Managing tacit knowledge in a hi-tech learning organisation

Abstract

Project managers are faced with the challenge of matching skills to a task rather than merely assigning people to a job. If these skills are not readily available, the project may not be able to be executed with the desired level of quality and timescales may not be met.

Nowadays, organisations need to respond faster to market requirements than before due to increased competition and rapid advances in technology. Coupled to this is the trend for human resources to be more mobile, as lifelong commitment to an organisation becomes a thing of the past. These two trends present modern organisations with the requirement that their human resources require increasing levels of skills, yet they are faced with the risk that these skills may be lost due to their mobility. Organisations, therefore, need to understand what their core competencies are and ensure that these competencies are developed such that the organisation retains an adequate supply of core skills.

The aim of the study is to identify the core competencies and associated skills within an organisation and devise a method whereby these competencies and skills can be measured and duplicated such that core knowledge is retained and developed within the organisation.