INTRODUCTION:

Human Resource has a fundamental role in the Knowledge Management movement, means Human Resources (HR) processes -- corporate education, performance management and nurturing (sharing, doing and caring) culture -- have a key role in the development of the knowledge-based enterprise.

Before we discuss the role of Human Resources in institutionalizing Knowledge Management in an organization, we will draw briefly, what Knowledge Management is all about.

For example:  One of our Knowledge Management initiatives in Hindustan Lever Limited. (HLL) -- The packaging community, so that seasoned Human Resources professionals could come up with their own additional ideas / views on how best to harness Human Resources processes to successfully implement Knowledge Management in an organization.

KNOWLEDGE:

When we use the term "knowledge" we are going beyond mere facts and data , or "Information", important through this is. We can think of knowledge as what is learnt from information & experiences.

Generally, three main categories of knowledge are distinguished:

Explicit– that can be articulated, captured and exchanged. This includes information, experiences, and insights; that which we interact with every day through the written word and the Internet.

Tacit - which is embedded in the experience and wisdom of individuals and leads to decisions and advice, but which is difficult or impossible to articulate in any coded form.

Relational - the knowledge of how to work with specific people; an understanding of what matters to them and the way in which they operate.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:

                      Sustainable competitive advantage a firm has comes from what it "collectively knows," how efficiently it uses what it knows and how readily it "acquires and uses new knowledge," in short by becoming a Knowledge Driven Organization. Knowledge Management (KM) provides an enabling framework to derive this advantage. It helps institutionalize processes to fully leverage the "collective knowledge" in an organization.

Knowledge management refers to all systematic activities for creation and sharing of knowledge so that knowledge can be used for the success of the organization. Knowledge Management processes provide a framework for connecting people to people and people to information, to develop and share distilled learning's and best practices.

WHY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?

In this competitive knowledge economy, our most valuable asset is the Knowledge Asset. It is often said that, in this economy it is not what "we own," but "we know" that would give us the competitive advantage.

Baruch Lev reports that today's investments are 6 to 1 in an organization's intangible assets -- 90 percent in such knowledge-intensive industries as Microsoft and America on Line (AOL).

Knowledge Management provides an enabling framework to leverage "collective knowledge." When Knowledge Management becomes "the way we work," it helps us deliver on strategic priorities and business goals -- growth, innovation, speed of response, quality of response, faster time to market, strengthen organizational learning, protect functional and operational excellence in a dis-aggregated organizational structure.

COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE:

                 Leveraging "Collective Knowledge" involve,

• Working in collaborative teams, capturing and sharing knowledge and delivering business excellence.
• Developing and sharing "best practices."
• Faster replication of innovations through faster movement of knowledge through the organization.
• Acquisition and sharing of "new knowledge."
• Creating an environment that is comfortable to the idea of openness, knowledge sharing, and risk of failure as well as rewards for success. Managing organizational learning.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES:

Knowledge Management in the process through which firms create and use their institutional or collective knowledge.

It includes three sub-processes as follows:

      Organizational learning: The process through which the firms acquire information and / or knowledge;

      knowledge production: The process that transforms and integrates raw information into knowledge, which in turn, is useful to solve business problems; and

      Knowledge distribution: The process that allows members of the organization to access and use the collective knowledge of the firm.

BARRIERS FOR IMPLEMENTING KNOWLEDGE       MANAGEMENT:

v     Conceptual / mindset related issues:

                           We need to create a culture of sharing. Often knowledge is seen as power and in a competitive environment there could be a tendency to hoard knowledge. Key to success of Knowledge Management is creation of knowledge sharing culture and elimination of organizational and cultural barriers for communication. We should move from "hoarding of knowledge to gain power" to "sharing of knowledge to gain power."

v     Operational issues:

                           The typical executive is already hard pressed for time. He has no time for an additional initiative, if it is seen as a diversion from focus on immediate results. So, it is important to integrate Knowledge Management into existing business processes in the organization and embed into workflow. Knowledge Management should not be seen as a separate initiative, but should be integrated into current workflow as a more effective way to achieve business results.

THE ROLE OF HR IN INSTITUTIONALIZING KM IN AN ORGANIZATION:

                   As can be seen from the above, knowledge management is essentially a people related discipline, with focus on strengthening collaborative team effort to leverage collective knowledge of the enterprise.

HR has a pivotal role to play in the KM movement. Key HR processes -- Corporate Education, Performance Management and nurturing (sharing, doing and caring) culture, have a very significant role in the development of the knowledge-based enterprise.

Talent management, which is the domain of HR and knowledge management are closely interrelated. While Talent Management focuses at individual level -- recruitment, training, skill and competency development and career planning of an individual, knowledge management focuses on people at collective level, how to leverage the collective knowledge of the enterprise, through Mentoring and knowledge sharing and collaborative team working.

KM should be developed into a key competency of the people.

HR PROCESSES AND PRACTICES   IMPACT THE KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN A FIRM:

Let us briefly examine some of the HR processes and practices that should be aligned to strengthen knowledge management.

At the stage of induction of new executives into the organization, coaching and mentoring systems are meant to transfer knowledge; exposure during training to variety of functions, units and geographical locations helps knowledge awareness / transfer.

Employees will benefit from "Mentorship," not only during the initial months but also for a long time after that. The role of the mentor in the later period would be to challenge the executive to look beyond the obvious, look for past learning and base decisions on a more informed platform.

JOB ROTATIONS: Well-planned job (role) rotations across geographical locations and businesses in a firm help not only people development, but also provide an important vehicle for transfer of knowledge and best practices, even though an organization cannot obviously depend on this as the main source of knowledge transfer.

NETWORKED ORGANIZATION: A networked organization with people playing multiple roles, being part of multiple teams -- a vertical team (Business / category) as well a horizontal team (function / knowledge domain), and is the way forward to effectively "leverage collective knowledge" of an enterprise. HR should play a key role in developing such a networked organization, through sponsorship and or facilitation of knowledge communities (teams), cutting across formal organizational silos.

TRAINING:Learning and knowledge are inter-linked. Knowledge strategies should encompass learning initiatives and knowledge initiatives need to converge with training initiatives. A Company's training program needs to focus on functional and business specific skill development programs as well as competency development focused programs.

Knowledge communities (Teams), as the owners and users of the knowledge, should play an active role in developing suitable course material for the functional and business specific courses.

Knowledge management cannot be practiced without a clear focus on "learning" within the organization.

CULTURE CHANGE: Leveraging collective knowledge is possible only when people value building on each other's ideas and sharing their insights. Much of this shaped by the culture of the organization. In some cultures, where knowledge is seen as power, knowledge sharing may be seen to be in conflict with the individual's personal interests (individual excellence / competitive advantage). Therefore, institutionalization of Knowledge Management requires HR to focus on managing the culture change / mindset of the people to strengthen collaborative team working and knowledge sharing.

HOW DO WE CREATE A KNOWLEDGE SHARING CULTURE?

Realign incentive and reward program:

"People do not do what you tell them, but what you measure them for." HR needs to institute a system of rewards and recognition, training and performance development practices -- activities that reinforce the discipline of sharing, documenting knowledge and reuse of others' ideas with pride to achieve business goals.

People in business most often behave in a way that increases their career opportunities, or recognizes their achievement. Most organizations reward individual effort or task achievement. They reward something done in a crisis, but most incentive programs do not reward avoiding a crisis. The best KM practitioners reward employees for learning, sharing and collaborating.

         Some of the steps HR could implement are:

Institute Team awards to recognize and reward excellent collaborative team effort, which has strongly contributed to business results. Ensure high visibility for teams which have excelled in knowledge capture / sharing to deliver business excellence. Many companies have found such team awards very useful in building up the enthusiasm and commitment to collaborative team working and knowledge sharing in the initial years, even though after a while, they might have discontinued these once they moved beyond the need for such awards, once the knowledge sharing is embedded into the culture.

Leadership commitment is further evidenced by theKnowledge Masters Award, which recognized excellence in knowledge creation and use. This prestigious award recognized employees whose knowledge mastery best exemplified the culture of balancing innovation with reuse; and contributed to significant and measurable business impact. The nominations for these awards were accompanied by written stories of why the individuals were being nominated. The stories not only reflected the growing understanding for the concepts and application of knowledge management but also provided stories that demonstrated the business value of knowledge sharing.

HR SHOULD BE THE CATALYST FOR CULTURE CHANGE:

We are in the process of launching few key initiatives for culture change, to firmly establish the "the enterprise culture," on the bedrock of our "values" -- Truth, Courage, Action and Caring. HR has been a key enabler in the process so far in helping articulate the behaviors and big-ticket action plans.

HR will also be a key facilitator in implementing a company wide communication of value behaviors. Team excellence workshops and process improvement (speed, simplicity and excellence) workouts are among the key initiatives that will soon be launched by HR to support the culture change. These culture change initiatives will strongly support our efforts to become a stronger knowledge driven company, committed to business excellence.

Develop "Knowledge Pull" -- a grassroots desire among employees to tap into their company's intellectual resources. HR can impact this through -- training and practices that reinforce this desire.

Some of the steps that HR could take to this end are:

v     Learning from experience (actively searching for others ideas, willingness to discuss failures and openness to feedback)

v      Developing others (commitment to share insights, help others shine, focus on future)

v      Team commitment (promoting cooperation and trust, open and active participation in team projects, task forces, communities of practice / Networks, upholding team's ideas and proposals).

CONCLUSION:

Transformation into knowledge driven organization is essentially a people related issue. HR has a key role to play in nurturing and strengthening knowledge management through "learning initiatives" and "culture change initiatives." HR is best placed to play the role of an effective facilitator, and give positive reinforcements for Knowledge Management through organizing visible knowledge sharing events and strengthening skill and competency development of employees.

             

R.MANJU SHREE
Faculty
RVS Institute of Managent studies

Coimbatore, Tanilnadu