264 PROGRESSING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
The evidence is patchy and inconclusive....Part of the difficulty lies in the non-
measurability of these initiatives, which may perhaps lead some to disregard the
initiatives altogether as wishy-washy. On the other hand, there is a danger in taking
on practices in order to be seen to be caring, or simply because the practice is ‘flavour
of the month’.
Similar questions need to be asked about ethics with regard to knowledge
management and the implications for managing HR, and managers’ motives
for engaging with this ethical perspective. Knowledge management has now
become a buzzword that helps refocus attention on performativity and com-
petitive advantage, especially where objectively identifiable artefacts of knowl-
edge are concerned, hence explicit or codified knowledge. We argue here
that tacit knowledge will attract increasing attention because of its inherent
qualities of causal ambiguity and ‘personal nature’ (Polanyi 1967), which pose
a challenge of appropriation to the organization since the individual does
not manifest his or her knowledge to the extent that the organization might
require. Thus, tacit knowledge emerges as a potential source of competitive
advantage, and since questions have been raised in the literature about the
ability of management theory to deal exhaustively with issues of fairness,
rights, and justice, as cited above, it is conceivable and worrying, that the
appropriation regimes that will emerge will likely be built on shaky ethical
foundations.
Conclusion
The scepticism in the argument above does not mean a genuine ethical per-
spective is untenable in the knowledge creation and diffusion exercise. It is
achievable, but will require hard work and a willingness to question the orga-
nization’s monolithic dominance in the knowledge creation and appropria-
tion process. It will require managers and academics to rethink the assump-
tions currently underpinning appropriation. Managers in particular will need
to reconsider the multifaceted nature of knowledge and the fact that the tacit
component in particular is closely tied to the identity of the person.
It is unrealistic to expect, and hence ethically questionable, that knowledge
can be extracted from an individual, as though it were a commodity, or that
the willingness to engage in knowledge creation and diffusion on the part of
the individual can be taken for granted. We have noted above that the Japanese
experience offers interesting lessons but is culturally bounded and has little
relevance in organizations that instrumentally place their own appropriative
needs above those of their employees. In order to ensure fairness in the appro-
priation regime, it may be helpful for managers to offer specific incentives