Knowledge Management

ARTICLES - Knowledge Management

MANAGING KNOWLEDGE COMPETITIVE POSITIONNING OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN THE 21^STCENTURY

© Ganesh Shermon

The dawn of the 21^st century presupposes organizational systemic preparedness for retaining and gaining competitiveness in a global and native business scenario. The early 20^th century predominantly focused on the manufacturing or the production priorities of the firm. The sciences espoused manufacturing excellence with speed, automation of the human systems, socio technical variables for efficiencies, scientific management, mass production, assembly line advantages, single product dominance and worker productivity. What followed was the consumer era with the corporations prioritizing its energies towards creating and sustaining brands, products and life style interventions for the consumer. Sales and distribution networks were expanded to ensure reach, effective market penetration, identifying the consumer in the common person and ensuring product availability at his/her point of purchase. The last two decades and the quarter of the century realized the potential of the systems, electronic data processing, information management and tools and techniques to help organizational data analysis, synthesis, decision support and primarily consolidation and retrieval. The systems were available for corporate use and effectiveness.

We are now at the threshold of the knowledge era, where the intellect would dominate organizational processes, make information and data only a fundamental and necessary condition for knowledge creation and management. The analysis, synthesis, and enveloping variables would be people, process and environment for making things happen. The 21^st century environment, at least, in the first decade appears to be quite predictable for organizational scientists. The emergence and happening of the knowledge era is for sure. In the knowledge economy corporate performance is measured by the return on the knowledge invested. In fact knowledge is a personal wealth when it is achieved and is a corporate asset when it is shared and institutionalized.

Capital resources and asset management turns negligible management parameters for creation of shareholder wealth. While investing resources continues to be an essential ingredient for corporate competitiveness and retaining innovative advantages, money by itself would mean precious little to make or break a deal.

Knowledge brought in and grown by the corporate determines organizational competitiveness and successes seen as fundamental for business survival. The premium for managerial actions is on the ability to attract, hold, and maximize the intellectual equity available within the corporate. Interestingly the cycle of maximization, optimization and minimization is inevitable in human capital management too. People bring in to their organizational settings a core set of knowledge, experience, competencies, skills, learning, training, demonstrated performance and potential. The summation of this set of parameters is the organizational intellectual equity. The environment necessitates global networks, connected business portfolios, functional linkages across geographies, resources grouping and sharing in a seamless, boundary less organizational space. It is an opportunity to invent anywhere and share in all necessary places as may be deemed appropriate. Concurrently corporate, environment and people manifested boundaries are seemingly disappearing. Corporate creation and management are no longer asset dependent and myopic in term. There is a distinctive alignment of objectives on what constitutes corporate wealth and should be nurtured and grown in value. At the external influence scenario there is a critical focus on value imperative and making marginality appear incompetent. The customer does not pay for corporate inefficiencies and poor management. The opportunity to transfer in the short and medium term organizational handicaps to the customer or in some situations where environmental protection was available the inefficiencies continued and was shared with the customer indefinitely. Nevertheless value and service imperative become fundamental, unarguably. The customer truly has limitless options to determine alternatives, evaluate concurrent advantages, make choices on a time frame that is open, transparent and easy to administer. In other words the customer is under no compulsion to buy what is available at the first distribution location or be governed by ad factors that profile the products more attractively than what it delivers. Options have not emerged because corporate turned efficient in the consumer environment, but the environment in which the consumer shopped turned turtle. Products that were far and wide in reach and purchasability were now available at the current consumer environment for added value at an affordable price.

The 21^st century business is likely to cope with a dramatic managerial change given the advent of information technology and knowledge emphasis in the basics of management actions. The service trade-ons meant more value at lower cost and the organizational product offering reflected choice, value, service and shopping advantage to the average consumer.

The new order business necessitates aggressive IT investment, basically to remain competitive and cope with the changing environment. Service to the consumer necessitates core and purposeful IT investments meant to dramatically make the winning product difference. Technology should substitute infrastructure in any form. In the organization form of the firm structures turn wide and spread out across product, geography and functional boundaries. Forms could mean multiple business units connected by the value adding staff and a core corporate group. Functions and businesses need to integrate for effecting customer service. Yet functional and specialist compromise for depth of the intellect is counter productive. Pyramids no longer should be repeated for each of the product segment with the SBU as a method. The alternate forms of MBU with brand - market and product - manufacturing focus would turn more effective for the IT driven organization. All other services are available electronically. The 21^st century business presupposes cooperation and collaboration for effective competition. Market strategies to demonstrate dominance without value but by consumer influencers would turn counter productive for corporate. Competition would but find inevitable to collaborate and cooperate to make the product offering aggressive to draw the customer towards it. The current trend in mergers of mega corporate that are successful with larger corporate is an indicator of the inevitable trend of large corporate cooperation. Yet the corporate need to bring in boutique products to suit the frills and thrills of a discerning consumer, make the manufacturing process mass customized, demonstrate manufacturing flexibility all make a satisfied customer. Wealth from manufacturing is being created by ideas, brainpower – design, logistics, marketing, sales and information systems.

Human society is infinitely complex and difficult to interpret and manage. Rarely do rational choices become the fundamental orientation for managing the human issues. Technology has only added to its complication. For companies to maintain and enhance its competitiveness a broad spectrum of understanding is essential t differentiate between compelling and not so compelling parameters in human management and technology interface. Large corporations derive a worldview as they see the co existence of human factors and technology imperatives that make organizations viable and growing.

THE WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE

The world of knowledge brings in essential characteristics:

ADVANCED ECONOMIES ARE KNOWLEDGE BASED AND WEIGHTLESS IN SIZE, SCOPE AND HORIZON.

The top 20% of the world's labor force constituting the knowledge worker and today this knowledge worker will earn more than the other 80% combined.
This knowledge-based work will represent the bulk of wealth creation in modern economies - 92% of the GNP by the year 2010.
Enterprise growth will be determined by innovation that in turn depends on knowledge and the intellect.
The value chain restructuring will ensure 70% to 90% value additions in service "intangibles". To list a few, these intangibles are customized service, online ordering, mail-order delivery, electronic commerce services. The value element of manufacturing and raw material content in the provision of any product will constitute only the balance 10 to 30%.
The brain and not the brawn would turn into the critical success factor for economic growth. Intellectual infrastructure which is inherently more difficult to organize and manage, will gain predominance over physical infrastructure which can be globally resourced.
The internet and the world wide web are revolutionizing the way we work, the way we do things to make things happen and the way we would find corporate most effective in the toughest of business environments. All because of knowledge and information at the call of a business enterprise.
A new electronic market place is in the making. Consumers are now in a position to do things stationery. Their mobility demands to make conspicuous consumption and satisfy themselves is very much possible in a static state. In fact their ability to sift through alternatives and make a discerning purchase decision is infinitely high given time, data and analysis available through the electronic media.
Venture capital investments will compound in the electronic knowledge industry with more dormant investors willing to play silent for an aggressive enhancement of shareholder’s wealth.
The blue-collar workforce numbers will decline and wage disparity between the knowledge worker and the manual worker will rise. This will cause unseen volatility between hitherto peaceful teams coexisting in a mutually dependent work environment.
Knowledge based competencies and core functional skills will determine employability. People will no longer be in a position to obtain and retain jobs on their inherited knowledge. Their competitive positioning will sustain only with updated state of art knowledge, contemporary enough to hold on to their jobs. Even the traditionally physical work such as factory employment will call for a knowledge worker multi-skilled in manufacturing technology and Information systems.
The rise of single state entrepreneurs will rise several folds. People with a machine and mind will begin to make things happen. Their competitive advantage will be their ability to think technologically and scientifically keeping behavioral compulsions of the work place to a bare minimum.
One quarter of the previous years training and development programs, skill courses, knowledge-updating efforts are either outdated or useless for today’s scenario.

THE NEW GLOBALIZED MARKET PLACE AND CUSTOMERS DETERMINE THE GROWING PLANETORY COMPETITION.

Computing facilities, technological capabilities facilitate global networking and management functioning simple and easy to administer.

Shift in markets to erstwhile third world economies, shift to the second world post end of the cold war make available cheaper and substitutable opportunities.

Product development and innovation competencies become possible, easier to replicate, in these new worlds given availability of human resource from the first world at affordable prices.
Greater market research capabilities and transmission of market knowledge on an on line basis make product offering in a well planned informed manner. The data transmission capabilities make decision making and backward production planning efficient and eliminate loss of wasted production and carrying of unnecessary inventory.
Global low cost supply chains facilitated by electronic networks, polygenic access to consumer data, needs and wants make linkages to the supply chain effective. Supply chains will have seemingly virtual connectivity and dynamic configurations.
Knowledge has made the inevitable happen intellectually. The gap between the third world and first world is radically thinning given equivalent access and database. Process conversion will inevitably be the concern to the third world.

GROWTH BASED ON KNOWLEDGE IMPLIES UNBOUNDED PACE OF CHANGE RADICAL ENOUGH TO CAUSE WANT OF TIME.

Traditional methods of project planing requiring infrastructure, large management intensive actions and physical and financial resources will increasingly become less relevant. There would be players willing to offer similar activities at a competitive cost scenario and at a global class and standard. The knowledge infrastructure will determine the sustenance of any service effort.
Knowledge assets will compound the returns on physical infrastructure and make large and expansive capital investments easy to manage and deliver.
Virtual working time would make presence at the workplace not necessary for productive output. Flexibility in working, meeting customer satisfaction requirements out of workplace would turn inevitable.
Physical assets for creating a work environment are reducing and would no longer be a determining basic motivational factor. Thus corporate investment can focus away from the static unproductive office space creation to a productive investment in knowledge.
Developing economies are getting a large chunk of capital investments directed at creating manufacturing centers. Migration of capital is unbounded and no longer is these developing economies dependent on internal generation of capital.
More than 50% of revenue of knowledge industries comes from products introduced in the current year. Product life cycles have undergone a new meaning in an era where the only recipe for success is innovation and this innovation implies obsolescence of the earlier product.
Learning and growth curves for most economies have shrunk to less than 10% of the past experiences. In most manufacturing sectors, Asian countries have replicated capacities in 5 years what the Americas and Europe took 5 decades to master.
Industrial life cycles are shortening to less than a decade. Entire industries are spawning and dying within a decade's life span.
Automation has seen growth rates multiplying while employment rates are fractionalized.
A $ 2000 laptop computer today is more powerful than a $ 10Mn mainframe computer of 1975.

NATIONAL, TERRITORIAL, GEOGRAPHIC ALIGNMENT AND TARIFF BARRIERS OF ANY ORGANIZATION OR A COUNTRY IS COMING TO AN END.

Geographical decentralization leading to removal of a national identity is inevitable. Sony Corporation after several decades of inventing and marketing in other continents has now created a strat-plan for Asia, its so-called parent continent.
Tariff and extraneous influences to restrain free and fair trade and competition is at its end. With or without GATT, companies are finding ways of manufacturing and operating in the lowest tariff trade blocs. Economies who seek capital and investment as also a market for their products have to perforce make such investments attractive by lowering tariffs.

Cross holding even into competitor territory is real and will happen.
Employment has become a transnational phenomenon. A chunk of employment of the American software industry resides and works in India. The employees are only connected through an electronic gateway.
Tax structure and high labor cost have necessitated relocation of most corporate activities interconnected only through communication networks.
Scale of economies is eroding "Government" power. The turnover of a General Motors or a Microsoft Corporation would be larger than the GNP of several nations.

MANAGING THE KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION

Knowledge based process planning.

Process planning efforts in the knowledge corporation brings making information based policy frameworks, communication channels, basic managerial skills, superordinate goals and orientations, team approaches to problem solving integrate and work with each other. The connecting factor is knowledge. Knowledge is a human capability and acquires appreciative and depreciative characteristics.

Creating knowledge sharing culture.

The corporate need to make people share with one another knowledge gained is a minimum requirement of the corporation. Knowledge should neither be possessed nor filtered while disseminating. The culture should make people seek knowledge from wherever it is available, irrespective of its source in the position of the hierarchy. Creating a culture to share would imply a caring, trusting environment, but pre supposed with a stick that swings when knowledge is withheld or suppressed. Knowledge acquisition is a dynamic process of culture creation. Whether an individual does acquire knowledge from a source depends on a dynamic interaction in which two factors are important:

The similarity between the person’s context and environment and experience, situation, history, inheritance etc and
The degree of congruence between how the material is structured and how the structure appears to the person in the culture.

Knowledge support infrastructure is an essential effectiveness factor.

Computing facilities, networking connections, electronic communication becomes a fundamental necessity for knowledge management. Off site and on site physical working place and business performance locations add value to the quality of contribution.

Knowledge stewardshipKnowledge stewardship.

Leading the corporation more as a member serving the needs of the team fulfilling the demands of the performers and ensuring that the knowledge sought is obtained is critical to stewardship. Making knowledge available, facilitating the team to a set path goal orientation, helping the dissemination and filtration is a pre requisite for knowledge management.

Content,corporate knowledge memory and problem solving capability.

The core issue of knowledge management is to place knowledge under management remit to get value from it – to realize intellectual capital. Several issues confront management’s on a day to day basis:

The company needs expertise available in the first world to solve this critical color fastness problem. Is it possible to get them to our country to help solve the problem?

There is attrition of a severe nature owing to competition growing at an equivalent pace, how do we capture and reuse the knowledge being lost?

We have just implemented a new project and commenced commercial production when we have received approval for commissioning another plant. How do we learn from the last project experience?

HR increasingly is expected to play a role in the identification of the need for information, the need for

creating awareness towards the usage of this information, and the availability of technologies to access this information. The Chief Knowledge Officer together with the Chief HR Officer work together to define the organizational computing environment along with the basic human need to absorb and handle vast amounts of data. Their role is to create virtual teaming skills, enterprise problem solving databases and corporate information database.

"RETREAT" FOR KNOWLEDGE GAPS

Typically knowledge management process involves placing together pieces and a body of information analyzed, absorbed and managed to make usage easy and effective. Its effective usage depends on appropriate capturing, organization and storage, distribution and sharing and application and leverage for mutual benefit. The documented process necessitates internal audits to ensure quality and easy deliverability of the stored compartment. The effective usage is possible with appropriate computer mediated knowledge management.

Knowledge source and retrieval methods that influence development of the individual. Intranet databases for on-line learning are perhaps the best source for individual development. Lotus Corporation has a knowledge management site that combines theory and case learning’s from across industries and presents them for their employees and their customers.

Knowledge about demands, work role is best assimilated, acquired through work and performance itself.
People working with information are not producing knowledge unless they are linking and internalizing that information to the creation, analysis and execution of a pursuit or role.
Production of information by itself is insufficient for knowledge management. In contrast converting that information into a value demonstrates knowledge.
Knowledge analysis and presentation to make available source points that impact decision making.
Knowledge deployment and access for organizational management.
Knowledge usage, interpretation, enhancement training.

Healthy and high performing organizations create knowledge gaps that are large and engulfing. This is a healthy sign as it indicates the consumption capabilities of the corporate to use and render useless data used up.

MANAGING INTELLECT

"A surgeon who is perfect or one who is creative?

CORPORATE NETWORKS

Corporate Attribute	Current	21^st Century
Strategy	Core Competencies	Organizational Competencies
Structure	Closed Hierarchy	Open Network
Horizon	Inward	Outward
People	Managers & System Maintenance	Entrepreneurial Professionals
Environment	Stable, Sober & Static	Volatile & Uncertain
Inspiration	Rewards	Commitment & Loyalty
Orientation	Command & Control	Team Based Organization
Learning Styles	Direct & Upward	Self-Managed
Performance Skills	Job Skills	Behavioral Competencies
Resource	Financial Capital	Human Capital
Management	Systemic & Problem Solving	Leading & Team Building

ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW MILLENIUM

The new millenium brings in organizational structures that are not basic and at conceptual variance with functional matrix structures seen as proven forms of organizational management over time. The evolution of structures from a simple entrepreneurial/functional structure to that of a divisionalized matrix structure was the first step in the evolution. In the current form strategic business units would undergo changes to make organizations more self sufficient and self managing yet without duplicating specialist structures that are not easily substitutable managed out of a core corporate apex. This form of organization is the Individual Business Units (IBU).

New Model of the Organization

Intellect as a basic unit is inevitable. The organizations should be driven, managed and determined by those who possess the intellect to forecast, foresee and lead the corporate unit.
The organization should be densely networked with singular and multiple variables linked with the environment. The environment in this context would turn all-pervasive and would include and exclude the appropriate forms depending upon the context. Context has relevance, applicability and user friendliness. Development process innovations are applicable across a wide set of organizational factors that determines performance.
Information flow will loose a sense of proportion, a rational congruence and will make it self available in all directions and paths.
Linear organization charts that include delegated lines of authority would turn outdated and decisions would be made at the point of information origin.
Corporate hierarchies would turn into "intellect hierarchies", positions of leaders and managers held by those with a know how, know what and the know why, rather than an upgraded position in the hierarchy made available through a corporate career plan. This is inevitable, as the possibility of one intellect supervising another would mean severe management complexities.
Flexible workdays, part time decisions would become common with employees determining work goals, work content and work methodologies depending upon the technological infrastructure available for effective performance. Obviously what flows from this would be greater the technology infrastructure the better is likely to be individual output and contribution.
Career paths should realistically be linear, would turn grossly flexible, lateral and would make horizontal growth that are knowledge intensive, real and visibly supervising an intellectual mind. Career paths would create comparable performance yardstick, meaningful measures and performance evaluation would insist customized evaluation process and tailor made compensation reward program.
The organizational population will turn increasingly diverse in social and cultural milieu, perspectives, viewpoints and behavior, competing and at times conflicting and this would be a part of the everyday workplace.
Increasingly organizations would turn specialist and focussed with small meaningful structures that offer end to end customer satisfaction and profitability.
The current corporate environment in a local geography would transform into a global geography and make corporate compete in a horizon beyond their doorstep.

BUSINESS BLUE PRINT

The combination of external and internal forces would as a consequence determine the business management scenario. External force would include global competition, rising customer expectation, pressure to reduce costs, deregulation and opening of market acquisitions and mergers, pressure to perform and strong IT development and influence. Concurrently internal forces would include reengineering and down sizing, production of benefits and long-term compensation, product focussed mergers and joint ventures, outsourcing of effective service capabilities, more focus on teams and doing more with less will become the internal competitive position. Information to knowledge transition necessitates definition of the information required, clarifying and denoting how will it produce value and make a difference in its application, what methods and alternatives are available to draw an action plan and what further information and data is necessary to complete the loop and bring about value addition to the basic data generated.

STRUCTURE AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

A static pyramid with top down communication will change into dynamic mesh for communicating coalitions. These coalitions will be small groups, as managing teams that would be empowered for problem solving and decision making. The structure would be widely spread out cutting across board and will transcend into hitherto built in functional boundaries.
Hierarchy based on experience and a seasoned work force will transform itself into an intellect hierarchy based on knowledge gained and applied for current performance effectiveness.
Relationships that are of a reporting nature in today’s scenario where accountability is vested in jobs will turn into responsibility vested in people and their relationships. Jobs by themselves would turn meaningless given the dynamic set of change that would affect the business scenario on day to day basis.
Change management involves several sets of players including people concerned with the change process, those concerned with improving the method and consequent process and those who would facilitate the change process from both internal and external environments.
Change programs could typically follow the Ernst & Young LLP design of :

Awareness building
Vision setting
Readiness assessment
Transition planning
Transition management
Pathfinder projects
Infrastructure building

Current day players like Chief Executive officers, managers and executives, possess role descriptions, job definitions, key result areas would turn into a corporate orchestrator, innovators, champions and sponsors. Evaluation of structure from heavy corporate management supervising independent business units with aue collar work force will turn into several subset of individual business units interconnected with each other through mutual interdependence and collaboration and will be supported by a lean specialist staff of corporate management management juxtaposed with knowledge creation would typically turn into the organization of the future. The knowledge creators in contrast of today’s organization would manage this new organization where the knowledge managers supervise knowledge creators

PROPOSED STRUCTURE

CULTURE MANAGEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE COMPULSIONS

The new organization of the future produces best business results in a culture that is strong with an effective strategic fit and adaptive to changing circumstances and compulsions.

CULTURE : VISIBLE ELEMENTS OF THE CULTURE :

A mission statement, company philosophy and history

Articulated values, core principles and ethics
Stated ways of working, business concerns and priorities, business ethics, and basic management styles.
Terms of employment’s that offer space for the knowledge worker.
Forms of organization which encourages connectivity
Networked relationships
Clarity in location of authority and the power to do things
Approaches to decision making
Encouragement of diversity and varied points of view
Commitment to learning
Articulated position of premium or knowledge and intellect
Basic sensitivity to values and feelings

CULTURE : CRITERIA THAT DETERMINES CULTURE

Consistency between core values and actors
Orientation of new employees to core values
Team based projects to problem solving decision making and doing things together
Trusting, caring and mutually depending as basic to norms of work, behaviour,
Secular and gross tolerance for diversity
Encouraging innovation and sponsoring efforts to do things differently.
Achievement motivation and individual contribution.
Unbiased information flow across the channels.
Use of selections, rewards, processes for a tight fit between employee and organization.
Formal management development program reiterating commitment to self-development.
Careful and yet planned succession planning and growth
Critical investment in human capabilities.

CULTURE : MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES

Desired Attitude/Ability	Core Values	Critical Competence/Skill
Global Vision and broad picture of the business scenario	Knowledge	Managing Competition and unpredictable forces
Uncertainty and unpredictable future, several contradictions, data lacks consistency. Forecast future needs and activities	Conceptualization	Managing Complexity and unknown forces. Past data not available to validate decision
Comfort with method, Process activities, following details, procedures	Flexibility	Managing adaptability, cultural acceptability, easy socialization
Diverse teamwork, cross-border work relationship, organization of teams, strong interdependence and need to work together for goal achievement	Sensitivity	Managing teams, facilitating group behavior, getting things done.
Change as opportunity. Willing to make change happen for self and others	Judgement	Managing uncertainty and ambiguity
Openness to surprises	Reflection	Managing learning
Developing People	Listening & communicating	Managing teaching and training
Evaluation People	Judgement and analysis	Managing planning ambiguity, ability to design goals.

CULTURE : TRANSFORMATION

From diversity driven to institutionalized system from sub cultures to cross cultural integration, from activity by rote to activity by innovation, from line staff stereotypes to business champions, from empowered to responsible and empowered and sustaining a team based family feeling.

CULTURE : PEOPLE

From managing the affairs of managers of information from dogmatic to innovative from creating policies to creating data bases, from suspicious mind set to networks of trust, from competitive to coopetitive positioning, from power influence to influencing through knowledge, from authority of position to authority of knowledge.

CULTURE – MANAGEMENT ROLES

Orchestrator:

Ecovisionist:

The Ecovisionist is responsible for managing relationships between organization and the environment. The role encompasses managing in built complexities in interacting to vital focus of tomorrow’s world. The organizations purporting to work without giving any return to the environment are unlikely to be successful.The ecovisionist has ability to renew realistic identities enhancing organizational functions and capabilities. The ecovisionist views mission, performance goals, synergizing corporate and community goals making mutual benefit inevitable. In addition the ecovisionist plays a role of the navigator of corporate compass charging the path of the vessel as a rough water sea would warrant.

Coach:

The coach is the bridging factor between the reality of today and the mission achievement. Outlining the stages to growth, the coach facilitates realization and internalization of the experiences and creates a platform for each successive growth stage. Unlike a manager or a supervisor, the coach observes the employees who actually play the corporate game & guides them into higher capabilities.

The traditional supervisory role envisages goal setting, review & Feedback for corrective action. Developmental inputs for the subordinate were provided through training centers or formal training inputs. The role demands for the orchestrator as a coach envisages him/her to be a body of knowledge that stresses on learning & competency development and is able to provide the requisite competency development inputs.

Steward

The Steward is a person who leads from the front. He is like the Captain of the ship who main objective is to steer the vessel to its destination facing all situations that might be encountered. A steward provides the direction and the vision for the followers.

In leading the people he also has the larger organizational goals in mind. He charts out activities keeping in mind the short and long-term strategies of an organization.

The steward owns and demonstrates ownership of the organization's objectives. Risk taking ability, sharing of success and accountability for failure if any are the critical stewardship traits.

One of the key roles that HR has to perform is the development of the orchestrators for the future, who bear the ecovisionist, the coach and the steward attributes.

The leader's success depends on those who are being led, Not by leading alone, and here again, in terms of structuring roles and organization & people building, lies the crucial role of HR.

Champions

Champions are basically idea generators who possess the basic characters of self-confidence, persistence, energy, are not risk averse, they have no reverence for the status quo & the "maintenance" jobs, possess in-depth knowledge and a competitive vision.

The performance measures for the champions are innovation and ideation. Environments that foster their creativity sustain them. These are perhaps motivated not by remuneration but the content and excitement of their work itself. For HR, managing such champions is a crucial role. Recognizing their achievement motivation and providing the facilitating environment, opportunities for learning & experimenting and freedom of creative expression will be HR's role in facilitating the champions. Indeed, the organization where champions abound will resemble a mammoth research center.

Sponsors:

Creativity for creativity's sake is not enough for the organization. Translating the creativity effectively into a deliverable will result in organizational growth. The sponsors provide this balancing element.

The sponsors are entrepreneurial in nature and take ownership for execution of the ideas of the champions. Empowerment for independent execution is a given.

Sponsors work as sounding board managing the idea generators, culture and develop their skills, continue to have a feel of the task and goals and possess basic capabilities to make deals and negotiate contracts. They translate raw ideas into commercially viable and economically value adding services.

The role of HR is to nurture a group of sponsors who possess the entrepreneurial capability. In addition, HR has to recognize and facilitate the speed of response, independent action and knowledge environment required by the sponsors.

The leaders of the new organization come in with pride and operate with trust, credibility, fairness and mutual responsibility as basic tenets of management and involve employees at all levels for mutual learning and contribution.

THE KNOWLEDGE HUMAN RESOURCES

HR ROLES

I) KNOWLEDGE VALUES

Commitment to learning

This value does not imply a raw acquisition of knowledge as much as it does a willingness to learn from every experience, accept candid Feedback from all quarters, and demonstrate learning through improvements in implementation of every new business endeavor.

Intellectual integrity

This is like saying, "Doing an honest day's job". Intellectual integrity implies using ones knowledge judgement rightfully to question actions taken without thought.

Respect for intellect propriety rights

An organization which harbors knowledge values will strongly respect copyright and patents.

Innovation orientation in all actions

No activity, task or project is done because 'We do it this way?' The Knowledge value organization questions all actions to ask 'Is there a better way of doing things'.

Dignity to those who know and who make the intellectual difference

Share knowledge and cherish the act

Create the need and urgency for knowledge as a value for competitive advantage.

Offer a premium for people with exceptional intellectual value and contribution to the corporation

KNOWLEDGE CLIMATE

From process focus to content focus: From a mere 'This is our policy' approach to a thoughtful 'This action impacts the organization and individual thus…'

Provide resources to advance knowledge. For example, organizations may have to create policies stating that employees are permitted to browse on the Internet for two hours daily for their personal development.

Create opportunities in budgets for knowledge augmentation. Annual budgets will have to provide for corporate & functional knowledge upgradation to counter obsolescence

Make organisation a model laboratory by encouraging learning and experimentation

Foster excellence conspicuously through reward schemes focussed on learning, improvement and knowledge as against numerical achievement. Stress on the way results are achieved and not just how much has been achieved.

Link organizational research to knowledge quotient

KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS

Manage data base towards:

customer information
vendor information
innovation data base
learning data base
success, experience database
design, development database
technology database
process database
employee database
environment database
financial performance
competitor benchmarks
base performance standards and key tasks
corporate database

Mandate document of experience to make available on an on line system. Ensure no problem solved is left without documentation.

Define propriety and protocol for knowledge usage and reorder in a form that makes the intended recipient use effectively

Make organizational information system as tangible measure of organizational learning

Design training systems on specifics related to knowledge usage, change management, fear of information overload, decision making dynamics in the changed environment, IT friendliness, group dynamics, research methods

Turn information into actions.

Design specific documentation procedure and appropriate training.

Computers and on line access to Internet have become invaluable in enhancing training.

KNOWLEDGE CULTURE:

Premium and respect for the intellect on the cost of their ethics
Sharing in the data and information across the organisation networks
Measuring and recognizing corporate human capital assets
Develop knowledge systems systematically and eliminate individual indispensability
Make success experience sharing and documentation a way of business life. Make sharing a proud and meaningful experience.
Institute rewards to education and formal learning programs.
Make project experiences, task force participation, group work and assignments mandatory as a part of the career planning process.
Make people data friendly by linking meaning and relevance to the performance goals.

KNOWLEDGE PEOPLE

Learning goals should make yesterday’s information obsolete today.
Investment in knowledge management methods should result in a demonstrable and measurable increase in employees’ skill levels.
Create infrastructure for self development and on line/virtual training
Reward for knowledge gains and sharing
Individual growth linked to knowledge acquisition
Mindcount not headcount
Virtual organization
Global networks
Borderless structures
Knowledge dissemination hotlines for employee involvement.

KNOWLEDGE SHOPFLOOR

Lean and effective self managed workforce
More management of technology
Less management of people and operations causing negligible supervision
Innovation and team based rewards
Computerized integrated manufacturing
Learn and enlightened workforce
Elimination of the command and control management style
Law and legal management methods has no place

KNOWLEDGE CUSTOMER (INTERNAL/EXTERNAL)

Online information to customer
Customer Feedback as base for companies performance assessment and evaluation
Customer loyalty as a measure for sales and service training and managerial effectiveness
Customer satisfaction as a pre requisite for HR utility and value.
Make employee information as a part of the corporate Intranet.

HUMAN RESOURCES SYSTEM AND SUB SYSTEM

THE ARVIND MILLS LTD KNOWLEDGE MODEL FOR THE HR STRUCTURE: THE "R" STRUCTURE.

The current HR sub system model includes hiring, training, compensation, performance, career planning, potential appraisal, succession planning and HR information system while effective linkages are possible the process is not conducive for integrated effectiveness. The Human Resources function has often been termed a staff role to service business needs. As an area of functional competence, there is a defined value chain in the HR function. This value chain has to focus on both value creation and delivery to function effectively as a responsive service organization.

In the context of our company, given the business needs of today and times to come, the priorities for HR are as follows:

To hire the best in industry to meet the ambitious projects undertaken
To groom the best talent for future needs through entry-level hiring and training
Design and execute best pay, individualized for performance programs, perquisites, fringes & benefit programs
Offer employees a life style
Offer relevant and effective training and development programs
Design and execute reward programs for individual & team based breakthrough efforts
Facilitate settling down of employees
Ensuring a harmonious, effective and productive work environment
Design & implement systems for facilitating employees for various requirements on the job

6R STRUCTURE – HUMAN RESOURCES

THE HR SYSTEM AND SUB SYSTEM MODEL

Managing facilities in a state-of-the-art manner
Ensuring ongoing employee development to meet the challenges of a growing organization
Designing robust communication & corporate relations systems
Undertaking all the above activities through researched inputs and implement OD interventions as appropriate.

To execute the above priorities, the 6 R structure is being implemented keeping the "Delivery System outlined below as a conceptual backdrop:

R 1 – Resources

The Role of Resources is identifying, selecting, placing and rewarding the human resources needed for the organization. Resources has two sub-sections

R 1a – Resources Recruitment

The role of Resources Recruitment is to identify the skill requirements for current and future needs, to identify appropriate sources for fulfilling such requirements, selection and placement of an appropriate number and mix of professionals, operatives & trainees. The sources could be internal, lateral hires or entry-level hires.

Special emphasis lies in search for key positions, entry-level hire for long-term growth and succession planning.

R 1b – Resources Remuneration & Rewards

Pay and benefits design and administration is not a new skill. However, in a competitive era, when budgets are shrinking, available monetary resources have to be stretched to deliver ambitious outputs. Another characteristic of today’s environment is that the "one size fits all" paradigm has been rendered obsolete in the marketplace. This is true even of employee reward programs, which will have to be tailored to facilitate the achievement objectives of various endeavors in all functions and businesses of the organization. Resources Remuneration & Rewards is an arm that will facilitate the above objectives. The priority areas for this group are budgeting & monitoring of actuals, appropriate salary fitment through position evaluation benchmarking, creation of contemporary benefits policies & administration of the same, and international compensation & benefits management.

R 2 – Relations People

For an effective organization, the critical inputs required are harmonious relations at the workplace, achievement of ambitious productivity norms, tight manning, manpower availability, and maintenance of a good work ethic at the shopfloor. This involves setting of right norms through inter-unit & inter-department benchmarking, understanding employee needs motives & expectations at the grassroots level, facilitating a good work environment, and defining & maintaining discipline. The role of Relations People encompasses all this. It goes beyond a traditional industrial relations activity towards adapting contemporary management science at the grass-root level. For our geographic needs of the textile businesses, Relations People resource group has two arms:

R 2a – Relations People Ahmedabad Region

This arm caters to the needs of AML Naroda, Arvind Intex, Ankur Textiles and Quest Apparels. Within this arm there are resource professionals looking after AML Denim, Rope Dyeing, Shirtings Unit I, Naroda Utilities & engineering and the group companies. The role encompasses identifying, developing, maintaining and concluding relationships with both the internal and external environment. The relationship managers become single point contact with the communication environment. Their job is to build long term partnerships with all influencing segments of the business scenario in a constructive sense.

R 2b – Relations People Santej Region

This arm caters to AML & APL Santej, and Arvind International Khatraj. As above, there are professionals for Shirtings, Bottomweights, Garmenting, Knit fabrics, Central Utilities and Santej. This is an off site management job where external environment would also include community development and township planning and maintenance. Health, education, family planning, self-employment, equality and fairness amongst sex would be an important role.

R 3 – Relations Systems

Getting the best of people to work at competitive remuneration with the best technology sounds the ideal recipe for an effective workplace. This overlooks some basic needs and has inherent fallacies. Some questions would lead us to the intended line of thinking. How does the workplace look? What facilities are available for communication, are they reliable? What about cafeteria and pantry services? How about office equipment, are they maintained and available at convenient locations? What about drinking water? Moreover, housekeeping & security?

However, these are always taken for granted, are they not? These factors, termed as hygiene factors, can make or break the work environment depending on the extent to which they are available. All these services have an attached cost, and a potential nuisance level.Managing these services for maximum service levels at low costs is as challenging as managing the commercial customer service wing of any organization. The role of Relations Systems is to design services, create systems for execution and management and control the cost of these services.

R 4 – Relations Corporate Communication

Two most important processes in any contemporary organization will be communications and networking. Designing of Systems, interventions and processes that will facilitate communication and networking is a crucial HR activity. The role envisaged of Relations Corporate is managing both the external and the internal communications & networks. The former involves media relations, relations with all external stakeholders and managing our website. The latter involves employee communications, Intranet, in-house magazines & communiqués.

R 5 – Retreat

One of the signs of a successful organization is the rate of growth of all its constituents – strategy, systems, competencies and organizational capabilities, technology, skills, service levels, responsiveness, quality, and resource productivity. It is easy to say that good people will make this happen. To ensure such growth, the organization has to invest in the growth and renewal of people. As stakeholders and the vehicles for an organization’s success, the organization owes it to its employees to invest in their growth and learning.

The retreat function has been set up with this objective. Some of the activities envisaged are training, in-house and outbound, team interventions, on-the-job learning, learning booklets and handouts, competency mapping, and performance management.

R 6 - Research & Restructuring

A good management relies on information-based decision-making. Every management structure must therefore have an arm, which will research various aspects of competitiveness in the given area of operations. Research & Restructuring is a resource group formed to provide information on people aspects for decision making on people fronts. Research could be both external and internal. The envisaged role is presenting reports on climate & environment, HR challenges & opportunities, and benchmarking HR practices. The other role of this resource group is Restructuring – designing organization structures on a zero-basis and benchmarking structures between units & departments.

A conceptual framework of the 6R structure is as given below:

INTEGRATED "R" STRUCTURE IN EVOLUTION

1^ST CENTURY INITIATIVES: STRATEGIC HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

Renewal program on the vision and values Renewal program on the vision and values of the corporation conducted across the corporation.

Redevelop, communicate and execute a change management program Redevelop, communicate and execute a change management program to understand the implica