We must throw some rope around this concept and create a more precise definition. The point is, in order to have value, knowledge must be applied to a new situation on which a decision or action can be made. It is the role of knowledge management, therefore to connect two nodes, knowledge owners and knowledge seekers. The knowledge of one is transferred to the mind of another, so that a new decision can be made or situation handled. Knowledge management provides a means to capture and store transient knowledge and broker it to the appropriate individual.
Explicit knowledge is easily codified and conveyed to others.
Tacit knowledge is more experiential, subjective and personal, and substantially more difficult to convey. Although it is more difficult to manage, tacit knowledge is the primary target of many knowledge management efforts, because it is the repository of the organization's most strategically valuable knowledge. The primary challenge facing explicit knowledge is managing its volume to ensure its relevance. A common malaise facing organizations is information overload, as the levels of explicit knowledge become so overwhelming that they cannot be appropriately filtered. But, as organizations make advances in knowledge management, they realize that managing tacit knowledge is even more strategic, albeit more difficult.