Transfer of Knowledge in an Organization

Knowledge Transfer Between Generations In a knowledge-based economy, knowledge management has taken on more importance than it has in the past. Skills and understanding of different ideas and processes have to be continually disseminated throughout organizations to for them to keep pace with organizational changes. The application of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are learned from experiencing a situation on similar situations with effectiveness is also called transfer of learning (Leberman, McDonald, & Doyle, 2006).

The transfer of knowledge must come from a range of different sources and flow through the organization in multiple channels as well as in different directions. Organizations, as a whole, need to have a high level of knowledge, not just certain or senior people. This means that organizations must find ways to ensure effective, efficient transmission of knowledge throughout the organization. This paper looks at the subject of knowledge management to draw some conclusions about knowledge transfer between generations in the modern era.

There are many different theoretical approaches and knowledge transfer frameworks that can applied that also can be categorized into four broad principles such as (Haskell, 2001): The division of transfer of learning into various categories by the taxonomical approach The focus driven approach of the development and contributions of different disciplines that is application domain driven The faculties transfer models that involve the examination of the psychological functions to transfer and The revelation, comparison and contrasting of theoretical and empirical traditions that is driven by concept evaluation.

The process of knowledge transfer is beneficial in transferring the learned skills and knowledge to new situations throughout the organization which represents a continuous process in most modern organizations. Most employees are naturally open to learning new skills that can make their work easier or advance their careers. These transfer also occur at different stages.

For example, new employees will have to undergo some level of training and learning process to get them job ready, and experienced employees will have to also undergo continuous education; espcecially due to the rapid advancement of technology (Demirer & Sahin, 2013). There have also been many models proposed to help understand how knowledge transfers in organizations more specifically. The near and far learning transfer theory deals with the process of application of the knowledge and skills acquired previously to new situations.

The near transfer of skills and knowledge occurs when a learner or an employee uses a set of pre-acquired skills and knowledge to situations in the same way every time (Kneppers, Elshout-Mohr, van Boxtel, & van Hout-Wolters, 2007). This model is especially adept when learning transfer is applicable for repetitive tasks or tasks that require the similar procedures and has a high success rate regarding knowledge transfer.

However, one disadvantage of this model is that this style of transfer does not allow skills and knowledge that are more complex in nature to be applied to changes in situations and scenarios (Cree & Macaulay, 2000). Far transfer, by contrast, requires the adoption and adaption of guidelines for the transfer in changing situations. This style of knowledge transfer includes more complex types of knowledge.

The advantage of this style of transfer of learning is that this allows the learner to adapt the skills to varying situations, yet the success rate is generally lower than that of near transfer process (Demirer & Sahin, 2013). Ruch (2000) notes that institutional knowledge is a critical component of an organization as well as a significant source of sustainable competitive advantage.

As such, Ruch (2000) argues that there needs to be knowledge transfer between generations, and that organizations need to focus on retaining younger employees and make sure this institutional knowledge is not lost. Several forces in the work environment are making this task more difficult. First, organizations are using more contract workers, and traditional workplace loyalties are all but eroded. But Ruch (2000) notes that, "Gen Xers place a higher priority on learning and developing new skills" (p. 42). Therefore, prioritizing learning and knowledge transfer can positively impact employee retention.

Forstenlechner & Lettice (2007) also looked at the issue of motivating knowledge-based workers as a retaining tool. In the global work environment, people still carry their own cultural values, which can present challenges with respect to motivation. Understanding motivation, the authors contend, is critical to the promotion of knowledge sharing. In their study, they note that the barriers to knowledge transfer are time and lack of incentives.

They argue that incentives or rewards are weak as motivating factors, and that to encourage knowledge transfer, other motivations need to be tapped into like peer recognition and respect for sharing knowledge. Furthermore, knowledge change must occur throughout many different organizational cultures; both internally and with external organizations. Organizational culture is relatively abstract and includes a myriad of different considerations however there are models that can help digest these considerations.

For example, Weisbord's Six Box Model is used in organizational diagnosis to structure the investigation and data collection into six categories; structure, relationship, rewards, leadership and a helpful model in trying to frame the influence of culture on knowledge transfer (Paine, 2008). Organizational culture will definitely influence the medium of exchange regarding any proposed knowledge transfer.

Figure 1 - Six Box Model A shared common trait in the comparative organizations that the authors researched is their quest for knowledge, but the differences in the organizations are quite pronounced, which is a factor that will have some influence on what motivates knowledge sharing, in particular, between generations. I agree with Forstenlechner & Lettice (2007) finding that organizations where there is little interdependence, such as law firms, have less incentive to share with colleagues, unless they are partners or financially compensated due to a lack of team atmosphere.

In comparison, organizations where everybody is overtly on the same team, there is more incentive because team success is more important to the individual, and more influenced by knowledge sharing. One study has identified that the absorptive capacity of knowledge transfer is correlated with the employees' abilities and willingness to learn (Minbaeva, et al., 2003). The reviewed articles do not talk about cultural difference between generations, although Forstenlechner & Lettice (2007) does delve into intercultural issues. Ruch (2002) advocates for knowledge transfer to reflect the power and value inherent in knowledge.

My organization has a tendency to squirrel away knowledge, which makes it more difficult to gain commitment from younger employees. Unfortunately, there are many older workers that simply do not understand the importance of knowledge transfer,.