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In line with this year's theme "Envisioning the Changing
Roles of HRD Practitioners In The Knowledge Management Era", emphasis is
given to the emerging discipline of Knowledge Management, a management process
and practices that has become very significant in recent years.
As defined by Davenport and Prusak (1998), knowledge is a fluid mix of framed
experience, values, contextual information, expert insight and grounded intuition
that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new
experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers.
In organizations it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories
but also in organizational routines, processes, practices and norms.
In simple terms, knowledge is basically about management of organizational knowledge
for creating business value and generating a competitive advantage. In itself,
it is not a particularly new idea. The ideas behind knowledge management go back
some 50 years and many management theorists have written about them.
For example, Drucker (1999) stressed the growing importance of information and
explicit knowledge as an organizational resource. Senge (1994) has focused on
the learning organization that is a cultural dimension of managing knowledge.
As an approach, Knowledge Management is difficult to define and implement. It
may also be expensive in terms of time and human resources, not to mention technology
backup. But it is an essential basis of effective competition in a modern knowledge
economy.
Turning knowledge into action first requires commitment to change based on the
kind of learning and innovation that contributes to competitive advantage. It
then depends on:
- recognizing that knowledge exists both socially and contextually (in other words,
it is quite different from data, or information);
- understanding who holds the knowledge and in what form;
- somehow making the knowledge available at the right point in time;
- making it available to the relevant people.
One of the most critical factors that the State Civil Service is facing at the
moment is the ability to utilize and put to effective usage the existing reservoir
of expertise and map it against the requirements for effective organizational
performance. An illustration of this would be the provision of quality services
to the community at large and the more innovative management of projects. As such,
organizational knowledge and experiences become useful assets and capabilities
within the workforce for meeting their organisational business objectives.
The Human Resource function in the State Civil Service is experiencing change
with the introduction of the new "System Saraan Malaysia". For example,
the provision of training and education by the HRD unit together with the implementing
arm, the Centre for Modern Management - both HRD unit and CMM are taking the initiative
to develop capabilities within the State Civil Service workforce to become more
competent. With the introduction of SSM, the challenge for both HRD unit and CMM
is to ensure that the training and education activities are more competency-based
in nature. The role of HRM unit is now more focused towards the competencies of
individuals in the State Civil Service. It is the collective responsibility of
HRM, HRD and CMM to recruit, retain, train and develop the necessary competencies
required for efficient and effective civil service. Therefore, the linkage between
HRM, HRD and CMM becomes more enhanced and interdependent. In this context, I
would like to emphasize that, training and development of people is becoming even
more strategic and fundamental to the success of competency development of the
civil service in the State. In order to facilitate these changes - facilitators,
trainers and HR practitioners need to review their respective roles in the development
of people. They do not merely deliver the content of a training program, but must
consider issues like the ability to deliver a set of knowledge and experiences
which will allow individuals, groups and communities to practice to develop their
competency levels. Facilitators, trainers and HR practitioners must then be able
to measure the effectiveness of learning through the application of competencies
developed to meet the requirement of the business.
One of the most critical issues in terms of organizational competence is the ability
to be sensitive to the different learning styles of the workforce. It has been
understood for a long time that there are different learning styles and there
are various tools and models to assess people’s learning capabilities and
preferences. One of the most important trends is the shift from classroom-centred
to individual-centred learning activities. This, in a way, means that those individuals
who prefer self-paced learning are benefiting as much as their colleagues who
might prefer tutor-directed learning in the classroom. Increasingly, self-paced
or online learning will be the predominant form of learning methodology for the
effectiveness of learning in the future.
However, this does not mean that training delivery has to go to one extreme or
the other. There is still the option to mix and match the different learning modes,
so that people are offered self-paced, one-to-one, or one-to-a-few. Networking
and knowledge sharing is now taking place more in network environments than in
the classroom, especially where continuing professional development, lifelong
learning or mid-career redevelopment are concerned. The increasing importance
placed on distance learning and virtual online learning is becoming more applicable
to the modern environment.
As facilitators, trainers and HR practitioners, we all have a strategic role to
play in helping people and organizations learn, develop and perform and thus turn
organization's investment in human capital into a knowledgeable and competent
workforce. Therefore, it is vital for us in the HR field to keep ourselves up-to-date
and competent with the latest and innovative HR techniques and technologies to
be able to play our role effectively.
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