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Statement of the problem
[4] Stenmark (2001) highlights the increasing importance of knowledge in business and industry and the shift from knowledge "being one resource among many to becoming the primary resource." Stenmark distinguishes between explicit knowledge which has been "captured and codified into manuals, procedures, and rules and is easy to disseminate" and tacit knowledge that "cannot be easily articulated and thus only exists in people's hands and minds and manifests itself through their actions."
Sternberg (1988) (as cited in [10] Baumard, 2002, p. 150) also notes that "much of the knowledge on which performance in real-world settings is based is tacit knowledge: knowledge that is not openly expressed or stated" a position supported by [3] Smith (2001), who reports that 90 percent of the knowledge in any organization is embedded and synthesized in its people's heads. Tacit knowledge therefore, is a key resource that is not readily be available to the organization.
This conversion of knowledge from tacit to explicit, moves knowledge from the level of the individual to that of the group, and ultimately, to that of the organization. Organizations traditionally devote much of their training expenditure to structured, formal learning. However, much of the learning that individuals do takes place informally, tacitly. It is this learning that must become more readily accessible within the organization. While some attention has been paid to the use of mentoring in passing the knowledge of the mentor to the protégé, little attention has been paid to the role of there relationships may play. This case study looks at the role of peer relationships in the sharing of tacit knowledge with the workplace.
Theoretical framework
[2] Kram and Isabella (1985) identify three types of peer relationships, each characterized by specific developmental functions, a particular context, and a unique level of trust and self-disclosure. First, the information peer relationship is characterized by the exchange of information about work and the organization. There are low levels of trust and self-disclosure. Consequently, there is limited job-related feedback and insufficient trust or commitment for personal feedback. These relationships are undemanding and quite common in organizations, as the information shared is important to the individual for career strategizing.
The second type of peer relationship that is the collegial peer relationship is...