PENG JISHENG
School of Business, Nanjing University
Nanjing, 210029, China
E-mail: jspeng@nju.edu.cn
XIAO JIULING† AND WANG SHIHONG
School of Business, Nanjing University
Nanjing, 210029, China
†E-mail: xjlnau@yahoo.com.cn
In the era of knowledge economy, knowledge workers who possess knowledge capital are very important strategic resources to the organization. Due to the striking differences of characteristics and job nature between knowledge workers and traditional staff, effective management of knowledge workers is becoming an increasing concern in the industry. Based on some research fruits of knowledge management, this paper discussed how to retain knowledge workers. This paper aimed at establishing the relationship between individual knowledge and organizational knowledge from the perspective of knowledge transformation and constructed the integrated framework to promote the willingness and behavior of knowledge workers from three aspects such as system criterions, culture guidance and technical support in order to retain knowledge workers and provided some references for the management of knowledge workers.
1. Introduction
On July 19, 2005, Li Kaifu sent in his resignation officially to Microsoft Corporation and then joined Google, becoming the global vice-president and Chinese area president of Google Corporation. On the same day, Microsoft Corporation accused Google Corporation and Li Kaifu of violating the forbidden agreement of competition in industry and security treaty which Li Kaifu signed when he joined in Microsoft Corporation in 2000.
On July 29, 2005, the supreme court of Washington State issued the temporary injunctive to forbid Li Kaifu from working for any Google product and service in the similar domain to which Li Kaifu worked at Microsoft Corporation, including internet and desktop search technique, and simultaneously also forbid the Google China company from establishing a research and development group until January, 2006.
The lawsuit between Microsoft Corporation, Li Kaifu and Google Corporation had been solved through the secrecy agreement on December 22, 2005; hence, the job-hopping for Li Kaifu came to the end (Li Lei, 2005).
The job-hopping by Li Kaifu reflected some problems and insufficiency in managing knowledge workers at Microsoft Corporation on one side, and simultaneously also reflected the common problems which many enterprises face from another side: How to attract, manage and detain knowledge workers who are very important for the future development of the enterprise. Knowledge workers are different from ordinary workers; they have the professional skill, are loyal to the occupation, and pay great attention to realization of self-value. It is a fact without doubt that knowledge workers will possibly change the jobs when they are slightly discontented. Comprehensive traditional management tools such as salary strategy, psychological contracts, individual development and so on may partially and even completely malfunction for knowledge workers who need special management. These kinds of problems should be studied from a new viewpoint and solved with new methods, and it is also the biggest challenge for enterprise management in 21st century as put forward by Drucker (2000).
In a situation of traditional management method malfunction, we need to try other methods. The development of knowledge management theory and practice provides a new direction for us to ponder and research how to retain knowledge workers.
2. Evaluation on Knowledge Workers Management
2.1. Characteristics and Job Category of Knowledge Workers
The concept of knowledge worker was proposed by Drucker and defined as “these people who grasp marks and concepts and use knowledge or information to work” in the
Drucker had pointed out three characteristics of knowledge workers: a knowledge worker obtains the job, occupation and social position through regular education; a knowledge worker works by a team’s form; the work of a knowledge worker is organizational, that is, only the organization can transform the specialized knowledge of knowledge workers into the work performance. Along with thorough research based on experiences and practices, many scholars have also pointed out other characteristics of knowledge worker: high individual quality, prominent innovation ability and learning capability; strong achievement incentives and work independency; supervises work process and evaluates work performance with difficulty; intense mobile wish, loyal to occupation more than loyal to enterprise. The comparison between traditional staff and knowledge worker is as shown in Table 1.
The demand of knowledge workers is dynamic, multiple and complex due to the characteristics of knowledge workers and job category, it is very difficult for the enterprise to make some effective strategies to manage and retain them because the retaining strategy of traditional human resources management already displayed the big limitation regarding the knowledge workers. The knowledge workers make the contribution to enterprise’s value by using own knowledge, the knowledge is their production tool, the enterprise should change the management view and management methods to realize two objects retaining human and obtaining those knowledge possessed by knowledge workers; because of high rate of flow of talented person in the overall environment, the enterprise should pay more attention to obtain knowledge of knowledge workers; it is possible to help to the development of knowledge management theory and practice, knowledge engineering technology and so on.
Table 1. The comparison of job category between traditional staff and knowledge workers
Traditional staff Knowledge workers
Separation of workers and production tool Knowledge already became the production tool of knowledge workers
The staff subordinate to the organization The work mission starts to pursue the person who can complete it
The work content be of stability The general character work reduces
The work result may anticipate The duty result be of uncertainty
The knowledge and skill of staff needed by the organization is stable The knowledge and skill of knowledge workers needed by the organization is dynamic,
The knowledge and skill are quite simple which are required for work mission The knowledge and skill are increasingly complex which are required for work mission
Source: Ma Guochen, et al.(2007)
2.2. Influences of Knowledge Workers on Enterprise Achievements
The cost of inviting, selecting and educating knowledge workers is very high because knowledge workers are quite absent in the interior enterprise and difficult to invite from the point of view of human resources management. Moreover the knowledge workers often master enterprise’s core technologies, therefore production loss cost, vacancy cost, the cost due to management chaos and so on are higher before the demission. Moreover, the human capital of knowledge workers is scarce, hard to replace and high-priced from the point of view of human capital. The enterprise would suffer the huge loss because the outflow of knowledge workers and enterprise could not collect, integrate and accumulate the knowledge. The outflow of knowledge workers would possibly cause the following influences:
(i) Knowledge vacuum. It will cause knowledge vacuum once the individual leave the enterprise who master the various important knowledge such as job process, core technology, operating procedure and so on.
(ii) Knowledge puzzle. It will appear when successful employees only understand some operation knowledge which is incomplete, misunderstanding that could not be used effectively because it is not enough for job requirement.
(iii) Knowledge fantasy. The successor will often instruct own decision-making and behavior by improper supposition for the lack of operation instruction; knowledge fantasy will often cause the mistakes and a stagnant course (Ma Guochen, 2007).
In order to avoid knowledge vacuum, knowledge puzzle and knowledge fantasy, the enterprise should transform individual knowledge into organizational knowledge and then integrate, accumulate and internalize them in the organization before knowledge workers leaving. The enterprise should make the positive effective strategy to accelerate knowledge transformation, integration and systematization in order to save and accumulate the knowledge of knowledge workers in the service manual, work process and knowledge inventory and to promote enterprise innovation.
2.3. Evaluation on the Traditional Viewpoint of Knowledge Worker Management
The traditional human capital and HRM theory believed that employees and knowledge are indivisible, knowledge existing with employee, knowledge disappearing along with the demission of employees. Based on these viewpoints, the enterprise used various methods to retain knowledge workers in carrying on the management of knowledge workers, but it had little effect and the initiative power is also grasped by knowledge workers. The very important reason lies in the traditional theory that have not cognized that knowledge and human can be separated to a certain extent; therefore, traditional theory indicated that the enterprise should firstly adopt the retain strategy in the management of knowledge workers but it is ineffective facing knowledge workers with complex demand.
Along with knowledge economy’s starting as well as the unceasing application of information technology, knowledge management theory has been developed greatly. Knowledge management theory believed that knowledge and human may be separated to a certain extent, knowledge can be classified as explict knowledge and tacit knowledge, both of them can be transformed mutually and exist among the individual, team, organization and cross-organization(Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). These viewpoints have provided a new direction for the research of knowledge workers’ management questions, the focus of research is the knowledge grasped by knowledge workers but not knowledge workers themselves, and takes knowledge transformation as the subject of research. There are two meanings of knowledge transformation: firstly, the transformation of tacit knowledge into explict knowledge. The tacit knowledge can be transformed into explict knowledge by some means and it’s beneficial to knowledge sharing and transformation among the employees. Secondly, the transformation of individual knowledge into organizational knowledge. It can be realized by some methods such as system criterions, mechanism design, technical support and stored in knowledge inventory. The success of knowledge transformation may enable other successors to grasp the knowledge rapidly and reduce the loss due to the outflow of knowledge workers.
3. Knowledge Transformation of Knowledge Workers: An Integrated Framework
3.1. Concept and Characteristics of Knowledge
Scholars from different disciplines have different definitions of knowledge but on the whole, the concepts of knowledge are based on Polanyi’s(1967). He divided into implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is the formal, systematic, and transformed of language knowledge, with a standardized and systematic features, ease of communication, sharing and transfer, Tacit knowledge refers to those expressions are not very clear and there is no clear record of knowledge, professional skills often existing in the form of individual behavior, difficult to observe, express and disseminate. Implicit knowledge is different from the characteristics of explicit knowledge: non-logical, non-common, non-critical, situational, cultural and priority level. Polanyi still put forward the proposition “We can know more than we can tell”. Nonaka and Takeuchi(1995) pointed out the differences as shows table 2.
Table 2 Compare of tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge
Tacit knowledge (Subjective) Explicit knowledge(Objective)
Knowledge of experience(body) Knowledge of rationality(mind)
Simultaneous knowledge (here and now) Sequential knowledge(there and then)
Analog knowledge (practice) Digital knowledge(theory)
Source：Nonaka and Takeuchi（1995）
3.2. Individual Knowledge Model of Knowledge Workers
The individual knowledge of the Knowledge workers is composed by knowledge from a number of static and dynamic processes (Mostert and Snyman, 2007). Static knowledge mainly refers to the tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. implicit knowledge (also includes tacit knowledge) is mainly made up of individual’s experiences, memories and perceptions of the external environment. Memories may be conscious or unconscious and may be expressible or inexpressible. And explicit knowledge is mainly express as oral expression, graphics and pictures through formal systems of language code. The dynamic process is analyzed from a process of knowledge flows, including knowledge acquisition, knowledge storage and retrieval, understanding and problem solving, explicit knowledge creation, expression of through personal skills, knowledge process coordination.
Based on the characteristics of individual knowledge of knowledge workers, knowledge acquisition refers to the processes of knowledge flow from the external environment to the individual and includes process of evaluation and judgment based on previous experience and values. Knowledge storage and retrieval refer to a series of processes by which acquired knowledge is stored as well as the processes through which knowledge is retrieved when it is needed. Understanding and problem solving occur in both the incoming and the outgoing directions of the knowledge cycle. During knowledge acquisition, this model suggests that process in responsible for enabling the individual to comprehensive understand the situation at hand, access to new information for problem-solving based on their knowledge. During knowledge application, the model suggests that this process in responsible for utilizing the individual’s personal knowledge base to create effective strategies for achieve the objectives. And the explicit knowledge creation refers to the processes in which implicit knowledge is codified through the use of formal systematic language and enable the members of organizations to share and transfer knowledge. The expression of knowledge through personal skills mainly refers to the processes through which physical skills are applied in a reasoned manner to achieve an individual’s objectives in the external environment .Finally, the process coordination of knowledge refers to the processes that are responsible for the overall coordination of an individual’s knowledge processes. The individual knowledge model of knowledge workers is as shown in Figure 1. In the figure, the individual knowledge of knowledge workers is existing the transformation of implicit and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is transformed into tacit knowledge through individual perception of the external environment, acquisition, expansion of perception, storage and retrieval process. As for the tacit knowledge of knowledge worker is divided into two levels of transformation: First, tacit knowledge is transferred into the implicit knowledge through the storage and retrieval, the expansion of perception and expression. Second, implicit knowledge is transferred into explicit knowledge through personal acts of planning and coordination, as well as mechanisms by which an individual affected the external environment.
3.3. The Transformation Process of Individual Knowledge into Organizational Knowledge of Knowledge Workers
The reason of the important differences between individuals and organization as far as knowledge is concerned, individuals are single sentient entities, while the organization is consisted of a variety of distributed sentient components (individuals) connected through relatively limited communication channels. For knowledge workers, the majority of their knowledge can not be called organizational knowledge because individual knowledge has not transformed into organizational knowledge and could not solve the various problems faced by the organizations in the external environment. The knowledge of individual knowledge transformed into organizational knowledge should be standardized with the use of the system, the leading of organizational culture, but also the technical means to support. Therefore, we constructed an integrated knowledge structure for the individual knowledge transformed into organizational knowledge of knowledge workers, as shown in Figure 2.
3.3.1. The System Criterions of Individual Knowledge Transformation
In order to promote knowledge workers to transform knowledge with real willingness, the system of knowledge transformation should be made first to regulate and guarantee the behavior and protect their personal interests. System criterions include knowledge operation system, knowledge clarity system, knowledge check and audit system, knowledge reward and punishment system(Zuo Meiyun，2006).
(i) Knowledge operation system. It’s main role lies in promoting knowledge workers to produce the behaviors of knowledge sharing, application and innovation, including knowledge classification and standardization system, the failure tolerance system of knowledge innovation, the system of documents accumulation and renewal, the free communication system of knowledge.
(ii) Knowledge clarity system. It makes the knowledge outcomes of knowledge workers clear, including knowledge outcomes reporting system, intellectual property protection system etc.
(iii) Knowledge check and audit system. It can examine and evaluate the knowledge outcomes of knowledge workers including knowledge outcomes audit system and knowledge audit system.
(iv) Knowledge reward and punishment system. It is to clearly regulate the knowledge outcomes of knowledge workers, verify and evaluate the knowledge outcomes, including the knowledge salary system, knowledge shareholding option system, duty promotion system, as well as knowledge signature system.
3.3.2. The Culture Guidance of Individual Knowledge Transformation
In the management process of knowledge workers, in addition to the application of the system criterions to guarantee and protect the behavior and interests of knowledge workers, the enterprise should actively build a distinctive corporate culture to retain knowledge workers, and establish cooperation culture, trust-based culture, innovative culture and vision-based culture, to encourage the willingness and behavior of knowledge workers to share and transfer knowledge.
(i) Cooperation culture. The establishment of cooperative culture is training the awareness and spirit of teamwork of knowledge workers, encouraging active cooperation and communication with others to promote teamwork.
(ii) Trust-based culture. In the course of business operations, teamwork is more emphasized, and in the process of collaboration, knowledge workers need to maintain an attitude of frankness and trust so as to be stable and conducive for the completion of team tasks. This trust is the confidence in colleague, but also the confidence in team, and the confidence in business.
(iii) Innovative culture. The formation of an innovative culture comes from the awareness of participation of knowledge workers and the bursting enthusiasm and creativity.
(iv) Vision-based culture. The pursuit of self-worth, idealism, perfect personality, noble sense of mission are powerful inner drive hidden in knowledge workers, so it is essential to consciously make use of entrepreneurial spirit, enterprise values, enterprise philosophy, mission and purpose of enterprise and integrated them, to make culture drive of knowledge workers to aim at enterprise goals, which is the enormous power of enterprise growth and sustainable development.
3.3.3. The technical support of individual knowledge transformation
It is essential for knowledge workers to make use of information technology when knowledge workers transform individual knowledge into organizational knowledge. Information technology is an important supporting means of knowledge management system, the core of which is to achieve knowledge sharing and transfer. The knowledge management system of organization mainly includes the layers of knowledge resources, knowledge production and knowledge application. The layer of knowledge resources explains the sources of knowledge and are is composed of knowledge inventory and responsible for responding to search requests, knowledge storage and security management, etc., knowledge resources mainly include technical resources, WEB resources, text resources, customer resources, database resources, etc. The layer of knowledge production is mainly dealing with the logic of knowledge-sharing to achieve common knowledge management functions, including many modules such as knowledge map, knowledge search system, expert system, content management system, enterprise collaboration system, real-time communication system, knowledge communities and forums, yellow Pages, Blog, Wiki, learning system, collaboration software and groupware technology and knowledge subscriptions center. The layer of knowledge application provides interface, is responsible for responding to user, and display the results, mainly through the communication and collaboration between knowledge workers to achieve knowledge sharing, applications, and innovation. The layer of knowledge application is the only entrance to knowledge management system for users, the main module of which is knowledge interface system. Knowledge interface integrates the internal and external knowledge and makes the employees for access to visit, acquire, analyze and store the individuation knowledge from a single platform to make effective business decisions. On the one hand, knowledge workers may sort the knowledge owned by themselves by using knowledge management system; on the other hand, tacit knowledge can also be facilitated into the transformation of explicit knowledge.
3.3.4. The Specific Transformation Process of Individual Knowledge
Nonaka & Takeuchi(1995) regarded knowledge transformation as a spiral process, in which the scale of interaction between implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge expands with the upgrade of spiral, increases gradually from individual and expands interaction range, beyond the boundaries of groups, departments and organization. The knowledge spiral process is composed of four different knowledge transformation models as follows: socialization model, from implicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, just refers to the process of sharing of tacit experience to creating tacit knowledge; externalization model, from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, just refers to tacit knowledge depicted through concept, analogy, metaphor, assumptions or models; combination model, from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge, through different systems to create explicit knowledge; internalization model, from explicit knowledge to implicit knowledge, through learning by doing to make knowledge contained in the stories and characters of the manuals and documents. Knowledge creation process consists of five main phases: the sharing of implicit knowledge, the creation of the concept, to prove the appropriateness of the concept, the establishment of a prototype, cross-level knowledge evolution. Therefore, consisting the knowledge before and after transformation can constitute a series of continuous self-transcending processes and also show the evolution of the spiral of knowledge transformation.
Zhang Xinguang(2005) put forward a further detail of specific knowledge transformation model, and its basic structure as shown in Figure 3. Socialization model is divided into partnership model, feeling model, apprenticeship model and authority model; externalization model is divided into file mode, practice model, summary model and expert model; internalization model is divided into spontaneous model, assimilation model, understanding model and vision model; and combination model is divided into consultation model, training model, teaching model and indoctrination model, specific description of which as shown in table 3.
Table 3. Specific description individual knowledge transformation’s path of knowledge worker
dimensions Models Explain
Socialization partnership organizational tacit knowledge→organizational tacit knowledge
feeling organizational tacit knowledge→individual tacit knowledge
apprenticeship individual tacit knowledge→individual tacit knowledge
authority individual tacit knowledge→organizational tacit knowledge
Externalization document organizational tacit knowledge→organizational explicit knowledge
routine organizational tacit knowledge→individual explicit knowledge
summary individual tacit knowledge→individual explicit knowledge
expert individual tacit knowledge→organizational explicit knowledge
Combination consultation organizational explicit knowledge→organizational explicit knowledge
training organizational explicit knowledge→individual explicit knowledge
tutorship individual explicit knowledge→individual explicit knowledge
teaching individual explicit knowledge→organizational explicit knowledge
Internalization spontaneous organizational explicit knowledge→organizational tacit knowledge
assimilation organizational explicit knowledge→individual tacit knowledge
understanding individual explicit knowledge→individual tacit knowledge
vision individual explicit knowledge→organizational tacit knowledge
Source：Zhang Xinguang（2005）
Through the transformation of these specific models, the knowledge of knowledge workers including the explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge can be transformed by mutually continuous upward spiral, in the course of gradually expanding, organizations can create continuously new knowledge, explicit knowledge will be accumulated, the stock and flow of knowledge inventory is also increasing.
3.4. The Model of Organizational Knowledge
Based on the views of organizational behavior, there are rather big relevance but also big difference between organizational and individual knowledge. The vast majority of organizational knowledge are transformed from individual knowledge. This model of organizational knowledge depicts that organizational knowledge is based on tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge, but also has some dynamic knowledge processes. Organization obtains all kinds of knowledge which are available for the development of organization and the advancement of knowledge workers through certain information acquisition mechanism and gradually transforms to the individual knowledge of knowledge workers through the knowledge transformation track in Figure 3 in the internal and external environment. Knowledge workers also gradually transform their tacit and explicit knowledge to the tacit and explicit knowledge of organization through various knowledge flows by using organization expresses mechanism and knowledge application mechanism. Tacit knowledge are mainly hidden in the product and service of organization; explicit knowledge includes policies, procedures, reports, memoranda, strategies and plans, etc. Knowledge flow includes knowledge acquisition, knowledge evaluation, knowledge storage and retrieval, knowledge use and knowledge application. Model of organizational knowledge is as shown in Figure 4.
4. Conclusion
Based on the thorough analysis of knowledge workers’ characteristics and job category, this paper evaluated the knowledge workers’ management, studied the management strategies of knowledge workers form the point of views of knowledge transformation, thoroughly analyzed individual knowledge structure of knowledge workers and organizational knowledge structure, as well as the transformation process between them, simultaneously proposed safeguard factors that promote effective transformation: system criterions, culture guidance and technical support and so on , in order to put forward some effective management strategies of knowledge workers in the era of knowledge economy.
The paper evaluated the traditional human capital theory and HRM theory and provided a new research direction of knowledge worker management in 21 century. The management strategies of knowledge worker based on traditional human capital theory are useless. Knowledge management theory pointed out that knowledge and human may be separated to a certain extent and knowledge workers create value by knowledge. Therefore, we should pay more attention to knowledge transformation than retaining knowledge workers and knowledge. Moreover, the paper constructed an integrated framework to transform the individual knowledge of knowledge workers. This framework consists of three aspects: first, the individual knowledge model of knowledge worker; second, the process of transforming the individual knowledge to organizational knowledge; third, organizational knowledge model.
It’s beneficial to management practice to propose some innovation ideas for management strategies of knowledge workers. Management scientist Drucker once pointed out that the biggest challenge of business management in 21st is knowledge worker management. Therefore, the paper provided some references for the modern enterprise: firstly, to pay great attention to retain knowledge strategy besides the traditional human retaining strategy; secondly, to transform tacit knowledge to explict knowledge by various strategies in order to promote organization innovation; thirdly, to stress transforming individual knowledge to organizational knowledge and the core competitiveness or competitive advantages which can be maintained for a long time based on the promotion of organizational knowledge; finally, in the process of knowledge transformation, to emphasize some factors such as system criterions, culture guidance and technical support to enhance the willingness and behavior of knowledge transformation and to promote the effective transformation and sharing of knowledge.
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