Knowledge Management: Rewarding Efforts and Increasing Personal Worth

Knowledge Management
Name
Class
Date

1
Knowledge Management
Task One
a) How the company can reward efforts and increase the perception of personal worth other than
issuing pay increases.
It is common for most employees to feel like they are being underpaid or under-
rewarded. Accordingly, it does not matter how much effort that human resource managers can
exert to fine tune the employees’ salaries or even promotions; the underlying fact is that they are
dissatisfied. And when that happens, they are likely to leave hence increasing costs for the
organization in terms of finding potential replacement1. It is worse when they stay considering
that they will work without satisfaction or engagement. Therefore, according to a suggestion by
one group member, it is pertinent to create structures that reward talent and performance fairly.
Equally, it is important for the management to communicate effectively with the employees, who
feel shortchanged, with the help of a well-thought-out compensation philosophy2. Another
suggestion was that employers need to offer their employees a listening ear as well as responding
to their concerns while helping them understand how their pay is relative to the overall
compensation structure.
b) The best solution to the employee personal-worth perception problem. Consider the solutions
from the brainstorming activity and select the best solution from that set.
1 Maryam Alavi and Dorothy E. Leidner, "Review: Knowledge Management And Knowledge
Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations And Research Issues" (2001) 25(1) MIS
Quarterly.
2 Ibid

2
From the three suggestions arrived at by the group members, a comparison was made to
weigh the most appropriate solution to the issue of concern. Creating structures mandated with
rewarding talents and performance in a fair manner. Doing so will motivate the employers to
exert more effort into their work rather than whining over how their pay is low compared to
others3. It will create an understanding amongst them that they will be able to earn more through
their hard work hence improve their performance significantly.
c) A solution to the employee personal worth perception problem to which all members of the
group can commit.
The group unanimously agreed that rewarding employees’ talents and performance is the
most effective way of increasing the perception of personal worth. Holding talks with employees
to explain to them why their salaries are low will not augur well with them since most of those
presiding over the talks usually earn more. According to the employees, the management reaps
from their sweat. Therefore, rewarding the employees who exhibit talent and improved
performance is the best option as it will encourage them to work harder hence improve their
pay4. They will be driven with the spirit of exhibiting their best to impress the employer which in
turn works positively to increase production in the organization.
Task: Storytelling Discussion
Storytelling in organizations is the best way through which corporate values, beliefs, and
culture are shared amongst the workers. Knowledge transfer and knowledge discovery becomes
easier through stories since they uncover knowledge in its context of use. Every organization
3 Fei Gao, Meng Li and Steve Clarke, "Knowledge, Management, And Knowledge Management
In Business Operations" (2008) 12(2) Journal of Knowledge Management.
4 Saurabh Gupta and Robert Bostrom, "Using Peer-To-Peer Technology For Collaborative
Knowledge Management: Concepts, Frameworks And Research Issues" (2006) 4(3) Knowledge
Management Research & Practice.