Knowledge Management and

Organisational Learning

Major Topics for Today

Contemporary HRM
Week 8

What is knowledge and knowledge

management?
Links between knowledge management
and innovation
The concept of the Learning Company

What is ..?
What is knowledge?

Data

Intelligence

Information
Knowledge

What is knowledge?
Incidental, with no
relationship

What is knowledge?

Knowledge Information

Data

Information

Knowledge

Structured,
linked to
context

Processed information?
Information combined with experience,
context, interpretation, and reflection?
Object or process?

Types of Knowledge

Technical knowledge
Scientific knowledge
Commercial know-how
Management know-how
Explicit or codified knowledge (that can be written down)
Tacit knowledge (people have it but cannot express it)

Is knowledge seperable from

the individual?

It is the recombination and transfer of

knowledge that generates new know-how
The most valuable type of knowledge:

complex tacit knowledge

Knowledge Management,
Mayo, 1998
Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management Processes

Essential processes:
managing new knowledge through
learning
capturing knowledge and experience
(Knowledge maps)
sharing and communicating knowledge
organising easy access of information
using and building on what is known

Theories of knowledge
management:
focus on:

Knowledge transfer
Integrative ability to recombine
knowledge

Source: Bouthillier, Shearer (2002). Understanding knowledge management processes. Information Research, Vol.
8 No. 1.

Knowledge Transfer

It is the ability to generate and transfer

knowledge from the local affiliate to the
region or the parent that is the source
of competitive advantage.
A survey on multinationals: 66% of the
innovations did not come from the
parent company.

Knowledge Transfer

The Theory of Knowledge

Transfer

The
The
The
The
The

Information transfer knowledge transfer

Nurturing Knowledge and

Innovation

The flow of knowledge into or out of a

subsidiary depends on five factors:

Remains very much a face-to-face social

process
A key to innovation and long-term
profitiability

potential value of the knowledge

motivation of the source to share knowledge
motivation of the recipient to use knowledge
absorptive capacity of the recipient
richness of transmission channels

What is the difference

between knowledge
management and innovation?

Innovation and knowledge

management

Two sides of the same coin

Any revenue-generating innovation is the result
of the transfer of knowledge
Innovation is a social process!!
Commercially viable innovation always involves
the integration of different forms of knowledge
The recombination of different types of
knowledge is that leads to competitive
advantage

Creating the Context for

Global Innovation

Innovation

Innovation cannot be managed or

dictated
All that can be done is to create a
context in which innovation and
knowledge transfer is more likely to
happen.

Encouraging diversity of initiaives and

recognising promising innovations
Variable management competencies needed
in different stages of the innovation
process: initiation, development,
implementation, commercialisation.
Building a culture of trust and reciprocitiy
Developing entrepreneurial social capital

The Learning Company

The Learning Company

Learning companies engage in:

Systematic problem solving

Experimentation

Learning from experience

Learning from others

Transferring knowledge

Definition: A learning company is an

organization that facilitates the learning of
all its members and continuously transforms
itself
Individual and organizational learning are
integrated
An aspirational concept

11 Practices for the Balanced

Corporate Learning Process
1) learning approach to
strategy
2) participative policy
making
3) informating
4) formative accounting
and control (feed-back
that can be learnt from)
5) internal exchange
6) reward flexibility

7) enabling structures
8)

boundary
workers
acting as environmental
scanners

9) inter-company learning
10) a learning climate
11) support for selfdevelopment

Knowledge Management and

Organisational Learning

Knowledge Management

Contemporary HRM
Seminar
Week 8

Knowledge Management,
Mayo, 1998

Knowledge Management

Essential processes:
managing new knowledge through
learning
capturing knowledge and experience
(Knowledge maps)
sharing and communicating knowledge
organising easy access of information
using and building on what is known

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDY
WpqtDAko&feature=related

Knowledge Management Processes

Exercise: What can companies do

for......

discovering
acquiring
creating
storing
sharing
applying

knowledge?

Source: Bouthillier, Shearer (2002). Understanding knowledge management processes. Information Research, Vol.
8 No. 1.

What is the difference

between knowledge
management and innovation?

What processes could

enhance innovation?

Innovation and knowledge

management

Innovation

Two sides of the same coin

Any revenue-generating innovation is the result
of the transfer of knowledge
Innovation is a social process!!
Commercially viable innovation always involves
the integration of different forms of knowledge
The recombination of different types of
knowledge is that leads to competitive
advantage

Innovation cannot be managed or

dictated
All that can be done is to create a
context in which innovation and
knowledge transfer is more likely to
happen.

Creating the Context for

Global Innovation

Encouraging diversity of initiaives and

recognising promising innovations
Variable management competencies needed
in different stages of the innovation
process: initiation, development,
implementation, commercialisation.
Building a culture of trust and reciprocitiy
Developing entrepreneurial social capital

The Learning Company

The Learning Company

Definition: A learning company is an

organization that facilitates the learning of
all its members and continuously transforms
itself
Individual and organizational learning are
integrated
An aspirational concept

11 Practices for the Balanced

Corporate Learning Process
1) learning approach to
strategy
2) participative policy
making
3) informating
4) formative accounting
and control (feed-back
that can be learnt from)
5) internal exchange
6) reward flexibility

Learning companies engage in:

Systematic problem solving

Experimentation

Learning from experience

Learning from others

Transferring knowledge

Exercise: Is your company a

learning organisation?

7) enabling structures
8)

boundary
workers
acting as environmental
scanners

9) inter-company learning
10) a learning climate
11) support for selfdevelopment

Discussion Questions:

Does hierarchy decrease the probability of

innovation and knowledge transfer?
How can trust and collaboration be
fostered?
Why is knowledge management important
for IHRM?