When we talk about knowledge management, people often look to technological tools, such as wikis. While I don’t intend to argue that wikis and other related concepts have no place in knowledge management, I do believe they are too often used as a final and total solution. When organisations do this, they exclude other concepts, some of which may be more beneficial.
The overall objective of knowledge management is to manage the knowledge within an organisation as an asset. Any such assets that exist are either documented, or known by employees. There is an inherent difficulty in transferring knowledge from employees to an explicit, documented form. Time factors, experience, and social communication all play a role in converting knowledge from a tacit to explicit form.
It follows that, regardless of attempts to codify knowledge, a vast amount of any organisations knowledge is stored within its employees. With this understanding, it is simple to see that employee retention is a critical factor.
Organisations need to move from a technological to a human focus to effectively manage knowledge. Technological tools have a place, but that place is to efficiently develop and distribute knowledge among those human resources, not to replace those resources.
As a previous manager of a factory, I attest to the importance of employee retention. Training employees takes time and money. So keeping employees happy and making sure they are well trained will keep employees coming back. This also improves production and quality control. Thanks for sharing your insightful thoughts.
Hi Lana,
Thanks for your comment! I’m glad to see others have noticed this as well!
Daniel
Yes, it’s true that employee retention is very important in a company because without human resources nothing can run the technologies used for operation. These resources must be given importance since every time you disregard the opinions or thoughts of your employees the output would be nothing or no development will takes place. For the success of a company continuous improvement of its employees is very important but all must have equal gains or benefits from the strategies done. Therefore to retain employees they must be given equal benefits and privileges. This is an effective article especially to those in managerial position, like me I am currently managing a law firm.
Thanks for your post!
That must be why my boss always tells new employees, “We want to get at least two years out of you!”
Probably one of many. There are a myriad of other benefits to excellent employee retention, but there are also some detriments!
Thanks for your comment
Employee retention, especially of your best, most desirable employees, is a key challenge in almost all organizations today. Knowing what makes employees unhappy is half the battle when you think about employee work satisfaction, morale, positive motivation, and retention.
Yes employee retention is a must in a company for it to progress and continue to grow in terms of employee capacity and knowledge awareness. Companies must also be sensitive to their employees, their sighs, concerns and rights as well for a healthy working environment and to maintain a harmonious relationship between employees and employer. Also, respect counts a lot on both parties. Thanks for sharing this blog.
I agree, that some consistency in your work force is very much desirable, not just to keep key knowledge that only exists in human brains, but also bo make use of the trust and networks that have built. Actually it has been the success at SAS Institute, which is a turnover of about 5%, unrivaled in the Software industry, and one reason SAS was 2x No 1. Best company to work for.
On the other hand, I think, innovation does also need a certain level of turnover, so turnover at a certain level is not always only bad.
I do very much agree with your point on the human vs. technology focus. This has been my key message for many years and in my publications.