Lecture 3

Knowledge management
and Ethical HRM
 Part 1:
Knowledge management
 1. Introduction

• As Ulrich (1998: 126) remarked: ‘Knowledge has become a direct

competitive advantage for companies selling ideas and relationships.’
• Knowledge management is concerned with storing and sharing the
wisdom, understanding and expertise accumulated in an enterprise
about its processes, techniques and operations.
• Knowledge management is more concerned with people and how they
acquire, exchange and spread knowledge than it is about information
technology
 2. The concept of knowledge

• Knowledge is defined as what people understand about things, concepts,

ideas, theories, procedures and practices. It can be described as know-how
or, when it’s specific, expertise.
• Explicit knowledge can be codified in corporate intranets and intellectual
property portfolios.
• Tacit knowledge exists in people’s minds. It is difficult to articulate in writing
and is acquired through personal experience.
 2. The concept of knowledge

Data, information and knowledge

• Data consists of the basic facts – the building blocks – for information and
knowledge.
• Information is data that have been processed in a way that is meaningful to
individuals; it is available to anyone entitled to gain access to it.
• Knowledge is information used productively; it is personal and often
intangible and it can be elusive – the task of tying it down, encoding it and
distributing it is tricky.
 3. Knowledge management
definition

• Knowledge management is about getting knowledge from those who

have it to those who need it in order to improve organizational
effectiveness.
• It focuses on the development of firm-specific knowledge and skills that
are the result of organizational learning processes.
• Knowledge management identifies relevant information and then
disseminates it so that learning can take place
 4. Knowledge management
strategy

The codification strategy

• Knowledge is carefully codified and stored in databases where it can be
accessed and used easily by anyone in the organization.
• Knowledge is explicit and is codified using a ‘people-to-document’
approach. The strategy is therefore document-driven.
• This strategy relies largely on information technology to manage
databases and also on the use of the intranet.
 4. Knowledge management
strategy

The personalization strategy

• Knowledge is closely tied to the person who has developed it and is
shared mainly through direct person-to-person contacts.
• This ‘person-to-person’ approach means providing for tacit knowledge to
be passed on.
 5. Knowledge management issues

The pace of change

• How to keep up with the pace of change and identify what knowledge
needs to be captured and shared
Relating knowledge management strategy to business strategy
• Competitive strategy must drive knowledge management strategy’ and
that management have to answer the question: ‘How does knowledge
that resides in the company add value for customers?
 5. Knowledge management issues

Technology and people

• Technology may be central to companies adopting a codification
strategy, but for those following a personalization strategy IT is best used
in a supportive role.
• Technology should be viewed as a means of communication rather than
as a means of storing knowledge
 5. Knowledge management issues

The significance of process

• The key processes are the interactions between people. This is the
social capital of an organization.
• Social networks can be particularly important in ensuring that knowledge
is shared. Trust is also required – people are not willing to share
knowledge with those they do not trust.
• The culture of the company may inhibit knowledge sharing. The norm
may be for people to keep knowledge to themselves as much as they
can because ‘knowledge is power’
 5. Knowledge management issues

Knowledge workers
The key processes are the interactions between people. This is the social
capital of an organization.
• Social networks can be particularly important in ensuring that knowledge
is shared. Trust is also required – people are not willing to share
knowledge with those they do not trust.
• The culture of the company may inhibit knowledge sharing. The norm
may be for people to keep knowledge to themselves as much as they
can because ‘knowledge is power’
 6. Contribution of
knowledge management to HRM
1. Help to develop an open culture in 4. Advise on resourcing policies and provide
which the values and norms resourcing services that ensure that valued
emphasize the importance of sharing employees who can contribute to knowledge
knowledge. creation and sharing are attracted and retained.
2. Promote a climate of commitment and 5. Advise on methods of motivating people to share
trust. knowledge and rewarding those who do so.
3. Advise on the design and development 6. Help in the development of performance
of organizations that facilitate management processes that focus on the
knowledge sharing through networks, development and sharing of knowledge.
teamwork and communities of practice.
 6. Contribution of
knowledge management to HRM

7. Develop processes of organizational and individual learning that will generate

and assist in disseminating knowledge.
8.Set up and organize workshops, conferences, seminars, communities of practice
and symposia that enable knowledge to be shared on a person-to-person basis.
9. In conjunction with IT, develop systems for capturing and, as far as possible,
codifying explicit and tacit knowledge.
10. Generally, promote the cause of knowledge management with senior managers
to encourage them to exert leadership and support knowledge management
initiatives.
 Part 2:
Ethical dimension of HRM
 1. The meaning and concerns of
ethics

v Ethics is defined by the Compact Oxford Dictionary as being ‘related to

morals, treating of moral questions’, and ethical is defined as ‘relating to
morality’.
v Morality is defined as ‘having moral qualities or endowments’ and moral is
defined as ‘of or pertaining to the distinction between right and wrong’.
v Ethics is concerned with matters of right and wrong and therefore involves
moral judgements. Even if ethics and morality are not the same, the two are
closely linked
 2. The nature of ethical decisions and
judgements

v A moral issue is present where a person’s actions, when freely performed,

may harm or benefit others
v The action or decision must have consequences for others and must
involve choice, or volition, on the part of the actor or decision maker
 3. Ethical framework

Deontological theory
v Deontological (from the Greek for ‘what is right’) theory maintains that some
actions are right or wrong irrespective of their consequences.
Utilitarianism
v Utilitarianism is the belief that the highest principle of morality is to maximize
happiness, the overall balance of pleasure against pain.
v The morality of an action depends solely on the consequences it brings about;
the right thing to do will be whatever brings about the best state of affairs.’ In
other words, actions should be judged in terms of their results
 3. Ethical framework

Stakeholder theory
v The organization should be managed on behalf of its stakeholders: its owners,
employees, customers, suppliers and local communities
v Management must act in the interests of the stakeholders as their agent, and
also act in the interests of the organization to ensure the survival of the firm,
safeguarding the long-term stakes of each group.
Discourse ethics
v The role of ethicists is not to provide solutions to ethical problems, but rather to
provide a practical process and procedure which is both rational and consensus
enhancing, through which issues can be debated and discourse can take place’.
 4. Equity theory

v Equity theory, as formulated by Adams (1965), is concerned with the

perceptions people have about how they are being treated as compared
with others.
v Equity involves feelings and perceptions and it is always a comparative
process. It is not synonymous with equality, which means treating everyone
the same and would be inequitable if they deserve to be treated differently.
 5. Justice

v Justice is the process of treating people in a way that is inherently fair, right
and proper.
v There are four types of justice: procedural justice, distributive justice, social
justice and natural justice.
 6. HRM ethical guidelines

v The guidelines set out below relate to how employees are treated in
general and to the major HRM activities of organization development,
recruitment and selection, learning and development, performance
management, reward management and employee relations.
 6. HRM ethical guidelines

General guidelines
v Recognize that the strategic goals of the organization should embrace the
rights and needs of employees as well as those of the business.
v Recognize that employees are entitled to be treated as full human beings with
personal needs, hopes and anxieties.
v Do not treat employees simply as means to an end or mere factors of
production.
v Relate to employees generally in ways that recognize their natural rights to be
treated justly, equitably and with respect.
 7. Ethical role of HR

v HR professionals have a special responsibility for guarding and promoting

core values in the organization on how people should be managed and
treated. They need to take action to achieve fair dealing.
v HR derives its social legitimacy from its ability to serve as an effective
steward of a social contract in employment relationships capable of
balancing and integrating the interests and needs of employers, employees
and the society in which these relationships are embedded
 7. Ethical role of HR

v The risk that the HR role can become ‘rather passive, favouring
communicating standards rather than actively promoting ethical behavior’
=> HR professionals have to raise awareness of ethical issues, promote ethical
behaviour, disseminate ethical practices widely among line managers,
communicate codes of ethical conduct, ensure people learn about what
constitutes ethical behaviours, manage compliance and monitor arrangements
 7. Ethical role of HR

Approaches that Ensuring that HR policies and the

HR can adopt actions taken to implement them
meet acceptable ethical standards

HR practitioners can act as role

models, leading by example and
living and breathing good ethical
behaviour.

Challenging unethical behaviour

on the part of management.