AN EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNING ORGANISATIONS AND THE RETENTION OF KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
ABSTRACT
Knowledge is an important asset and strategic resource which organisations need. Organisations face the difficulty that knowledge, which it seeks to harvest, is produced, held and applied by its employees, as knowledge workers (KWs). KWs are recognised as having different needs within their workplace which should be reflected in alternative HR practices. The job satisfaction (JS) literature indicates a relationship between high JS and low turnover intention (TI) which will reduce voluntary turnover (VT). It is posited that implementing learning organisation (LO) processes not only supports knowledge development, but also develops the employee-employer relationship in such a way as to increase JS and reduce turnover. This study examines the link between LO processes and KW retention. From a survey of KWs there is overall evidence of a relationship between LO disciplines and TI. All LO disciplines discussed correlate to at least one of the six JS facets measured and TI, of which the JS facets, Reward and Challenge, exerted the most significant influence. The paper concludes that careful management of LO processes could increase KW retention by recognising their specific differences and needs within the workforce.
INTRODUCTION
It is widely accepted that knowledge, coupled with the potential to transform that knowledge into improved actions, can provide organisations with a competitive advantage (Drucker 1964; De Geus 1997; Drucker 1998). Knowledge is always embodied in a person; carried by a person; created, augmented, or improved by a person; applied by a person; taught and passed on by a person; used or misused by a person. The shift to the knowledge society therefore puts the person in the center. (Drucker, 2001, p.287). Personal know-how and tacit knowledge are not stored within the organisation, but are held by the employees (Drucker 1999) whose use and application of this knowledge will differentiate one company from another. This has revolutionised the employee-employer relationship as knowledge workers (KWs)s can leave an organisation and remove a key asset (Drucker 1999). Retention of KWs is, therefore, vital for organisations operating in this knowledge era and great effort has been put into, firstly, developing systems which will increase the effective creation and utilisation of knowledge and, secondly, understanding the mechanisms and concepts involved in retaining KWs.
Turnover intention (TI), the last cognitive step employees make in the voluntary turnover (VT) process (Steel and Ovalle 1984) has been shown to have a strong and consistent relationship with VT (Mathieu and Zajac 1990; Tett and Meyer 1993) and is often the only antecedent directly effecting actual VT (Miller, Katerberg et al. 1979). The literature suggests that research should focus on the direct and indirect influences on TI rather than actual VT (Dalessio, Silverman et al. 1986). What interests HR Managers is establishing processes that increase job satisfaction (JS), thereby reducing the loss of valuable knowledge assets (Lee et al. 1999; Carsten and Spector 1987; Mobley et al. 1978).
We posit that the development of learning organisation (LO) capabilities should enable an organisation to support such efforts. LO models are attempting to harness a potential for change achieved through increased knowledge in order to achieve competitive advantage via transformational, not purely incremental, learning (McGill, Slocum et al. 1992). In order to do 5 this certain input elements are developed which, it is argued, will develop radically new outputs (Senge 1990; Garavan 1997; Pedler, Burgoyne et al. 1997). Not only does the concept include elements which are aimed at providing an organisation with the capability to learn, but these elements should also lower the level of VT in an organisation, by increasing employees’ level of JS.
EXPLANATION
This paper demonstrates that there is a relationship between the LO theory and the potential to retain KWs. This can be achieved by understanding how LOs elements are related to the JS facets of comfort, challenge, reward and relations with co-workers which are important in determining TI. These findings were not surprising given the literature; however, the way they were obtained was novel. This quantitative study gives empirical evidence of the relationships investigated. It emphasizes that HR Managers must recognise specific relationships between LO elements, JS facets and TI as they emerge for KWs.
Previously, most studies have taken an overall JS measure and considered the LO as a whole; by breaking down the elements it not only provides managers with a better insight into the way the LO disciplines impact KWs, but also allows better planning and management of the changes organisations will need to undergo when adopting the LO disciplines. The paper suggests that HR managers need to concentrate on the implementation of certain elements and that it is the interaction of such elements that will impact upon TI. Adopting such strategies should lead to increased retention of KWs and their knowledge. What will be of interest is to replicate this study for other types of workers in order to establish whether there are differences in the relationships between LO disciplines and JS facets for different groups. When the specific issues of reward, mental models, comfort and challenge are reflected upon for KWs it seems likely that other groups will be different.
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