Most of the organizations do not effectively utilize Human Resources’ contribution for the effective implementation of Knowledge Management. If people are managed effectively and their knowledge utilized efficiently, then evidently it can become a competitive advantage. Relying on modern information systems will be fruitful if people are actively involved in knowledge sharing. The different areas of Human Resources which help in effective knowledge sharing are reward systems, recruitment, retention, succession planning and training and development.
The first and most obvious area of Human Resources involvement in Knowledge Management is reward management. It is very clear that employees will not be ready to share their knowledge and expertise until and unless they are rewarded. Rewards will motivate them to share their knowledge and it is purely on the shoulders of Human Resource people to undertake this task. This way H R enables knowledge sharing in different departments. In case of recruitment, retention and succession planning from a Knowledge Management perspective can be looked at as filling knowledge gaps.
While recruiting new employees, they can select candidates who are more creative and innovative and can adapt themselves to the changing work environment. Also, retention of good employees is necessary. The HR policies and procedures should be designed in such a way that they allow employees to meet their personal objectives. Succession planning, on the other hand, is about planning to meet future skills and knowledge needs with existing resources. Human Resources’ involvement and its contribution is perhaps the greatest in training and development.
Human Resources should get itself actively involved in the technological developments in the workplace as they can train the employees accordingly. Training is necessary for individuals to work in teams as co-operation and sharing of information brings in benefits for the whole organization. Though Human Resources’ contribution is inevitable in the area of Knowledge Management, it has certain limitations as Human Resources and other departments are most in conflicts. This can be seen as a limitation of Human Resources’ intervention in effective Knowledge Management.
Employees in other departments need to support the HR people for effective knowledge sharing as HR people becomes the mediator in knowledge sharing. This is not Human Resources’ role alone but its contribution is necessary. Building a culture for Knowledge management on certain values will require changes in systems and processes, and a way of doing things which both transmits the organizational culture to new employees and reinforces it to old employees. As with any change situation, conflicts can arise.
This is where Human Resources can contribute to the development of the Knowledge Management culture by handling such conflicts. According to Chivu and Popescu (2008), in terms of knowledge migration, Human Resource may play a major enabling role in helping identify the potential of knowledge migrants. According to them, the HR process with regard to knowledge management involves HR sought assessment and selection, HR sought training and development, HR sought appropriate communication, reward and recognition schemes and knowledge
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