1 - A Project Report On Competency Mapping And Knowledge Management InJIGNESH R LUHARIYA

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A
Project Report On
CompetencyMappingandKnowledge Management in
Krishak Bharati Co-Operative Ltd. HAZIRA
PREPARED BY:-
JIGNESH R LUHARIYA
SUBMITTED TO:-
Shree Samanvay Institute Of MBA, BOTAD
Bhavnagar University

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DECLARATION
I undersigned Mr. JIGNESH R LUHARIYA a student of MBA-II semester, Shree
Samanvay Institute Of MBA, BOTAD Bhavnagar University admit that this project report
with “KRISHAK BHARTI CO-OPERETIVE LTD” is the result of our study which carried out
during 04 May to 13 June, 2009 and has not been previously submitted to any other university or
institute for any other examination and for any other purpose by any other person.
Place: Surat
Date: 13.6.2009 JIGNESH R LUHARIYA

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am glad to express my profound sentiments of gratitude to all who rendered their
valuable help for the successful completion of this project report titled, “A Project Report On
Competency Mapping and Knowledge Management.”
I record my deep sense of gratitude to Mr. N K Sahoo (Chief Mgr.-HR) who had given
me a chance to do a project under this roof of KRIBHCO and given opportunity to work under
his guidance.
I would also like to thank sincerely from the deep of my heart to all those persons who
constantly guided me and gave me the practical knowledge and materials of the subject.
I would finally like to thank all employees of KRIBHCO for their kind cooperation,
guidance and support which lead us to right direction of our research.
My genuine sense of gratitude goes to my university that gave me a chance to brighten
my academic qualification that provided me this opportunity to have a practical knowledge of
relevant fields.

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PREFACE
The MBA training of the Shree Samanvay Institute Of MBA, BOTAD Bhavnagar
University, Bhavnagar provides the Students an opportunity to have and insight of any large
scale unit so that we get the exposure to an Actual managerial environment of company. I am
lucky to have vocational training in a company like KRIBHCO Ltd which is considered to be
one of the “largest fertilizer establishments” in India.
During this period, I had an overview of the human resource department within which I
could make a detailed study of all the section which comes under the roof of human resource
management in KRIBHCO. This training will help me to correlate theoretical knowledge and its
practical applications. It was a thrilling experience while studying working of KRIBHCO and
understanding it. This programme has led me to realize the contribution of KRIBHCO to the
Fertilizer Industry of India.
I am grateful to all the employees of KRIBHCO for their cooperation and interest in my
project without which it could not have been possible to go ahead with my project.
With due honor, I present this project which consists of a brief study of KRIBHCO Ltd.
JIGNESH R LUHARIYA
MBA (First year)
SHREE SAMANVAY INSTITUTE OF MBA
BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY
BOTAD

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Success of any organization depends largely on its competent employees and the extent
to which the knowledge is shared in that organization. Competency Mapping is a process
through which one assesses and determines one’s strengths as an individual worker ad in some
cases as a part of an organization where as Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive
processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning. Hence, competency
mapping and management of knowledge and its resources play a significant role in growth and
development of the organization. Knowledge Management ('KM') comprises a range of practices
used by organizations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge. It is divided into
stages like acquiring knowledge, sharing, storing and leveraging the knowledge both at personal
level as well as professional level.
Competency mapping examines two areas: emotional intelligence quotient(EQ),and
strengths of the individual in Areas like team structure, leadership, and decision-making.
Knowledge management refers to all systematic activities for creation and sharing of knowledge
so that knowledge can be used for the success of the organization. KM processes provide a
framework for connecting people to people and people to information, to develop and share
distilled learning and best practices.
This report is an attempt to check the competency level and study the status of the
Knowledge management in this organization. The report starts with Introduction of the
Company, its achievements and then elaborates the concept of competency mapping and
Knowledge Management; in KRIBHCO, and data analysis and interpretation on the basis of
perception of employees.

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CONTENTS
Declaration 2
Acknowledgement 3
Preface 4
Executive Summary 5
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Company Profile 7
1. Competency Mapping 21
2. An Introduction to Knowledge Management 27
3. Knowledge Management 29
4. Knowledge Management Roles and Organizational Structure 34
5. Why Knowledge Management 39
6. An Overview of Knowledge Process 40
7. Barriers for implementing Knowledge Management 41
8. Challenges for HR Professionals in Knowledge Industry 43
9. Research Methodology 47
10. Data Analysis and Interpretation 49
11. Questionnaire 78
12. Research Findings 84
13. Suggestions 86
14. Conclusion 87

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India lives in villages” said Mahatma
Gandhi decades ago. It is true even today. Like
every developing economy, the economy of India is
also agro-based. Agriculture accounts for nearly
1/4th
of India's GDP and more importantly, about
2/3rd
of the country's population is dependent on
agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood.
As per statistics nearly 175 lakh MT of fertilizer
nutrients are required every year in this country.
The demand of fertilizers was so high that India had to import almost 30% of its requirement
from other countries. Therefore, to achieve the economic growth, agriculture base of the country
must be strengthened. To attain this objective, agriculture practices have to be improved from
their traditional pattern to a higher technological track involving better irrigation and use of
better quality seeds, fertilizers, insecticides & pesticides. Therefore, chemical fertilizers are key
player in this process and fertilizer industries plays quite a major role in increasing food
production in the country and also helps to modernize the out look of the common farmers and
make them innovative and respective to the new technology change.
A fertilizer is any material, organic, inorganic, natural or synthetic, that is placed on or
incorporated into the soil to supply plants with one or more of the chemicals elements necessary
for normal growth. Fertilizer is the material, which supplies the chemicals elements required for
plant growth. Primary nutrients like nitrogen, phosphates and potassium (required for fertilizer
land) are supplied through chemical fertilizer. Fertilizer response studies have proved that one
kg. of fertilizer nutrient application can the food grain production by 8-10 kg.
Fertilizer production is of permanent importance for this country because fertilizer
increases agriculture productivity. One hand population increasing but on the other the supply of
Introduction to Fertilizer
Industry

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land is totally fixed. So we have to produce more without any increase in arable land area. This
can be done if productivity goes up. And fertilizer plays a major role in productivity escalation.
As this is a vital commodity it is in the interest of nation that farmers get fertilizers at
reasonable rate and in adequate quantity. Looking to the poor economic condition of Indian
farmers Government of India framed fertilizer policy in 1977 based on Maratha committee
report. The purpose behind introducing this policy was to supply fertilizer to resource poor at a
price they could afford, so as to increase the consumption of fertilizer, to increase food
production, and ensure fair return to fertilizer producers.
With this twin objective, Retention Price Scheme (RPS) for fertilizers came into picture.
In this scheme government has brought the fertilizer under the preview of Essential Commodities
Act (ECA) in which the retail price of fertilizer to the farmer is notified by the Government of
India from time to time. This retail price to the farmer is uniform throughout the country and is
subject to local taxes applicable under the respective States.
Further under ECA, the government also operates a system of distribution control in
which the manufacturers including the handling agents for the imported fertilizers are directed to
sell specified quantities of fertilizers in given states/union territories. While doing so, the
logistics of fertilizer distribution including storage, transportation, handling etc. are also suitably
regulated conforming to overall supply plans of the government to meet the requirement in all
the parts of the Country.
Now manufacturers also should get reasonable rate of return as all incentive for
producing fertilizers. Manufacturers should get at least that much, which call enable them to
remain in the industry.
Government of India fixes the price of fertilizers in such a way that manufacturer's cost
of production including cost of marketing is covered and the manufacturer gets a 12% post tax
return on net worth of the unit at a pre-defined capacity utilization. Norms are fixed for
consumption of raw material, utilities, services, capacity utilization, depreciation etc. The price
so fixed is called Retention Price (RP). This price is reviewed every three years.
In a nutshell fertilizers can not be sold in open markets and producing unit has almost nil
say in fixing fertilizer price. Then how to increase profits? By operating plant efficiently only.

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The work of administering the Retention Price Scheme (RPS) is entrusted to Fertilizer
Industry Co-ordination Committee (FICC) which works under the control of department of
chemicals and fertilizers.
Growth of Fertilizer Industry
One of the most significant achievement of the post Independence period of our country
has been the ability to achieve self-sufficiency in food grain production. This achievement is due
to the rapid growth and improvement of Fertilizer industry. The Fertilizer industry is growing at
the rate of 4% for the last 10 years and has been contributing a significant part of G.D.P.
The growth and importance of Fertilizer industry in India can be divided in to three
distinct phases, these are given below.
1. Pro Green Revolution Period:
This period is described in 1952-1953 era where increased growth of food grains
took place however this increased production in food grains took place due to increased
irrigation methods. In this phase the land under agriculture was made more, during this period
about 80% of the country's population was involved in Agriculture either directly or indirectly.
During this period the fertilizer's which were manufactured were Super Phosphate & Ammonium
Sulphate. Irrigation was thought to be heart of Agriculture.
2. Green Revolution Period:
During this phase Government stated the programme aimed at making our
country self sufficient in Food Products. This was the period between the years 1959-1960. This
plan laid the emphasis on production of High Yielding Varieties. To make this plan a success
there was a high need to make soil fertile by providing it with nutrients like Phosphorus,
Nitrogen and Potassium.
During this phase Fertilizer industry tried to play a vital role, became one of the
most important, and inherits part of our economy.
3. The Post Green Revolution Period:
The world's population along with Indian population has kept on growing at a alarming
rate, the fertilizer companies all over India are trying to expand their scale of operations in order
to increase the production rate. The demand for fertilizers per year is increasing. The current
demand of fertilizers in India is 18 million tones.

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Fertilizer Industry Scenario in India
In India, First of all in 1906, A Single Super Phosphate (SSP) manufacturing unit
was set up at Ranipat near Chennai (Madras) with annual capacity of 6000 tones per annum.
1. Public Sector
The Fertilizer And Chemicals Travancore Ltd. (FACT)
Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd. (HFC)
Madras Fertilizer Ltd. (MFL)
Hindustan Copper Ltd. (HCL)
Naively Lignite Corporation Ltd. (NLC)
Pyrites, Phosphates And Chemicals Ltd. (PPCL)
Pradeep Phosphates Ltd. (PPL)
Rashtriya Chemicals And Fertilizers Ltd. (RCFL)
National Fertilizer Ltd. (NFL)
2. Co-Operative Sector
There are only two fertilizer manufacturing societies in Co-operative sector.
Indian Farmers Fertilizers Co-Operative Ltd. (IFFCO)
Krishak Bharati Co-Operative Ltd. (KRIBHCO)
3. Private Sector
There are 17 companies in private sector, which are producing fertilizer.
Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizer Co. Ltd. (GNFC)
Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL)
Hari Fertilizer
ICI India Ltd.
Indo Gulf Fertilizers & Chemicals Corporation Ltd.
Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. (MCFL)
Southern Petro Chemicals Industries Corporations Ltd.
Nagarjuna Fertilizer & Chemical Ltd. (NFCL)

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Shri Ram Fertilizer & Chemicals Ltd.
Tuticorian Alkali Chemicals & Fertilizer Ltd.
Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd.
Bindali Agro Chemicals Ltd.
Chambal Fertilizer & Petrochemical Corporations Ltd. (DEPCL)
E.D.I. PASSY (I) LTD.
Gujarat State Fertilizer Company (GSFC)

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Krishak Bharti Co-operative Limited
“KRIBHCO” the world’s premier fertilizer producing co-operative has an
outstanding track record to its credit in all spheres of its actives. Since 17th
April 1980 as a
rational level Co-operative society to manufacturing and distribute. Chemical fertilizer and allied
farm imputes “KRIBHCO” imbibed the co-operative philosophy fulfilling its commitment to
strengthening and promoting the cause of agriculture development and co-operative movements
in the country.
Krishak Bharti co-operative limited popularly known as “KRIBHCO” has been
registered as national level co-operative society under the provision of the multi-state co-
operative societies act, 1984.
The”KRIBHCO” hazira unit is located around 15 kms, west of Surat and lies on
the north of river Tapti. An all weather road from Surat to hazira connects the plant site with the
city. The cannel belonging to irrigation department is running on the plant site and is feeding
water from ukai. A railway feeder line apporx.. 55 kms. Long has connected the site with
Bombay –Ahmedabad main line.
KRIBHCO Network: -
A. Head office: - fertilizer plant, Noida, Delhi
B. (i) Plant: - Surat Gujarat
(ii) Bio fertilizer plant: - Surat (Gujarat)
(iii) Seed processing plant: - Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, haryana, M.P. Punjab, Rajasthan,

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U.P. (For Punjab&Haryana)
C. Zonal offices: - Bhopal, Bangalore, Lucknow and Chandigarh.
D. State mktg. offices: - Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Banglore, Patna, Lucknow,
Chandigarh, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Dehradun, Kolkota
Besides marketing its products “KRIBHCO” carries out various other programmed
like farmers benefit programmed, sanket Haran bima yojana, marketing of BVFCL
(Brahmputra valley fertilizer corporation limited) vred seed multiplication programmer,
gramin vikas trust (rural development trust)
A cooperative thrives on the trust of, its members. Membership of “KRIBHCO” is open to
government of India, national state and district and village level cooperative society. At the
initial stage, way back in june, 1981 the total membership in ”KRIBHCO” was only 221
cooperative societies which rose significantly to 6044 cooperative societies as on march
31,2005 as against 5790 as on march 31 2004. Phenomenal progress made by the society
becomes a testimony to the ever-increasing membership over the years.
The total paid up share capital as on March 31, 2005 was rs.39, 354.15 lakh as against
rs.49, 170.72lakh in the previous year. During the current financial year, the society has
refunded share capital of rs.9700 lakh to “IFFCO” and government of India respectively .the
state –wise membership with share capital contribution as on March 31,2005 vis-à-vis march
31 2004.

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MISSION: -
A) To contribute to agriculture &rural development in the regins.
B) Services to members of cooperatives society by selecting financing
C) Managing society desirable and commercial profitable investment
opportunity preferable at multiple locations.
VISION:-
They want to be a world class organization that represents the farmer
community and maximizes returns to them through specialization in agricultural
inputs and products and other diversified businesses that maximize stakeholder
value.
OBJECTIVES: -
a) To undertake the activities for the rural upliftment and agriculture development.

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b) To promote economic interest of its members by undertaking manufacturing of chemical
fertilizer & allied product.
In furtherance of these objectives “KRIBHCO” may undertake one or more of the
following activities: -
(I) To undertake production processing, manufacture, sale distribution, marketing,
import export and to otherwise deal in agriculture production requisites.
(II) To set up storage units for storing fertilizer and other goods by itself or in
collaboration with other agency.
(III) To act as warehousing agency under the warehousing act and own godowns or hire
godowns for the storage of fertilizers and other goods.
AWARDS: -
The excellence performance of the society has brought a number of laurels from various
organizations .The awards received during year were as follows: -
(I) National productivity council has awarded productivity award the society for bio
fertilizer product for the year 1999-2000, 2001-2002 in the year 2003-2004.
(II) Certificate of merit by public relations society of India, Hyderabad chapter for house
journal of “KRIBHCO”
(III) Best technical innovative award for the year 2003 by fertilizer association of India.
(IV) Certificate of merit Gujarat safety council for relining 30 lakh accident free man-
hours.
(V) Hazira ammonia extension project (HAEP) rotating shield winner and certificate for
lowest disabling injury index in group-c industries.
(VI) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Agriculture and Technical University, Meerut – All India
Farmers Fair And agro Industrial Exhibition – First Prize To Kribhco on 10-03-2005.

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(VII) Kribhco has won first prize for Bio-Fertilizer Production, Marketing And Promotion
Award For the year 2003 And 2004 by National Productivity Council (NPC). Award
Has been given formal function held on 10th
May,.2005 by Honble Minister For
Agriculture Shri Shard Pawar Ji.
(VIII) Special Participation Award in Corporate Sector Event “ Vyapar 2005” Event
Organized By Southern Gujarat Chamber OF Commerce And Industries From
February 11 – 16, 2005, the theme of pavilion was “ Development OF Bio-
Technology In Kribhco “
HISTORY OF KRIBHCO: -
Encourage with the successful operation of fertilizer plant of Kalul, Kandla and
Phulpur in the co-operative Limited. (IFFCO) higher to the one and the only co-operative in
the fertilizer industry has promoted another co-operative namely
“KRIBHCO” Ltd to made the new giant plant of Hazira.
MILE STONES: -
(I) Project zero Date : 31/03/1981
(II) Foundation stone laid by Smt. Indira Gandhi: 5/02/1982
(III) Project completion : 31/03/1985
(IV) Plan completion : 26/11/1985
(V) Commercial production : 1/3/1986
(VI)Percent capacity utilization : Urea 99%
Ammonia95%
(VII) Plant ready of production : January/September 1985
(VIII) Gas available by ONGC : PHASE 1 & PHASE 2
18-9-85 6-11-85
(IX) Trial production Ammonia : PHASE 1 & PHASE 2
14-11-85 30-11-85
Urea (stream 11/31) 26-11-85 13-12-85
Ammonia (stream 21/41) 31-12-85 01-12-85

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(X) ISO certificate (I) KRIBHCO plant
ISO 9001-2000
(II) KRIBHCO plant
ISO 14001
(III) KRIBHCO Mktg office
ISO 9001-2000
DEPARTMENT AND MANPOWERS AT “KRIBHCO”
Director 05
Financing & Accounting 49
Vigilance 01
Training 09
HR 58
Security 72
Material 50
Medical 31
Mechanical 172
Transportation 39
Fire safety 29
Instrument 69
Electrical & civil 88
Ms System 13
Laboratory 35
Production 365
Technical 27
Total Manpower 1112

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PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHT
QUALITY POLICY
Management of KRIBHCO, Hazira plant is committed to operate and maintain its fertilizer
manufacturing complex through quality assurance, environmental protection and to the
satisfaction of customers.
KRIBHCO, Hazira plant shall achieve this quality policy through following objectives:
1. Continually upgrading technology to improve plant efficiency & reliability.
2. Maintaining & improving the safety & environmental performance.
3. Improving the skills & knowledge of personnel.
4. Continuously improving the quality Management system.
Highest Production Urea 18.06 Lakh mt
(Previous Best 17.73 Lakh mt, 2003-2004)
Highest Dispatch Of Urea 18.05 Lakh mt
(Previous Best 17.85 Lakh mt, 2003-2004)
Lowest Urea Energy Consumption 5.861 G.Cal/mt
(Previous Best 5.886 G.Cal/mt, 2003-2004)
Lowest Ammonia Energy Consumption 8.204 G.Cal/mt
(Previous Best 8.222 G.Cal/mt, 2003-2004)
Highest Production of Seeds 1.54 Lakh Qtls
(Previous Best 1.21 lakh Qtls, 2003-2004)
Highest Sales Of Seeds 1.49 Lakh Qtls
(Previous Best 1.11 Lakh Qtls, 2003-2004)
Highest Sales Of Bio-Fertilizers 611 mt
(Previous Best 516 mt, 2003-2004)
Highest KBSK’s Turnover Rs.3608 Lakh
(Previous Best Rs.3052 Lakh , 2003-2004)
Highest KBSK’s Profitability Rs.72.91Lakh
(Previous Best Rs.29.91Lakh , 2003-2004)
Profit Before Tax Rs.183.83 Crores
Profit After Tax Rs.140.59 Crores
Proposed Dividend 20 %

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FUTURE PLANS
A joint venture fertilizer project in Oman:
Society has invested US$ 80 million as equity in Oman India Fertilizer plant
which has achieved commercial production on 14th
July 2005. The Project has annual capacity of
16.52 lakhs MT Urea and 2.50 lakhs MT surplus ammonia and has been built at a cost of US$
969 million. Marketing of Urea produced by this plant has since been commenced by the society.
Hazira Phase-II
Society is in the process of setting up a state of the art mega size ammonia plant of
capacity of 1850 MTDP and urea plant of capacity of 3250 MTDP at existing fertilizer complex
at Hazira. Existing infrastructure facilities will be utilized resulting in saving of cost. Plant will
be based on natural gas and we have energy consumption.
Gujarat state energy generation limited (GSEG)
Society has diversified to power sector and has invested Rs. 48.75 crores being 30%
equity in Gujarat State Energy Generation Limited, a joint venture company promoted by
government of Gujarat, GSEG is operating 156 MW Power Plant at Mora, District Surat.
KRIBHCO’s Hazira plant is also going to be expanded. The society is also exploring the
possibilities to set up a 200 MW liquid fuel based power project at Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. Society
has deposited a development security of Rs.25 lakhs with Rajasthan State Electricity Board
(RSEB). Minister of power has given No Objection Certificate (NOC).

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 ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF KRIBHCO
GM
(P)
GM
(Material)
GM
(F&A)
GM
(P&A)
GM
(Tech)
CM
(MIS)
GM
(Mai.)
JGM
(P)
JGM
(Material)
JGM
(F&A)
JGM
(P&A)
JGM
(Tech)
JGM
(Maintain)
CM
(P)
CM
(Material)
CM
(F&A)
CM
(P&A)
CM
(Tech)
CM
(Maintain)
Government of India
Ministry of Agriculture
Department of fertilizer
& Chemical
Chairman
Board of Directors
Managing Director
Operational Director
Ammonia
Urea
Power
PHP
Transportation
Purchase
Store
Process
Project
Laboratory
F&S
Civil
Instrument
Mechanic
Electrical

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COMPETENCY MAPPING
In today’s competitive market, companies are aware that their workforce must be properly
trained and fully competent over a range of tasks within any given work discipline.
Competency mapping is a process through which one assesses and determines one’s strengths as
an individual worker and in some cases, as part of an organization. It generally examines two
areas: emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ), and strengths of the individual in areas
like team structure, leadership, and decision-making. Large organizations frequently employ
some form of competency mapping to understand how to most effectively employ the
competencies of strengths of workers. They may also use competency mapping to analyze the
combination of strengths in different workers to produce the most effective teams and the highest
quality work.
Competency mapping can also be done for contract or freelance workers, or for those seeking
employment to emphasize the specific skills which would make them valuable to a potential
employer.
Competency mapping also requires some thought, time, and analysis, and some people simply
may not want to do the work involved to sufficiently map competencies. Competency mapping
alone may not produce accurate results unless one is able to detach from the results in analyzing
past successes and failures. Many studies find that people often overestimate their abilities,
making self-competency mapping results dubious.
The value of competency mapping and identifying emotional strengths is that many employers
now purposefully screen employees to hire people with specific competencies. They may need to
hire someone who can be an effective time leader or who has demonstrated great active listening
skills. Alternately, they may need someone who enjoys taking initiative or someone who is very
good at taking direction. When individuals must seek new jobs, knowing one’s competencies can
give one a competitive edge in the job market.
Usually, a person will find themselves with strengths in about five to six areas. Sometimes an
area where strengths are not present is worth developing. In other cases, competency mapping
can indicate finding work that is suited to one’s strengths, or finding a department at one’s
current work where one's strengths or needs as a worker can be exercised.
A problem with competency mapping, especially when conducted by an organization is that
there may be no room for an individual to work in a field that would best make use of his or her
competencies. If the company does not respond to competency mapping by reorganizing its
employees, then it can be of little short-term benefit and may actually result in greater
unhappiness on the part of individual employees. A person identified as needing to learn new
things in order to remain happy might find himself or herself in a position where no new training
is ever required. If the employer cannot provide a position for an employee that fits him or her
better, competency mapping may be of little use.

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However, competency mapping can ultimately serve the individual who decides to seek
employment in an environment where he or she perhaps can learn new things and be more
intellectually challenged. Being able to list competencies on resumes and address this area with
potential employers may help secure more satisfying work. This may not resolve issues for the
company that initially employed competency mapping, without making suggested changes. It
may find competency mapping has produced dissatisfied workers or led to a high worker
turnover rate.
Competency also means the collection of success factors necessary for achieving important
results in a specific job or work role in a particular organization. Success factors are
combinations of knowledge, skills, and attributes that are described in terms of specific
behaviors, and are demonstrated by superior performers in those jobs or work roles. Attributes
include: personal characteristics, traits, motives, values or ways of thinking that impact an
individual’s behavior.
Competencies in organizations tend to fall into two broad categories:
- Personal Functioning Competencies. These competencies include broad success factors not
tied to a specific work function or industry (often focusing on leadership or emotional
intelligence behaviors).
- Functional/Technical Competencies. These competencies include specific success factors
within a given work function or industry.
Three other definitions are needed:
• Competency Map. A competency map is a list of an individual’s competencies that represent
the factors most critical to success in given jobs, departments, organizations, or industries that
are part of the individual’s current career plan.
• Competency Mapping. Competency mapping is a process an individual uses to identify and
describe competencies that are the most critical to success in a work situation or work role.
• Top Competencies. Top competencies are the vital few competencies (four to seven, on
average) that are the most important to an individual in their ongoing career management
process. “Importance to the individual” is an intuitive decision based on a combination of three
factors: past demonstrated excellence in using the competency, inner passion for using the
competency, and the current or likely future demand for the competency in the individual’s
current position or targeted career field.
Although the definition above for “competency mapping” refers to individual employees,
organizations also “map” competencies, but from a different perspective.
Organizations describe, or map, competencies using one or more of the following four strategies:
1. Organization-Wide (often called “core competencies” or those required for organization
success)

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2. Job Family or Business Unit Competency Sets
3. Position-Specific Competency Sets
4. Competency Sets Defined Relative to the Level of Employee Contribution (i.e. Individual
Contributor, Manager, or Organizational Leader)
How can it help the overall HRD process of an organization?
Competency is a vehicle for organizational HRD applications such as:
• Defining the factors for success in jobs (i.e., work) and work roles within the organization.
• Assessing the current performance and future development needs of persons holding jobs and
roles.
• Mapping succession possibilities for employees within the organization.
• Assigning compensation grades and levels to particular jobs and roles.
• Selecting applicants for open positions, using competency-based interviewing techniques ETC.
Why Should Individual Employees Map Their Competencies?
A list of compelling reasons includes, at a minimum, the following. An individual:
• Gains a clearer sense of true marketability in today’s job market; once the individual knows
how his/her competencies compare to those that are asked for by the job market in key positions
of interest.
• Projects an appearance as a “cutting-edge” and well-prepared candidate, who has taken the time
to learn about competencies, investigate those in demand, and map his/her own competencies
prior to interviewing.
• Demonstrates self-confidence that comes from knowing one’s competitive advantages more
convincingly, and from being able to articulate those advantages in specific language.
• Secures essential input to resume development - a set of important terms to use in describing
expertise derived from prior career experience.
• Gains advanced preparation for interviews, many of which may be delivered using a
competency- based approach called “structured behavioral interviewing” or “behavioral event
interviewing.”
• Develops the capability to compare one’s actual competencies to an organization or position’s
required/preferred competencies, in order to create an Individual Development Plan.

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How Do Competencies Relate to MANPOWER PLANNING?
COMPETENCE MAPPING PROVIDES THE MANPOWER PROFILE
-1. Organization-Wide (often called “core competencies” or those required for organization
success)
2. Job Family or Business Unit Competency PROFILE
3. Position-Specific Competency PROFILE
4.INDIVIDUAL profile.
THE ANALYSIS OF THESE INDICATES TO THE MANPOWER PLANNERS
-required manpower / competency profiles
-current availability of manpower / competency profiles
-estimated gap in manpower / competency .
THIS INFORMATION [COMPETENCY] IS USED BY MANPOWER PLANNERS IN
-Recruitment/Section Process
-Training
-Development
Since competency mapping provides database information for manpower planning they are
closely linked
-without competency mapping it is not possible to complete a successful effective manpower
planning.
How Does Competency-Based Interviewing and Selection Work?
Competency-based interviewing and selection presupposes that a set of organization-wide, job
family/department, or position-specific competencies have been identified by the organization.
Interviewers are then trained in the art of Structured Behavioral Interviewing, which has several
hallmarks:
A structured set of questions is used to interview all candidates. Each question is designed to
elicit behavioral examples from the candidate which demonstrate the use of one or more key
behaviors underlying each competency that is accounted for in the interview.
A team of interviewers is usually used and they typically divide the list of competencies among
themselves so that each interviewer can focus on asking the related detailed behavioral questions
and documenting candidate responses.
Interviewers typically ask open-ended and situation-based questions such as, “Think of a specific
time when you faced ____________? How did you handle the situation? How did it turn out?”
Interviewers record evidence of behaviors that the candidate relates, and they ask probing
questions to gather complete behavioral evidence that includes details of the circumstance, the
actions taken by the candidate, and the results achieved. This process is called the CAR

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(circumstance, action, results) Model.
At the conclusion of the interview, all interviewers of a particular candidate meet and compare
the behaviors they heard from the candidate that support the assertion that the candidate
possesses a specific competency. If the candidate did not offer specific examples with relevant
behaviors, after additional attempts at rephrasing the question or asking different but related
questions, then the determination is made that the candidate does not possess the competency.
The underlying philosophy here is that the best predictor of future performance is past
performance that was demonstrated by concrete, observable behavior.
A final hiring decision is made based on the total strength of competencies demonstrated by each
candidate, compared with those competencies that are considered essential for success in the
position and in the organization, and as compared with the competency strengths of the
remaining candidates for the same position.
COMPETENCY MAPPING IS HR TOOL USED IN
-Recruitment /Selection
-Training/Development
-Performance Management
-Career Planning/Development
-Succession Planning
-Manpower Planning
-Human Resource Development
-Human Resource Planning
-Human Resource Strategic Planning.
etc
How Do Competencies Relate to Individual Career Development?
First and foremost, competencies must be demonstrated by individuals. Perhaps the most
common place where they are demonstrated is within the scope of a particular job or project
involvement. However, competencies are also developed and demonstrated by individuals in the
following settings: volunteer roles in the community, professional associations, school projects,
sports participation settings, and even within one’s own home life.
One of the first encounters with competencies for most individuals is in securing employment
with a new organization. Organizations that are purposefully using cutting-edge methods to
choose talent for positions or project roles are engaging in what is called “competency-based
interviewing and selection”. These interviewing and selection methods are being used not only
for hiring external applicants, but also for staffing internal roles.
Many organizations that use competency-based interviewing and selection are also later using
the same competencies to assess performance, to encourage future development plans from
individuals, and to plan for succession in the organization. Therefore, the individual employees
in such an organization will have an ongoing need to use and map their competencies.

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Up to this point, it is implied that the main need for identifying and mapping competencies is for
individuals who may be pursuing full-time employment with an organization. However, the need
for mapping of competencies also extends to independent contractors seeking project work with
those organizations that broker their services.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired
by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a
subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness
or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation. Philosophical debates in general start
with Plato's formulation of knowledge as "justified true belief". There is however no single
agreed definition of knowledge presently, or any prospect of one, and there remain numerous
competing theories.
Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning,
communication, association and reasoning. The term knowledge is also used to mean the
confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose.
Reliable knowledge
The knowledge based on the logical considerations and scientific calculations is known as
reliable knowledge. The degree of reliability is high regarding the information here, hence
known as reliable knowledge.
Communicating knowledge
Symbolic representations can be used to indicate meaning and can be thought of as a dynamic
process. Hence the transfer of the symbolic representation can be viewed as one ascription
process whereby knowledge can be transferred. Other forms of communication include imitation,
narrative exchange along with a range of other methods. There is no complete theory of
knowledge transfer or communication.
Situated knowledge
Situated knowledge is knowledge specific to a particular situation. Some methods of generating
knowledge, such as trial and error, or learning from experience, tend to create highly situational

- 28 -
knowledge. One of the main benefits of the scientific method is that the theories it generates are
much less situational than knowledge gained by other methods. Situational knowledge is often
embedded in language, culture, or traditions.
Knowledge generated through experience is called knowledge "a posteriori", meaning
afterwards. The pure existence of a term like "a posteriori" means this also has a counterpart. In
this case that is knowledge "a priori", meaning before. The knowledge prior to any experience
means that there are certain "assumptions" that one takes for granted. For example if one is being
told about a chair it is clear to him that the chair is in space, that it is 3D. This knowledge is not
knowledge that one can "forget", even someone suffering from amnesia experiences the world in
3D.
Partial knowledge
One discipline of epistemology focuses on partial knowledge. In most realistic cases, it is not
possible to have an exhaustive understanding of an information domain, so then we have to live
with the fact that our knowledge is always not complete, that is, partial. Most real problems have
to be solved by taking advantage of a partial understanding of the problem context and problem
data. That is very different from the typical simple math problems that we solve at school, where
all data are given and we have a perfect understanding of formulas necessary to solve them.

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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Knowledge management is a management theory which emerged in the 1990s. It seeks to
understand the way in which knowledge is created, used and shared within organizations. A
significant part of Knowledge Management theory and practice aligns two models:
(i) The DIKW model, which places data, information, knowledge and wisdom into an
increasingly useful pyramid.
(ii) Nonaka's reformulation of Polanyi's distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge.
Both of these models are increasingly under challenge with different schools of thought
emerging which are more fully described and referenced in the main article.
An objective of mainstream knowledge management is to ensure that the right information is
delivered to the right person just in time, in order to take the most appropriate decision. In that
sense, knowledge management is not interested in managing knowledge per se, but to relate
knowledge and its usage. This leads to Organizational Memory Systems. More recent
developments have focused on managing networks (the flow of knowledge rather than
knowledge itself) and narrative forms of knowledge exchange.
Knowledge Management ('KM') comprises a range of practices used by organizations to
identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge. It has been an established discipline since
1995 with a body of university courses and both professional and academic journals dedicated to
it. Most large companies have resources dedicated to Knowledge Management, often as a part of
'Information Technology' or 'Human Resource Management' departments, and sometimes
reporting directly to the head of the organization. As effectively managing information is a must
in any business, and knowledge and information are intertwined, Knowledge Management is a
multi-billion dollar worldwide market.
HR has a key role in the KM movement. Key HR processes- corporate education, performance
management and nurturing culture, have a key role in the development of the knowledge based
enterprise.

- 30 -
Sustainable competitive advantage a firm has come from what it “collectively knows,” how
effectively it uses what it knows and how readily it “acquires and uses new knowledge,” in short
by becoming a Knowledge Driven Organization. Knowledge Management (KM) provides an
enabling framework to derive this advantage. It helps institutionalize processes to fully leverage
the “collective knowledge” in an organization.
Knowledge management refers to all systematic activities for creation and sharing of knowledge
so that knowledge can be used for the success of the organization. KM processes provide a
framework for connecting people to people and people to information, to develop and share
distilled learning and best practices.
Approaches to Knowledge Management
There is a broad range of thought on Knowledge Management with no unanimous definition.
The approaches vary by author and school. Knowledge Management may be viewed from each
of the following perspectives:
 Techno-centric: A focus on technology, ideally those that enhance knowledge
sharing/growth.
 Organizational: How does the organization need to be designed to facilitate
knowledge processes? Which organizations work best with what processes?
 Ecological: Seeing the interaction of people, identity, knowledge and environmental
factors as a complex adaptive system.
In addition, as the discipline is maturing, there is an increasing presence of academic debates
within epistemology emerging in both the theory and practice of knowledge management.
Key concepts in Knowledge Management
Dimensions of knowledge
A key distinction made by the majority of knowledge management practitioners is Nonaka's
reformulation of Polanyi's distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge. The former is often

- 31 -
subconscious, internalized, and the individual may or may not be aware of what he or she knows
and how he or she accomplishes particular results. At the opposite end of the spectrum is
conscious or explicit knowledge -- knowledge that the individual holds explicitly and
consciously in mental focus, and may communicate to others. In the popular form of the
distinction, tacit knowledge is what is in our heads, and explicit knowledge is what we have
codified.
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) argued that a successful KM program needs, on the one hand, to
convert internalized tacit knowledge into explicit codified knowledge in order to share it, but, on
the other hand, it also must permit individuals and groups to internalize and make personally
meaningful codified knowledge they have retrieved from the KM system.
The focus upon codification and management of explicit knowledge has allowed knowledge
management practitioners to appropriate prior work in information management, leading to the
frequent accusation that knowledge management is simply a repackaged form of information
management.
Another common framework for categorizing the dimensions of knowledge include embedded
knowledge (knowledge which has been incorporated into an artifact of some type, for example
an information system may have knowledge embedded into its design) and embodied knowledge
(representing knowledge as learned capability of the body’s nervous, chemical, and sensory
systems).
Knowledge access stages
Knowledge may be accessed at three stages: before, during, or after knowledge-related activities.
For example, individuals undertaking a new project for an organization might access information
resources to identify lessons learned for similar projects, access relevant information again
during the project implementation to seek advice on issues encountered, and access relevant
information afterwards for advice on after-project actions and review activities. Knowledge
management practitioners offer systems, repositories, and corporate processes to encourage and
formalize these activities with varying degrees of success.

- 32 -
Similarly, knowledge may be accessed before the project implementation, for example as the
project team learns lessons during the initial project analysis. Similarly, lessons learned during
the project operation may be recorded, and after-action reviews may lead to further insights and
lessons being recorded for future access. Note: In this context recording knowledge relates only
to those aspects of knowledge which can be codified as text, or drawings.
Different organizations have tried various knowledge capture incentives, including making
content submission mandatory and incorporating rewards into performance measurement plans.
There is considerable controversy over whether incentives work or not in this field and no firm
consensus has emerged.
Drivers of Knowledge Management
There are a number of claims as to 'drivers', or motivations, leading to organizations undertaking
a knowledge management program.
Perhaps first among these is to gain the competitive advantage (in industry) and/or increased
effectiveness that comes with improved or faster learning and new knowledge creation.
Knowledge management programs may lead to greater innovation, better customer experiences,
consistency in good practices and knowledge access across a global organization, as well as
many other benefits, and knowledge management programs may be driven with these goals in
mind.
Considerations driving a Knowledge Management program might include:
 making available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of
products and services
 achieving shorter new product development cycles
 facilitating and managing organizational innovation and learning
 leverage the expertise of people across the organization
 benefiting from 'network effects' as the number of productive connections between
employees in the organization increases and the quality of information shared increases,
leading to greater employee and team satisfaction

- 33 -
 managing the proliferation of data and information in complex business environments
and allowing employees rapidly to access useful and relevant knowledge resources and
best practice guidelines
 managing intellectual capital and intellectual assets in the workforce (such as the
expertise and know-how possessed by key individuals) as individuals retire and new
workers are hired.

- 34 -
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ROLES AND
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Knowledge management activities may be centralized in a Knowledge Management Office, or
responsibility for knowledge management may be located in existing departmental functions,
such as the Human Resource (to manage intellectual capital) or IT departments (for content
management, social computing etc.). Different departments and functions may have a knowledge
management function and those functions may not be connected other than informally.
 Personal knowledge management
Personal knowledge management (PKM) is a label for the effort to integrate personal
information management (PIM), focused on individual skills, with knowledge management
(KM), which takes an organizational perspective, in light of expanding knowledge about human
cognitive capabilities and the permeability of organizational boundaries.
Focus on Individual Knowledge Worker
PKM is focused on personal productivity improvement for knowledge workers in this
environment. While the focus is the individual, the goal of PKM is to enable individuals to
operate better in both in formal organizations and in looser work groupings. This is as opposed to
the traditional view of KM, which appears to be more centered on enabling the corporation to be
more effective by "recording" and making available what its people know.
A core focus of PKM is 'personal inquiry', a quest to find, connect, learn, and explore.
PKM is a response to the idea that knowledge workers increasingly need to be responsible for
their own growth and learning. They need processes and tools by which they can evaluate what
they know in a given situation, and then seek out ways to fill the gaps when needed. This
frequently implies technology, but one can be good at PKM without much in the way of special
tools.

- 35 -
 Connections to Organizations and Groups
PKM has recently been linked to social book marking, blogging or knowledge logs (K-logs). The
idea is individuals use their blogs to capture ideas, opinions or thoughts and this 'voicing' will
encourage cognitive diversity, promote free exchanges away from a centralized policed
knowledge repository that is additional to ordinary work.
Some organizations are now introducing PKM 'systems' with some or all of four components:
 Just-in-time Canvassing - templates and e-mail canvassing lists that enable people
looking for experts or expertise to identify and connect with the appropriate people
quickly and effectively
 Knowledge Harvesting - software tools that automatically collect appropriate knowledge
residing on subject matter experts' hard drives rather than waiting for it to be contributed
to central repositories
 Personal Content Management - taxonomy processes and desktop search tools that enable
employees to organize, subscribe to, publish and find information that resides on their
own desktops
 Personal Productivity Improvement - knowledge fairs and one-on-one training sessions to
help each employee make more effective personal use of the knowledge, learning and
technology resources available to them, in the context of their own work
 PKM Skills
Skills associated with personal knowledge management.
 Reflection. Continuous improvement on how the individual operates.
 Manage learning. Manage how and when the individual learns.
 Information literacy. Understanding what information is important and how to find
unknown information.
 Organizational skills. Personal librarianship? Personal categorization and taxonomies.
 Networking with others. Knowing what your network of people knows. Knowing who
might have additional knowledge and resources to help you

- 36 -
 Researching, paying attention, interviewing and observational 'cultural anthropology'
skills
 Communication skills. Perception, intuition, expression, visualization, and interpretation.
 Creative skills. Imagination, pattern recognition, appreciation, innovation, inference.
Understanding of complex adaptive systems.
 Collaboration skills. Coordination, synchronization, experimentation, cooperation, and
design.
 KM concepts
The Knowledge management discourse has adopted, invented and refined concepts from a wide
range of disciplines and practices. There follows a list of concepts and language in use in the
field. At the moment there is no clear consensus on what is or is not a core concept. The ordering
of the list has no significance. Some knowledge of these terms and their background could be
summarized as what one should know to be considered a proficient KM adviser and knowledge
worker
 Corporate memory - a collection of best practices, heuristics, process documents and
other texts that help define how a business operates. (Related terms: organizational
memory or group memory). Capturing, maintaining, and growing a knowledge base,
selecting appropriate technologies, and motivating quality contributions are all key KM
themes.
 Intellectual capital - the intangible assets of a firm. These include competencies, culture
and connections that enable and foster innovation, agility, awareness, adaptation and
corporate survival. KM plays a role in mapping, recording, evaluating, stewarding,
marketing and growing intellectual capital and knowledge assets.
 Personal knowledge management - a KM theme that focuses on individual responsibility
for learning, connecting, organizing and producing knowledge. This is closely tied to
blogging, personal information management and branding.
 tacit knowledge

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 knowledge harvesting
 business intelligence
 knowledge transfer
 social capital
 social networking,
 Knowledge Ecosystems
 Knowledge representation
 DIKW (data / information / knowledge / wisdom)
 codification vs. personalization - the trade-off between capture and storage of explicit
information and making connections to people who know as well as to acquire external
knowledge yourself.
 Exploration vs. exploitation - Exploration focuses on discovery, opening up to new
concepts and ideas. Exploitation as it says is making those ideas work in practice. The
general argument is that you cannot focus on both at the same time, but that both are
necessary in a system
 Practice vs. process - the balance between informal learning and strictly defined
repeatable activities. .
 After action reviews (AARs) - learning by gathering participants after completion of a
significant project, exploring, reflecting, recording advances and mistakes.
 Peer reviews - inviting colleagues who have experience with similar projects to share
their tips, tricks and lessons learned before starting out.

- 38 -
 Knowledge mapping & audits - discovering opportunities, knowledge gaps and charting
flows. A survey to understand where current knowledge is created and who needs it.
 Lessons learned (learning histories) - a systematic review of failures and successes
conducted by a neutral party.
 Narrative - growing in use in KM based on an adoption of "we always know more than
we say" to add "and we always say more than we can write down”. The use of narrative is
growing in knowledge management as an alternative to content management and CoP
and is linked in part to social computing.

- 39 -
WHY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?
In this competitive knowledge economy, our most valuable asset is the knowledge asset. It is
often said that, in this economy it is not what “we own,” but what “we know”. That would give
us the competitive advantage. We must therefore, quickly learn the strategies and management
techniques of knowledge Age. In short, we must adopt practice of knowledge management to
strengthen our competitive advantage.
KM provides an enabling framework to leverage “collective knowledge.” When KM becomes
“the way we work, it helps us deliver on strategic priorities and business goals – growth,
innovation, speed of response, quality of response, faster time to market, strengthen
organizational learning, protect functional and operational excellence in a dis-aggregated
organizational structure.

- 40 -
AN OVERVIEW OF KNOWLEDGE PROCESSES
The key knowledge management processes are:
 Linking people to people in teams through formal/informal structures, for them to effectively
share knowledge.
A community of Practice (CoP) is one such useful structure. In large organizations with
geographical spread, multiple business units, businesses, organizational silos are likely to
constrain effective knowledge of the enterprise. Communities of practice (knowledge
communities or teams) formed around core competencies of the company help overcome this
constraint.
A CoP is a team of people who are practitioners of a well-defined knowledge domain
(Packaging, engineering, sales etc.) who come together to capture, create and share relevant
knowledge, in pursuit of business excellence. Such a team is empowered to develop and deliver
relevant training programs to build the capability in the knowledge domain.
 Linking people to information/knowledge repositories/best practices.
Intranets with efficient search engines provide an effective way to connect people to knowledge
repositories.

- 41 -
BARRIERS FOR IMPLEMENTING KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
Conceptual/mindset related issues:
We need to create a culture of sharing. Often knowledge is seen as power and in a competitive
environment there could be a tendency to hoard knowledge. Key to success of KM is creation of
knowledge sharing culture and elimination of organizational and cultural barriers for
communication. We should move from “hoarding of knowledge to gain power” to “sharing of
knowledge to gain power.”
Operational issues:
Time – The typical executive is already hard pressed for time. He has no time for an additional
initiative, if it is seen as a diversion from focus on immediate results. So, it is important to
integrate KM into existing business processes in the company and embed into workflow. KM
should not be seen as a separate initiative, but should be integrated into current workflow as a
more effective way to achieve business results.
The experience of practitioners of KM demonstrates that it succeeds only when we are able to
signal to employees, strong senior management endorsement for KM. Like all organizational
transformation processes, KM needs to be led by senior management.
Knowledge Management programs are typically tied to organizational objectives and are
intended to achieve specific outcomes, these can include, improved performance, competitive
advantage innovation, lessons learnt transfer (for example between projects) and the general
development of collaborative practices.
One aspect of Knowledge Management, knowledge transfer, has always existed in one form or
another. Examples include on-the-job peer discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion

- 42 -
forums, corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. However, with
computers becoming more widespread in the second half of the 20th century, specific
adaptations of technology such as knowledge bases, expert systems, and knowledge repositories
have been introduced to further simplify the process.
Knowledge Management programs attempt to manage the process of creation (or identification),
accumulation and application of knowledge across an organization. As such Knowledge
Management is frequently linked to the idea of the learning organization although neither
practice encompasses the other. Knowledge Management may be distinguished from
Organizational Learning by a greater focus on specific knowledge assets and the development
and cultivation of the channels through which knowledge flows.
Frequent Knowledge Management practices include:
 enabling organizational practices, such as Communities of Practice and corporate
Yellow Page directories for accessing key personnel and expertise
 enabling technologies such as knowledge bases and expert systems, help desks, corporate
intranets and extranets, Content Management, wikis and Document Management

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CHALLENGES FOR HR PROFESSIONALS IN THE
KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRY
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”
The new millennium is here & this is definitely not a bad time for professionals to gear
themselves up and think about the future, their future! It is time to plan, envision, prioritize and
set goals for the new millennium.
The challenge is not just in terms of updating technologies but also in terms of keeping young
workforce motivated and challenged at all the time. This breed of young and energetic
individuals is challenging a lot of the time-tested theories of employee recruitment, staffing,
motivation and general HR practices. There are lots of challenges while recruiting these young
bloods. They are as under:
 Attract people with multidimensional experiences and skills.
 Infuse fresh blood in the organization.
 Develop a culture that attracts people.
 Design entry pay that competes on quality and not quantum.
Hence it follows that the role of HR will be: -
 To develop fully "self–expressed" individuals.
 To enable and facilitate their effective participation in teams.
We need to increase the credibility of HR within the organization that can be done by:
a) Being accurate in all HR work
b) Being predictable and maintaining consistency
c) Meeting commitment to do what we say on time and within specified budget
d) Being personally comfortable with peers, subordinates and superiors.

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 How then do HR processes and practices impact the knowledge sharing in
a firm?
Some of the HR processes and practices that should be aligned to strengthen knowledge
management are as follows:
 Job rotations: Well-planned job (role) rotations across geographical locations and
businesses in a firm help not only people development, but also provide an important
vehicle for transfer of knowledge and best practices, even though an organization cannot
obviously depend on this as the main source of knowledge transfer.
 Networked organization : A networked organization with people playing multiple roles,
being part of multiple teams- a vertical team (Business/category) as well a horizontal
team (functional/knowledge domain), is the way forward to effectively “leverage
collective knowledge” of an enterprise. HR should play a key role in developing such a
networked organization, through sponsorship and or facilitation of knowledge
communities, cutting across formal organizational silos.
 Training: Learning and knowledge are inter-linked. Knowledge strategies should
encompass learning initiatives and knowledge initiatives need to converge with
training program needs to focus on functional and business specific skill development
programs as well as competency development focused programs.
 Knowledge communities (Teams), as the owners and users of the knowledge, should play
an active role in developing suitable course material for the functional and business
specific courses.
 E – Learning is on line learning. It is made available through company web sites and
even through CD – ROMs. It allows the learner to enroll in to courses or programs of

- 45 -
their choice and acquire knowledge at their own pace at the place of their choice.
Corporate online universities, exclusive learning space to induct managers or develop
future leaders, ongoing programs for sales personnel and induction into new products and
services are some of the e-learning offerings, some of the companies are making
available to their employees to develop themselves. E- Learning provides the benefit of
convenience—allows the learner to do the learning at his or her pace, flexibility –Learner
does not have to sacrifice a training program because of its clash with customer or
personal visit, and ease of learning. Experience in US / Europe seems to confirm that e-
learning also saves cost. As of now Band width might pose some constraints, but with
fast changing IT infrastructure, even in India, this could offer interesting opportunities.
 Another very useful role HR could play is to capture stories of success and failures in the
company, archive them in the company training centre for reference for future. This
would not only support learning but could prevent repeat same mistakes.
 Culture Change: Leveraging collective knowledge is possible only when people value
building on each other’s ideas and sharing their insights. Much of this shaped by the
culture of the organization. In some cultures, where knowledge is seen as power,
knowledge sharing may be seen to be in conflict with individual’s personal interest.
Therefore, institutionalization of knowledge management requires HR to focus on the
managing the culture change/mindset of the people to strengthen collaborative team
working and knowledge sharing.

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 How can we create a knowledge sharing culture?
Realign incentive and reward program:
“People do not do what you tell them, but what you measure them for.” HR needs to institute a
system of rewards and recognition, training and performance development practices- activities
that reinforce the discipline of sharing, documenting knowledge and reuse of others ideas with
pride to achieve business goals.
People in business most often behave in a way that increases their career opportunities, reward
individual effort or task achievement. They reward something done in a crisis, but most incentive
programs do not reward avoiding a crisis. The best KM practitioners reward employees for
learning, sharing and collaborating.
APQC’s four-step knowledge management strategy for human resources
professionals follows.
1. Identify -- Determine what knowledge is critical for the success of the enterprise.
2. Capture -- Collect critical knowledge using techniques such as interviews and best
practices submissions.
3. Retain -- Store the captured knowledge in a format where it can be easily retrieved for use
at a later time.
4. Transfer -- Transfer through training, apprenticeships, mentoring, and other opportunities.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Objective of the study: There are three main objectives of the study as follows:
1. To study the status of KM in the organization and to check the competency of the
employees.
2. To study the perception of employees on the basis of job profile towards KM
3. To practice research methodology as a student
Research design: Exploratory as well as descriptive
Universe: Universe belongs to E, F and G grade employees belonging to KRIBHCO, out
of which 50 samples is selected.
Sampling design: Stratified random sampling design
Research method: Survey method
Research tool: Questionnaire and informal personal interview
Sources of data collection: Primary data and secondary data
Sample size: 50
Research area: KRIBHCO, SURAT(Hazira)

- 48 -
Limitations of research study: While conducting research, at most care was taken to collect
data in unprejudiced manner to make this study precise and truthful. But, due to certain
unavoidable reasons, there are certain limitations which are as mentioned below.
 This study engrosses only a part of total number of employees working at Surat
manufacturing plant.
 Research was to be conducted maintaining the decorum of the company.
 Employees were busy in their work and thus did not spare much time to respond openly
to the questions asked.
 Information and responses given by the respondents may be a biased due to several
reasons.
 Limited time span for carrying out study also restricted the research work.
 As company is too large, as per their tactics and guiding principle employees were not
ready to disclose confidential facets.

- 49 -
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
As reported earlier, the objective of the research is to get an idea regarding the competency level
of the employees and to check status of KM in the organization. Through exploratory study data
collection was done. It is based on the main parameter namely job profile. Frequency distribution
method is used for data analysis.
Job profile includes following three main categories: Chief Managers, Sr. Managers,
Managers, and Dy. Managers.
Graph showing the age of respondents:
AGE 20-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 50 &
Above
No. of
Employees
0 0 0 1 3 18 28
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 50 & >
AGE
Graph showing the years of experience of the respondents:
YEAR 0-5 6-15 16-25 26-30 30 & Above
No. of
Employees
0 1 17 20 12

- 50 -
0
5
10
15
20
6--15 16--25 26--30 30 & >
EXPERIENCE
QUESTIONS
1. Do you feel you are doing the job according to your job profile?
ANSWER YES NO CAN’T SAY
No. of Employee 45 5 0
0
10
20
30
40
50
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and chart we can say that 90% of the respondents agrees that
they are doing the job according to their job profile while the 10% disagree.

- 51 -
2. Do you finish every work assigned to you within the time limit?
ANSWER ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER
0
10
20
30
40
50
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and chart we can say that 84% of respondents always finishes
every work assigned to them within the time limit, while 16% sometime complete their work in
time.
3. Do you require the guidance from your superior?
ANSWER ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER
0
10
20
30
40
50
Always Sometimes Never
No. of Employees

- 52 -
Inferences: From the above table and chart it is clear that 90% of respondents sometimes need
guidance from their superiors while 8% never need any guidance from their superior.
4. Do you feel you need training to perform your work?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and chart its clear that 28% of respondents feel they need
training to perform their work, 64% do not need training to perform their work, while 8% were
unable to say anything about this.
5. Do you feel the type of work you were performing at the time of your joining and today is
the same?

- 53 -
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and chart we can say that 28% of respondents agrees that the
type of work they were performing at the time of their joining and today is the same while 72%
respondents disagree to the statement.
6. Does competency mapping helps you to do manpower planning?
0
10
20
30
40
50
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees

- 54 -
Inferences: From above we can say that 86% of respondents admits that competency mapping
helps them to do manpower planning and only 2% disagreed while 12% didn’t answered.
7. Do you perform competency mapping regularly in your company?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above we can say that 60% of respondents admits that competency mapping is
done regularly in KRIBHCO where as 20% disagreed and 20% didn’t answered.
8. Does Recruitment and Selection processes carried out considering competency of the
individuals?

- 55 -
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above its clear that 70% of respondents agrees that Recruitment and Selection
processes carried out considering competency of the individuals while 10% respondents
disagreed.
9. Does competency mapping helpful in individual’s career development?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above its clear that 84% believes that competency mapping is helpful in
individual’s career development while only 2% disagreed to the statement.

- 56 -
10. Knowledge is critical for your kind of organization?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above table and chart its clear that 78% respondents believes that Knowledge
is critical for their organization while 16% disagreed.
11. What are the sources of knowledge in this organization?
ANSWER A) Reports and
journals
B) Meetings and
group
discussions
C) Experience of
the incidence
sharing
D) Others
No. of
Employees
18 35 24 6

- 57 -
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
A B C D
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above table and chart its clear that 18 employees feel Reports and journals, 35
feel Meetings and group discussions, 24 Experience of the incidence sharing, and 6 feels others
are the sources of knowledge in KRIBHCO.
12. How knowledge is shared among different departments of this organization?
ANSWER A) Formal meetings B) Informal meetings/chat
No. of Employees 42 17
0
10
20
30
40
50
A B
No. of Employees
Inferences: Looking to above graph it can be said that 42 respondents feel that knowledge is
shared among different departments through formal meetings whereas 17 says that informal
meetings is the way to share knowledge.

- 58 -
13. What is the current status of knowledge management in your company?
ANSWER A) Not in
existence at all
B) Nascent stage C) Introduction
stage
D) Growth stage
No. of
Employees
6 6 8 27
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
A B C D
No. of Employees
Inferences: It can be inferred that 6 respondents believe that knowledge management is Not in
existence at all, 6 believe its in Nascent stage, 8 believe its in Introduction stage while 27 believe
its in Growth stage.
14. Does IT play a part in sharing knowledge in this organization?

- 59 -
0
10
20
30
40
50
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and chart we can say that 92% of the respondents agrees that
IT plays a part in sharing knowledge while 2% disagreed and 4% didn’t answered.
15. Is available knowledge exploited to an adequate extent in this organization?
0
5
10
15
20
25
Yes No Can't Say
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above its clear that 46% respondents agrees that knowledge is exploited, 22%
believes it is not exploited while 30% didn’t answered.

- 60 -
16. Do you undertake additional personal efforts to enhance your knowledge level and improve
your competency?
ANSWER A) Invariably B) Frequently C) Rarely D) Never
No. of
Employee
13 36 1 1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
A B C D
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above its clear that 13 employees invariably undertake additional personal
efforts to enhance their knowledge level and improve their competency, 36 take frequently, 1
take rarely and 1 never take any personal efforts to enhance their knowledge level and improve
their competency.
17. What additional personal efforts do you undertake to enhance your knowledge level and
improve your competency?
ANSWER A) None B) Further
education and
training in my
own time
C) Personal
effort
D) Private
research work
E) Magazines
No. of
Employee
0 20 30 4 18

- 61 -
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
A B C D E
No. of Employees
Inferences: The above table and graph are explanatory by itself.
18. Do you share your learning with your colleagues?
ANSWER A) Invariably B) Frequently C) Rarely D) Never
No. of
Employee
12 38 2 0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
A B C D
No. of Employees
Inferences: From above its clear that 12 employees invariably share their learning with their
colleagues, 38 do it frequently, 2 do it rarely their learning with their colleagues.

- 62 -
19. Which one is the biggest cultural barrier in knowledge management in company?
ANSWER A) ‘I am in
position’ attitude
B) Indifference
of people
towards
developmental
processes
C) Lack of
significance and
recognition to
‘knowledge
sharing’
D) Lack of open
mindedness
No. of
Employee
10 16 7 19
0
5
10
15
20
A B C D
No. of Employees
Inferences: The above table and graph are explanatory by itself.
20. How significant is the role that effective KM can play in achieving the best result with
respect to the following in company?
NOTE: The answers to this question (i.e. from a to l) is given point-wise from 1to 5 in
ascending order.
a) Improving competitive advantage
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
1 3 13 8 18

- 63 -
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
A B C D E
No. of Employees
Inferences: The above table and graph are explanatory by itself
b) Improving customer focus
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
0 4 12 8 15
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
A B C D E
No. of Employees

- 64 -
c) Innovations
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
0 5 8 18 8
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
A B C D E
No. of Employees
d) Inventory reduction
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
1 3 10 10 17

- 65 -
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
A B C D E
No. of Employees
e) Employee development
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
0 6 5 12 18
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
A B C D E
No. of Employees

- 66 -
f) Cost reduction.
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
1 6 8 8 20
0
5
10
15
20
A B C D E
No. of Employees
g) Revenue growth
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
1 3 10 11 16

- 67 -
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
A B C D E
No. of Employees
h) Better decision-making.
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
1 8 1 13 19
0
5
10
15
20
A B C D E
No. of Employees

- 68 -
i) Intellectual property rights management
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
0 5 20 5 9
0
5
10
15
20
A B C D E
No. of Employees
j) Faster response to key business issues
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
0 8 6 10 16

- 69 -
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
A B C D E
No. of Employees
k) Improving quality
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
2 5 2 8 25
0
5
10
15
20
25
A B C D E
No. of Employees

- 70 -
l) Improving delivery
ANSWER 1 2 3 4 5
No. of
Employee
0 8 6 6 21
0
5
10
15
20
25
A B C D E
No. of Employees
21. What is the biggest hurdle in effective implementation of KM in company?
a) Changing people’s behavior from knowledge hoarding to knowledge sharing.
b) Lack of understanding of KM and its benefits.
c) Determining what kind of knowledge to be managed & making it available.
d) Justifying the use of scarce resources for KM.
e) Lack of top management commitment to KM.
f) Overcoming technological limitations.
g) Attracting & retaining talented people.

- 71 -
ANSWER a) b) c) d) e) f) g)
No. of
Employees
11 34 7 5 18 2 10
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
A B C D E F G
No. of Employees
22. Knowledge is crucial for your type of organization.
ANSWER STRONGLY
AGREE(SA)
AGREE(A) DISAGREE(D) STRONGLY
DISAGREE(SD)
No. of
Employees
25 21 0 0

- 72 -
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
SA A D SD
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and graph 25 employees strongly agreed that Knowledge is
crucial for KRIBHCO and 21 agreed to the same.
23. Your organizational culture is supportive to KM.
ANSWER STRONGLY
AGREE(SA)
DISAGREE(SD)
No. of
Employees
8 34 3 0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
SA A D SD
No. of Employees

- 73 -
Inferences: From the above table and graph 8 employees strongly agreed that KRIBHCO’s
organizational culture is supportive to KM, 34 agreed to the same and 3 disagreed to the
statement.
24. Critical technical knowledge is given more preference in your organization.
ANSWER STRONGLY
AGREE(SA)
DISAGREE(SD)
No. of
Employees
12 36 6 1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
SA A D SD
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and graph 12 employees strongly agreed that Critical
technical knowledge is given more preference, 36 agreed to the statement while 6 disagreed and
1 strongly disagreed to it.

- 74 -
25. Competent and knowledgeable employees are given due recognition.
ANSWER STRONGLY
AGREE(SA)
DISAGREE(SD)
No. of
Employees
8 31 7 2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
SA A D SD
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and graph 8 employees strongly agreed that Competent and
knowledgeable employees are given due recognition, 31 employees agreed, 7 disagreed while 2
strongly disagreed to the statement.
26. Experiences or knowledge shared in different organizational forum/meetings in practice
needs to be documented in scientific and structural manner.
ANSWER STRONGLY
AGREE(SA)
DISAGREE(SD)
No. of
Employees
12 32 3 0

- 75 -
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
SA A D SD
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and graph 12 employees strongly agreed that Experiences or
knowledge shared in different organizational forum/meetings in practice needs to be documented
in scientific and structural manner, 32 agreed, while 3 disagreed top the statement.
27. There is a need of a management system for managing knowledge in this organization.
ANSWER STRONGLY
AGREE(SA)
DISAGREE(SD)
No. of
Employees
10 33 5 0

- 76 -
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
SA A D SD
No. of Employees
Inferences: From the above table and graph 10 employees strongly agreed that there is a need
of a management system for managing knowledge, 33 agreed, while 5 employees disagreed to
the statement.
28. KM plays a significant role in organizational development.
ANSWER STRONGLY
AGREE(SA)
DISAGREE(SD)
No. of
Employees
26 20 0 0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
SA A D SD
No. of Employees

- 77 -
Inferences: From the above table and graph 26 employees strongly agreed that KM plays a
significant role in organizational development and 20 respondents agreed to the above statement.

- 78 -
A QUESIONNAIRE ON STUDY OF COMPETENCY MAPPING AND
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN KRIBHCO
PERSONAL INFORMATION
 Department/Plant: __________________________
 Discipline:
 Designation: __________________________
 Age:
20-25 ( )
26-30 ( )
31-35 ( )
36-40 ( )
41-45 ( )
46-50 ( )
50 & above ( )
 Gender: ______________
Education qualification:
Stream Graduate Post Graduate Doctorate
Science
Commerce
Arts
Engineering
Management
Research
 Number of years of experience:
0-5 ( )
6-15 ( )
16-25 ( )
26-30 ( )
30 & above ( )

- 79 -
QUESTIONS
1. Do you feel you are doing the job according to your job profile?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
2. Do you finish every work assigned to you within the time limit?
 Always [ ]
 Sometimes [ ]
 Never [ ]
3. Do you require the guidance from your superior?
 Always [ ]
 Sometimes [ ]
 Never [ ]
4. Do you feel you need training to perform your work?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
5. Do you feel the type of work you were performing at the time of your joining and today is
the same?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
6. Does competency mapping helps you to do manpower planning?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
7. Do you perform competency mapping regularly in your company?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]

- 80 -
8. Does Recruitment and Selection processes carried out considering competency of the
individuals?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
9. Does competency mapping helpful in individual’s career development?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
10. Knowledge is critical for your kind of organization?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
11. What are the sources of knowledge in this organization?
 Reports and journals [ ]
 Meetings and group discussions [ ]
 Experience of the incidence sharing [ ]
 Others [ ]
12. How knowledge is shared among different departments of this organization?
 Formal meetings [ ]
 Informal meetings/chat [ ]
13. What is the current status of knowledge management in your company?
 Not in existence at all [ ]
 Nascent stage [ ]
 Introduction stage [ ]
 Growth stage [ ]
14. Does IT play a part in sharing knowledge in this organization?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]

- 81 -
15. Is available knowledge exploited to an adequate extent in this organization?
 Yes [ ]
 No [ ]
 Can’t Say [ ]
16. Do you undertake additional personal efforts to enhance your knowledge level and improve
your competency?
 Invariably [ ]
 Frequently [ ]
 Rarely [ ]
 Never [ ]
17. What additional personal efforts do you undertake to enhance your knowledge level and
improve your competency?
 None [ ]
 Further education and training in my own time [ ]
 Private relationships [ ]
 Private research work [ ]
 Magazines [ ]
18. Do you share your learning with your colleagues?
 Invariably [ ]
 Frequently [ ]
 Rarely [ ]
 Never [ ]
19. Which one is the biggest cultural barrier in knowledge management in company?
a) ‘I am in position’ attitude [ ]
b) Indifference of people towards developmental processes [ ]
c) Lack of significance and recognition to ‘knowledge sharing’ [ ]
d) Lack of open mindedness [ ]

- 82 -
20. How significant is the role that effective KM can play in achieving the best result w.r.t the
following in company?
a) Improving competitive advantage 1 2 3 4 5
b) Improving customer focus 1 2 3 4 5
c) Innovations 1 2 3 4 5
d) Inventory reduction. 1 2 3 4 5
e) Employee development. 1 2 3 4 5
f) Cost reduction. 1 2 3 4 5
g) Revenue growth 1 2 3 4 5
h) Better decision-making. 1 2 3 4 5
i) Intellectual property rights management. 1 2 3 4 5
j) Faster response to key business issues. 1 2 3 4 5
k) Improving quality 1 2 3 4 5
l) Improving delivery 1 2 3 4 5
21. What is the biggest hurdle in effective implementation of KM in company?
h) Changing people’s behavior from knowledge hoarding to knowledge sharing. [ ]
i) Lack of understanding of KM and its benefits. [ ]
j) Determining what kind of knowledge to be managed & making it available. [ ]
k) Justifying the use of scarce resources for KM. [ ]
l) Lack of top management commitment to KM. [ ]
m) Overcoming technological limitations. [ ]
n) Attracting & retaining talented people. [ ]

- 83 -
In the following set of questions each question has four options.
 Strongly agree SA
 Agree A
 Disagree D
 Strongly disagree SD
NO. STATEMENTS: SA A D SD
22. Knowledge is crucial for your type of organization.
23. Your organizational culture is supportive to KM.
24. Critical technical knowledge is given more preference in your
organization.
25. Competent and knowledgeable employees are given due
recognition.
26. Experiences or knowledge shared in different organizational
forum/meetings in practice needs to be documented in scientific
and structural manner.
27. There is a need of a management system for managing
knowledge is this organization.
28. KM plays a significant role in organizational development.

- 84 -
RESEARCH FINDINGS
 Employee in KRIBHCO believe that they are doing the job according to their job profile.
They finish every work assigned to them within the time limit, which shows that they are
competent, though many of them need guidance from their superiors sometimes.
 Few believe that they need training to perform their job which is contradicting to their
competency level, since the type of type of work they were performing at the time of
their joining and today have changed.
 Many admitted that competency mapping helps them to do manpower planning.
 Many believe that competency mapping is carried out regularly in KRIBHCO and
recruitment and selection process is carried out considering the competency of
individuals but few disagreed to this statement.
 Almost all employees believes that competency mapping is helpful in individual’s career
development.
 Knowledge is critical for this organization
 Formal meetings are the major sources of knowledge in this organization informal
meeting and chats are also alternative for knowledge sharing.
 An excellent IT infrastructure exists in this organization. E-mail and intranet is the major
source of sharing knowledge in the company as far as IT is concerned. Electronic media
plays a significant role in networking of knowledge in this organization.
 Knowledge is exploited to the adequate extent in this organization. Majority of
employees frequently undertakes additional personal efforts to enhance their knowledge
level as quest for knowledge is there in the employees.
 Though employees frequently share their learning with their colleagues after attending
seminars or training but it is in a non regular manner through informal chats. It is not
institutionalized but can be structured in a proper manner as scope is there.
 Some of the major cultural barriers are “Indifference of people towards developmental
processes”, and “Lack of open mindedness”.

- 85 -
 Major outcomes out of the implementation of Knowledge Management can be
Improving quality, Improving delivery, Better decision making, Intellectual property
rights management and cost reduction etc.
 “Lack of understanding of KM and its benefits.” and “Lack of top management
commitment to KM” are the biggest hurdle in effective implementation of KM in
company. Majority of employees believe that the organizational culture is supportive to
KM and Critical technical knowledge is given more preference in your organization.
 Majority of employees agree with Knowledge created is being captured in their
organization up to some extent.

- 86 -
SUGGESTIONS
 In this organization competency mapping must be regularly done in order to check the
competency level of the employees.
 Since many of the employees are performing different jobs to what they were doing at the
time of their joining they need training to perform the new work allotted them.
 There is an acute need of a structured knowledge management system in order to
preserve and maintain the knowledge status in the company. In order to move in a unified
path for leveraging the knowledge, it is important to link these nodes of knowledge in
structured form of “Knowledge Management”.
 Different sources of knowledge acquisition must be encouraged among the employees.
 Linkages of one’s Key Result Area with Knowledge Management implementation
should be done.
 There is need for the support from the top management since it is considered a major
hurdle in effective knowledge management implementation and the employees must also
be made aware of importance of knowledge management system.
 For sure and systematic implementation of KM, organization should explore possibility
of implementation of KM through some certified (accrediting) agency.
 As there is an excellent IT network in this organization so it should be utilized efficiently
for KM implementation through usage of some standard KM applications (soft wares).
 Some motivation should be given to the employees so that they take interest in
knowledge enhancement and management.
 E – Learning is on line learning. It is made available through company web sites and
even through CD – ROMs. It allows the learner to enroll in to courses or programs of
their choice and acquire knowledge at their own pace at the place of their choice.

- 87 -
CONCLUSION
Hence, with the given research study conducted in this organization, it can be concluded that the
concept of competency mapping and Knowledge Management is in between the introduction
and growth stage that is it is ahead of introduction stage and has not reached yet to growth stage.
It has been also concluded that there is certainly a quest for knowledge in the employees and
combining this factor with highly established HR Department and advanced Information
Technology in the organization, competency mapping is need to be regularly carried out here and
Knowledge Management will definitely reach to the growth stage in due course of time in this
organization.

1 - A Project Report On Competency Mapping And Knowledge Management InJIGNESH R LUHARIYA

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1 - A Project Report On Competency Mapping And Knowledge Management InJIGNESH R LUHARIYA