Human Resource Development by David McGuire

Author:David McGuire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-09-08T17:59:32.048000+00:00

Introduction

Much has been written in recent times about the transition to a knowledge economy. With the increased use of technology across desktop, tablet and mobile platforms and the proliferation of internet-based companies and e-business solutions, it is clear that the age of knowledge working and the knowledge worker is definitely upon us. Increasingly, companies are looking to knowledge workers to add value and use their knowledge, skills, experience and expertise to develop more innovative processes, systems, products and services. As Friedman (2005) memorably stated: ‘there is no longer any money in vanilla’, signalling the importance of building organisational uniqueness that is not easily replicable.

Allied to the increased interest in knowledge management has been a noticeable shift in emphasis towards resource-based, human capital approaches to human resources as well as the widespread application of talent management initiatives. Organisations now devote considerable sums to attracting, developing, leveraging and retaining employee capital and ensuring a favourable return on investment is achieved. Quantifying employee net worth and contribution has enabled many companies to justify exorbitant net asset values on their corporate balance sheets. Indeed, the IT company Infosys estimates the value of its human resources as 57% of its overall net assets (Infosys, 2012). Assigning a value to human contributions and accounting for it on an organisational balance sheet recognises employees as an asset, rather than a liability accruing wages, pensions and business costs (Kaye, 2012) and requires organisations to rethink how this asset can be best deployed for organisational advantage.

Faced with increasingly complex problems, organisations are realising that there exists a strong, pressing need to build knowledge capabilities and acquire, create, capture and share knowledge to outsmart competitors and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The importance of knowledge is recognised by Davenport and Prusak (1998: 5) when they state:

Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences 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.

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