Integrating Knowledge Management and Human Resource Development: A knowledge based HRD process model

The human resource management field is known for its information and knowledge intensive nature, yet it could be easily suggested that the most dominant work has focused upon the human resource management as a systematic way of accumulating and processing of information related to people in the organization. The focus of the past development remained mostly on information processing, and more recently on explicit knowledge; however, using a knowledge management perspective could provide more fruitful and comprehensive source of knowledge based human resource development approach. A profound role of tacit knowledge in the development of individuals and particularly communities of practices could emerge as an alternative source of practice based HRD. The “knowledge lens” conceptual approach is used to enrich the human resource development field in order to integrate and bring commonalities in the fields of HRM and KM. Focusing on the core beliefs in the two fields through a synthesis literature review, a four phased knowledge oriented HRD conceptual framework is developed that presents an attempt to extended general HRD process model by integrating knowledge management at various stages of HRD. Important research prepositions driven out of the framework and corresponding 10 research questions are formulated for future multidisciplinary research efforts.