Title: Links between competence management and the knowing organisation

Authors: Rodrigo Baroni De Carvalho, Marta Araujo Tavares Ferreira, Chun Wei Choo, Luiz Antonio Joia

Addresses: FUMEC University, Rua Cobre 200, Belo Horizonte, MG, 30310–190, Brazil. ' School of Information Science, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av. Antonio Carlos 6627, P.O. Box 1606, Belo Horizonte, MG, 30161–970, Brazil. ' Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto, 140 St. George St., Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G6, Canada. ' Fundacao Getulio Vargas and Rio de Janeiro State University, Praia de Botafogo 190, sala 526, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22253–900, Brazil

Abstract: The paper intends to analyse the links between competence management and Knowledge Management (KM), adopting the Knowing Organisation Model as the main framework. A web-based survey was conducted with 168 KM leaders and HR managers from Brazilian and Portuguese middle and large size organisations. The results have given evidences that competence management is a significant antecedent of KM. A diagnosis of the sense making, knowledge creation and decision making practices in the analysed organisations is presented. The strategic role of the HR department in the KM initiative is emphasised. The paper also discusses strengths and weaknesses of the KM initiatives, and presents some recommendations to KM leaders that may help them in increasing the maturity level of their KM projects.

Keywords: knowledge management; KM; competence management; organisational learning; knowledge creation; sense making; decision making; knowing organisation; human resource management; HRM; Brazil; Portugal.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2007.015608

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2007 Vol.4 No.3, pp.222 - 239

Published online: 05 Nov 2007 *

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