Leveraging KM for M&A Transactions - Part 3: Human Capital Management

People are at the core of Knowledge Management (KM). Mergers and Acquisitions thrive and survive on the strength of how corporate cultures and its people can be meshed together. A sound Human Capital Management strategy will be an integral part of an overall KM strategy to be leveraged in an M&A transaction. Understanding who are the critical knowledge holders and there relationships through Knowledge Mapping is the beginning of understanding roles, responsibilities and work products that the various employees perform throhghout the organization.

This understanding will lead to determining which positions and personnel perform duplicate functions, which will lead to knowing the employees that should be terminated (better yet receive a package and convinced to leave!). Not only do you have to determine which personnel perform duplicate functions, but also who is more valuable through his/her experience, education, and importance to the organization going forward. The Human Capital Management Strategy is also an investment in employee selection and development. This contributes to the organization meeting its goals and objectives of not only the merger but for the organization on an on going basis.
Another aspect to Human Capital Management that we must keep in mind is that it can be the catalyst to increased adaptability, enhanced worker performance and with the current economic climate, having the ability to do more with your existing personnel resources.

Leveraging KM for M&A Transactions - Part One: Knowledge Map

During this challenging economic time many corporations are facing the prospect of merging with other firms to not only survive but to have a sustainable and viable business in the future. With the consolidation of the telecommunications industry underway (see CenturyLink/Qwest Merger) as well as the airline industry (see United Continental merger) there is a need to identify the key knowledge holders in order to ensure the success of mergers and acquisitions.

The effect of these mergers will and often lead to a loss of valuable knowledge from both sides of the merger/acquisition equation. This loss of knowledge is due to positions being consolidated and/or eliminated, other personnel taking early retirement package or other financial incentives. The question is how do we identify who the key knowledge holders are and what knowledge do they hold? Also, has it been determined that this is viable knowledge to the "new" organization going forward and what is our plan to retain, capture, or acquire this knowledge?

All of these questions can be answered with a comprehensive Knowledge Management Strategy geared to identify viable initiatives that will address these questions. One such initiative will be to develop a knowledge map of the organization to be acquired. A knowledge map is a mechanism used to identify key knowledge and the knowledge holders of the organization. Once these maps are completed further analysis is needed to determine the process, procedures and initiatives necessary to prioritize, retain, and/or acquire knowledge that may leave. Often organizational knowledge is the reason certain mergers happen. Knowledge Management is the mechanism to transition individual knowledge to corporate knowledge and make it available for all employees to access.

There will be additional parts of this blog entry to follow over the next week. I welcome your comments on this timely issue!

Human Capital Management Strategies - Part 2

In order to properly manage your organizations human capital assets it is important to identify who are the knowledge holders within the organization. Creating a knowledge map is an excellent tool to facilitate the identification of the key knowledge holders, knowledge gaps and identifies areas to leverage existing knowledge and where knowledge is eroding. However, performing a knowledge mapping exercise should focus on a particular department, functional area, or specific organization domain and gradually built upon until an entire knowledge map of your organization exist.

Knowledge mapping is an essential component of conducting a knowledge audit. The knowledge map serves as a navigation aid to explicit (codified) and tacit knowledge. This mapping directly leads to identifying candidates for tacit knowledge capture within the organization. The knowledge map should be an interactive knowledge map with accessibility through the organizations intranet. For more information on knowledge maps and/or knowledge audits access the following link: http://kmwiki.wikispaces.com/knowledge+mapping

Above is an example of a Knowledge Map of A.J. Rhem & Associates, Inc. (http://www.ajrhem.com/)

I welcome your comments, questions, and insights on using knowledge maps and in particular knowledge maps for human capital management and capturing worker knowledge.