Engagement of Employees and Knowledge Management

Explain the relevance of knowledge management for HR, and provide evidence for how HR might facilitate knowledge management in a company.

Introduction

Knowledge management is the practice of developing an effective strategic planning of actions which outline the organisational tactics to achieve future growth by managing organisational data, information, and knowledge for successful improvement of the productivity and efficiencies of the companies in long run (Wood, 2013). In the recent era of globalisation, this is the best tactics to improve the organisational objectives and fulfil the mission and visions of the organisation by Knowledge management, where the employees are the major stakeholders of the company in enhancing future sustainable growth of the organisations (Mukherji, 2012). In the recent era of globalisation, all the multinational corporate firms focus on business dissertation help Knowledge management in order to improve the efficiency and productivity of the firms in managing their competitive position in the market. The aim of the study is to analyse the practice of Knowledge management in the organisational context, where the Knowledge management strategies and the influence of human resource in the Knowledge management will be discussed in the context of retail department where customer service management is one of the important profession to achieve future success by satisfying the customers and strengthening their customers base in the market.

Knowledge management

People understand the knowledge and skill where the organisation needs to enhance through knowledge management, in which the concepts, ideas, theories, practice and procedures need to shared and transferred to all the employees in the organisation for better management of the working force and leading them towards achieving success in near future (Tseng, 2016). Hereby, the knowledge management is the practice of creating, capturing, sharing and acquiring knowledge where it enhances the learning and development activities in the organisational context where the employees can contribute positively in enhancing their performance in near future. It is the process, where the managers and the employees can manage the knowledge and enhance their performance for maximising the organisational objective (Wood, 2013). In this regard, the managers and the leaders aim at managing knowledge through developing effective tactics in the workplace, where the strategies and planning are important to enhance the knowledge and transform and share the adequate information and organisational data to improve the understanding of the employees in long run. The process of developing effective organisational culture is one of the effective ways to have proper knowledge management activities in the organisation, where the managers and leaders try to develop suitable organisational culture by sharing the organisational visions and mission in the workplace. In this context, the leaders and the managers try to share all the strategic vision and organisational tactics with the employees (Hänninen, Smedlund and Mitronen, 2018). Apart from that, sharing and conveying the message regarding in the upcoming organisational tactics and sharing the organisational data and information are also effective to manage employee’s knowledge and understanding where the employees can understand their roles and organisational practice to perform better in the workplace (Tseng, 2016). This in turn helps to enhance the organisational performance as a whole and manage the organisational knowledge and skill to run the business strategically. In addition to this, motivating the employees through rewards and appreciation is another way to manage knowledge in the organisational workplace where the employees are encouraged to show their creativity and innovation to perform better in the organisations. In this regard, the leader aims to encourage the employee’s creativity and innovation as well as give them proper incentives and rewards for performing better by knowledge management.

Figure 1: Strategies for knowledge management

On the other hand, arranging effective training and development program in the organisation is another effective way to manage the internal knowledge of the organisation, where managers of human resource try to develop effective training program, for the benefits of the employees where they can gather more in depth knowledge and information to perform better as well as the employees also can acknowledge the working practice of the organisation to contribute positively in achieving the future organisational success. Moreover, developing the tactic of partnership working is another important strategy for the firms to manage the internal knowledge and enhance the efficiency of the workers where the employees are encouraged to collaborate and work as a partnership basis by sharing each others knowledge and experience. This is also another effective way to enhance internal cooperation and improve communication, where the employees are motivated to perform with others by sharing their own experience and organisational practice in long run (Khan and Rahman, 2015). Hereby, the learning and development programs as well as the contribution of the leaders in the organisations are important to manage knowledge and enhance the organisational activities efficiently in near future. In this regard, the strategic planning of developing organisational culture, leadership support, training and development program, encouraging the employees, proper rewards and appreciation, sharing and partnership working practice, communication and cooperation and work based practice are beneficial to manage the organisational knowledge and capabilities in near future, where the employees can get the opportunity to gather in depth knowledge and understanding and gain experience to enhance their productivity and contribution in the organisational context (Mukherji, 2012).

Importance of Knowledge management

Knowledge management practice is important for the organisations to enhance the growth and sustain in the business. In addition to this, the organisations can enhance their performance in long run and secure future sustainable growth (Liebowitz, 2019). The multinational corporate firms aim at knowledge management practice in the workplace in order to maximise the efficiency of the employees where the staff members can contribute positively in the organisation by working proficiently and managing the organisational practice successfully. On the other hand, there are other benefits of knowledge management in the organisational context, where the benefits such as enhancing internal efficiency, increasing employee’s productivity, improving organisational performance and managing the customers of the business are effective to fulfil the organisational aims and objectives (Webb, 2017). Hereby, the management of internal knowledge raise the capabilities of the employees where the staff members can manage the organisational activities and run the companies strategically by enhancing the organisational efficiency in the market.

Figure 2: Importance of knowledge management

The activities of the organisational knowledge management are further beneficial to secure future sustainable development, where the employees can gather more in depth knowledge and experience as well as the managers and leaders can develop suitable organisational culture to lead the employees strategically towards achieving future success. In this regard, the leaders can also encourage the employees by providing the rewards and incentives as well as giving them an opportunity for future personal and professional development (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018).

Relationship between knowledge management and HR

There is strong relationship between the human resource management and the knowledge management practice in the organisation, where the employees are playing crucial role in managing knowledge in the organisational workplace. Without proper cooperation and management of the human resource, it is not possible for the firms to manage knowledge of the multinational corporate companies (Ahmad and Mohamed Zabri, 2018). In this regard, high commitment of the employees is important, where the staff members are committed towards the organisational rules and practice and they try to contribution positively in managing internal knowledge for taking effective initiatives. In addition to this, developing learning environment is another contribution of the human resources, where they try to collaborate and communicate with others and continuous support, identifying he organisational challenges, exploring new ideas and innovative strategies are the tactics through which the employees of the organisations try to enhance the knowledge management activities in the organisations (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018).

Figure 3: Relationship between knowledge management and HR

In addition to this, the employees are also interested in cooperating with the managers and the leaders as well as contribute positively in enhancing the knowledge management through communication, sharing organisational vision as well as encouraging the organisational learning activities and developing learning culture in the workplace where it is possible for the managers of the multinational corporate firms to manage internal knowledge and cooperate with the employees for ensuring efficient performance.

Knowledge management in the context of business

Knowledge management is the practice, where all the retail firms try to enhance the employee’s skill and knowledge so that they can contribute efficiently in the organisations for achieving future sustainable growth. In this recent era of globalisation, the organisations like Tesco, Walmart, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi being famous retail chain in the UK and across the globe, try to develop effective strategic planning to manage the workforce and enhance their skill and experience so that the employees can perform better with their full capabilities and efficiencies. In this regard, the employees are responsible to manage the customers and provide efficient customers service to maximise satisfaction level of the consumers in the market to strengthen their customer’s base. In this regard, the internal training program of the retail firms are efficient to improve skill and experience the employees to acknowledge the actual needs and preferences of the customer and understand their perception for treating them proficiently and maximise their satisfaction. Continuous service to the customers and cooperation with them are effective for developing string relationship with all the customers (Donate and de Pablo, 2015).

Figure 4: Knowledge management for market value and customer service management

The knowledge management activities are effective where the employees can gather in depth knowledge and understanding about the market structure and recent trend in the customer’s demand which in turn helps the staff to acknowledge the actual requirements of the customers and give them proper support and customer service successfully. Moreover, the internal training program in the retail firms is effective to raise understanding of the employees and give them a scope to improve understanding about the organisational practice to perform better. Hereby, the training program, are also effective to improve the human capital and enhance the technological skill of the employees where the staff can handle the Information and Communication System as well s manage the database o the customers for efficient customers handling (Khan and Rahman, 2015).

Hereby, the retail organisations aim to manage knowledge of the employees by developing learning culture of the workplace, providing partnership working practice in the workplace as well as encouraging innovation and creativity of the employees where the staff members are motivated to explore new ideas and innovative strategies for maximising the organisational growth (Donate and de Pablo, 2015). Through knowledge management, the employees can understand the organisational practice, ways to handle the organisational products and services and deliver efficient customers service to all the consumers for strengthening their customer’s base and achieving future success by fulfilling the vision of retail supermarket chain across the globe (Liebowitz, 2019). Hereby, the retail firms focus on knowledge management activities to run their business with more innovation and creativity, so that it is possible for the companies to achieve success and satisfy the customers by delivering high quality products and efficient services. The knowledge management practice is hereby beneficial for the retail firms to manage the employees and enhance their productivity and proficiency in long run so that they can perform better and contribute efficiently in achieving future organisational aims and objectives (Webb, 2017).

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, the knowledge management activities are crucial for all the organisations in the recent era of global competition, where through knowledge management, the leader and the managers of the retail firms can enhance the employees performance and maximise the efficiency of the employees as well as improving the productivity of the organisations in long run. In this regard, all the retail firms like Tesco, Walmart, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi are efficient to manage internal knowledge where the employees are playing important role in achieving the organisational success. Moreover, the activities of knowledge management including online training, development program, cooperation and communication, shared working practice and organisational culture in the retail firm further provide a scope to the managers to lead the employees and maximise their skill and capabilities for better performance and achieving future success.

Reference list

Ahmad, K. and Mohamed Zabri, S., 2018. The mediating effect of knowledge in the relationship between inventory management practices and performance: the case of micro retailing enterprises. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR), 12(2), pp.83-93.

Donate, M.J. and de Pablo, J.D.S., 2015. The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), pp.360-370.

Hänninen, M., Smedlund, A. and Mitronen, L., 2018. Digitalization in retailing: multi-sided platforms as drivers of industry transformation. Baltic Journal of Management, 13(2), pp.152-168.

Hislop, D., Bosua, R. and Helms, R., 2018. Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. London: Oxford University Press.

Khan, I. and Rahman, Z., 2015. Brand experience anatomy in retailing: An interpretive structural modeling approach. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 24, pp.60-69.

Liebowitz, J., 2019. Building organizational intelligence: A knowledge management primer. London: CRC press.

Mukherji, S., 2012. A framework for managing customer knowledge in retail industry. [online] Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0970389612000250 [Accessed on 19 December 2019].

Tseng, S.M., 2016. Knowledge management capability, customer relationship management, and service quality. Journal of enterprise information management, 29(2), pp.202-221.

Webb, S.P., 2017. Knowledge management: Linchpin of change. London: Routledge.

Wood, S. M., 2013. Knowledge management, organisational learning and memory in UK retail network planning. [online] Available at:

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