When management teams in organizations fail to put in place some form of corporate-wide culture that seeks to elicit and capture the tacit knowledge of employees, it may lead into various organizational weaknesses especially in terms of knowledge management. It is rather problematic to instill a viable organizational culture within a very short time.
Hence, some organizations may completely fail to enjoy the benefits of tacit knowledge due to poor organizational cultural framework. Secondly, lack of adequate operational budget for running special programs that boost organizational culture may pose a serious threat when seeking tacit knowledge that are possessed by employees.
For instance, it should be noted that tacit knowledge largely depends on non-academic attributes such as work experience and special talents among employees. If inadequate budget is allocated, tacit knowledge may not be put into any significant use.
Moreover, organizations that do not promote healthy group work or dynamic team work experience may face major problems when identifying and putting tacit knowledge into use.
Employees who do not value team work may not fully share the available knowledge even though knowledge sharing is a critical ingredient when exploring tacit knowledge in organizations. Networks and alliances usually enable the use of pooled expertise that is drawn from knowledge sharing exercise among employees.
Lack of human-talent exchange program within an organization may cause major problems in the process of seeking and establishing tacit knowledge. It is vital for employees to rent their expertise to other organizations so that they can be in a position to gauge their abilities against those of other competitors.
Moreover, when employees work in various organizations, they tend to improve their tacit knowledge. In some cases, it may be quite cumbersome for talented employees to understand their unique areas of excellence when they restrict their roles in one or a few areas of production.
Besides, poor recruitment methods may likely create difficulties among management teams when they make any attempts to seek, elicit and enhance the functionality of tacit knowledge among employees. The best brains and talents in organizations can only be obtained by hiring the right people. If the recruitment process is carried out in a mediocre manner, then tacit knowledge cannot be realized at all.
Lastly, poor change performance measurements, lack of motivation and reward structures for employees are also serious threats when eliciting and capturing tacit knowledge in organizations.
In terms of change performance, measurable goals should be put in place so that talented employees can be easily identified from other knowledgeable workers. On the same note, employees who are not motivated through valid reward systems may not exploit their full potential at place of work.