HRM Practices and Existence of Knowledge Management Agent in Higher Education

Abstract

Purpose - the organizational life cycle theory show us about the impact of Knowledge management on Human resource practices. By observing universities that teach knowledge management in their academic course compared to university does not teach knowledge management, we want to know how knowledge management can impact on the quality of Human Resource (HR) practices. Findings - it appears that HR practices in universities that teach knowledge management courses were more able to develop research and education and information absorption than they did not teach the courses. In addition the universities which did not teach knowledge management sometimes more focused on operational issues and difficulties in building the skills and knowledge of their HR staff significantly, and have lower performance result. Research limitations/implications - there are limitations on the collection of respondent by purposive sampling and it is suggested to increase the number of respondents that extends from the geographical scope and a longer study period.Originality/value - HR practices in various organizations and universities have been widely studied. But it is still rare to study the field of knowledge management course especially about lecturer as knowledge management agent. In addition, this study applies the life cycle theory by examining HR practices in higher education that encourages the higher university to focus on strategic HR issues in their environment.

Keywords: knowledge management, university, organizational life cycle