not be possible without access to organizational resources, networks, physical and
Wnancial capital, thereby undermining claims for excessive remuneration.
The knowledge-trading theme presents speciWc challenges with regard to the
development of knowledge workers. First, knowledge workers are interested in
knowledge-trading because they are highly focused on employability (Cappelli
1999 ) which enables them to move on to a career opportunity that will enable
them to develop further unique skills that are attractive to other employers. The
interest of the employingWrm is, however, focused on retaining core skills that
enable value generation and competitive advantage. The tension between employees
wanting to move between organizations and the organization needing to hold on to
key talent can be termed the ‘retention-employability’ dilemma (Swart and Kinnie
2004 ). If an organization fails to address and manage this career dilemma, it will be
depleted of its human capital and may create a source of competitivedisadvantage.
A second tension that has an impact on the retention of knowledge is the
speciWcity of skill development. Knowledge-based organizations seek to diVerenti-
ate themselves by oVering unique services or products and thus aim to develop
organization-speciWc skills. Knowledge workers, on the other hand, wish to develop
transferable skills that will make them attractive to prospective employers. If an
organization develops predominantlyWrm-speciWc skills, the knowledge worker
may sacriWce his or her employment attractiveness. Knowledge-basedWrms there-
fore need to strike a balance within their skill development agenda between organ-
ization-speciWc and transferable skills, which, in turn, impacts on their approach to
the management of the knowledge workers’ careers.
Both of these tensions speak to the need for knowledge-basedWrms to retain and
develop valuable and unique human capital. Development often has an undesired
impact on retention as employees with valuable skills become more attractive to
other employers. However, if theWrm does not develop the transferable as well as
the organization-speciWc skills of their knowledge workers, they are likely to lose
key employees. Most successful organizations therefore strike a ‘development
balance’ by ensuring that they have challenging work projects in loosely structured
work environments which are characterized by multiple teams. The development
of a particular skill set is therefore not linked to one client or one organization-
speciWc approach to problem solution.
22.6 Future Directions
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The rise in importance of the knowledge worker has certainly taken center stage
over the last decade. With the increasing realization that human capital is one of
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