F. Murphy, Stapleton, L. & Smith, D. (2004). „Tacit Knowledge And Human Centred Systems: The Key To Managing The Social Impact Of Technology‟, International Multitrack Conference of Advances in Control Systems, University of Vienna (TUWien). 1 TACIT KNOWLEDGE AND HUMAN CENTRED SYSTEMS: THE KEY TO MANAGING THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY Fiona Murphy 1 , Larry Stapleton 1 & David Smith 2 1 ISOL Research Centre, Waterford Institute of Technology, Republic of Ireland E-mail: fmmurphy@wit.ie & lstapleton@wit.ie 2 University of Wales College Newport, P.O. Box 179, Newport, Wales E-mail: d.smith@newport.ac.uk ABSTRACT In recent years the concept of knowledge management has become an important feature in automation literature, in particular as it relates to ICT (information and communications technology). To date, this literature focuses primarily upon knowledge, which can be extracted, explicitly stated and codified into large-scale databases or other knowledge capture devices and mechanisms. However, it is readily apparent that this notion of knowledge is extremely limited. In particular, in order to understand, appreciate and effectively design and manage complex technologies, we need to focus more on less-concrete forms of knowledge. These types of knowledge are often termed „tacit‟ knowledge in order to emphasise their hidden nature. This paper reviews the current literature on tacit knowledge and relates it to current research and practise in AMAT and ICT. It then presents some empirical evidence to highlight the importance of tacit knowledge in engineering design and development work, and suggests a tacit knowledge-based framework. KEYWORDS Information systems, Information theory, Knowledge based systems, Social impact of automation, Systems design © IFAC 2004 1. INTRODUCTION Knowledge is an extremely important concept in engineering research. Many modern systems incorporate concepts of knowledge management and capture into their designs, and purport to address these issues. However, many of these approaches fail to address human-centred-ness in the way they tackle systems engineering problems. So called „hard‟ methods tend to ignore the relationship between knowledge and humans, preferring to emphasise codifiable data and information as „knowledge‟. This research trajectory is extremely limited, and fails to appreciate the enormous importance of tacit knowledge in the work of engineers, especially in the domain of the social-impact of the systems engineers create and deploy. This paper sets out a framework for addressing tacit knowledge, and indicates the current weaknesses in mainstream approaches to technology development. It then presents some empirical data to support the contention that tacit knowledge is extremely important to systems engineers in their work. It finally sets out some opportunities for research in this space, especially relating to human-centred systems. 2. TACIT KNOWLEDGE Tacit knowledge is non-codifiable information that is acquired through the informal take-up of learned behaviours and procedures (Howells (1996)). Polanyi defines it as “knowing more than we can tell”, meaning that we know how to perform a certain task, for example ride a bicycle, but we cannot explain to another person (s) how to perform that task successfully (Polanyi, (1961), p93). Tacit knowledge or “Intellectual Capability” is not easily catalogued. It is completely incorporated in the individual. It is ingrained in their practice and expertise, and can only be expressed and conveyed through proficient execution and through forms of learning that involve demonstrating and imitating (Fleck (1997)). It is not possible to transmit tacit knowledge easily or directly. As task accomplishment and knowledge are specific to the individual involved and require the individual to make changes to their existing behaviour (Howells (1996)). Tacitness within the knowledge does vary and the more ambiguous this type of information is the harder it is for an organisation to assimilate it (Cohen & Levinthal (1990); Nelson & Winter (1982)).