Page 127 - DMGT406_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management

Notes

Notes Knowledge Management and Learning Organisation
Today we come across two most commonly used terms like; Knowledge Management
and Learning Organisation. These two terms are intertwined with Training and
Development Function. Hence a brief discussion on these two terms will benefit the
reader to update themselves with the changing need of HR professionals.
Knowledge is reinforced through learning. Learning is a process of acquiring new skills or
knowledge, which results to a new behaviour. Learning can take place through multiple
ways. But for organisations best way to promote learning is by exposure to new experiences.
Knowledge is the ability and wisdom to use the learned experiences for achievement of
individual and organisational objectives. Knowledge management, therefore, is the process
of systematically and actively managing and leveraging the store of knowledge in an
organisation. From organization point of view, thus Knowledge Management is a concept
in which an enterprise gathers, organizes, shares, and analyses its knowledge in terms of
resources, documents, and periodically retires the old knowledge. Today, both knowledge
and information are the main inputs of HR. This justifies that the Knowledge Management
efforts should be lead by the HR department. It perhaps even prompted many organizations
to rename their HR function as knowledge management function.
Learning organization is defined as an organisation that learns and encourages learning
among its people. It promotes exchange of information between employees hence creating
a more knowledgeable workforce. This produces a very flexible organisation where people
will accept and adapt to new ideas and changes through a shared vision. To create a
learning organization following steps are necessary:

Awareness
To start with organisations must appreciate that learning is necessary at all levels and not
just limited to managerial level. This apart, need for change also has to be accepted first as
the only way to survive. Such awareness at organization level can only be created once
organization believe in emulating the examples of success stories of those who have
leapfrogged their growth truly developing the learning organization culture.
Environment
Creating a learning environment requires to share with all members of the organization
a comprehensive picture of the whole organisation and its goals by creating a flatter
(organic) structure which encourages innovations. The flatter structure promotes
transparency of information between members of organisation and thereby develops a
more informed workforce.
Leadership

Leaders are enabler for an organization to gain competitive advantage. A leader sells the
concept and encourages learning to help both the individual and organisation in learning.
It is the leader's responsibility to help moulding the individual views of team members.
It requires management to provide commitment for long-term learning with resource
support.
Empowerment
Real testing tool for learning is the degree of empowerment. Empowerment requires
involving workers in decision-making. Empowerment makes workers more responsible
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120 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY