South African human resources (HR) departments have little to no understanding of the role they should be playing in a knowledge-based environment (KBE).
Sound a little bit harsh? Perhaps, but it is unfortunately true. In a recent research report that I conducted through the Wits Business School, it was apparent that the HR fraternity had not started to digest how its role needed to change in order to support a knowledge environment.
OK, I hear you say, but knowledge management (KM) is still "pie-in-the-sky", still ill defined, is for IT to handle and who says we should have a knowledge-based environment anyway? I only have one response to all of these defensive statements - you are out of touch with competitive business requirements!
Just as e-business activities are likely to control at least 25% of the world`s business transaction by 2010, so the effective use of knowledge will determine your organisational competitiveness into the future.
HR systems and KM
Does this mean that HR executives should rush to call up their favourite HR software vendor and procure the KM module as soon as possible? There are a few HR vendors that are selling documentation management and multi dimensional reporting tools as part of their HR suite of products and marketing them as KM solutions. I would be very cautious about buying such a product as it indicates the vendor`s lack of KM insight.
A KM tool, although necessary, is not the driver of a KBE; rather it is the people component that will determine the success of a KBE initiative. HR systems do, however, have an important role to play in a KBE. Just as your HR system should be integrated into other systems (the enterprise resource planning approach), so a specialised KM tool should draw on information from the HR system such as organisational structures, employee job, skill, career and competency details as well as using the employee name to track knowledge creation, knowledge use and destruction of outdated or incorrect knowledge.
The slow repositioning of HR roles and offerings in South African organisations is one of the reasons why KM initiatives have failed or are misunderstood.
Rob Scott, manager, Deloitte Consulting
So what should HR management be thinking about? Firstly, an understanding that a KBE is about employees, the organisational culture and the desire to build and share knowledge to the benefit of the greater organisation. Knowledge management, intellectual capital or any other term used to describe the initiative must become a way of life in the organisation. It cannot be viewed as something that will be done when there is some time. This will lead to the proverbial safety system that causes a flurry of panic the week before a site inspection takes place.
HR executives need to review their customer offerings and make adjustments to align themselves to the needs of a KBE. Recruitment, job profiling, skills, talents, competencies, personality-types, performance-measures, compensation strategies and reward opportunities are some of the areas impacted. These activities will support the attraction and retention of the right individuals to the organisation.
The greatest challenge
More importantly, HR management needs to guide the change management initiatives that will build an encouraging environment that supports the development, sharing and use of tacit and explicit knowledge. There is no doubt that this will be the greatest challenge encountered in the creation of a KBE, and unless it is driven from the most senior levels in the organisation, the changes in power bases, organisational structures, and individual roles and attitudes will simply not happen.
I discovered during the research process that although companies were dabbling into the idea of KM, those involved were in most cases doing so without the involvement of HR executives or change leadership expertise. Knowledge management initiatives were still the domain of IT while the focus tended to be on a software solution that would manage and aggregate data for use by management. Many HR departments are still perceived as administrative or payroll functions, which could not add any value to a KM strategy. This is the dilemma most South African HR departments face and is one of the reasons why SA continually rates low on the world competitiveness report in the area of HR development.
If HR management does not wise up to its new role, it will continue to be sidelined and marginalised in organisations. The slow repositioning of HR roles and offerings in South African organisations is one of the reasons why KM initiatives have failed or are misunderstood.
HR systems, including KM systems, will not save the HR profession from becoming extinct. Rather, HR management needs to become strategically focused - outsource, insource, or automate the transactional non-value adding activities and focus on defining pathways that will allow the organisation to meet its strategic objectives.
Finally, HR must not become the owner of a KBE - with the guidance of a chief information officer, it must ultimately be owned and used by all employees and not just be available to management. Human resource management must ensure that initiatives required to formulate and engender a conducive environment are in place throughout the organisation so that the company can attract, retain, reward and positively exploit knowledge workers. This, I would suggest, is how HR can add some real value.
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