HR Management in Singapore
As per the views of Gartner, the knowledge management is a discipline which promotes an integrated approach for identifying, evaluating, capturing, retrieving and sharing the information assets of an enterprise. The assets include the documents, databases, procedures, policies along with the expertise and experience in the workers. Keeping this in mind, it is essential in the contemporary organizations to ensure that integrated approach is applied for maintaining an innovative, agile and productive working environment (Inkinen, 2016). It can be said that in a given organization, the most essential asset and resource is the knowledge of the workers. The mind is considered to be the fundamental resource and knowledge is nothing but the ability to utilize the existing information and the skills for solving problems in the learning process and the decision –making too. In the context of Singapore, the knowledge workers and the knowledge requires proper management through the human resource management practices and systems to stay innovative and productive too in the economy (Hislop, Bosua & Helms, 2018). The present essay will encompass the HR elements along with the elements such as the recruitment & selection, reward and performance management. In the business of Singapore, the HR elements can be redesigned by the organizational learning (OL), the knowledge management (KM) and learning organization for gaining competitive advantage over the market rivals.
The HR systems and practices are defined by the roles of the HR personnel. HRM is the process of managing the employees in a given company and involve the recruitment, hiring, training and motivating the employees (Jeske & Axtell, 2016). An instance of the human resource management is the method by which a company hires talented employees and trains them for business benefits. In the context of Singapore too, HRM includes the recruitment, hiring and training process along with the performance management and reward practices (Yeo et al., 2015). For the purpose of complying with the workplace health and the employment laws, the multi-national corporations might include the close associations with the trade unions in their HRM practices for influencing the behaviors of the workers (Retna & Ng, 2016). The retention of the talented employees is also a serious concern which can be achieved by keeping the work arrangements flexible, maintaining the work –life balance and managing diversity in the workplace.
The knowledge management is the process or system that enables an organization and its people to share, access and also update the business information and knowledge. The system includes the creation, development, application and sharing of the knowledge for gaining competitive advantage over the market rivals. The theory of management says that the employment of already talented people in a particular organization helps the organization to have heightened production and service standards in the industry. It gradually enhances the market leadership by innovation, pricing strategies and others. There are various knowledge management models propounded by different researchers which are closely related to the Human Resource Management practices. The KM model of Nonaka and Takeuchi ( 2011) is one such model.
Knowledge Management
Source – (Nonaka & Toyama, 2015)
Those types of businesses experience more competitive advantage which possess knowledge and multiply knowledge via continuous innovation process. The model of Nonaka and Takeuchi shows that the conversion from the tacit to the explicit knowledge is a continuous cycle which ultimately results in a persistent process of creating knowledge. It is an essential process for the organizational success. The tacit knowledge is most of the times subjective, sharable and not easily transferable. On the other hand, the explicit knowledge is that which can be easily transferred. The process of converting or transferring the knowledge of the individual to the corporation can be separated into four parts such as “socialization”, “externalization”, “combination “and “internalization” (Bharati, Zhang & Chaudhury, 2015). The transfer of the individual knowledge from the individual to the organization increases the organizational performance up to greater extent. The socialization is the sharing of tact knowledge among the individuals. The externalization is the combination of symbols, language and images for the conversion. The explicit knowledge is converted by Combination into more complex explicit knowledge. It can be done through the use of documents and data bases. The internalization is moreover the conversion of the explicit knowledge to the tacit knowledge and the circle ends over here. Through the entire knowledge, the knowledge base is expanded and new knowledge is created.
One of the biggest way to gain the competitive advantage over the market rivals is to have the ability to learn faster than the competitors. It helps to earn faster recognition in the global business context. The organizational learning is the collaborative learning process of the entire organization. It can be aligned with the Single and Double Loop Model. It is a model where the acquired new knowledge pertains to the processes, business, objective and environment (Fidel, Schlesinger & Cervera, 2015). There is also a particular way of acquiring new knowledge. In the first step, necessary information is shared by the company personnel. Secondly, the new knowledge is shared by the external parties and lastly, the new knowledge is integrated into the operating systems of the company.
Source – (Fidel, Schlesinger & Cervera, 2015)
The Single –loop learning model is similar to the existing theory of an organization where the critical situations are corrected in a given set of rules, policies and systems without analyzing the values, the actions and results critically. However, in the contemporary rapid changing business environment, the business organizations can face challenges which cannot be handled by these norms (North & Kumta, 2018). The Double –loop learning model helps to challenge the norms and stimulate an environment of amendment. At the same time, it helps to institutionalize the new and improved operating procedures. This model is helpful in creating new knowledge and skills too for enhancing the organizational competitiveness.
Organizational Learning
In a particular organization, the workers should be agile enough for expanding their periphery of knowledge and improving their skills for achieving the desired results and nurturing new ways of setting, thinking and collective aspiration for actualizing the organization vision together (Nonaka & Toyama, 2015). It is referred to as the learning organization. In this terms, it can be said that there are five disciplines off learning which are completely interconnected and essential for the successful development of a learning organization. This model was introduced by Peter Senge.
Source – (North & Kumta, 2018)
As mentioned by Senge, the creative tension in the persona mastery symbolizes the extent to which an individual can put effort for achieving the organizational objectives. Those individuals who are agile to contribute to the development of the organization should be provided with the proper training and motivated for expanding their own vision and mission and share it along with their knowledge. The practice of personal mastery should be encouraged in an organizational culture for operational optimism (North & Kumta, 2018). The metal models are the base of individual assumptions, individual mindset and embedded thinking that affects the way an individual perceives the world and different situations. The formation of a common mental imagery can help to encourage group commitment. The commitment often helps to focus on learning. There is huge importance of the team learning. It facilitates the formation of new perspectives. The benefit of a shared leadership helps to promote respect among the individuals in a particular individual. The whole combination of the five disciplines supports the system thinking. The understanding of the linkage among the five disciplines is highly necessary.
In the context of Singapore, the management of the knowledge workers is essential for achieving greater prosperity actively. knowledge workers are the real sources of a company and those workers having necessary tacit knowledge is also equally important. Hence, it is necessary that the HR management system must be re-explored and modified for attracting, recruiting, rewarding, motivating and retaining the knowledge workers (Todorovi? et al., 2015). The HRM system integrates the present and also the future information of that company for increasing the ability to achieve the competitive advantage and innovation in the industry. Few of the HRM practices are discussed below:
The Recruitment and Selection
It is one of the most important of forming the workforce in an organization. The recruitment and selection process combines the sourcing of the talented individuals and choosing those people who possess the necessary skills. The business landscape of Singapore is highly competitive and creates the need for modifying the traditional practices of hiring. Apart from this, the workers also need to have the positive attitude towards their job (Hislop, Bosua & Helms, 2018). The candidate will have to possess good communication skills, qualities of holding a team together along with the inner willingness to share the knowledge. The various backgrounds of the workers should be taken into consideration in the organization for constant learning process (Geisler & Wickramasinghe,2015). The traditional methods of learning cannot encourage the learning process between the individuals and the teams. In order to promote an environment of mutual appreciation and the knowledge sharing, the latera personnel movement can be encouraged.
Learning Organization
Training and Development
The recruitment and hiring is not the end of the entire story. After it, there is a major role of the training and development of the employees. The execution of a given job requires a person to possess the required skills, abilities and knowledge which can be developed through the training programs (Donate & de Pablo, 2015). The training and development help to enhance the learning culture of the employees. It also strengthens the awareness of the workplace disciplines that is essential in the job process ahead. The role and importance of the professional development is crucial in this regard. Hence, the organizations in Singapore, must invest on the training and development of the employees for ensuring the future benefits (Fidel, Schlesinger & Cervera, 2015). It has been found that the learning opportunities, the courses, the internal and external learning helps the workers to achieve new knowledge and skills. The action learning is a type of learning where the practical problem solving skills are developed.
The performance management and rewards
In every organization, the employee appreciation and reward system should be implemented for keeping the employees motivated for their future endeavors. The employee recognition and rewards system on the other hand requires proper monitoring and performance measurement/management system (Bharati, Zhang & Chaudhury, 2015). The performance management system reviews the performance of the individuals in an organization. The reviews can be half-yearly or yearly basis. The goal setting, the quarterly feedbacks are also helpful in setting the organizational expectations. Few of the organizations also use the balanced scorecard method for having an inner view of the organizational performance. The rewards systems both monetary and on-monetary are helpful in sharing the knowledge and keeping the employees motivated towards their jobs. The incentives are the common type of reward and the non-monetary are the flexible work timings, medical facility, awards and project opportunities too. In this manner, the talented employees are kept committed with their organization.
The above mentioned HR practices are usually found in the organizations of Singapore. The organizational competencies can be enhanced by using the knowledge management. The above mentioned strategies would be highly useful in attracting and retaining the talented employees (Webb, 2017). The employees would be willing to share their knowledge for the development of the organization they are connected in (Barley, Treem & Kuhn, 2018). The knowledge management strategies can be used to redesign the HRM practices for promoting learning culture in an organization. This will be helpful in gaining the competitive advantage over the market rivals.
HRM Practices: Recruitment and Selection
After the above analysis, few recommendations can be given for better outcomes. These are as follows:
- The modern recruitment method can be used in the place of traditional methods. The use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube can inevitably bring better outcomes instead of the traditional recruitment process such as the newspaper advertisement job fair and recruitment agencies. The modern methods can engage and attract the workers more(King & Lawley, 2016). The efficiency of the companies are increases by such supporting tools. They can connect globally by the help of such networks (Retna & Ng, 2016). The knowledge workers on the other hand can share their knowledge by using instant messaging and video conferencing too.
- In the competitive world, the organizations nee to consistently go through the innovation process. The continuous involvement of the employees can bring in new n innovative ideas along with the critical thinking (Wilkins, Butt & Annabi, 2018). The no-blame culture in the organization can encourage the employees to get engaged with the organization successfully. The idea of a particular employees should not be overlooked. It might result in a huge economic loss.
- Moreover, the organizations should encourage the system thinking for supporting the employees understand the work process in a better way and appreciate it too(Webb, 2017). Hence, the integration of both the system thinking and the innovation along with proper training program and management of knowledge will result in heightened opportunities, critical problem solving skills and gain the competitive advantage.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that the knowledge management is the process or system that enables an organization and its people to share, access and also update the business information and knowledge. The system includes the creation, development, application and sharing of the knowledge for gaining competitive advantage over the market rivals. The present essay has well- encompassed the HR elements along with the elements such as the recruitment & selection, reward and performance management. It is apparent that in the business of Singapore, the HR elements can be redesigned by the organizational learning (OL), the knowledge management (KM) and learning organization for gaining competitive advantage over the market rivals. The organizations of Singapore can easily do better having followed the recommendations.
References
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