Human Systems Management 28 (2009) 7782 DOI 10.

3233/HSM-2009-0694 IOS Press

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Strategic human resource management and tacit knowledge transfer: A case study
Abdelwahab At Razouk , Mohamed Bayad and Delphine Wannenmacher
Human Resource Management, Nancy University, Centre Europen de recherche en Economie, Financire et Gestion des Entreprises (CEREFIGE), France
Abstract. What is the link between Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) and Knowledge transfer? That is the question we should answer in our study that is meant to be innovative thanks to the connection with Strategic Human Resources Management, considered as major factor of competencies management. To our knowledge, few studies considered this question, except some lone attempts which did not nd an objective answer. The eld of SHRM has gone threw a marked evolution for more than two decades, from an accounting approach to a competencies based one. The latest approach, as outcome of this evolution, advances the internal organizational capacities rather than the external constraints. We develop our analysis in this perspective (competencies based approach). Our study reports an exploratory case study which aims at understanding the HRM contribution to tacit knowledge transfer in a French crystal manufacture we named Alpha enterprise. Keywords: Strategic HRM, tacit knowledge, knowledge transfer

Abdelwahab At Razouk is PhD in Strategy and Human Resource Management, Nancy University (France), Centre Europen de recherche en Economie, Financire et Gestion des Entreprises (CEREFIGE).

Delphine Wannenmacher is a Professor, PhD in Human Resource Management, Nancy University (France), Centre Europen de recherche en Economie, Financire et Gestion des Entreprises (CEREFIGE).

Mohamed Bayad is a Professor and a Director of the IAE of Nancy, PhD in Strategy and Human Resource Management, Nancy University (France), Centre Europen de recherche en Economie, Financire et Gestion des Entreprises (CEREFIGE).

1. Introduction The viability and the development of the companies constitute since always the major concern of the leaders. For that, several strategies and resources have been adopted threw the last two decades. Among these resources, the knowledge held by the organizations forms a major asset. Traditionally, certain companies use resources known as tangible (technology, nance. . .) to achieve their goals. But these easily imitable resources cannot resist to the new economic and technological challenges [5,34]. However, other companies make the choice of intangible resources such as knowledge to obtain a compet-

* Corresponding author: Abdelwahab At Razouk, Human Resource Management, Nancy University, Centre Europen de recherche en Economie, Financire et Gestion des Entreprises (CEREFIGE), France. E-mail: aaitrazo@univ-nancy2.fr.

0167-2533/09/$17.00 2009 IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved

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itive advantage. This assertion is supported by many theories of strategic management, particularly Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) [9,14, 15], which considers rm knowledge as an asset to improve organizational performance [29]. The work presented here is devoted to study knowledge in the SHRM perspective. If the contribution of knowledge to improve organizational performance is largely recognized by SHRM theorists, it remains to be shown how this knowledge, which implies complex organizational processes such as the transfer of tacit knowledge, can be managed. This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we develop tacit knowledge transfer. Section 3 highlights the concept of knowledge in SHRM literature and its connection with SHRM practices. Finally, the results will be exposed in Section 4 and discussed in Section 5 with tracks for future research.

time or between the company units [31]. According to Nonaka and Kono [33], tacit knowledge is extremely personal and difcult to formalize, what makes it difcult to be communicated or shared with others. In fact, contrary to formalized knowledge, tacit knowledge cannot be expressed or result in a formalized code; this implies a difculty of transmission or diffusion. Thus, the difculty of transmission would represent the essential characteristic of tacit knowledge further to the absence of formalization by the means of the language. Knowledge is not separable any more of its holder and its context of use. To face these difculties of transmission of tacit knowledge, the organization will have to install particular mechanisms of organizational learning [2]. 2.2. Knowledge transfer with learning Leroy and Ramanantsoa [26] distinguish two main categories of learning:

2. Tacit knowledge transfer: Review of the literature 2.1. Tacit knowledge Explicit knowledge is obviously different from information which is crude, inert and external. While explicit knowledge is codied, structured and accessible, tacit knowledge is a semi-conscious and unconscious knowledge contained in peoples mind and body [36]. According to Polanyi [36], it is very difcult to introduce tacit knowledge in a discourse: it is incommunicable by the language. Explicit knowledge would be the part of tacit knowledge that we can exteriorize, clearly formulate, formalize especially when we have to. But it would be a very tiny part of tacit knowledge. Indeed, this one does not easily emerge because it always has a personal component. It is why Polanyi talks about Personal Knowledge and why he says that we know more than we can tell. More specically, tacit knowledge often acquired by the experience is dened by Kogut and Zander [22] as know-how, a particular expertise which allows achieving something easily and effectively. The tacit character of organizational knowledge can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage because it is very difcult for the competitors companies to develop similar knowledge. Nevertheless, it can also constitute a barrier to obtain this competitive advantage, in particular if it becomes difcult to transfer it through

Cognitive learning which relates to competences centered on knowledge whose contents are articulated and characterized by a knowledge clarication and formalization; Behavioral learning which appears when knowledge is not articulated but can however be taught, in a less direct and less explicit way. This learning, directed towards the how [21,22], aims at the procedural knowledge turned towards the concrete action which is difcult to be articulated with for example the routines, with know-how and interpersonal skills [1,18,19]. Training is carried out mainly through a repeated practice (routines) or the imitation of the expert by the young worker which allows him to accumulate experience [4,32]. Therefore, this last learning is particularly interesting because it intervenes in the presence of tacit knowledge. It relays in particular on a socialization process which implies sharing tacit knowledge between individuals. The face-to-face experience is the key of the conversion and the transfer of this knowledge [33]. Consequently, the learning is done by conscious or unconscious observation, by imitation, by sharing experiments, without any recourse to language neither to codication. If these learning mechanisms of tacit knowledge are today known, they remain complex. Indeed, according to Ingham [18], access to the contents, knowledge transfer or sharing depends on the form of these

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types of tacit knowledge, and we can suppose that the processes become more difcult when tacit knowledge is complex and not articulated. The development of these behavioral learning mechanisms could be facilitated by the intervention of certain levers, such as strategic human resource management.

3. SHRM and knowledge 3.1. SHRM Wright and McMahan [43] argued that SHRM is concerned with the pattern planed of human resource deployments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals. This vision of SHRM in terms of practices is most dominant in the literature. SHRM is often designed by high-involvement management practices [3,35], high-performance management practices [17]. SHRM supposes the construction of a coherent system mobilizing HR practices which ensure the cooperation of employees through a higher implication level (in opposition to employees control), in order to increase rms economic and social performance [3,17]. SHRM practices such as autonomy, training, information sharing, participation in the decisions and compensation seek to make employees a source of competitive advantage while acting on commitment and involvement [13,17,28]. 3.2. Knowledge in SHRM theory: From accounting approach towards competence approach According to the Accounting approach, the valorization of HR competences by the measurement of their value and the evaluation of their evolution contribute to built information systems about HR characteristics (qualication, knowledge, experiments, etc.) [27]. These information systems will allow the managers to consider HR competences in the process of planning and to deploy consequently the resources to their development. However, this accounting approach was considered as inappropriate to human resource. As Capron [11,12] underlines it, the use of the accounting conceptual framework with HR is not adapted because the methods of valorization were conceived to be applied to capital-money (material and transferable resource) and not to human capital (immaterial and nontransferable resource). In contrast, the Competence approach gives a central place to human resource [23]. Competence theorists

consider that the organizational competitiveness is explained by the HR competences [6,23]. This approach is based on theories such as the Resource-Based View [5,7], Competency-Based Model [23,37] and DynamicCapabilities View [39]. Moreover, the competence approach stipulates that knowledge is the key means which allow taking up the competition challenge. Indeed, this knowledge as being of value and not easily transferable, creates a sustainable competitive advantage [23]. In other words, the companies which wish to exceed their current or potential competitors should not count any more on their traditional resources, such as nance or technology, without the risk to be imitated. Several studies showed the strategic effect of competences and knowledge to rm performance. Researches of Prahalad and Hamel [37], Reed and DeFillippi [38], and Ulrich and Lake [41], for example, respectively could show that distinctive competences, Core competences and specic competences increase competitive advantage. 3.3. SHRM and knowledge transfer According to authors such as Narasimha [31], strategic HRM practices are a lever of tacit knowledge transfer. In this sense, it seems that the communication [42], coordination [16,30] and interaction [10,16,18,24] are key factors in the development of learning mechanisms. Thus, the consideration of the tacit knowledge leads to the organic organization, by supporting the socialization and the interiorization, the communication based on the interaction, the development of implicit routines, the existence of informal working groups and an important role assigned to the culture of company. The aim of these practices is to contribute to learning by experiment, impregnation and initiation, necessary to tacit knowledge development. SHRM practices which would seem to be determinant of the organizational learning development are: autonomy of the actors in the decision-making process, heterogeneity of the working groups in knowledge production, adhesion of the actors to common values during the exchanges of competences, balance between the formal and informal communication, and implication of the manager in the process of organizational learning [8]. To illustrate that, we report an exploratory case study whose aim is to understand HRM contribution to tacit knowledge transfer in a French crystal manufacture we named Alpha enterprise.

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4. Illustration by a case study Knowledge transfer allows the integration and coordination to a set of specialized knowledge while making possible the phenomenon of replication, e.g. the internal dissemination of knowledge and competences, and the creation of new knowledge [32]. Knowledge transfer analyzed in the case study takes place in a particular context, this of crystal manufactures founded on hand work which are mainly centered on know-how. This know-how corresponds to tacit knowledge which is difcult to transmit and requires the implementation of complex learning mechanisms and effective action levers such as SHRM. Before showing the strategic and mobilizing character of SHRM practices implemented within the crystal manufacture, and explaining how these contribute to knowledge transfer, we will list these principal practices. According to the HR professional, the crystal manufactures HRM activities can be summarized in ve principal points: Recruitment, Integration, Training, Succession, Compensation.

At this occasion, the HR professional makes a short presentation of the company and the perspectives of recruitment; After identifying and selecting CVs (curriculum vitae) of the applicants who seem very motivated for the job, an EMT (Evaluation on Work Environment) is set up. The interest of this device is double: on one hand, it makes possible to the job applicant to evaluate the job in an adequate way compared with a more general presentation made during the collective information; on the other hand, it allows the employer to evaluate the job applicants potential and his manual aptitudes. Second, integration consists on accompanying the young worker to enable him to apprehend the rm. A senior proposes to the new employees a circuit of the site while they discover: The Human resources service: to discover the administrative formalities, the objectives awaited in terms of behavior and regularity to the job; The municipality in which crystal manufacture is established (town council, post, etc.); The manufacture and the general instructions of security; Their job: the senior gives the specic security instructions. Third, the HR professional acts on the training primarily by selecting and evaluating the competences. Two sectors should be distinguished: hot glass (blowing, ring) and cold glass (engraving, polishing). In hot glass, a training place is occupied by a highly-skilled worker who will continue to contribute to the good integration of the young worker by gradually preparing him to integrate a place of production and by allowing him to acquire a certain number of techniques which he does not control yet. The young worker will not have to be subjected to the production constraints during nearly two months; he will work only on one job and only in the morning. A tutorial system comes to supplement this training system and to act like an intermediate phase between the training place and the production place. In cold glass, team-cutter responsible is going to divide his working time between training and production. Training is based on workers own free will, during a four hours session in the afternoon on a twelve weeks period while the worker improves his technique. Forth, succession in Alpha enterprise is a problem because of a growing old population age pyramid and relatively frequent premature departures. Con-

We can note that the HRM activities quoted by the HR professional correspond to the SHRM literature. First, recruitment constitutes an essential element of the HR department because Alpha enterprise must face with a permanent search for workforce. The challenge of this manufacture is to nd qualied young people and to keep senior who show an important absenteeism and retirement rate. Before the phase of recruitment, a sourcing through permanent contact with three professional schools is practiced. This method allows recruiting young people who have received education as glassworker or crystalcutter. In this sense, HR professional said: I move twice in the year to meet the students and the directors of the establishments. The procedure of recruitment developed with the assistance of the ANPE (National Agency for Employment Agence Nationale pour lEmploi) is summarized according to the following steps: The crystal manufacture organizes collective information every approximately three months; The HR professional, accompanied by the director of production, meets about fty job applicants selected by the ANPE;

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sequently, the manufacture has little time to ensure know-how transmission. Thus, this rm installed a Competences Matrix which is presented in a twodimensional table form: the employees on the X axis, the work techniques on the Y axis. This matrix allows identifying competences controlled by the worker and their level (very good, good, medium and bad). The analysis of this matrix according to age of the worker provides a photograph of the situation of competences. Indeed, certain decisions could be made to recruit or to train the workers who miss necessary knowing. Finally, compensation policy in Alpha manufacture consists to retain and to develop workers loyalty. In this sense, HR professional introduce an innovation making compensation policy more objective. Consequently, the HR professional and the hierarchical responsible use annual individual interviews to align the wage increase on three criteria: work behaviors, competences matrix and assessment of skills. In the end, we can notice that the Alpha rm HR strategy (recruitment, integration, training, succession and compensation) appears coherent with its objective which is to transfer the knowledge. The rm leaders followed a HR strategy which is at the same time mobilizing and developing to the old generation, and attractive to the young workers. For example, in terms of recruitment and integration, action is based on a longterm evaluation (to select only the best workers) and on a socialization which allows retaining the young recruits and stimulating their commitment to the company. In the same way, training and remuneration also have signicant effects. In terms of training, for example, accent is put on the development of new competences and the valorization of the former qualications. Thus, HR strategy implemented by the Alpha manufacture allowed, through a sharing culture, mutual condence and human resources valorization, achieving a progressive capitalization of know-how which ensures the viability of this manufacture.

ganizational performance is conceived in this precise case as the effective transfer of tacit knowledge. It appears that this SHRM practices can also be seen like connection between workers and organization. In fact, SHRM ensures individual evolution, recognition within the rm through integration and qualication, bonus and wages, tutorial and transmission of knowhow. In the same way it ensures the organizational viability in particular through productivity, quality, motivation and development of workers loyalty. Thus, SHRM contributes to reconcile economic and social objectives. Although this study has made a signicant contribution, it exists some limitations. On one hand, both the small sample (one only case) and the sector dont allow generalizing our results. This exploratory study can be deepened with a quantitative study in a future work. On the other hand, the choice of single respondent for this study involves a risk relating to subjectivity. This risk can introduce bias concerning the reliability of the concepts measurement mobilized into this research, the objectivity of the answers and the reliability of the results. A triangulation of the answers of the HR professional with those of the employees for example would be helpful.

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