Metaphor and Meaning - Converting Tacit Knowledge into Explicit Knowledge in a Non-profit Organization

AIDS Saskatoon (AS), a non-profit organization, has limited funding. Most of the funding and resources for the organization go into service provision and education/prevention activities, leaving little time for strategic planning. AS operations are largely based on tacit knowledge, or knowledge that resides within individuals, and little of it is explicit knowledge, or knowledge that can be examined by and shared with others. This problem yields the following research question: How does AIDS Saskatoon convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge? This qualitative research study examines AS tacit knowledge and represents it in an explicit format with the combination of thematic analysis and an organizational model, using Nonakas theory of knowledge creation as a theoretical basis. This work may have implications for the larger body of knowledge management literature in that the over-arching concepts in Nonakas theory of knowledge creation were applicable for a community-based organization, where most knowledge management literature has focused on for-profit contexts.