Human resource and knowledge management: best practices identification

Abstract

Purpose

The following investigation attempts to identify, describe and analyse the conditions and practices that, as regard to human resources management (HR) and knowledge management (KM), take place in the organisations that have received the National Quality Award in Uruguay. Its aim is to disseminate those “best practices”.

Design/methodology/approach

The research adopts a qualitative methodology analysis, based on the reading of the Extensive Reports presented by the award‐aspiring businesses. This “lengthy account” put forward following the areas proposed by the Continuous Improvement Model. The topic of solving dilemmas has been presented in this investigation using an illustrative square called a “Dilemmometer”.

Findings

The main findings are: the identification of unusual practices, and especially, the way in which they are mutually articulated and integrated. Finally, there is an emphasis on the way these organisations deal with certain classic dilemmas of human resources management and knowledge management respectively.

Practical implications

Knowing good practices would be useful, as well as the description of how they are carried out, and the articulation among them, for other companies that want to compare their practices in the light of high‐performance organisations.

Originality/value

For the first time researches access to the PNC original winner companies information, and try to spread best practices out the market. The way of representing dilemmas of HR and KM can be considered original.

Citation

Algorta, M. and Zeballos, F. (2011), "Human resource and knowledge management: best practices identification", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 71-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/13683041111184125