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Systems engineering methodologies, tacit knowledge and communities of practice

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Abstract

In the context of technology development and systems engineering, knowledge is typically treated as a complex information structure. In this view, knowledge can be stored in highly sophisticated data systems and processed by explicitly intelligent, software-based technologies. This paper argues that the current emphasis upon knowledge as information (or even data) is based upon a form of rationalism which is inappropriate for any comprehensive treatment of knowledge in the context of human-centred systems thinking. A human-centred perspective requires us to treat knowledge in human terms. The paper sets out the particular importance of tacit knowledge in this regard. It sets out two case studies which reveal the critical importance of a careful treatment of tacit knowledge for success in two complex, technology-driven projects.

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Notes

  1. The perspective of a unified, reductionist logical modeling of reality addressed in this paper can be traced to the very beginnings of the enlightenment in the seventeenth century, and even to ancient Greek Platonism. Descartes was particularly concerned with creating a unified method by which to build a knowledge of the universe. Later Leibnitz set out to create and understand an exact language through mathematical formalisms. Many of these early Enlightenment thinkers sought to explore Divine perfection as they understood it (Leibnitz 2003). God had created a perfect machine we call the universe or nature. Through mathematics and a reductionist, empirical science Divine perfection could be explored. In Leibnitz, a core idea is that, for each individual, there is a complete notion knowable only to God, from which is deducible all the properties possessed by the individual at each moment in her history (Blackburn 1994). The foundations laid by people like Leibnitz, Berkeley and many others provided a basis for computational logic, and the rise of the computerised information processor. Their work ultimately lead to the development of mathematical approaches which in turn lead eventually to the ‘reasoning machine’, artificial intelligence, database systems, sophisticated programming languages and systems development methods. In these rationalisms the reduction of complex language structures to precise mathematical formalisms provided a means by which relatively primitive electronic circuits could process data according to very complex reasoning. This also lead to enormous progress in areas such as computational linguistics and natural language processing (e.g. Weizenbaum 1966; Bloc 1980).

  2. Indeed, it is more appropriate to call this knowledge ‘information’, for it does not fulfil the criteria commonly associated with knowledge (Roderick 1993).

  3. It was clearly foreshadowed in some of the earliest writings of Karl Marx—see, for example, the German Ideology.

  4. For more information on Indian artisans see Welch (1986).

  5. For more information on this project see Smith (2002).

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Indian CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) agency NISTADS (National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies) for the case study in West Bengal. The authors gratefully acknowledge support provided by Enterprise Ireland and the British Council for interinstitute collaboration. We also greatly appreciated the comments of the reviewers which significantly strengthened the argumentation and provided very useful references which were omitted in the initial version.

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  1. Information Systems, Organisations and Learning Research Centre, Waterford Institute of Technology, Republic of Ireland

    Larry Stapleton & Fiona Murphy

  2. School of Art, Media and Design, University of Wales College, Newport, Wales

    David Smith

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  1. Larry Stapleton
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Correspondence to Larry Stapleton.

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Stapleton, L., Smith, D. & Murphy, F. Systems engineering methodologies, tacit knowledge and communities of practice. AI & Soc 19, 159–179 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-004-0312-3

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