The Role of Human Resource Management in Knowledge Management: The cases of Training and Career Management

The aim of this article is to present some results of our research focused on the study of organizational processes related to knowledge. It is centred on their limitations and on their conceptual and operational dependence on the nature of assumptions operating in processes of human resource management (HRM) in organizations. Here, it concentrates particularly on practices related to training and career development. It aims to access knowledge of the representativeness of application of the processes referred to (of people management and knowledge management) and understand their relational dynamics in Portuguese organizations in the banking sub‐sector of the service sector. In this context, the specialized literature was reviewed, from which we inferred that HRM can be understood in two ways, setting an organic perspective based on assumptions of value and development against a mechanical perspective based on assumptions of a restricted and non‐valued orientation. This guided the empirical study of a quantitative nature carried out, which aimed to respond to the central matter of investigation, according to which the perspective forming the HRM practices implemented in an organization has an impact on how knowledge management (KM) processes operate therein. The sample of the study carried out is made up of 5306 collaborators in 634 organizations belonging to a Portuguese economic group in the banking sub‐sector. Data were collected through two questionnaires: HRMP – Human Resource Management Practices and KM – Knowledge Management. The results obtained allow us to conclude that in the organizations studied, processes of HRM and KM are considerably operational, and that those related to people management are based on assumptions which tend to be organic, valued and developmental. Multiple regression analyses, in particular, allowed us to conclude on the predictive capacity of the HRM practices studied regarding KM processes. More specifically, it stands out that the people management practices adopted from an organic and valued perspective possess a particular and distinctive capacity to predict the organizational processes related to knowledge. The paper describes the methods used in multiple regression analysis, multiple correlation coefficients and standardized and non‐standardized regression coefficients