Technical succession planning as a knowledge retention strategy for knowledge organisations

Abstract

Knowledge workers are no longer limited to only one employer for a lifetime, but they have “boundary-less” careers, they proactively, consciously and independently build their careers by accumulating the relevant knowledge and skills that will propel their employability in the market. This makes it easy for knowledge workers to move from one job to the next and become independent of a single employer. It is difficult for employers to retain knowledge workers given the high levels of mobility and increased competition for their skills, but the retention of their knowledge is critical. Given this, technical succession planning appears to be highly relevant in the new world of work. It is defined by Rothwell (2010), as a form of succession planning that focuses on retaining organisational and professional knowledge to be used by the organisation in the future. It also refers to the transfer of knowledge from more to less experienced workers. This research aimed to explore factors that impact knowledge sharing amongst knowledge workers and knowledge retention. The results showed that; consultants which are the knowledge workers that were considered for this study, engage in knowledge sharing out of autonomous motivation, the multigenerational make up of knowledge organisations does not negatively impact knowledge sharing, knowledge workers do not hoard their knowledge because they fear that they will lose the power that comes with holding that knowledge and the national and brand prestige of knowledge organisations fosters employee commitment, but it is short term commitment. The outcomes of this research highlight factors for consideration by knowledge organisations and experts when developing knowledge sharing and retention strategies.