Line managers: facilitators of knowledge sharing in teams

As human resource management (HRM) and knowledge management are still new areas of research, if we assume the co‐existence of strategic integration, and devolution of HRM responsibilities to line managers, then we can see that an organisation's strategic intent could be to maximise the contribution of employee's knowledge and skills, through creating competitive advantage by utilising human capital. The challenge of “capturing” employee's tacit knowledge, to facilitate its transfer into organisational competence for today's organisations remains paramount. Competitive business pressures are leading to streamlined organisational structures, flatter management layers, adoption of team‐working processes and employee empowerment, which offers line managers a key role in contributing to strategic HRM outcomes by encouraging knowledge sharing in teams. Reviews and discusses the impact of such devolved HR responsibilities on the role of line managers. Intends to: explore the role of line managers facilitating creation and transfer of tacit knowledge in teams; summarise barriers concerning the transfer of tacit knowledge between individuals and teams; and finally outline the importance of developing line managers as facilitators. Aims to construct an agenda outlining future research in this field.

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