Knowledge Management and Organization Processes - Essay Example

? Talent Development for Sustainability In the wake of a competitive business environment there are two sets of organizations, those that succeed and those that fail. In either of these organizations people make decisions and take the actions that result in the success or failure of their organization. In most cases, it is the top level management symbolized by the CEO that gets all the credit or all the blame for success or failure. However, this study contends that the success or failure of an organization depends on the quality of talent throughout the organization that ultimately leads to the creation and effective executions of successful strategy (Silver and Dowel 3). At the same time, an organization’s ability to manage knowledge becomes a critical factor in improving productivity of the pooled talent. Questions always arise on the interrelatedness of talent development and knowledge management. The two are undoubtedly independent, but there has to be interplay for an organization to post consistent success. One thing that should be understood at this point is that knowledge management is derived from historical engagements and experiences and remains put in an organization. On the other hand, talent management practices maybe defined and consistent but actual talent as represented by certain employees will continually change as people come and leave the organization. Irrespective of these differences in practice and form the two are major determinants of organization success. In this study, talent development and knowledge management will be evaluated and their place in determining organization success. Knowledge management has varied definitions as evident from different authors, this study adopts two definitions one defines knowledge management as the practice of selectively applying knowledge from previous experiences of decision making to current and future decision-making activities with the express purpose of improving the organization’s effectiveness (Jennex, 2010.p. 6). Knowledge management can also be defined as the planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling of people, processes and systems in the organization to ensure that its knowledge-related assets are improved and effectively employed. Though different, these two definitions express knowledge management as a lifelong organization activity which seeks to ensure organization effectiveness (King, 2010.p.4). The basis of such efficiency is past knowledge and experiences which are utilized to ensure the organizations current and future situations are improved. On the other hand, talent development is a concept under talent management which encompasses assessing, developing and deploying the right people with the right skills into the right jobs (Galagan, 2011.p. 2). Talent management and development has its root in the McKinsey’s “War for Talent” study which highlighted recruitment as the number one concern for business leaders (Caplan 1). Looking at the definitions, it is easy to look at talent management and development as the most crucial aspect of an organization. This is mainly because it determines the people in an organization’s fold and their different abilities. However, an organization that seeks growth must seek to be efficient. Efficiency is not always determined by the caliber of employees (talent) but is also defined by the organization’s structure and culture. It is in the latter that knowledge management assumes the greatest importance. This is because overtime, an organization has learnt crucial lessons on that which works and that which does not. Through managing these experiences an organization is able to cultivate the right attitude, develop the appropriate culture and maintain a productive management structure and employee approaches. The repository for these experiences is the knowledge management system. The process of knowledge management involves acquisition, creation, refinement, storage, transfer, sharing, and utilization (White, 2008.p.4). The knowledge management function in the organization operates these processes, develops methodologies and systems to support them, and motivates people to participate in them (King, 2010.p.4). The goal of knowledge management is to leverage and improve an organization’s knowledge assets to effectuate better knowledge practices, improve organizational behaviors, better decisions and improved organizational performance. It is possible for different organizational employees to carry out different knowledge management processes. However, knowledge management is more of an organizational approach and is assumed to be more effective when coordinated by managers. The managers should constantly focus on what they can do to enable knowledge management goals to be attained. They should as well focus in ways through which they can motivate employees to participate in achieving these goals and how they can come up with social processes that will facilitate knowledge management success. Social processes entail communities of practice, and represents self-organizing groups of people who have a common interest or bear the same expertise in a bid to improve their abilities and ensure constant exchange of ideas. Modeling of knowledge management Before knowledge is managed, knowledge must be developed. There are mainly two ways through which knowledge is developed, through creation and acquisition. Knowledge creation and acquisition involves the search for, recognition of, and assimilation of potentially valuable knowledge, often from outside the organization (King, 2010.p.8). Acquisition as a means of developing knowledge has three processes for acquiring knowledge from external sources, searching for instance through the internet, sourcing which involves coming up with the source to use and grafting which involves adding to the organization someone who possesses desired knowledge (Hlupic, 2003.p.4). Once knowledge is acquired or created, a knowledge management mechanism should be in place to allow this knowledge to be assimilated into the organization’s memory in a way that maximizes its impact and long-term reusability (Christensen, 2003.p.14). For this knowledge to impact an organization it must be transferred or shared. Transfer of knowledge represents purposeful communication of knowledge from a sender to a known receiver, whereas sharing is less focused such as through a repository, to individuals who are not known to the disseminator. Once this knowledge is shared or transferred it can be used through elaboration, infusion, and thoroughness in order to facilitate innovation, collective learning, individual learning and collaborative problem solving (King, 2009.p.10). In overall, knowledge management encompasses contemporary activities that are aimed at improving knowledge, knowledge-related practices, organizational behaviors and decisions and organizational performance (King, 2009.p.11). Scholars View In overall, academic commentators have come up in support of knowledge management. It is looked at as an approach which seeks to improve not only the performance of organizations but also seeks to assimilate critical knowledge. Knowledge management allows for a holistic look into good practices and casts a keen eye into activities and processes that can be improved to ensure efficiency in organizations. Through the knowledge management model, one need appreciate that knowledge applied in organizations is not only derived internally but is also developed from external sources. Such holistic approach informs academicians who welcome a thorough inquiry on how organization behavior, organization performance and organization decisions can be improved. Need to achieve these critical goals have informed collective agreement among most academicians who appreciate the general role of knowledge management. Management of Talent development Talent management as was mentioned earlier came to prominence in 1997 through McKinsey’s “War for Talent” study. Reference to war was particularly important given the wide spread shortage of skills necessary at senior management. This meant that the few talents in the market were largely sought and a “war” emerged as every organization tried to attract these talents. However, the study recognized that with the existent disparity between talent and demand it was eminent that organizations would suffer. Their remedy to this suffering was a focus on organizations to develop effective leaders and retain them for longer (Thorne & Pellant, 2007.p.23). It is this observation that gave birth to the idea of “talent management”, where this references assessing, developing and deploying people. Talent development is largely considered synonymous with talent management; however, this study recognizes a slight difference. The difference lies in the scope; talent management references overall talent and addresses various capabilities of employees. On the other hand, talent development needs to be focused and built around a clear understanding of the specific skills and competencies that an organization needs to succeed (Cheese, Thomas & Craig, 2008.p.11). In this sense, talent development starts with a look at the organization and its needs. After recognition, then follows a way of nurturing or impacting skills or sourcing for individuals with the talent that meets these organization needs. This study considers this as a more specific and a more intent approach as compared to talent management. All the same, there is need to recognize that the approaches and the goals are all the same (Rothwell et al 2012.p.34). To have a talent pool constituted of individuals with the requisite skills and knowledge necessary to steer an organization forward. Talent development is also focused with enhancing performance in current positions as well as transition to the next level. In this case, the development is about providing the requisite skills to individuals in order to ensure that they have what it takes to excel in what they do. This builds efficiency and prepares these employees for future responsibilities which maybe greater and require a higher level of skills (Caplan, 2010.p.2). In this case talent development takes over from talent managements, the latter is concerned with hiring, managing and retaining talented employees whereas the former is concerned with impacting requisite skills required to advance the talented employees. This is a slight but often ignored difference between talent management and talent development. Talent development is often managed under the overall talent management program. This is because the work of talent managers is to ensure retention and development of a superior workforce. Talent development squarely falls under development of a superior workforce (Elegbe, 2010.p.181). Effective talent management requires that an organization’s goals and strategies determine the quality and quantity of the talent needed. Unfortunately, most organizations may succeed in setting goals and strategies and determining the kind of employees they need but fail in managing this talent one’s they join the organization. The main reason for this is a disjoint between the human resource managers and the senior management (Kumar, 2011.p.61). In such situations, it becomes difficult to determine who among the senior management and the HR managers is at the helm of talent management. To address this and ensure proper talent development/management the approaches to integrated talent management must be integrated with both the business strategy and human resource strategy (Silzer & Dowell, 2010.p.81). Since most organizations already have a strategic plan incorporating a talent management strategy in the overall plan ensures they have the talent to always execute the strategic plan. Additionally, such integration ensures that talent management becomes a core part of an organization and is wired into the fabric and operations of an organization’s critical functions. Further, embedding talent management to the critical functions of the organizations guarantees that human resource and the senior managers work together (Caplan, 2010.p.2). This delivers a well defined talent management program. Research indicates that the most successful talent management programs are driven by human resource managers who receive utmost support from the senior managers. The senior management provides the resources, communication and any other necessary support to ensure success. HRM and Talent Management This brings us to the role of human resource managers in talent management. The best link between the two is provided by Rowley and Jackson who locate talent management between human resource planning, recruitment and selection (209). To achieve these roles the human resource managers have to strategize, such strategy involves the following elements which also make up elements of talent management. The first is resourcing strategy; this involves an inquiry into the requirements of the organization, both in terms of the present and the future. Once identified, a look at the labor market follows to determine how these needs measure against the internal workforce and the talent present in the labor market. The other strategy is creation of attraction and retention programs (Rowley & Jackson, 2010.p. 219). Here, the question is on what policies and programs need to be instituted in order to attract and retain talent in the organization. The next element is talent audit, this look at the programs under the attraction and retention strategy and inquires on how these can be actualized and the impact they have on the organization (Treffinger, 2008.p.28). The last strategy is talent relationship management, this looks at the ways and means that managers can use to retain individuals identified as talent, further it looks at how the identified talents can be encouraged to express their talent more effectively (Rowley & Jackson, 2010.p. 219). These are elements closely related with talent management but also which largely border on successful human resource management. They create the intersection between talent management and human resource management. Having pointed at the crucial role of human resource managers, or HR as commonly referred it is important to recognize that the personnel involved must step up and effectively play their critical role. In modern organizations, it is no longer possible to ask who owns the marketing process this is because it is unquestionably the domain of top marketing officers. Similarly, HR needs to take its central role in talent management and put in place professional talent management processes. Going forward, HR managers need to collaborate with the line managers to put in place business plans that integrate talent plans, including ways on how the business can meet its needs with the talent on board. An example of an integrated talent management system can be seen in the General Electric set up (Silzer & Dowell, 2010.p.82). The General Electric’s talent management strategy is made up of main components: attract the best talent, develop strong leaders who are well versed in business and industry knowledge, manage expectation for success and enforce accountability for their actions and retain the leaders who show exemplary ability to ensure the business’s growth and success (Galagan, 2011.p. 15). Such integration of the talent management system within the overall company strategy has ensured its success over the years and has also ensured that the organization has had productive employees who are success and growth oriented. Looking at the Genera Electric example and the entire discussion of talent management it is important to appreciate the role played by an organization experience, which imminently dictates the kind of talent that is required and how much of that talent is required. Secondly, it is important to note that the development of talent is based on previous processes and engagements with other employees who occupied similar posts. Additionally, there has always been need to critically look at practice elsewhere and assimilate the best practice in developing in house talent (Christensen, 2003.p.14). The entire process of using past experiences and assimilating best practice to ensure efficiency in talent management and organization processes falls under knowledge management. In conclusion, it is important for every organization to have a defined strategy. A strategy is not only important in guiding operations but is also critical in defining the kind of talent an organization requires to actualize its goals. Sourcing, developing and retaining talent falls under talent management. Talent management is largely supported and is highly related to the human resource management role in an organization. For the success of talent management there must be integration between the HR role and the overall organization strategy to ensure concerted effort between HR managers and the senior management. Equally important to talent management is knowledge management, this provides information on that best way through which talent can be managed by assimilating past experiences of the organization and best practice from other businesses. Bibliography Caplan, J. (2010). The Value of Talent: Promoting Talent Management across the Organization. London, Kogan Page Publishers. Christensen, P. H. (2003). Knowledge management: perspectives and pitfalls. Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School Press. Cheese, P., Thomas, R. J., & Craig, E. (2008). The talent powered organization: strategies for globalization, talent management and high performance. London, Kogan Page. Elegbe, J. A. (2010). Talent management in the developing world: adopting a global perspective. Farnham [Eng.], Gower. Galagan, Pat. (2011). The Executive Guide to Integrated Talent Management. Amer Society for Training. Hlupic, V. (2003). Knowledge and business process management. Harrisburg, PA, Idea Group Inc. Jennex, M. E. (2007). Knowledge management in modern organizations. Hershey, PA, Idea Group Pub. Kumar, R. (2011). Human resource management : strategic analysis text and cases. New Dehli, I.K. International. King, W. R. (2009). Knowledge management and organizational learning. London, Springer. Rowley, C. & Jackson, K. (2010). Human Resource Management: The Key Concepts. New York, Taylor & Francis. Rothwell, W. J., Prescott, R. K., Lindholm, J., Yarrish, K. K., Zaballero, A. G., & Benscoter, G. M. (2012). The encyclopedia of human resource management. San Francisco, Pfeiffer. Silzer, R. F., & Dowell, B. E. (2010). Strategy-driven talent management: a leadership imperative. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Thorne, K., & Pellant, A. (2007). The essential guide to managing talent: how top companies recruit, train, & retain the best employees. London ; Philadelphia, Kogan Page. Treffinger, D. J. (2008). The talent development planning handbook: designing inclusive gifted programs. Thousand Oaks, CA, Corwin Press. White, D. (2002). Knowledge mapping and management. Hershey, PA, IRM Press. Read More