Employee Training And Knowledge Transfer in Organizations

Abstract

There is a tendency of organizations spending a lot of money on training which in most cases does not translate to knowledge dissemination in organizations as clearly evidenced in the performance of many organizations. Even after training, little is done as a follow up to establish whether the beneficiaries are transferring the knowledge at the work place and if possible find out the challenges faced or reasons why the knowledge is not transferred. The aim of this paper was to investigate the relevance of training in knowledge transfer given the potential benefits of using trained employees as a result of organization commitment to ensuring knowledge transfer. The paper provides an integrative literature review of articles published on knowledge transfer and organization commitment and it is based on synthesis of literature on the subject taking into consideration examples from numerous institutions. It examines training practices (i.e., needs assessment, trainee preparation, training program review, management support, knowledge transfer, and organization commitment. The literature review revealed that although knowledge transfer is linked with organization commitment, studies are yet to identify how efficient the process of training and knowledge transfer is done in terms of pre-training, the process during training and post-training which remains a challenge, and must be addressed as a multidimensional phenomenon in order to capture a clear picture of the challenges and potential benefits resulting from knowledge transfer.