Abstract
An exploratory case study on a technical support call centre in China is presented, which investigates a new paradigm that script-based tacit knowledge for action is built in the brains of learners, rather than transferred. Twelve techniques used by the case study organization to build tacit knowledge scripts in the minds of the trainees are discussed. It was found that one type of script-based tacit knowledge execution can be represented by a set of steps in action-taking that include awareness, attention, diagnosis, action alternative analysis, action taking, and outcome evaluation. The case findings show that the notion of building, rather than transferring tacit knowledge is helpful in understanding the organizational processes used to bring new employees up to working skill levels, and suggest that similar processes and training methods for building tacit knowledge scripts can be used by other organizations to transform a new recruit to an experienced and valued employee.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abelson RP (1976) Script processing in attitude formation and decision-making. In Cognition and Social Behavior (CARROLL JS and PAYNE JW, Eds), pp 33–46, Erlbaum, Hillsdale NJ.
Abelson RP (1981) Psychological status of the script concept. American Psychologist 36 (7), 715–729.
Alavi M and Leidner DE (2001) Review: knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues. MIS Quarterly 25 (1), 107–136.
Ambrosini V and Bowman C (2001) Tacit knowledge: some suggestions for operationalization. The Journal of Management Studies 38 (6), 811–829.
Badderley A, Eysenck MC and Anderson MC (2009) Memory. Psychology Press, Hove, UK.
Brown JS and Duguid P (2000) The Social Life of Information. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Cavaye ALM (1996) Case study research: a multi-faceted research approach for IS. Information Systems Journal 6 (3), 227–242.
D’Eredita M and Barreto C (2006) How does tacit knowledge proliferate? An episode-based perspective. Organization Studies 27 (12), 1821–1841.
Dewey J (1938) Experience and Education. Kappa Delta Pi, New York.
Eraut M (2004) Informal learning in the workplace. Studies in Continuing Education 26 (2), 247–273.
Gay LR and Diehl PL (1992) Research Methods for Business and Management. Macmillan, New York.
Gioia DA and Manz CC (1985) Linking cognition and behavior: a script processing interpretation of vicarious learning. The Academy of Management Review 10 (3), 527–539.
Gioia DA and Poole PP (1984) Scripts in organizational behavior. Academy of Management Review 9 (3), 449–459.
Gottfredson LS (1997) Why g matters: the complexity of everyday life. Intelligence 24 (1), 79–132.
Gottfredson LS (2003a) Dissecting practical intelligence theory: its claims and evidence. Intelligence 31 (4), 343–397.
Gottfredson LS (2003b) On Sternberg's ‘Reply to Gottfredson’. Intelligence 31 (4), 415–424.
Gourlay S (2006) Conceptualizing knowledge creation: a critique of Nonaka's theory. Journal of Management Studies 43 (7), 1415–1436.
Hildreth PM and Kimble C (2002) The duality of knowledge. Information Research 8 (1), 1368–1613.
Ichijo K and Kohlbacher F (2008) Tapping tacit local knowledge in emerging markets – the Toyota way. Knowledge Management Research & Practice 6 (3), 173–186.
Kolb DA (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ.
Lewin K (1951) Field Theory in Social Sciences. Harper & Row, New York.
Lynch G and Granger R (2008) Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Nonaka I (1994) A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organizational Science 5 (1), 14–37.
Nonaka I and Takeuchi H (1995) The Knowledge Creating Company. Oxford University Press, New York.
Nonaka I and von Krogh G (2009) Tacit knowledge and knowledge conversion: controversy and advancement in organizational knowledge creation theory. Organization Science 20 (3), 635–652.
Piaget J (1951) Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood. W.W. Norton, New York.
Piaget J (1970) Genetic Epistemology. Columbia University Press, New York.
Platts MJ and Yeung MB (2000) Managing learning and tacit knowledge. Strategic Change 9 (6), 347–355.
Polanyi M (1966) The Tacit Dimension. Doubleday and Co., Garden City NY.
Polanyi M (1967) The Tacit Dimension. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Refaiy M and Labib A (2009) The effect of applying tacit knowledge on maintenance performance: an empirical study of the energy sector in the U.K. and Arab countries. Knowledge Management Research & Practice 7 (3), 277–288.
Ribeiro R and Collins H (2007) The bread-making machine: tacit knowledge and two types of action. Organization Studies 28 (9), 1417–1433.
Salas E and Cannon-Bowers JA (2001) The science of training: a decade of progress. Annual Review of Psychology 52, 471–499.
Shank R and Abelson R (1977) Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding. Erlbaum, Hillsdale NJ.
Sternberg R, Forsyth GB, Hedlund J, Horvath JA, Wagner RK and Williams WM (2000) Practical Intelligence in Everyday Life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK.
Tsoukas H (1996) The firm as a distributed knowledge system: a constructionist approach. Strategic Management Journal 17 (SI), 11–25.
Tsoukas H (2003) Do we really understand tacit knowledge? In The Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management (LYLES E-Sa, Ed), pp 411–427, Blackwell Publishing, Cambridge MA.
Tulving E (1972) Episodic and semantic memory. In Organization of Memory (TULVING E and DONALDSON W, Eds), pp 381–403, Academic Press, New York.
Tulving E (1995) Organization of memory: quo vadis? In The Cognitive Neurosciences (GAZZANIGA MS, Ed), pp 839–847, MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Yin RK (1989) Case Study Research – Design and Methods (revised edition). Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks CA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McQueen, R., Chen, J. Building script-based tacit knowledge in call centre trainees. Knowl Manage Res Pract 8, 240–255 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2010.18
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2010.18