Combining the Classifications of Knowledge

The following classifications of knowledge are independent of each other:

1. Procedural and Declarative Knowledge

2. Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

3. General and Specific Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge could be Procedural or Declarative and either general or specific Knowledge. Combining the 3 classifications will lead to the following table as described by Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal (2014), p28.

Illustration of the Different Types of Knowledge:

Knowledge and Expertise

• An individual who possesses expertise has the ability to perform a task more efficiently and effectively than an individual who does not possess the necessary skill or expertise.

Examples of Experts

Experts can be found in various functions or domains and should not be compared across domains.

Examples of experts are as follows:

1. You have the ability to drive but the level of expertise to drive at high speeds is not of the same level as a formula 1 driver.

2. A student who enters the work force as a developer will not have the same level of expertise as a senior developer.

3. An employee who decides to change their career from a developer to a Business Analyst will not have the expertise as a Business Analyst who has been practicing the profession for many years.

Categories of Expertise

Expertise can be classified into three distinct categories namely:

1. Associational (black box)

2. Motor skills

3. Theoretical (deep) expertise

What is Associational ?

• The individual does not have a full understanding of the inner workings or theory of the field i.e. the individual only understand the association between components but not the actual component. Hence, the term black box expertise.

• Downside: cannot troubleshoot new problems with this type of expertise

What is Motor skills?

• Mostly physical rather than cognitive

• Us, humans, improve this skill by continuous practice. Due to the practice, these physical actions do not require conscious thinking.

What is Theoretical expertise?

• An individual who understands the domain completely. Hence, the term deep expertise.

• Theoretical expertise helps solves new problems i.e. problems that associational expertise cannot solve.

• Gained through years of training and practice

Examples

Associational

• A car mechanic may be able to fix a car if he had previously ran into the same problem before, such as a car not starting. The mechanic will proceed to check if the battery has power, then the ignition, spark plugs etc. However, if the car computer system prevents the car from starting over, the mechanic would have ran through his checklist and could deduce that the computer system is the cause of the issue.

Motor skills

• A cricket batsman who practices hitting the ball on a continuous basis would create instincts on how to hit the ball when a spin ball is thrown or a fast ball vs when a novice is bowled a spin ball. The novice might be able to recognize that it is a spin ball but will not be able to instantly position themselves to hit the ball.

Theoretical expertise

• COVID19 is a type of virus that we have not previously experienced. Therefore, in order to create a vaccine, deep expertise are required to solve this issue of creating a vaccine.