Human Resources Management, Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Learning

This Brief reports the results of a study that explored the role of human resources policies and practices in fostering knowledge sharing and organizational learning. The study examined six centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and six organizations that are considered to be leaders in the field of knowledge sharing and organizational learning. Five of these were public or non-governmental and the sixth was a private corporation. All the organizations studied (including the CGIAR centres) are promoting knowledge sharing and organizational learning to some extent, generally in the context of broader organizational change. Some have comprehensive, integrated approaches to organizational change, but most efforts tend to be small-scale, even ad hoc. It is sometimes assumed that CGIAR centres are behind other research and development organizations in knowledge sharing and organizational learning, but our findings indicate that, while most of the centres in the study lack comprehensive strategies, some are actively pursuing promising initiatives from which others can learn.