Knowledge and innovation are categorically among the concerns of human capital managers. Many issues, such as innovation and pragmatism, take their respective roots from organizational desire and the need to address intellectual requirement and needs. Nevertheless, knowledge and knowledge management must be fine-tuned to avoid unintended consequences.
Knowledge and its all respective impact on organizational operation illustrate a great deal of opportunity and uncertainty. The impact of knowledge and knowledge management though mostly positive, can be accompanied by uncontrolled effects that may have an unforeseen and devastating impact. Such unintended consequences may include hindering or reducing the speed of innovation. Hence the task of human capital managers and knowledge workers will have to include proper standard operating procedures that guard against such adverse effects.
Nevertheless, those SOPs’ cannot assure complete protection from abstract interferences that knowledge and knowledge management may cause. Interferences may include dynamic forms of knowledge competition, in-fighting, unnecessary and ineffective utilization of resources, and a hindrance to organizational vision and coherence.
The question of countering those uncontrollable external or internal factors is equally problematic. Since every individual organization differs in its methodology, it is virtually impossible to devise uniform guidelines to counter those influential factors; however, some general review and quality control steps may enable the stakeholders to identify problems in the early stages and minimize potential impact.
Ultimately, the duties and obligations of human capital managers are extremely dynamic and, at times, subjective. The organizational requirements to balance the most appropriate course of action falls on the shoulder of human capital managers, who must adapt to the ever-changing internal and external factors.
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