It is widely recognized that knowledge management (KM) can provide an organization with the capability to understand customers' needs, effectively extract new ideas from suppliers and customers alike, and turn them into innovative products and services. Human resource management (HRM) plays an equal, if not more important, role in building and sharing the right set of employee competencies that help organizations to successfully compete. In many organizations, HR executives and KM experts have found that developing an IT infrastructure that allows the free exchange of employee experience and expertise has increased the company's competitiveness. Many companies are now aware that timely capturing their employees’ collec-tive knowledge is the only way to preserve their investments in human capital. As a result, some of them have invested to develop a corporate culture of sharing knowledge and experience, capable of convincing employees to share their expertise. However, how to enable synergy between KM and HRM to foster open innovation is still a relatively new is-sue. Traditionally, innovation has been seen as the responsibility of a R&D team or of a business unit. Re-cent experience has shown that innovation is largely dependent on creative individuals working in an envi-ronment that spans multiple organizations and includes, beyond regular employees, consultants and suppli-ers. Knowledge-supported HR can play a key role in attracting and keeping the most innovative people and partners, creating a culture that supports innovation. This objective of this special issue is twofold. The first goal is to provide a forum to discuss theoretical mod-els and practical evidence on the effectiveness of knowledge-supported human resource (HR) management. The second goal is to investigate the connection between the implementation of knowledge-supported HR and the degree of open and employee-driven innovation achieved by organizations.
Editorial - Special Issue on Knowledge Management and e-Human Resources Practices for Innovation
ELIA, Gianluca;
2012-01-01
Abstract
It is widely recognized that knowledge management (KM) can provide an organization with the capability to understand customers' needs, effectively extract new ideas from suppliers and customers alike, and turn them into innovative products and services. Human resource management (HRM) plays an equal, if not more important, role in building and sharing the right set of employee competencies that help organizations to successfully compete. In many organizations, HR executives and KM experts have found that developing an IT infrastructure that allows the free exchange of employee experience and expertise has increased the company's competitiveness. Many companies are now aware that timely capturing their employees’ collec-tive knowledge is the only way to preserve their investments in human capital. As a result, some of them have invested to develop a corporate culture of sharing knowledge and experience, capable of convincing employees to share their expertise. However, how to enable synergy between KM and HRM to foster open innovation is still a relatively new is-sue. Traditionally, innovation has been seen as the responsibility of a R&D team or of a business unit. Re-cent experience has shown that innovation is largely dependent on creative individuals working in an envi-ronment that spans multiple organizations and includes, beyond regular employees, consultants and suppli-ers. Knowledge-supported HR can play a key role in attracting and keeping the most innovative people and partners, creating a culture that supports innovation. This objective of this special issue is twofold. The first goal is to provide a forum to discuss theoretical mod-els and practical evidence on the effectiveness of knowledge-supported human resource (HR) management. The second goal is to investigate the connection between the implementation of knowledge-supported HR and the degree of open and employee-driven innovation achieved by organizations.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
