KNOW

LEDGE
MANA
GEME
The 7 Types of Knowledge:
NTMore
Definitions, Examples &

March 07,
2023
What Is Organizational
Knowledge, and Where
Can I Find It?
The 7 Types of Knowledge: Definitions, Examples & More
[ Source: https://www.getguru.com/reference/types-of-knowledge]

There are 7 core types of knowledge that work together to shape

the way we exchange information and learn new concepts.
Here's everything you need to know about the types of
knowledge that form our understanding of the world.

When creating a knowledge management strategy, the different

types of knowledge must be taken into account in order for the
end result (of creating a knowledge base) to be as useful as
possible in both the short and long terms. So how can you best
understand things like explicit vs tacit knowledge? Let’s dive in!

What are the 7 types of knowledge?

1. Explicit knowledge
2. Implicit knowledge
3. Tacit knowledge
4. Procedural knowledge
5. Declarative knowledge
6. A Posteriori knowledge
7. A Priori knowledge
The 7 types of knowledge
1. Explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge is knowledge covering topics that are easy
to systematically document (in writing), and share out at scale:
what we think of as structured information. When explicit
knowledge is well-managed, it can help a company make better
decisions, save time, and maintain an increase in performance.

These types of explicit knowledge are all things that have

traditionally been what has been captured in a knowledge base
or as part of a knowledge management strategy. It’s formalized
documentation that can be used to do a job, make a decision, or
inform an audience.

Explicit knowledge examples

Companies can share explicit knowledge by maintaining well-
documented information in the company knowledge base.
Examples of explicit knowledge include things like FAQs,
instructions, raw data and related reports, diagrams, one-sheets,
and strategy slide decks.

Here is an example of documented explicit knowledge:

TEMPLATE: SUPPORT POLICIES &

PROCEDURES

GreatCo.'s primary approach in supporting our customers is through the "Contact Us"
function that is available within the on our site. To ensure we are consistently achieving
best-in-class CSAT via Intercom, we have implemented response times of 2 hours or
less. Our support team's average time to first response time is about one hour.

OUR HOURS OF OPERATION:

 Standard Support Hours:
o Mon. - Fri. 8am to 8pm ET
o Anticipated response within 2 hours from time of receipt
 Non-Standard Support Hours:
o Evenings: 5pm - 8pm ET
o Weekends: 9am - 5pm ET
o Anticipated response will be addressed within 5 hours from time of
2. Implicit knowledge
Implicit knowledge is, essentially, learned skills or know-how. It
is gained by taking explicit knowledge and applying it to a
specific situation. If explicit knowledge is a book on the
mechanics of flight and a layout diagram of an airplane cockpit,
implicit knowledge is what happens when you apply that
information in order to fly the plane.

Implicit knowledge is gained when you learn the best way to do

something. You can then take that experience and synthesize it
with other learned information in order to solve an entirely new
problem.

This type of knowledge has traditionally been excluded from

formal knowledge bases, as it can be difficult to document and
capture in a scalable way. In order to add it to a knowledge base,
think of it this way: “What new thing did I learn, would it be
useful to others, and how can I explain it?”

Implicit knowledge example:

INTERCOM'S STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT REMOTE
WORK

BY KAITLIN PETTERSEN, GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMER SUPPORT AT INTERCOM

DOUBLE DOWN ON TEAMWORK BEST PRACTICES

If your team isn’t used to working in different locations, here are three things that have been indispensable to our
team operations. They’re not unique to remote work but they are especially useful for distributed teams.

A SMART MEETING STRATEGY

When you don’t have the luxury of face to face interactions, meetings become a crucial tool for information
sharing and discussion. But have too many meetings and you waste people’s time. We’ve found these three
meetings are what we need to stay aligned – efficiently.

ACTIVELY USED TEAM VALUES

Many teams espouse values, but I’d argue few actively apply them to daily work.

“A CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THAT ISN’T ANCHORED ON A SINGLE SET OF VALUES WILL QUICKLY
START TO FEEL FRAGMENTED”

As we prepare our team for the possibility of remote work, we’ll be leaning on their ability to apply shared values.

TOOLS FOR COLLABORATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING

The bigger the team, the more you’ll need sturdy communication tools in your support tech stack that help you
easily share information no matter where team members are located.Morning surveys through Slack, mid-day
photo shares, end of day highlight threads

 Team challenges – for example, remote power hours or gif competitions. Of course, keep them
professional, but these kinds of challenges can be great for both team camaraderie and delighting
customers.
 Frequent postings of our metrics dashboard on Slack to replicate our real-time metrics monitor at the
office
Above all, recognize that a successful transition to fully remote work can take time. Set clear expectations up front
as to what success looks like and maintain a culture of trust and accountability – both of which are key to a highly
productive and energetic remote team
Here is an example of documented implicit knowledge:
While implicit knowledge can be more difficult to document,
some examples of implicit knowledge could include an
individual’s ability to prioritize tasks or juggle projects to meet
deadlines.

3. Tacit knowledge
Tacit knowledge is intangible information that can be difficult to
explain in a straightforward way, such as things that are often
“understood” without necessarily being said, and are often
personal or cultural. This type of knowledge is informal, learned
with experience over time, and usually applies to a specific
situation.

When it can be captured (if it’s not, for instance, a feeling), it

should be added to a knowledge base. Doing so makes it easy to
share expertise gained over time with others who may need it.
Tacit knowledge can be difficult to transfer and usually isn’t
able to be stored. An example of tacit knowledge could be a
salesperson’s ability to know the perfect time to give their pitch
during a meeting. A combination of experience, reading social
cues, and other personal factors must come together to form that
unique bit of knowledge.

Since this knowledge is learned with experience over time,

companies can help employees strengthen their tacit knowledge
by sharing techniques and tips on handling certain situations. An
example of this could be a list of phrases for sales leads to look
out for when dealing with customer complaints. The sales lead
could better understand how to ‘read’ or rectify a situation by
being prepared with possible conversation outcomes.

Here’s an example of documented tacit knowledge:

TEMPLATE: REMOTE MEETING ETIQUETTE

🔥Trending templates you might like:

203 Free Business Templates
Bread's Internal Process and Standard Operating Procedures Template
4. Declarative knowledge
Declarative knowledge which can be also understood as
propositional knowledge, refers to static information and facts
that are specific to a given topic, which can be easily accessed
and retrieved. It’s a type of knowledge where the individual is
consciously aware of their understanding of the subject matter.

This type of knowledge is typically stored in documentation or

databases and focuses more on the 'who', 'what', 'where', and
'when' behind information and less on the 'how' or 'why'. When
documented, it creates the foundation for understanding the
subject matter and can help companies improve how they share
procedural and explicit knowledge.

Declarative knowledge examples

Some examples of declarative knowledge include an individual's
ability to know what the company goals are for the year. The
individual can also understand how performance will be
measured due to reading the company newsletter where the
goals and metrics are shared across teams.
5. Procedural knowledge
Procedural knowledge focuses on the ‘how’ behind which things
operate, and is demonstrated through one’s ability to do
something. Where declarative knowledge focuses more on the
‘who, what, where, or when’, procedural knowledge is less
articulated and shown through action or documented through
manuals.

Procedural knowledge examples

Stemming from the root “procedure”, an example of procedural
knowledge could include a standard operating procedure on how
to do specific tasks, or use certain equipment in an organization.

6. A Posteriori knowledge
A posteriori knowledge is a subjective type of knowledge that is
gained from individual experience. While this type of
knowledge isn’t one to be documented on a company’s
knowledge base, it still plays a critical role in the success of
teams. This kind of knowledge gives individuals the ability to
know their strengths and weaknesses that stem from their
experiences, and can help companies diversify their teams skill
set.
A Posteriori knowledge examples
Due to a posteriori knowledge being derived from individual
experiences, some examples of a posteriori knowledge could
include an individual's ability to lead teams based on their
previous roles in management, or the ability to de-escalate or
diffuse tense situations.

7. A Priori knowledge
A priori knowledge is the opposite of posteriori knowledge, and
is gained independent of experience or evidence. This type of
knowledge is often shared through logical reasoning, or one's
ability to think abstractly. Although a priori knowledge isn’t
necessarily documented, it’s often shown in the form of team’s
ability to understand and reason when faced with situations.

A Priori knowledge examples

Examples of a priori knowledge could include one’s ability to
excel in mathematics, or logical reasoning due to their natural
ability to understand and interpret information without needing
further explanation.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE

TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
What is the importance of explicit knowledge?
Explicit knowledge plays an important role in organizations, due
to its ability to be easily articulated, documented, and accessed.
Since explicit knowledge can be easily shared across teams, this
type of knowledge allows companies to save time by
maintaining a single source of truth.

How can explicit knowledge be improved?

Explicit knowledge maintains a single source of truth within an
organization, being open to team feedback on ideas for
continuous improvement can help improve explicit knowledge.

How do you gain tacit knowledge?

One of the easiest ways to gain tacit knowledge is by observing
others in the workplace, whether it be how they prioritize,
address or scale tasks and projects.

What are the positive aspects of procedural knowledge?

Since procedural knowledge is focused on the ability to take
action, some positive aspects of procedural knowledge include
being goal-oriented and having the ability to problem-solve.
What Is Organizational
Knowledge, and Where Can I
Find It?
By Emil Hajric, Founder, Helpjuice May 30, 2019 HR
Management & Compliance
Updated: May 30, 2019
[Source: https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2019/05/30/what-is-
organizational-knowledge-and-where-can-i-find-it/]

Just like humans, members of a tribe of elephants communicate

expressively and meaningfully with one another. Elephants’
memories can span up to 50 years. For example, they can
remember the locations of watering holes hundreds of miles
away—which is very useful in the savannah. Think of your
organization as being like a tribe of elephants, with valuable
knowledge to capture and share.
Organizational knowledge is the sum of all knowledge contained
within an organization that can provide business value. It may
be gained from intellectual property, product knowledge, lessons
of failure and success, conferences, or customer
communications, just to name a few sources. Knowledge is
always learned, preserved, and transmitted by people, so it’s the
key responsibility of Human Resources (HR) to help manage
this knowledge.
One approach to capturing organizational knowledge is through
repositories as part of a knowledge management effort. This is
crucial if you want to avoid losing 42% of company knowledge
relevant to a job role every time an employee leaves. And
because the average new hire spends 200 unproductive hours on
the job due to a lack of access to relevant knowledge, it’s well
worth the time spent investing in this important area of HR.

Types of Knowledge
Knowledge can be divided into three main types:

Explicit Knowledge
Explicit knowledge is easily documented and indisputable, like
procedures and policies, product and service functionality, step-
by-step tasks, research, and content. It’s most likely to be
documented by technical writers, content strategists,
instructional designers, and information architects.

Tacit Knowledge
Tacit knowledge is a learned sense of practical know-how,
which is hard to articulate, such as how to repair a computer
system. It’s the realm of your subject matter experts; held inside
your employees’ heads; and transmitted through training,
mentorships, and communities of practice. According to Nonaka
& Takeuchi, “Tacit Knowledge is the knowledge of experience,
and tends to be subjective and physical. It is about ‘here and
now’, relates to a specific practical context.”

Implicit Knowledge
Implicit knowledge, or embedded knowledge, is intuitive and
embedded experience. It’s ineffable, but you know it when you
see it, such as the experience of senior employees, subject matter
experts, the nature of professional relationships, and institutional
processes. It’s transmitted through social relationships.

Sources of Knowledge
Now that we know what types of knowledge to look out for,
we’ll go through potential sources of knowledge. Knowledge
can be found almost anywhere in your organization and comes
in many tangible and intangible forms. For example:
Individual—a person’s notebook, loose documents and files,
customer queries and complaints, or an individual’s memory.
These are good sources of tacit knowledge.
Group/Community—communities of practice, communities of
excellence, project teams, internal teams, training groups,
mentorship programs. These are good sources of explicit,
implicit, and tacit knowledge.
Structural—routines, processes, culture, traditional ways of
doing things, IT systems, suppliers. These are sources of implicit
knowledge.
Organizational memory—the knowledge of your entire
organization. It can be contained in guidelines, regulations,
reports, market research, records, and data. These are good
sources for a combination of tacit and explicit knowledge.
An illuminating example of individual, organizational, and
structural sources of tacit and implicit knowledge is that which
could have prevented the BP oil leak of 2006 at Prudhoe Bay.
The leak was not discovered for 5 days and led to fuel shortages
at U.S. gas stations—not to mention 900,000 liters of oil being
dumped into the ocean.

The reason behind this disaster? An experienced and qualified

employee with specialized knowledge had left the company, and
the employee was not replaced for budgetary reasons. This
meant that there was no one to prevent the disaster from
happening.

Failing to document this kind of knowledge creates the risk that

future employees will repeat the mistakes of the past and that
hundreds of millions of dollars will be lost. And yet one-third of
HR professionals say that their companies do not collect and
share specialized knowledge.

Repositories of Knowledge
So what can we do right now to document such important and
specialized knowledge within our organizations? That’s exactly
what knowledge repositories were made for.

The definition of a knowledge repository is “a computer system

that continuously captures and analyzes the knowledge assets of
an organization,” says Chris Kimble, Associate Professor at
Kedge Business School.

Knowledge can be captured in many places, but it is most likely

to be held within a knowledge management system (KMS).
KMS repositories include:
 1. Documentation of any kind
2. Internal knowledge bases
3. Customer-facing knowledge bases
4. FAQs
5. Intranets
6. Onboarding materials
7. Training materials
8. Webinars
9. Case studies

Other repositories can include:

10. Databases
11. Internal collaboration tools
12. Ticketing systems
13. Wikis/communities/forums

There exists a wide range of ways to document your knowledge,

but even the best technologies in the world must be combined
with proper investment in a corporate culture that prizes and
fosters knowledge sharing among employees. Your people are
your most valuable assets when it comes to knowledge
management.
Providing Business Value
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the definition
of organizational knowledge, as well as its common sources and
repositories. Sixty-three percent of employees want to work for
companies in which unique knowledge is preserved, so
knowledge management is a core way that HR can provide key
business value, as it improves employee retention.

Remember, like the tribe of elephants, effective transmission of

knowledge depends on communication between individual
members of the tribe. This is best achieved by a knowledge
sharing program. Choose the right knowledge repository for
your needs to capture this specialized knowledge being shared
by your employees.