How to Improve Organizational Performance Through Learning and Knowledge?

Although this was a Human Resource Management book the topics related to organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training all tie in to innovation and management process. With strategic management and innovation being a vital component to a company’s success, the topics that were discussed in the book provided great contents

Knowledge management was defined as the turning of information into actionable knowledge which can be accessed by people who can apply it. Robbins (2003) gives a time perspective in his definition of knowledge management. He mentions as part of knowledge management the distribution of the right information to the right people at the right time. Lytras et al (2002) gives a definition of knowledge management which emphasises the purpose of knowledge management. In the definition creation of new capabilities, enablement for superior performance, encouraging innovation and enhancement of customer value were mentioned. For the purpose of this study the researcher summarised knowledge management as the intentional process of coordinating people, technology and systems to optimise creation and sharing of intellectual

Learning organizations also promote teamwork and cooperation and an organizational culture that encourages experimentation. The fact that the paper suggests that these five strategic building blocks and the supporting foundations are the key factors in this new organizational archetype called a learning organization. These building blocks and supporting foundations need to be present or to be implemented to have a learning capability. However, if this idea of a learning organization is to take hold in organizations and gain credence and support by practicing managers, it must also have an impact on organizational performance.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is apparent that in the knowledge era, creating and leveraging knowledge is the business of business. By all available measures, the stock market is already providing handsome rewards to companies that successfully leverage their knowledge--a phenomenon that will almost surely grow in significance as knowledge-based organizations increase in size and number. A number of firms are anticipating this and looking to knowledge management to enhance, measure, and manage the knowledge of their employees and organizations more effectively.

An organization’s capability to learn and convey that learning into action quickly, is the supreme competitive advantage. The learning organization is the structure that eases the realization of such competitive advantage, it empowers employees, it deepens and enhances the customer experience and cooperation with main business partners and eventually improves business performance. Organizational learning is considered as the suitable process to develop knowledge resources and capabilities/core competencies (human capital, social capital and organizational capital) that engender ongoing values; which in turn yield persistence superior performance; which lead to sustainable competitive advantage within the context of the strategic management.

The learning and growth perspective identifies the infrastructure the organization, mainly focusing on three key areas, people, systems and organizational procedures that it must build to create long-term growth and improvement (Kaplan & Norton, 1996). Employees are a major intangible asset of any organization, because based on his or her internal skills and capabilities he or she is required to support the value-creating internal processes (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). An organization who identifies gaps between existing capabilities of people, systems, and procedures, can close those gaps by investing in re-skilling employees, improving IT and other support systems, and aligning organizational procedures.

The focus of this paper is on the relationship between Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) and organisational performance outcomes, specifically sustained competitive advantage. Using the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm as an underpinning theoretical framework, this paper examines several components of Strategic HRM including human capital (i.e. employees) capability and behaviour, human resource systems (policies and practices) and

Human resource management requires the identification of the resources and skills required to achieve these objectives. The strategy identified that to achieve RACQ's commercial approach knowledge management skills were required. This called for knowledge management approaches like training and development to realize organizational learning, build RACQ's intellectual capital, and realize organizational innovation. This then led to the use of intellectual capital development strategies to realize innovation in RACQ to maintain a competitive advantage.

In today’s rapidly changing globalised business environment, human capital has become one of the keys to competitive advantage. Consequently, any good business strategy must fully utilise the inimitable assets of people through their knowledge, skills and abilities. This highlights the need for strategic human resource management (SHRM). The key assumption of SHRM is that organisational performance is affected by employees through a set of human resource (HR) practices (Pan et al 2006).

In today tumultuous times, the challenges that companies face to remain competitive have changed rapidly. With constant new breakthrough in technology, companies fought hard with its competitors to establish and maintain their competitive advantage. However, access to capital & technology has become less critical in today’s economy as compared to acquiring and keeping skilled workers. In a knowledge-based economy, it is important for companies to be more strategic in the way it operates. Human Resource Management today has to be strategic to meet the

In today tumultuous times, the challenges that companies face to remain competitive have changed rapidly. With constant new breakthrough in technology, companies fought hard with its competitors to establish and maintain their competitive advantage. However, access to capital & technology has become less critical in today’s economy as compared to acquiring and keeping skilled workers. In a knowledge-based economy, it is important for companies to be more strategic in the way it operates. Human Resource Management today has to be strategic to meet the

Performance management is a discipline that aims at promoting organizational performance by managing the human capital of an organization. The know-how, skills and capabilities that inherent and used by workers in an organization are referred to as human capital. Human capital is an integral asset of any business, company or organization and many of them have concentrated their investments of human capital. Why are organizations interested in the development management and promotion of human capital? Is human capital becoming more and more relevant to organizations? Studies have indicated that there is a huge overt and covert influence of human capital on the performance of any organization and business and there has been intensive research on human capital as a factor in business and organizational performance. This is why organizations are increasingly empowering their human resource departments which deal with the human capital. It has been proved by various studies that any practice that promotes or enhances human capital influences organizational performance directly by molding organizational behavior and attitudes. Human capital also creates structural and operational focal points that improve efficiency. According to most business executives, people are the most integral assets in any organization because they are the

The only way an organization can remain competitive in the current global environment is to embrace employee training to improve their skills and innovation capabilities. Organizations invest a lot of resources in training employees to gain knowledge on strategic issues which will add value to the organization. Many organizations will prefer training that will offer employees applicable knowledge that creates

Tahir et al. (2014) defined training and development as the organizational function in human resource management entails gaining of knowledge, experience, practices, and techniques. The principal purpose of training and development is to improve the performance of employees in the company. It is a planned experience of learning which teaches employees to perform current and future jobs efficiently. The intellectual skills acquired can be translated into a company’s resource through the individuals who acquired, utilized, and inferred the knowledge to achieve an improved organizational performance. Sims (2002) articulates that while training focuses mainly on the current jobs, development looks at the probable future jobs, and prepares workers for them. The overall goal of T&D is to help in the accomplishment of the mission and vision of an organization. On the side of employees, it increases their knowledge of the job while identifying the company’s goals (Tahir et al. 2014). For an enterprise, it leads to increased positive attitudes towards achieving organizational goals and improved profitability. In essence, improved performance leads to the success in business since it can implement expertise and competencies acquired in the process (Khan et al. 2011). Organizational performance, therefore, depends on the ability of the employees to perform effectively and efficiently. The human resource capital of any company is critical in the development and growth of

Innovation in human resource has over the years treated innovation and strategic planning as two distinct elements where strategic planning was dealing with known grounds while innovation was about the unknown and unpredictable factors. However, with the rise in globalization and technological advancement today, the role of innovation is not treated with the traditional perspective. The modern role of innovation is tasked with the improvement of the workplace creativity and enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. Innovation in human resource is about