Tacit knowledge is characterized by causal ambiguity and difficulty of codification (Choo, 1998; Polyani, 1966). Tacit information is not readily articulated as a set of facts or rules and so is difficult to transfer (Sorenson et al., 2004).  This is in contrast to explicit knowledge, which can be expressed formally as a system of symbols and facts, and therefore more readily communicated (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). Of course, all organizations must process both tacit and explicit knowledge. The question is which type is more critical to the everyday functioning of the organization; that is, which is more important to executing tasks and getting work done. If exchange of high amounts of tacit information is critical to an organization’s everyday work, then its approach to information systems design will be more people or relationship-based rather than event or data-based.

In answering this question think about the kind of knowledge that is most critical to your organization’s success in doing its everyday work. Rate your answer to each question using the scale from very little (1) or to a great extent (5).

1. To what extent is the vital knowledge of the firm codifiable (1) or non codifiable (5), in the sense that it does not lend itself to being explicitly captured, processed and stored? ___
2. Could most of the important information that is exchanged within the firm be readily recorded on paper or in a computer system (1= yes, 5= no)?___
3. Does the information exchanged within the organization require interpretation in order to be meaningful (1= not much interpretation required, 5= highinterpretation required)? ___ 
4. Is information relatively easy to understand and explain (1), or are there subtleties to understanding the information, requiring specialized experience or expertise to fully “make sense” of the information (5)? ___

We suggest that you use an averaging procedure of the detailed scores to get to the overall score, but you may make an overall estimate of the score if you prefer.
An average score of 1 means very low while an average score of 5 means very high.