Reading Note

Knowledge Management Practices within a knowledge-intensive firm: the significance of

the people management dimension

Knowledge management traditionally has focussed on its technical aspects instead of its
people management aspects. Little attention has been paid to the interface of KM and HRM.
Knowledge management has been of considerable interests to KIFs. KIFs can be defined as
firms in which knowledge has more importance than other inputs, and human capital, as
opposed to physical or financial capital, dominates. Knowledge workers, with their high
levels of expertise and skills, are a valuable commodity and a relatively scarce resource
within the labour market. They are gold collar workers who demand and receive particularly
good terms and working conditions. Any attempt by management to curtail their autonomy
may lead to their exit from the firm. Their retention is crucial as many competing firms try to
entice them due to their scarce skills and expertise.

Existing literature
Ashkenas et al posited that in future organizations will cease to have boundaries between
levels and functions and become knowledge creating companies. There will be a departure
from traditional bureaucratic norms.
Nonakak and Takeuchi proposed that the knowledge creating company will not only have
implications for managerial roles but will also affect the company structure fundamentally.
Gumbly argues that those organisations that identify long-term benefits from implementing
KM (as opposed to those who simply desire to be part of the current movement) will by
necessity have to change not only their technology, but also operating systems, structures
and procedures.
Tampoe considered knowledge workers as key motivators. He identified personal growth,
operational autonomy and task achievement as most important to this type of worker, a
view supported by Scarbrough.

Knowledge management practices in Expert Consulting

Expert consulting is a UK based business and scientific consultancy founded in 1986. Day-to-
day working is characterised by consultants working in self-forming and self-managed
project teams to develop completely new concepts and products, which are marketed as
intellectual property rights
(IPR) to clients, and innovative solutions to client problems using existing concepts, ideas
and technologies in new ways. Organisational practices, routines and norms, were found to
fundamentally facilitate and sustain processes of knowledge creation.
1. The role of people management practices
a. Recruitment and Selection
b. Training and Development
c. Maintaining and improving retention rates – the significance of cultural
context
d. Terms and conditions – the important role of trust
e. Impact of reward system on knowledge sharing
2. The role of information technology
As a matter of fact, information technology played a very minor role in KM within the firm.
Social networking was far more important for establishing who had relevant skills. Once
consultants began working in project teams, their abilities and general levels of expertise
would become better known to those working with them, any of whom might be future
project leaders. Hence, social networking was a very important aspect of working within the
firm, if future project work was to be secured.

To sum up knowledge management in Expert Consulting consisted fundamentally of

facilitating and sustaining processes of knowledge creation. This was achieved primarily
through specific people
management practices that created an organisational environment in which knowledge was
willingly shared by expert consultants, and expert consultants were motivated to stay with
the firm. Consultants remained with the firm because it afforded them a unique
environment in which to work. They were free to work on inter-disciplinary projects of their
choice, which allowed them to work with others from different specialisms and further
develop and enhance their own intellectual capital. Information technology was only
considered to be a tool for low level communication and co-ordination and tended to be
abused rather than exploited for knowledge management purposes within the firm.