Yang, in his paper titled Toward a holistic theory of knowledge and adult learning, presented three facets of knowledge; explicit, implicit, and emancipatory. As explained by Yang, these facets continually interact with each other to enable individuals to continue knowing. The explicit facet of knowledge comprises abstract and interrelated ideologies of a particular situation. Explicit knowledge includes beliefs and assumptions. The implicit facet stems from all the direct experiences in the world and comprises routine, habits, and customs. Emancipatory knowledge depends on how an individual feels about something and is made up of desires, visions, and ambitions. Emancipatory knowledge comes from the sentiment that an individual has regarding a particular object. With the three facets being intertwined, knowledge is said to have occurred once any or all of the three facets undergoes some change.
In addition to the facets, Yang outlined three layers that determine how individuals learn. These layers are the foundation, manifestation, and orientation. The foundation layer describes the assumptions that individuals need to have to know how they need to conduct themselves in a particular situation. For instance, in the KFC situation discussed above, the managing director will be trying to implement theories fronted by Ashton on the assumption that Ashton was 100 percent correct. The manifestation layer comprises everything that results from understanding the outcomes of a particular situation. In the KFC example, the managing director will use knowledge-sharing as a technique that supports the desired outcome-in this instance, the raising of hygienic standards in the company’s various outlets. Finally, the orientation foundation was described by Yang as the direction and tendency of knowledge. In this regard, the managing director would be operating under guidance from the field best practices that promote a healthy chain of command.
For a company to ensure that the individuals in its administrative hierarchy continually learn about its various processes there is the need for an environment that encourages the constant interaction of the three facets and layers proposed by Yang. This is in consideration of the fact that knowledge occurs through five ways; creation, acquisition, transformation, conversion, and utilization. Knowledge creation comes when new knowledge is formed in any of the three facets. Knowledge acquisition is when knowledge is picked from a secondary source such as a film while knowledge transformation comes about when an individual develops an in-depth understanding of a particular topic. Knowledge conversion occurs when the knowledge is moved from one source to another and knowledge utilization manifests when a person uses knowledge in a new context.
In the KFC example, the managing director will go into the meeting already equipped with information on the hygiene situation in the restaurants and the reduction in the number of customers. He will then use the explicit facet of knowledge in applying proper principles of knowledge-sharing between him and the department heads present in the meeting. In disbursing the information, the managing director will be subconsciously addressing the foundation layer of knowledge, which in this case holds it that his juniors regard him as their superior in terms of knowledge. By sharing his knowledge, he will have implemented the knowledge conversion, creation, and acquisition elements. After the meeting, the managing director and the company heads will move on to put the information to use to effectively address the situation at hand.
The implicit facet will also be implemented in the sharing of knowledge from the managing director’s office to the waiter/waitress working in one of the restaurant’s outlets. The different individuals in the hierarchy each have specific routines and habits that they hold in their areas of work. These routines present in the way information is transmitted from one source to another as well as in how effectively different solutions will be implemented. In the conveyance of the message, people in different ranks will process it depending on their visions and objectives. Any positive outcome will be an indication of the manifestation and orientation layers that Yang linked to the three facets of knowledge. By the managing director conveying his ideas to the lowest man in the hierarchy, he will have ensured that the knowledge he has is shared appropriately with the people that work under him, a function of knowledge utilization, conversion, and transformation.
It is worth noting that the three facets and their constituent layers are theoretical concepts explaining how knowledge is acquired and put to use by individuals. Everything described above will be happening subconsciously and none of the affected individuals will reach a point where they can tell that they are in the process of knowledge acquisition. However, it is also important for the persons in senior levels of management to have these theories in mind, as they will help them come up with proper methods of disbursing information without subjecting their juniors to pressure. In any institution, desirable performance is obtained when individuals know what is expected of them and put this knowledge to good use.
Reference
Yang, B 2003, ‘Toward a holistic theory of knowledge and adult learning’, Human Resource Development Review, vol. 2, no. 2 pp. 106-129.