'Tacit Knowledge Management Contradiction': Practical Insights from the Buddhist Knowledge Discourses

This paper revisits the 'tacit knowledge management contradiction'; a contemporary debate in knowledge management literature, and views it from a novel perspective through discourses in the Buddhist epistemology/theory of knowledge. The explicit-tacit dichotomy, which has epistemologically originated from the Cartesian worldview, which regards mind-body from a dualist perspective, serves as the foundation of the mainstream knowledge management approaches. Based on this dichotomic treatment, mainstream approaches advocate converting tacit knowledge to explicit forms for its management. Many criticisms are levied on mainstream approaches for disregarding unintended consequences of such conversion, and the issues related to objectifying knowledge from the knowledge subject are paramount. Conversely, the Buddhist theory of knowledge has a non-dualist standpoint. Discourses (sutra) outlined in this theory elaborate on the human-knowledge-production process, which signifies a person's 'psychophysical' nature, due to which the mind-body [termed namarupa] takes a non-dualist perspective. Therefore, revisiting the tacit knowledge management contradiction from this perspective overcomes the said criticisms on knowledge objectification attempts. In accomplishing this aim, the paper takes a qualitative approach and uses semi-structured interviews for data gathering. Three narratives of knowledge workers' experience on knowledge management practices were derived from a poststructuralist discourse analysis of the interview texts. These narratives disclose impediments in managing tacitly held knowledge using dichotomic approaches. In order to overcome these impediments, a socially interactive approach to manage tacit knowledge is suggested. This approach is epistemologically founded on non-dualism, which is justified using relevant discourses in the Buddhist epistemology. These discourses were subjected to a poststructuralist reading to use them for the secular purpose of managing knowledge. The paper contributes practically and theoretically to the existing corpus by empirically establishing the aptness of socially interactive approaches for managing tacit knowledge and elevating the non-dualist knowledge management discussion through the Buddhist epistemology, respectively.