Journal of Workplace Learning

Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases

Rene´e FiliusJan A. de JongErik C. Roelofs
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Knowledge
management in the
HRD office: a
comparison of three
cases
ReneÂe Filius
Jan A. de Jong and
Erik C. Roelofs
The authors
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ReneÂe Filius is a HRD consultant at Stork Mobiel,
De Meern, The Netherlands.
Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs are Assistant
Professors in the Department of Educational Studies at
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Keywords
Knowledge management, Human resource development,
Consultancy, Case studies, The Netherlands
Abstract
HRD professionals can be considered to be
knowledgeable about knowledge management practices
in their own offices. Effectiveness of knowledge
management practices of three HRD offices were studied,
using a combination of structured questionnaires plus
interviews with four HRD professionals per office. Three
categories of knowledge management activities were
considered, by the members of these organisations, to be
effective: activities that expand the individual or collective
experiential horizon; activities that are meant to
consolidate knowledge; informal and formal
communication about work issues. Conditions that
facilitate or inhibit these activities are identified.
Organisations wishing to improve their knowledge
productivity are confronted with some fundamental
choices: innovation versus routine, office versus officer,
and knowledge sharing versus knowledge shielding.
Electronic access
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com
Journal of Workplace Learning
Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . pp. 286±295
# MCB University Press . ISSN 1366-5626
286
Introduction
The identification by Drucker (1993) of
knowledge as the new basis of competition
in post capitalist society launched a series of
attempts to describe how this important
asset should be managed (e.g. Wiig, 1993;
Davenport and Prusak, 1998; Bukowitz and
Wiliams, 1999). Knowledge management,
defined as ``the process by which the
organisation generates wealth from its
intellectual or knowledge-based assets''
(Bukowitz and Williams, p. 2), has become
an organisational issue. Of course, in those
organisations where the primary process
consists of knowledge manipulation,
knowledge management should be of
utmost concern. One such type of company
is the HRD office. HRD offices are
specialised in advising and supporting
companies with regard to aspects of their
knowledge management, in particular the
aspects of knowledge codification and co-
ordination, and knowledge transfer. One
might expect professionals working in HRD
offices to be well able to reflect on their
experiences with knowledge management.
In the research project reported in this
article, we investigated the internal
knowledge management activities in HRD
offices. A complete account of the project
can be found in Filius (1997).
Process descriptions of knowledge
management
Like Davenport and Prusak (1998), we
consider knowledge as something broader,
deeper, and richer than data or information.
We agree with their definition of knowledge as
``a fluid mix of framed experience, values,
contextual information, and expert insight
that provides a framework for evaluating and
incorporating new experience and
information. It originates and is applied in the
minds of knowers. In organisations, it often
becomes embedded not only in documents or
repositories, but also in organisational
routines, processes, practices, and norms''
(Davenport and Prusak, 1998, p. 5).
Most authors distinguish a series of
actions which should be applied more or
less successively in the context of knowledge
management. Wiig (1993) mentions three
``phases'' in the title of his book:
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs
(1) knowledge creation;
(2) knowledge representation; and
(3) knowledge use.
In his book (Wiig, 1993, p. 435) he presents a
cyclical model, connecting the phases
``investigate knowledge'', ``build knowledge'',
``organise and focus knowledge'', and ``apply
and exploit knowledge''. Davenport and
Prusak (1998) distinguish knowledge
generation, knowledge codification and
co-ordination, and knowledge transfer. They
describe the tasks of knowledge managers as
``capturing, distributing, and using
knowledge'' (Davenport and Prusak, 1998,
p. 107). Bukowitz and Williams (1999)
distinguish two processes in knowledge
management:
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(1) a tactical process; and
(2) a strategic process.
Tactical knowledge management spans four
basic steps, which are taken by knowledge
workers in their daily work on a continuous
basis:
(1) gathering information;
(2) using information to create value;
(3) learning from what they create;
(4) feeding back the new knowledge into the
system.
In the strategic process, the goal of
knowledge management is alignment of
the organisation's knowledge strategy with
the overall business strategy. Its two steps
are:
(1) assessment of knowledge based assets;
and
(2) building, sustaining or divesting
knowledge based assets.
We think this distinction between a tactical
process and a strategic process is an
important contribution to the theory of
knowledge management. The earlier works
on knowledge management tried to describe
these two types of processes in one
cyclical model, which inevitably led to
conceptual frictions. At the time of our
research project (1997), the two processes
were not distinguished, and we employed a
more or less cyclical model including the
phases:
(1) knowledge acquisition;
(2) knowledge documentation;
(3) knowledge transfer;
(4) knowledge creation; and
(5) knowledge application.
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Journal of Workplace Learning
Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295
In retrospect, it can be observed that our
conceptualisation focused more on the tactic
than on the strategic process.
Research questions
The central problem statement was:
What types of activities and what conditions are
perceived by professionals working in HRD
offices to be relevant to good knowledge
management within their own office?
This problem statement was broken up into
two research questions:
(1) Which categories of activities are
perceived to be effective in the context of
knowledge management?
(2) Which organisational conditions are
perceived to be conductive or inhibitive in
the context of knowledge management?
Method
The research can be characterised as a
multiple case study. Knowledge management
practices in three HRD offices were studied in
a systematic fashion.
Sample
Four Dutch HRD offices were asked to
participate in the study. One of them
(specialised in knowledge management)
refused; they preferred to keep their
knowledge management practices secret. The
other three were willing to participate. Each
of the offices employed 15 to 20 HRD
professionals. In each office one manager and
three other professionals were interviewed.
The offices are referred to with pseudonyms.
DEVEL (from ``development'') is an
independent HRD office, specialised into
development and implementation of training
programs. Most projects are divided in
phases, and usually each phase is staffed with
different professionals. Some are specialised
in acquisition, others in problem analysis, in
course development, or in implementation
and evaluation. The most common place to
work is at the office.
INTER (from ``internal'') is one of the units
of the training and development department
of a large public transport company. The
training and development department
employs about 180 training staff; office A is
the HRD expert centre. Its four tasks are:
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs
(1) managing company-wide innovative
projects;
(2) providing professionalisation to the other
T&D staff;
(3) acting as a clearing house with respect to
HRD; and
(4) advising on HRD issues.
Ninety percent of their services are provided
to internal clients (units of the own company)
and 10 percent to external customers. The
HRD professionals work in the headquarters
building of the company, often in
interdisciplinary projects together with other
company staff.
CONSU (from ``consultancy'') is an
independent HRD office, specialised in
organisational learning and knowledge
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productivity. The HRD professionals working
at this office offer consultancy to companies
on organisational learning issues, they
professionalise HRD personnel, and they are
active in research and publishing. The HRD
professionals often work at home or meet
clients in the field.
Instruments
A questionnaire was developed, covering
the five ``phases'' of knowledge
management. For each phase, six to eight
possible activities were described, which
were considered to be representative of that
phase. For example, for the phase
``knowledge documentation'' (phase 2),
statements like the following were presented
(partly based on Sprenger, 1995):
. Our organisation has documented the
specific areas of expertise of individual
staff members.
. In this organisation regularly updated
handbooks are available.
. Our organisation keeps staff members
systematically informed about changes in
documents, handbooks, information- and
knowledge-systems.
Each statement could be score using a five-
point Likert scale, ranging from
``completely disagree'' to ``completely
agree''. Additionally, respondents were
asked to list for each phase those activities
which were employed in their organisation,
but which were not mentioned in the
questionnaire. The questionnaire could be
filled in without the researcher present.
A second instrument developed for the
research project was a topic list for an oral
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Journal of Workplace Learning
Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295
interview to be held a few days after
completion of the questionnaire. This topic
list contained six parts:
(1) a general introduction and some
preliminary questions;
(2) questions about one of the five phases,
following on the answers to the
questionnaire items of that phase;
(3) questions about one of the other phases;
(4) a short treatment of the other three
phases;
(5) propositions (one per phase), in order to
induce supplementary reactions;
(6) conclusion.
In phases 2-4 we asked for:
. clarification of each score in the
questionnaire;
. concrete examples;
. inhibiting and enhancing factors;
. bottlenecks;
. improvements;
. priorities.
Procedure
In each organisation, four staff members
(one of them in a management position)
were interviewed. In advance of the
interview they filled in the questionnaire.
Afterwards, they were asked to check the
interview typescripts and the case study
reports. Also, in each organisation relevant
documents were collected and studied. In
the interview, we asked to mention concrete
examples of ``important'' knowledge
management activities employed by the
interviewees, thus focusing our research on
``critical incidents'' (Flanagan, 1954). By
interviewing different staff members of the
same organisation about the same
knowledge management activities, some
triangulation could be achieved. All
interviews were tape-recorded and typed
out.
Data analysis
The results of the questionnaire were
arranged in a display, which allowed us to
select items that were interesting to elaborate
on in the interviews. ``Interesting'' items were
items scored relatively high or relatively low in
comparison with the other cases and/or in
comparison with the other interviewees within
the same case. In the interviews we asked for
illuminating examples and identification of
conductive and inhibiting factors.
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs
The interview typescripts were divided into
text episodes, each episode referring to a
single knowledge management activity. These
knowledge management activities were
specified beforehand, based on literature
review, and were supplemented if the data
suggested so. Text episodes were given labels,
relating them to knowledge management
activities and to categories of conductive and
inhibiting factors. Text episodes were
clustered per label for each case. Case
descriptions were made, based on the
clustered text episodes.
Results
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Below, we first discuss the main trends and
the most important differences between the
three organisations. In the next sections, we
present the results, related to each of the three
research questions.
General trends
Table I provides an overview of the results
of the questionnaire. For each phase, the
statements are presented in the order ``most
agreed with'' to ``least agreed with''. In the
right-hand columns, the overall average
amount of agreement is presented, plus an
indication of the average amount of
agreement in each of the offices. Scores
could range from 1 (completely disagree) to
5 (completely agree). Averages from 1.00 to
2.25 are marked as ``±''; averages from 2.50
to 3.50 are marked as ``.''; and averages
from 3.75 to 5.00 are marked as ``+''. Using
the t-test for equality of means (two-tailed,
p < 0.10), it was, for all items, determined
statistically which mean scores of each of
the offices deviate significantly from the
mean scores for the other two firms
combined. For those items, the cell for that
office is shaded (relatively low scores are
indicated by a and relatively high scores are
indicated by b).
Table I shows that the following knowledge
management activities are common in each of
the organisations studied:
. active participation in external
professional network or association;
. active collection of information about
needs and wishes of clients;
. use of brainstorm sessions;
. mentorship;
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Journal of Workplace Learning
Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295
. performance assessment and individual
performance reviews;
. redesign of processes and work methods;
. promoting new services in the market
(internally and externally);
. using experiences of clients to improve
products and services; and
. using existing know-how in a creative
manner for new applications.
An uncommon activity in each of the three
organisations is urging experts to make
explicit the methods they use (knowledge
eliciting).
Differences between the three
organisations
Table I shows some differences between the
three organisations. DEVEL employs
relatively few activities to document
knowledge and methods. INTER employs
relatively many knowledge management
activities, especially in the categories
acquisition, documentation, and transfer.
CONSU is the most inquisitive, doing
research and regularly discussing methods
and problems.
New knowledge management activities
The interviews turned out to be of great value
for getting insight into the knowledge
management activities employed in the three
organisations. Several influential knowledge
management activities were identified that we
had not found in the literature. We give three
examples.
One of the items in the category
``knowledge acquisition'' is ``Members
regularly follow courses, training programs,
and seminars to remain informed''. One
would expect HRD offices to be very
positive about the value of training, but in
fact the scores are only moderate. Asking
about these scores, the interviewees made
clear how they saw a difference between
``education and training'' and ``learning''.
One of them explained: ``We almost never
go to a training. We do have the idea that we
learn a lot, but that usually does not happen
because of a training.'' Instead of a
structured plan of training courses to be
followed, all three organisations used some
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs
Table I Results of the questionnaire
Average DEVEL INTER CONSU
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Knowledge acquisition 3.43 3.86 3.45

Members of this organisation are active in an external professional network or association 4.16 + + +
This organisation actively collects information about needs and wishes of clients 3.92 + + +
If important knowledge is not available, we buy it (i.e. advisers, licences) 3.75 + + ±a ***a

If needed, our organisation hires new staff members who possess missing knowledge 3.58 + + .
Our organisation does research (i.e. with universities) to explore future chances/possibilities 3.58 ±a **a
. +b **b

Members regularly follow courses, training programs and seminars to remain informed 3.25 . +b *b
.a *a

We consider our competitors as a source of inspiration for developing new methods/approaches 2.81 ± .b **b
.
Knowledge documentation 2.50 3.46 3.04
290

We frequently make use of brainstorming sessions to find solutions for problems we meet 3.92 + + +
Failures and successes are evaluated and ``lessons learned'' are set down 3.42 . . .
This organisation has at its disposal up-to-date handbooks, which are frequently used 3.42 ±a ***a
+b *b
+
Our organisation informs its members systematically of changes in procedures, handbooks, etc. 3.08 . + .
Our organisation has documented the specific knowledge and skills of individual members 2.41 ± . .

Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295

Experts are urged to make explicit the methods they use in a step-by-step description 1.75 ± ± ±

Journal of Workplace Learning

Knowledge transfer 3.54 3.92 3.65
New members are assigned a mentor who helps them find their way in the organisation 4.31 + + +a **a

Much knowledge is distributed in informal ways (``in the corridors'') 4.08 + + .a ***a

There are regular meetings being organised in which professional matters are discussed 3.92 . + +
Colleagues inform each other regularly about positive experiences and successful projects 3.83 . +b *b
.
We have a form in intercollegual review, in which members discuss their methods of working 3.50 .a *a
. *b *b

Members change jobs regularly, thus distributing their know-how 2.58 . ± .

(continued)
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs
Table I Results of the questionnaire
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Average DEVEL INTER CONSU

Knowledge creation 3.64 3.75 3.57
b
Performances are assessed regularly, and discussed in individual evaluative conferences 4.17 + + +
Problems, failures, and doubts are discussed openly in our organisation 4.08 . + +b *b

New ideas and insights lead, if necessary, to redesign of business processes and work methods 3.92 + + +
Members are assigned to new projects depending on know-how and availability 3.75 + + .
Members are assessed and rewarded for developing new knowledge and testing new ideas 3.67 + + .
We have learning groups, where members can discuss their work experiences and strategies 3.33 + . .
Important issues are explored using scenario ± or simulation techniques 2.67 . ± .
Knowledge application 3.62 3.59 3.74
291

Selling knowledge, products, or services gets explicit attention 4.17 + .a *a

+
Members promote new knowledge (products and services) externally in the market 4.08 + + +
Experiences of clients are used to improve products and services 4.00 + + +
We use existing know-how in a creative manner for new applications 4.00 + + +

Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295

Members promote new knowledge (products and services) internally 3.92 + + +

Journal of Workplace Learning

One of our strong qualities is combining our specialisms in multi-disciplinary teams 3.33 + . .a *a

We try to conquer dysfunctional beliefs within the organisation 3.08 . . .

Before developing products or services we do marketing research among potential clients 2.67 ± . .
Notes: *p < 0.10; **
p < 0.05; ***
p < 0.01; a
= relatively low score; b
= relatively high score
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs
kind of ``individual development plan''. In
this plan, each member of the organisation
describes his/her individual targets for the
next year, how to measure these targets and
how to reach these targets. In such a plan,
individuals write about their ambitions,
their most wanted projects and assignments,
how they plan to build up the expertise to do
these assignments, how they plan to
disseminate their knowledge to others, how
they want to work on networking, what they
expect from the organisation and how much
money they plan to make. The individual
development plans of the three
organisations have much in common. Some
difference can be found in the extent of
freedom of the members of the organisation
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to determine their own (financial) targets.
At one organisation, DEVEL, every
member has an obligatory financial target.
At the second organisation, INTER, no
financial targets are stated. At the third
organisation, CONSU, each member
determines his own financial target (and
thus his own income).
Another example is ``learning by working in
innovative projects''. Members of each of the
three organisations work (to a greater or lesser
extent) on assignments fitting their personal
ambitions.
One interviewee even stated: ``We try to
find clients that fit the kind of activities we
want to do''. In all three organisations,
working in innovative projects was
considered to be the most instructive
activity.
A third example is the way the members
of the organisations learn from the informal
circuit. ``You meet someone at the coffee-
machine and tell him/her about your
problem. It happens quite often that the
other one has a brilliant idea or knows
someone who does.''
Against all expectations this even applies to
CONSU, which has no central location.
Members of CONSU create their own
informal circuit by e-mail, phone, meetings
and so on.
Categories of knowledge management
activities
As described, all interviews have been
labelled. Labels did refer to type of activity,
enhancing factors, and inhibiting factors.
Then the labels have been ranked according
to frequency and ascribed learning effect.
292
Journal of Workplace Learning
Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295
Activities that were mentioned by at least half
of the interviewees of at least two of the
organisations and that were experienced as
very relevant by those interviewees, were
classified in six categories. Those categories
were:
(1) Co-operation in a project (with a client or
a colleague in the role of sparring partner,
mentor or coach).
(2) Exchanging knowledge and information
at meetings (discussions about
professional themes or about projects, or
quality audits).
(3) Participation in professional discourse
(reading and writing articles, self
reflection, mutual reflection).
(4) Working in innovative projects (selecting
projects that are innovative).
(5) Use of quality systems, manuals, and
instructions (documentation).
(6) Use of the informal circuit (visits,
telephone calls, meeting each other at the
coffee machine).
Activities that were mentioned in the
literature, but which we did not find in our
research were:
. Knowledge exchange by internal mobility
(job rotation).
. Benchmarking (analysing the
competition).
. Scenario and simulation techniques.
. Knowledge elicitation (thinking aloud
protocols or rationalisation).
. Business-process redesign.
Factors that enhance or inhibit
knowledge management
During the research project many factors
have been found that enhance or inhibit
knowledge management. They are divided
into three categories:
(1) working activities;
(2) the organisation;
(3) attitude/ norms and values.
Table II provides an overview.
As a reÂsumeÂ, one can say that knowledge
management can be enhanced or inhibited by
a structure and a culture supportive of:
. expansion (innovative projects, individual
growth);
. consolidation (quality system, project
evaluation); and
. communication (facilities, open culture,
formal and informal meetings).
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases Journal of Workplace Learning
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295

Table II Factors that enhance or inhibit knowledge management

Factors that enhance knowledge management
Work content
Innovativeness of projects
The extent to which projects are evaluated
The extent to which clients are willing to pay for
an (unusual) activity
Readiness to perform a project that is not being
paid for by the client
Organisation
The availability of adequate communication
facilities
Having contact on a regular basis with
colleagues (for example through working in
the same room)
Using a good quality system and organising
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Factors that inhibit knowledge management
Work content
Routine character of work
The number of times that a project is handed over to
colleagues
Organisation
Time pressure while getting the job done
Speed with which knowledge becomes outdated
Disability of finding out who knows what
Selectivity and subjectivity of the informal circuit
Colleagues being hard to reach
Employee turnover

audits on a regular basis Making nobody responsible for activities that members
The writing of individual development plans do find very important
by every member of the organisation No regular consultation with members of the organisation
Taking explicit time for relaxation and Having user-unfriendly systems
reflection
Confrontation with different ways of working
by working together
Availability of an informal circuit
Culture Culture
Being able to talk about mistakes, uncertainties Being able to make mistakes without being confronted
and problems with the negative consequences
Having individual ambitions and preferences Not being used to sharing knowledge
determine the kind of projects a person works on Not wanting to make explicit and describe knowledge
and valuable information

Conclusions innovative projects and/or guided

exploration of new themes.
Our study of knowledge management (2) Activities that are meant to consolidate
practices in three HRD offices focused more knowledge. Project evaluation,
on the tactic level than on the strategic level. proceduralisation, and the use of quality
It resulted in an inventory of activities that are systems.
considered to be exemplary of good tactic (3) Activities of a mainly communicative nature.
knowledge management and an inventory of External and internal professional
conditions that are supportive of good tactic discourse, formal and informal
knowledge management. Knowledge communication about work issues.
management is not just a matter of improving
conditions, however. An organisation wishing Knowledge management conditions
to optimise its knowledge management faces The following conditions were considered to
some fundamental choices. facilitate knowledge management.
Expansion oriented:
Knowledge management activities . Individual development plans.
Most knowledge management activities take . Acquisition of innovative projects.
place during the daily job. In our study three . Team composition: multi-disciplinarity
groups of knowledge management activities and coaching/mentoring roles.
were considered to be effective: . Varying roles over projects, for example
(1) Activities that expand the individual and/or at one project as a researcher, at another
collective experiential horizon. Working in project as a project manager, at another
293
 Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases
ReneÂe Filius, Jan A. de Jong and Erik C. Roelofs
project as a consultant, and at a last
project as a sparring partner.
Consolidation oriented:
. Use of quality systems.
. Systematic project evaluations.
Communication oriented:
. Planning and allowing time for informal
and formal communication.
. Creating a culture in which successes and
failures are faced and frankly discussed.
Knowledge becomes outdated, but the
ability to learn remains. Knowledge
management has little do with ``data banks''
and control; it is basically a matter of
facilitating learning.
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Fundamental choices
Reviewing the three cases, some striking
differences can be noted with respect to
knowledge management. These differences
are not just a matter of more or less
knowledge management activities being
employed. It appears that with respect to
knowledge management, organisations are
confronted with fundamental choices to be
made. Three of these choices appear clearly
in our research project. We describe them
below:
(1) Innovation or routine? Members of an
organisation learn a lot from innovative
projects. Innovation stimulates
creativity and motivation of individuals.
At the same time innovation brings
along risks, because the results are
uncertain. The probability of unwanted
results is higher than when the
organisation is working on routine
projects. Also, no organisation can be
innovative with respect to all projects.
That is why an organisation has to make
a choice regarding the extent of
innovativeness. An organisation aiming
to lead the market will be more
innovative than an organisation which
just wants to settle itself in the market.
CONSU chooses for innovation based
on ``intrinsic motivation'': ``We found it
extremely important that people do
what they really want to do.''
(2) The officer or the office? INTER and
DEVEL consider themselves as one
group of individuals with the same
common goal that they try to reach
together. Their organisational structure,
294
Journal of Workplace Learning
Volume 12 . Number 7 . 2000 . 286±295
their way of co-operation, the way they
develop their knowledge and skills, and
the way they profile themselves to
clients and rivals, are all focused on the
collective (the office) and hardly on the
individual. CONSU, however, is
focused on the individual (the officer)
rather than the collective. CONSU
considers itself as a network of
professionals, all professionals working
independently but considering the
network as a surplus value. One of the
consequences of this choice is that
CONSU will put less effort in
knowledge documentation and
knowledge transfer compared to
INTER and DEVEL. For these last two
organisations it is more important that
more individuals have the same
knowledge and that, when an individual
drops out, someone else is able to take
over. A disadvantage of this choice is
that it takes a lot of effort and time to
share knowledge about projects and
clients. On the other hand, an
advantage of this choice is that when a
member leaves the organisation, the
organisation usually doesn't lose the
client (which is very likely when the
organisation chooses the officer instead
of the office).
(3) Sharing or shielding expertise, both within
and outside their organisation. All three
of the organisations involved at this
research project were prepared to share
their knowledge. A fourth organisation,
which was not, refused to participate in
our research project. Sometimes it is
even unprofitable for an individual to
share knowledge within the
organisation. Individuals sometimes
are rewarded for possessing their
knowledge, not for sharing it. If an
organisation wants maximal profit from
common knowledge, it has to choose
sharing instead of shielding and it has
to adjust its reward systems to this
choice.
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