Custom «Knowledge Management and Competitiveness» Essay Paper Sample

Perez and Pabloz (2003) developed a framework for Human Capital (HC) analysis based on three aspects of strategic management literature: Knowledge management; intellectual capital; strategic human resource management. The research aims at emphasizing the importance of HC in Organizational Knowledge (OK) and Knowledge Management (KM), both of which are able to create a competitive advantage to the firm, as far as effective project management is adopted. The two authors developed a classification of four types of HC that may exist in an organization, by classifying them according to strategic value and uniqueness, and proposed that they should be managed with the use of different human resource system for each form. Explicit Knowledge is more formally codified and it can be recorded and transmitted through information and technology, whereas Tacit Knowledge is attained through experience, is located in people’s mind and perception and since an attempt of imitation would be difficult, it can be considered a competitive advantage (Mardur, 891).

A considerable amount of literature has been published on Knowledge Management. In this article there is an unambiguous relationship between KM processes and sustainable competitive advantage. The four basic processes are: generating or capturing knowledge; providing value to gathered knowledge; transferring knowledge; and establishing mechanisms for use and re-use of this knowledge. The way how individualized knowledge can be converted into organizational so as to create easily acceptable and shared knowledge places KM as “one of the key pillars of organization’s human capital strategy” (Linking, 2484). Liebowits (0556) states that value can be created through firm’s intangible assets and gathered knowledge. Several studies discuss about the two last processes as to how knowledge could be transferred and what mechanisms should be discovered in order to use, store and retrieve for additional use a project’s gained knowledge and prevent it from being lost. There is need for sufficient Project Management methods for the assurance that the organization’s human capital will create value out of its assets, increasing in this way its competitiveness, and won’t fail due to mismanagement.

Human Capital as a set of knowledge, skills and abilities (Schultz, 1961) or experiences and potentials that employees may have and practice can be viewed as a source of obtaining a competitive advantage (Ulrich and Laki, 1991). HC is divided into the organization according to how value creation and uniqueness may arise from the firm’s HC and created four quadrants: Idiosyncratic HC, Ancillary HC, Core HC, and Compulsory HC, a firm’s HC may add value by providing advanced service or even product features. They continue arguing that when unique characteristics in HC are developed, firm’s inspiration to invest in its management and benefit from its potential would be high. Pizarro et al (2004) illustrate the value and uniqueness on innovation since HC improvement activities are practiced daily engaging innovative behavior that may increase a firm’s competitiveness. They also come to support Perez and Pablo’s (2003) argument that different HRM systems, different to each quadrant of their typology, might be appropriate to maximize the contribution of all employees.

In summary, this study has shown that the purpose should not be to gather what everyone knows ending in the same knowledge but incorporate the different levels of HC present to accomplish new organizational knowledge which constitute the basis of a company’s strategic asset in a competitive framework. Knowledge within projects is approximately associated with the Project Management methodology and communication practices in projects and rely upon the Project Manager’s and the Project Management’s approach.