SECI Framework
Overview
A framework describing four modes of knowledge conversion that drive organizational knowledge creation. Knowledge is created and expanded through continuous, dynamic interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge.
| To Tacit | To Explicit | |
|---|---|---|
| From Tacit | Socialization | Externalization |
| From Explicit | Internalization | Combination |
The Four Modes
Socialization (Tacit → Tacit) Creating tacit knowledge through shared experience. Apprenticeship, on-the-job training, “brainstorming camps.” The key is physical co-presence, without shared experience, people cannot share thinking processes.
Externalization (Tacit → Explicit) Articulating tacit knowledge into explicit concepts. The hardest and most valuable mode. Triggered by dialogue and reflection; enabled by metaphor, analogy, and model-building. This is where genuinely new concepts emerge.
Combination (Explicit → Explicit) Reconfiguring existing explicit knowledge through sorting, adding, recategorizing. Where information systems and databases excel. Creates systemic knowledge but cannot originate new concepts.
Internalization (Explicit → Tacit) Embodying explicit knowledge through action and practice (“learning by doing.” Documentation becomes habit; procedure becomes intuition. Closest to traditional “learning.”
Why It Matters
The framework reveals that knowledge creation requires all four modes operating in sequence. Organizations that over-invest in explicit knowledge systems (Combination) while neglecting tacit knowledge processes (Socialization, Externalization) limit their capacity for genuine innovation.
It also clarifies what technology can and cannot do: AI operates primarily in Combination mode, which means three of four knowledge creation modes still require human presence and participation.
How to Apply
- Audit your current balance. Which modes are well-supported? Which are neglected?
- Design for Socialization. Create spaces and occasions for shared experience (not just information exchange).
- Enable Externalization. Invest in dialogue processes that help experts articulate what they know. Use metaphor deliberately.
- Connect Combination to the cycle. Information systems should feed Internalization, not end the process.
- Close the loop with Internalization. Documentation without practice is inert. Design for application.
Limitations
The framework is descriptive rather than prescriptive, it explains what knowledge creation involves but doesn’t fully specify how to manage it. The modes are idealized; in practice they overlap and occur simultaneously.
Externalization remains the least understood mode, and methods for systematically converting tacit expertise to explicit form are underdeveloped.
Related: 06-molecule—knowledge-spiral, 07-molecule—middle-up-down-management, 06-molecule—tacit-vs-explicit-knowledge