STRATEGY, KNOWLEDGE, APPROPRIATION, AND ETHICS IN HRM 265for people to share knowledge as well as to tackle the obstacles that so often
prevent people from developing the sense of belonging that would facilitate
this proactive contribution.
These obstacles are deeply rooted in the workplace, both in the private
and public sectors, partly through tight competitive and financial pressures
which have subsequently institutionalized a culture of cost management. They
include the lack of job security, the failure to invest in training and devel-
opment, the failure to provide real opportunities for creative input beyond
the rhetoric of empowerment, and the deeply held beliefs by managers that
employees cannot be trusted to work without close supervision and with strict
management controls. As Currie and Kerrin (2003) point out, sharing knowl-
edge cannot be engendered by merely creating ‘informal’ communities; such
communities come about through voluntary participation. It is not surprising
that in the absence of effective mechanisms to foster, protect, and reward
the willing contribution of knowledge by employees, managers easily retreat
behind the protective shield of utilitarian thinking.