Invaluable Knowledge

7Transferring Valuable Knowledge: Theory and Models

Of utmost concern to many technical and professional managers is the potential loss of institutional memory and proprietary knowledge as experienced workers exit the workforce owing to death, disability, resignation, or retirement. The most experienced workers are not just “warm bodies” or “pairs of hands” to do the work. They carry around in their heads critical, often proprietary, business information that has been gained from years of experience, as well as institutional memory set down while working in the same corporate culture for so many years. They “know the ropes”—and sometimes they even invented the ropes. When they leave an organization, both explicit and tacit (learned from experience) ...