| Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap | Exploring Tacit Knowledge & Knowledge Creation | | Conor Butler | |

Abstract With billions of dollars spent each year on management training, business research, management consulting and with many books and articles written on the same subjects, it has been argued that all of this information and knowledge is not reflected in what organisations actually do Pfeffer, Sutton (2000). There is often a big gap that occurs between translating all the knowledge and information that we learn into positive actions that can be of benefit to an organisation. How often does a manager attend a training session, read a manual or be present at a conference, often at the expense of an employer, that attempts to teach them the correct way to implement a strategy or attack and solve a problematic process only for that manager to fall back to old ways of behaving?. Often people can fall back into old work habits due to time pressures, peer pressure, lack of faith in their capabilities, and sometimes by the idea that everything is going fine anyway so the need for change is not that necessary.
There are many talented managers that have complex ways of thinking and possess “tacit” knowledge of internal efficiencies but would be unable to write them down in a manual. They are “unable to conceptualize their strategic insights” (Senge, 1990). A lot of this knowledge can then get lost or leave with an employee when they change jobs or retire.

Many of the ideas and theories spoke about in new business management, strategy books and courses each year contain the same ideas and themes that have been developed many years before. Although these ideas and theories are proven to be useful there is still a market for an updated book or manual to try to get managers to put their knowledge into practice and see a positive action or result.