want to create competition advantage, they must operate with knowledge. Knowledge can be divided to tacit and explicit dimension. Tacit knowledge is not easy to express, it is in heads of workers. It is hard to transfer tacit knowledge to others and organizations have limited possibilities to operate with it. But 90% of all knowledge is tacit. Knowledge can grow, keeps its degree or decrease during the life cycle. Tacit knowledge can be built by learning or by creative thinking. Knowledge can be acquired by combinations from current knowledge, information and other ingredients. Knowledge is conserved in organization through telling stories, sharing in communities or by apprenticeship. Mentoring and coaching are very important for handling knowledge over persons in organization. Knowledge is liable to influences which decrease their value. These influences are biological (person leaves the organization) or comparative. Although the value of knowledge in organization is still on the same level, when competition build their knowledge, the level of organization relatively decrease. There are several instruments to scale up knowledge, care for it or not to lose its value for each phase of knowledge life cycle. The empiric research was focused on working with tacit knowledge in organizations in the Czech Republic. According to analysis of current theory and outputs from the research there is proposed the model how to work with tacit knowledge from its dynamic perspective.