Att lära det dolda
En fallstudie om lärande av tyst kunskap på Utrikesdepartementet
Knowledge is of great importance for organizations and it is seen as an important competitive advantage to effectively preserve knowledge within an organisation. The upcoming retirement of employees born in the 1940s poses a threat because it is believed to result in a knowledge drain. The problem of preserving knowledge within the organization lies in the fact that it is partly tacit, and therefore not possible to write down or communicate in words. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how tacit knowledge is created in the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the implications thereof. We examine the following research questions: Of what significance is the creation and reproduction of tacit knowledge for the Swedish Foreign Ministry? Which factors influence the creation and reproduction of tacit knowledge and why? A case study of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has been conducted. We have carried out 15 interviews with employees from different divisions of the organization and of different hierarchal positions in order to examine the tacit knowledge within the organization. In this thesis we argue that tacit knowledge is of great importance for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and that there are several organisation specific factors that influence the learning of tacit knowledge. The organizational culture has a strong impact on learning; it speeds up single-loop-learning, but at the same time slows double-loop-learning. The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is going through a period of change and this enables evolvement, i.e. double-loop-learning, that, if it occurs slowly, can permit the beneficial aspects of a strong culture to be preserved in the organization.