Lesson 1: Intellectual Capital 3.

Human Capital (not human

resources): knowledge, skills, and
Tangible assets: Less important. Physical and behaviours of employees. It can be
financial resources like machinery, plant, and developed. Human resources not a
self-financing capacity. cost, but an important asset of the
Intangible assets, The Intellectual Capital: organization. Important to respond to
More important. Innovation, loyalty, creation the real needs of customer.
of networks and partnerships, patents, E.g.: What teachers teach, their
reputation, etc. relations with the students and the
consequences of that.
IC has a positive impact in:

 Value of the company.

Which workers generate Human
 Present and future performance.
Capital?
Where does it happen the most?
Low added High added value
 Service sector > manufacturing sector. value
 Economically advanced contexts (USA
Difficult to Skilled labor, Key figures (not
and Europe). More mature investors replace staff necessarily in the top
are more aware if the IC’ importance. management)-> the
Edvinsson & Sullivan 1996: Managers should real Human Capital
have the ability to provide working conditions Easy to Unskilled Employees with high
that transform human resources (knowledge replace labor impact on customers
of the company) into intellectual assets.

IC is divided in 3 components:

1. Relational Capital: quality of Edvisson and Malone 1977: the IC’

relationships developed with components are not static but interact with
customers, suppliers, external parties, each other-> business value. The company
etc. Importance of mutual trust and must be strong in all these 3 components to
the construction of a positive image. transform intellectual capital into value.
E.g.: McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are
linked for years.
What elements to evaluate in each
2. Organizational/ structural capital: component?
culture and values of the company.
Results of research activities and Relational Capital: external an internal image,
intellectual property (the bread reputation, satisfaction, and loyalty.
machine story). Teamwork and Organizational capital: organizational models,
leadership (Kaplan and Norton, projects, communication tools, patents, etc.
2004). Crucial for the creation of
innovative aspects. Human Capital: motivation, skills, and
E.g.: Walt Disney at first was just behaviours.
focus on cartoon but by time they
Strategic Human Resource Management
started doing movies and acting at
(SHRM) is crucial, since the IC resides in the
different contexts.
people who work within the organization.
Chiucchi, 2010: Measuring IC  Rewards, incentives, career
advancement system (for old
 Key Success Factors (FCS): analyse the
employees)
actions and strategies adopted by the
 Informative system
company and the intangible assets
that are being developed.
Action

Difficulty in applying IC: Decision

Knowledge
 Distrust and little knowledge of the Information
Understanding the
internal and
external reality of
model: investors don’t know about Data
Turning data into
useful info. Ex: the organization.
Ex: Need to be
Collecton of facts The users aren't
this topic. satisfate about the
size of the
aware of the
problem even if
we cannot solve it.

product. Must
Difficulty to identify the FCS. change it!

 Presence of different measurement

models.
 Difficulty in making measurements
Nonaka, 1995: Organizations are living
operational.
organisms that learn, but the knowledge
Some Measurements models: generated is largely tacit.

 Skandia’s Value Scheme (Edvinsson  A lot of people learn about doing their
and Malone, 1997). work, by doing it themselves.
 Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced  Knowledge is always with people and
Scorecard (Kaplan and Norton, 1992), that’s why is so important!
 Ex of tacit knowledge: Knowing the
right words to use to attract your
Lesson 2: Knowledge audience.
Management
Each organization has their one knowledge
management-> there are a lot of KM types.

KM -> Economic growth and Success

What does KM do?

1. Develop better practice/ services.

2. Generating a growth in the number of
customers/ their loyalty.
Explicit knowledge: can be formally
When does de KM become a real resource? documented and shared.
 When it’s able to generate Tacit knowledge: exists inside the heads of
commercial value! your employees. Direct experience.
SHRM is a success when:

 Organizational structure: having the The Spiral of knowledge of Nonaka

best specialists
 Task design: definition of The organizations that generate knowledge
responsibilities are those that learn- learing organizational.
 Employee education
Ex of Creating knowledge: strategic
goals
Communities of practice are groups of an
organization that wants to solve problems and actions to
that those in it don’t need to be experts. achieve them

People could be there because they want to

share or learn. (more about it at 13,14,15 resources to
execute them
slides of lesson 2).

Two forms of knowledge, explicit and tacit, are  Strategic describes how the goals will
articulated in four phases: be achieved by resources in a given
span of time!
1. Socialization or sharing: individuals
 Strategic planning is the process.
trasnfer knowledge through direct
 Strategic plan is the result.
observation
2. Externalization: through discussion;
knowledge is transformed in Why should we have a strategic plan?
information
3. Combination or extension 1. Sharing of objectives among all the
4. Internalization or diffusion: Exchange employees (even if they are in
of explicit knowledge, producing new different sections)
experiences. 2. Create clarity about the objectives
3. Limit emergency situations
4. Set limits on activities and
expectations
Implicit to Explicit 5. Evaluate the results
6. Improve the quality of work
7. Optimize resources
8. Establish objectives in a given period
Implicit Socialization Externalization
of time
to 9. Provide a single view of the work by
all its member: it’s important that all
Explicit Internalizatio employees work at the same direction
Combination
n (even if we are talking about boss and
trainee)
10. Prevent competition between
members or duplicating work
Lesson 2: Strategic Planning
What if the organization is nonprofit? Should
It happens not just because we want to, but
they also use a strategic plan?
because is good for the company!
YES!
The strategies depend on 2 environments:
1. Aligns stakeholders around strategic
1. Of the present company
priorities
2. Of external companies
2. Communicates goals and strategies
3. Motivates external and internal
audiences
Preconditions for strategic planning: What is necessary when developing a SP?

 Independence: identify goals and  Deadline date

resources to achieve them  Develop information collection
o If it’s a non-profit system to analyse the results obtained
organization, the secretary  Identify the resources for each sector
general and political leader  Provide the possibility to modify the
must be involved plan
 Stable management: no arguments
The starting point- The mission
between groups
 Clear distinction between strategic What is it? -> sort of “identity card” and
and tactical planning explains:
Stages of strategic planning  Why the organization exists?
 What does it do?
1) Stage 1
a) The mission  Who is it for?
b) SWOT Analysis: identify objectives What is it for?
and plan interventions
2) Stage 2  Helps communicate what the
c) Strategic or long-term objectives: organization is like
well defined, clear, measurable and in  Delimits the unlimited expectations
written form  Identifies the objectives and strategies
3) Stage 3 What it contains?
d) Develop strategies
e) Two or more tactical plans for each 1. The purpose
strategic objective 2. Its uniqueness
4) Stage 4 3. Its vision: The goal they want to
f) Develop control systems: monitor the achieve
implementation of results obtained 4. The values of the organisation
g) Strategic plan must be presented to all 5. The target-> costumers
h) Always check and analyse de final 6. Their main activities
results 7. Their main methods of intervention
8. The needs it intends to respond
Strategic plan -> long period 3-4/5 years 9. The resources it intends to rely on
Tactical plan-> short period 6 months-1 year SWOT Analysis
(updated year by year)
Help the Hinde the
What is important when developing a SP? achievement achievement of
 Put the plan in writing and clear! of an objective an objective
 Get input from everyone involve Internal factors
 Know about other management (present Strength Weaknesses
already in place situation)
 Time frame <-> objectives
 Predict expenditure and revenue External factors
growth (future Opportunities Threats
 Distribution of responsibilities into scenario)
each sector
 Lesson 3: learning organization  Rigid separations among different
sectors that don’t want to share their
Knowledge: knowledge
 Must generate cognitive change, new  “Time is money” attitude: knowledge
actions and behaviours -> is something that requires time
development and competitiveness.  Lack of perception of usefulness (“my
 Is the only thing that the competition knowledge isn’t relevant to share”)
can’t replicate-> it’s specific to each and perception of risk (“I will not be
organization reality! recognized for my contributions”)
 Rigid professional identities
Learning organization is:

 Systematic problem solving Organizational learning

 Testing of new approaches Process by which a person implement skills
 Learning from one’s experience and that create positive change
the past Learning organization
 Learning from the experience and
best practices of others Way of structuring the organization that
provides you to learn, change and improve.
 Quick and effective transfer of
knowledge within the organisation
What you need to generate knowledge?
Knowledge cannot be separated from
individual, information can!  Organizational culture that promotes
innovation
Information is data that can only be use by
 Infrastructure that promotes practices
someone who has the knowledge to
 Structure that promotes
interpret it!
communication between sectors
Characteristics of knowledge:

1. Comes from an invention, is “created

by man” Lesson 4: Staff Assessment
2. Is an inexhaustible resource Staff Appraisal includes: management tool to
3. Isn’t a pure public good: not available help support employees in their professional
to everyone and difficult to produce development
for private profit
4. Is cumulative: can be created starting 1. Evaluation of positions: involves the
from the knowledge that is already remuneration associated with the
available relevance of the role in the
5. New knowledge can generate more organization
knowledge (research on sending 2. Evaluation of work performance:
satellites has generated new contribution already provided by the
machinery) worker
3. Evaluation of potential: what the
Obstacles of knowledge creation: worker will be able to do (using skills)
 Individualistic culture generates o Restitution: feedback given to
fragmentation because of the who was evaluated
competitive environment 4. Assessment of skills
Job evaluation: identifies and describes the orientation, quality orientation, to negotiate
characteristics of each job position. or to innovate (bring new ideas), etc.

o Position in the organization chart Why evaluate job performance?

o Its purposes
o Motivate staff to improve their work
o Responsibilities
style
o Tasks
o Promote recognition of merits
o Activities carried out
o Improve communication between
It also defines the profile- knowledge (what employees and management/
you must know) and skills (what you must be organization.
able to do) useful for filling each position.
Critical issue
When do a position assessment?
To evaluate a performance the evaluator
o worker assigned to a new job position should:
o understand how the individual
a) describe it and understand the factors
position contributes to the
that define it
achievement of the organization's
b) judge the level of mastery of each
goals
factor (e.g. Likert scale).
When identified the ideal profile, it can be c) This system is based on a mix of
compared with the real profile organizational results and behaviours

Evaluation and work performance:

o understand the worker’s contribution
 Assessment focused on results: positions with
and what has done using its skills higher autonomy- involves navigate their
o should be done on an annual basis responsibilities to the organization's success.
o worker must be aware of how and  Assessment focused on behaviours: positions
when the evaluation will take place with lower autonomy- involve more routine
tasks, teamwork skills, etc.
expected performance
performance rendered
ERRORS when evaluating work performance:
the
results
the  Send an employee assess the work
results
expected
actually
performance of another employee,
from the
worker
achieved instead of his superior.

 Use the evaluation only to award

rewards and disincentives: also serves
to identify areas to improve.
Work performance is determined by certain  Introduce the evaluation process
criteria: without providing the training of the
1. The results achieved: Individual, group and personnel involved.
program results  Include seniority among the factors of
2. Organizational behaviours: ability to work personnel evaluation systems.
in a team, to manage human and economic Overlooks the need to assess current
resources, planning, user / customer capabilities
  Use the same evaluation forms for all The behaviours observed:
job profiles
 analysis of a problem and choice of
 Using generic and inadequately the best solution
defined evaluation forms.
 choice of strategies to negotiate
 Use evaluation systems imported from successfully
outside and not suitable for the
 ways organized decisions are made
organization.
 effective presentation of proposals
 Evaluate the achievement of results
without the objectives having been Example of individual tests:
previously communicated and
explained.  leaderless group discussion: focused
to solving a problem, but without the
Evaluation of the potential: provides an presence of the leader. Can be a
analysis of the worker’s skills that aren’t cooperative or competitive discussion.
being used in the current position because  business game: make decisions using
aren’t required. That helps understand if its instrumentation, graphs, etc. Requires
possible to assign the person to other job a high organization.
position (E.g. career advancement;  fact finding: given some information
assignments to job positions of greater about a situation and they must ask
responsibility). an informant in order to reconstruct
the incident.
Assessment centre  advocacy case: each participant has
an assigned role and must achieve
Evaluation methodology used to select
their goal by negotiate with the
employees to be assigned to other job
others. Detect leadership skills, etc.
positions.
 group objectives: Each participant
o How? Verifying skills when observing needs to collaborate with the group in
and judging the worker’s behaviours. order to achieve the solution that
o Type of activities: competitive or leads to the goal.
cooperative.  in basket
o Uses various techniques evaluation  interview simulation
o Implies a significant number of  presentation
evaluators  role play

Reduce the risk of Challenging After the evaluation process:

subjective detection methods
Avantages

assessments
o Is given and requested feedback on
Fatigue and stress
High quantity and
quality of collected
of the participants the results. Comparison related to a
information
Costs growth project for the subject.
Disadvantages

Flexibility in its o No more than a month between the

application Time consuming
conclusion and the return (so people
Training impact for the
subject(s) reached
still remember all the process)
o Awareness of one’s strengths and
weaknesses
The offered situations are similar to the o The results can be used by the
organizational reality. organization to initiate professional
development plans
 7. Does the person read books related to
the knowledge? How often?
Lesson 5: Skills 8. How long is the person using this
Assessment/Evaluation knowledge?
9. Have the person been a speaker in
Knowledge: knowing. Theoretical, technical,
conferences? How often?
concepts related to the work performed.
10. Has it provided significant
Skills: know how. Being able to apply that contributions in services?
knowledge.
Why is assessment so important?
Ability: knowing how to be. Use of skills and
o Discover gaps and fill them
knowledge in complex organizational
o Arrange training interventions when
situations (make decisions, take
the level possessed ≠ level required
responsibility).
o Collect another knowledge that isn’t
When assessing knowledge, a verification has being used
to be done, and its carried out by:
Professional figure can be divided into:
1. Make sure that a person has
1. Basic skills: elements necessary for
successfully completed a specific
individuals to enter into the world of
training program (document that
work.
confirms they have that knowledge).
2. Techincal-professional skills:
2. Check previous application of this
knowledge necessary for carrying out
knowledge to ensure isn't just
work activities.
theoretical but has been effectively
3. Transversal skills: “soft skills”;
used in practical (internship).
personal characteristics (cognitive and
3. Get to work with the team of
behavioural skills required by the
examiners to see if the person has the
work environment).
competences.
4. Practical testes under the supervision Skills/ competences envolves the capacity in
of competent people. which observable cognitive, social and
o It can be used a questionnaire behavioural skills must be organized
of multiple choices if the effectively. Those behaviours are:
group to be examined is large.
o Observable variables (personality
Checklist to verify knowledge (Coco, 2001) traits)
o Associated with successful
1. What is the educational path and
level of knowledge? performance
2. How many years have passed since o Identified when implemented
the diploma attainment? Also, competences are related to:
3. Has the person attended post
diploma training courses? 1) The will
4. What about courses, seminars within 2) The action
the organization? How many of 3) The result
them? Isn’t merely about possessing skills and
5. How often is the person asked to knowledge but also about the proactive
apply this knowledge? intention, effective application, and
6. How does the person apply this meaningful outcomes derived from those
knowledge? (notions, concepts) competencies.
Competence/skills assessment: Skills assessment process in an organization:

1. Identify the skills that you intend to Identify the skills necessary:
assess identify, in each area, the skills workers need to
2. Define each competence so you know possess;
in this phase, we can distinguish between:
what the subject must be able to do Phas Threshold skills: necessary for the profile
e I. Distinctive skills: add quality; identified who achieve
Some mistakes to avoid in this step: above-average results
o Putting together more skills to
Detect the skills already present. How? By:
describe a complex behaviour
Administration of questionnaires and tests
o Specify behaviours that can only Phas Carrying out interviews
represent an expressive moment of a e II. Self-assasment or evaluation through a servey form
skill Those last two are delicate because it can be offending
o Confusion social attitudes with or demotivating for thesubject
capacity
o Defining skills in terms of values Skills management: Compare the skills present with
o Confusing technical-professional the necessary or strategic skills.
Phas
Now is possible to implement a training plan!
knowledge with skills e III. Essential to share the results with those directly
involved
3. Establish the indicators to detect
their presence (more than 4)
4. Establish how to define the level of How to identify the skills related to each job
mastery (using Likert scale) position?

Interpersonal skills: 1. Analysis of the organization chart and

function flow chart/ interviews w/
o Teamwork: collaborative effort of subjects
individuals working together to o Use previous inventories of
achieve a goal. competence and compare the
o Management of groups and results with pre-established
meetings: coordination of several models
people, ensuring effective 2. If the skills analysis is aimed at an
communication, collaboration, and organizational reorganization, further
goal achievement (harmony isn’t methodologies can be adopted:
necessary). o The critical incident method
o Organization of one’s work: o The Behavioural Event Interview
systematic planning and arrangement method
of tasks to achieve goals.
o Leadership: organize consensus, to Organization chart: bodies of an organization
obtain collaboration and to guide and the hierarchical relations among them.
individual or a group to achieve a Function flowchart: functions, activities and
certain goal. criteria of their articulation.

The limits of a competence-based approach:

 Measuring is different from evaluating

 It offers the manager a limited
possibility to grow in its management
skills
 Operationalization of skills is difficult