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An exploration of the relationship between learning organisations and the retention of knowledge workers
Liz Lee-Kelley
School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

Deborah A. Blackman
Business, Law and Info Sciences, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia, and

Jeffrey Peter Hurst

Alternative Minds, Dorking, UK
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a relationship between learning organisation theory and the potential to retain knowledge workers. It emphasises that human resource (HR) managers must recognise specic relationships between learning organisation elements, job satisfaction facets and turnover intent as they emerge for their knowledge workers. Design/methodology/approach A survey was undertaken sampling knowledge workers in the information technology (IT) industry. Measured on a Likert scale, the instrument was designed to explore the impact of learning organisation disciplines upon job satisfaction and the importance of job satisfaction in determining turnover intent. Findings Analysis of the survey showed evidence of a relationship between learning organisation disciplines and turnover intent. All the learning organisation disciplines discussed in the paper correlated to at least one of the six job satisfaction dimensions, of which reward and challenge exerted the most signicant inuence upon turnover intent. Practical implications The results suggest that three initial strategies should be implemented by HR managers in order to reduce possible staff turnover. The strategies identied are rst, linking shared vision, challenge and systems thinking together via personal mastery; second, being more critical of which mental models are developed and shared within the organisation; and nally, developing team learning systems throughout the organisation. Originality/value This study emphasises that HR managers should recognise specic career needs for their knowledge workers and that adopting appropriate strategies will increase retention. Keywords Learning organizations, Retention, Employee relations, Employee turnover Paper type Research paper

The Learning Organization Vol. 14 No. 3, 2007 pp. 204-221 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0969-6474 DOI 10.1108/09696470710739390

Introduction It is accepted that knowledge, coupled with the potential to transform that knowledge into improved actions, can provide organisations with a competitive advantage (Drucker, 1964, 1998; De Geus, 1997). Along with the increasing focus on knowledge is the growing perceived importance of those who work with it. Researchers began to identify activities or attributes that enabled such workers to capitalise their knowledge and add value to the organisation (Miller, 1998; Shea, 1998; Munk, 1998). Based on the

key attributes from employees daily activities (Bender, 1998; Nomikos, 1989; Botha, 2000), this paper denes the knowledge worker as: any employee possessing specialist knowledge or know-how who is involved in consultancy based on their specialist knowledge or know-how, or research and development work for new products, services or processes. They use their knowledge and know-how to gather, analyse, add value and communicate information to empower decision making (Roy et al., 2001, p. 1). Consequently, a knowledge workers usefulness to the organisation is situated in his/her ability (and willingness) to utilise, share and synthesise existing knowledge to create new ideas. As such the aim of learning organisation (LO) models is to harness knowledge gained via individual and organisational learning in order to enable transformational rather than incremental change (McGill et al., 1992; Kontoghiorghes et al., 2005). Certain input elements are necessary in the knowledge creation process within the LO models, which, it is argued, are the bases for radical new outputs (Senge, 1990; Garavan, 1997; Pedler et al., 1997). Since personal know-how and tacit knowledge are not stored within the organisation, but are held by the employees (Drucker, 1999), what potentially differentiates one company from another is the way they manage the employee-employer relationship, as knowledge workers can leave an organisation and remove that key asset. Their retention is, therefore, vital for organisations operating in this knowledge era, forcing some companies to make greater effort in, rst, developing systems which will increase the effective creation and utilisation of knowledge and, second, understanding the mechanisms and concepts involved in retaining knowledge workers. Turnover intention is the last cognitive step employees make in the voluntary turnover process (Steel and Ovalle, 1984; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Tett and Meyer, 1993), and is often the only antecedent directly effecting actual turnover (Miller et al., 1979). The literature suggests that research should focus on the direct and indirect inuences on turnover intention rather than actual voluntary turnover (Dalessio et al., 1986). Managers are, therefore, keen to establish processes that might increase job satisfaction which can reduce turnover and loss of valuable knowledge (Lee et al., 1999; Carsten and Spector, 1987; Mobley et al., 1978). It seems logical that there should be a link between LO models and worker retention as the achievement of some of the input elements found in such models can lead to increased job satisfaction. Input elements in the models would include personal mastery (Senge, 1990; Gephart et al., 1996; Dobson and Tosh, 1999; Holt et al., 2000; Larsen et al., 2002); team learning (Senge, 1990; Franklin et al., 1998; Grieves, 2000; Snell, 2001) and shared vision (Pedler et al., 1989; Senge, 1990; Simonin, 1997; Goh, 1998). These elements focus upon increasing worker empowerment, autonomy and self determination (Flood, 1999) which, we posit, will have a positive inuence on job satisfaction as indicated by various facets such as comfort, challenge, relations with co-workers, reward, resource adequacy and promotion (Warr et al., 1979; Warr, 2002). This research investigates which practices and elements of LO models are related to voluntary turnover as mediated through job satisfaction. It is argued that with an appreciation of the relationships, an organisation can develop strategies for knowledge enhancement and knowledge worker retention. The ndings should enable HR managers to address the specic needs of knowledge workers.

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In the next section, the literature on learning organisations and job satisfaction is reviewed to establish their theoretical relationship which might impact staff turnover. A survey instrument was constructed from the literature to collect data. The methodology section describes the actual data collection process. Statistical analysis was conducted and the ndings are reported and discussed. Managerial implications are then outlined including potential HR strategies for worker retention. This paper concludes by stressing the need to reect upon specic knowledge-worker needs and calls for further research into this important area. Literature review Establishing a learning organisation is a basic concept in the theory of organisations. Although a widely agreed denition of a LO remains elusive, many of the models share similar processes (sometimes using alternative names). Models from the late 1980s/early 1990s are still discussed in the new literature, and are regarded as being the bedrock of LO thinking (Kontoghiorghes et al., 2005). Two of the most commonly referenced models are Senges (1990) Fifth Discipline and Pedler et al.s (1989) Learning Company. Although the language and terminology differs, the two models offer essentially the same concepts to dene a LO. A fundamental difference between the two models is that Senge argues that new skills and ways of viewing the organisation must be developed, whereas Pedler et al. maintain that a LO can be established by merely changing the skills, practices and views already present. As some organisations lack certain key skills which are assumed in Pedler et al.s (1997) model, and as this studys focus is on the creation and utilisation of new ideas, Senges model is considered more appropriate. Table I describes the ve disciplines in Senges model, namely, personal mastery, shared vision, shared mental models, team learning and systems thinking. The model promotes movement towards an organisation in which employees continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, when new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspirations are set free, and where people are continually learning how-to-learn together (Senge, 1990). Therefore, to be effective a LO model relies on individual actors practising the disciplines, who in turn, are dependent upon the enabling structures around them. Employees sense of self-empowerment and motivation is a consequence of their perception of the freedom to act and the level of organisational support as regards risk taking, knowledge implementation, experimentation and applied learning. This invariably has a bearing on the level of organisational commitment and job satisfaction as Warr (2002) has argued that satisfaction is derived from all aspects of employment. Job satisfaction can be split into various facets, including the level of supervision received, the organisation as an employer, career opportunities, nancial rewards, fringe benets, colleagues and the nature of the work itself (Warr, 2002). Table II outlines key job satisfaction facets as used by Quinn and Staines (1979, 2000), Warr et al. (1979) and many others. Job satisfaction is a widely used measure of an employees attitudes of overall acceptance, contentment, and enjoyment in their work. It is best understood as a summary measure building on both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and includes a consideration of available alternatives, amongst which is to leave the organisation. Lam et al. (2001) have demonstrated that low job satisfaction can result in employees

Discipline Personal mastery

Description This is the process by which employees continually clarify and deepen their personal vision, focus their energies, develop patience and develop an objective view of reality. Employees clarify what is being held as important, seek to be creative not reactive, understand their part in the whole organisation and draw motivation from identied gaps in their areas of knowledge People need a vivid picture of the organisational goals in order to achieve a sense of purpose. Shared vision is the discipline that provides the answer to the question what do we want to create? This provides a sense of commonality and gives a focus and learning framework to the organisation Mental models are the conceptual structures within the human mind that drive the cognitive processes through which an individual creates meaning and makes sense of the world in which they live. LOs require employees to change their mental models by learning and sharing them with other employees, thereby creating common understandings across different issues This encompasses the process of creating results through communication and collaboration amongst employees. The purpose of this is to align the thinking and energies of employees, to produce a collective learning that is larger than the sum of the individuals ideas This discipline acknowledges the interrelated nature of organisational systems. This means giving up the belief that the world comprises separate, unrelated forces, and focussing on systems and interdependencies and recognising the complex structures and patterns that are integral to the business process

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Shared vision

Shared mental models

Team learning

Systems thinking

Table I. Senges (1990) Fifth Discipline model

JS facet Comfort Challenge Reward Relations with co-workers Resource adequacy

Description This encompasses employees satisfaction with the working environment, the pressure they are put under and travel to work This covers employees satisfaction with the nature of the work undertaken This encompasses the employees satisfaction with their remuneration and fringe benets This covers employees satisfaction with their colleagues This encompasses employees satisfaction with the competence and adequacy of the resources provided, in four different areas: the help information and equipment available to the employee; the levels of authority and responsibility the employee experiences; the competence and helpfulness of colleagues, and the competence, helpfulness and friendliness of the employees supervisor This refers to the employees satisfaction with the opportunities that arise for promotion and the fairness of handling Table II. Job satisfaction facets

Promotion

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leaving the organisation. The voluntary turnover literature includes many models of both the determining factors and the processes involved (e.g. March and Simon, 1958; Mobley, 1977; Currivan, 1999). Most core models include two major categories of predictor variables. The rst category emphasises job attitudes such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The second category emphasises the ease of movement of the employee, reected in the evaluation of alternative employments and behaviour when searching for alternative employment. These all show perceived desirability of job satisfaction as integral to voluntary turnover (Carsten and Spector, 1987; Trevor, 2001). Although the relationship between job satisfaction and voluntary turnover is well established (Carsten and Spector, 1987), it is not a simple one, especially in the context of knowledge workers. They have substantially different expectations of their employers than ordinary workers. This stems from their ability to express their career needs, coupled with a general mistrust of employers following recent waves of organisational downsizing. Knowledge workers careers tend to be developed through self-directed learning and further education rather than from internal career or personal development schemes. Their ability to learn is fundamental in achieving and maintaining their own personal competitive advantage. This makes them more likely to be loyal to fellow professionals, contact networks and peers, rather than to their employers (Despres and Hilltrop, 1995). Hence, they have been identied as following new patterns of behaviour and having different career structures to traditional models of employment (Lee et al., 1999). These include actions such as planning to resign after a period of time and being condent of nding alternative employment (Mitchell et al., 2001). Shaffer (1987) observes that knowledge workers have a tendency to change employers often, rather than following traditional patterns of employment. It could be argued that this ease of movement is a dening feature of a knowledge worker (Boutwell, 1997) and that organisations that can provide an appropriate environment (i.e. learning organisation structures) for personal growth could reduce the propensity to leave. According to Drucker (1998) knowledge workers are motivated more by the intrinsic challenge of the work rather than nancial rewards and so learning and the utilisation of knowledge could be seen as additional facets that could be added to Table II. However, learning can also be seen as a culture (Bolman and Deal, 2003; Moynihan, 2005; Schein, 1993) which bounds all the other job satisfaction elements and which will lead to how the knowledge workers perceive the facets within their organisation. This raises the question of the extent of the relationship between traditional job satisfaction measures, learning organisation disciplines and turnover intention. This paper posits that the learning organisation disciplines will have a relationship with job satisfaction facets in ways that can affect knowledge workers propensities to leave. The following section details the study methodology. Methodology The Financial Times was used as a sampling frame to locate companies in the IT telecoms, health care and pharmaceuticals sectors. The literature indicates that these companies are likely to employ the knowledge workers whose proles are dened earlier in this paper. A random sample of 129 companies was selected using the SPSS random generator. Contacts were made with these companies through the HR

departments for their agreement to participate in the survey. Of the 129 companies approached, 20 had signalled their interest but only three IT companies operating in the UK actually participated The main reason given for the low participation rate was that the data collected was business critical. A covering letter explaining the surveys denition of the knowledge worker and assuring anonymity of the responses was sent requesting that the questionnaire be forwarded to employees meeting the criteria. In total, 148 individual responses were obtained. The respondents demographic data was compared to the UK Labour Force Survey published by the Ofce for National Statistics (ONS, 2003). The sample was determined to be representative. The instrument was designed to explore the relationship between LO disciplines and job satisfaction and the importance of job satisfaction in determining turnover intention. Section one collected respondents demographical data. Section two contained the key aspects of each of Senges learning organisation disciplines. There were six questions for each LO discipline. The 23 items in section three were adapted from an instrument rst used by the Quality of Employment survey program at the University of Michigan in 1969, 1973 and 1977 (Quinn and Staines, 1979). It was decided to use the Job Satisfaction instrument designed by Quinn and Staines as it is a widely used and validated instrument; more importantly, it has been used to measure job satisfaction in highly skilled populations (Bhuian and Menguc, 2002; Mor Barak and Levin, 2002; Kalliath et al., 2000). Respondents were asked to state how true they considered each statement. The six JS facets were all measured using a scale, measuring from Not at all true (1) to Very true (4) (Quinn and Staines, 2000, p. 16). A measure for each JS facet was obtained by taking the average of all valid responses for the questions covering that JS facet resulting in a value between 1 and 4. The overall measure of JS used is a sum-of-facets measure which is the average of all responses. Section four examined the importance each respondent gave to the job satisfaction facets in determining their turnover intent. This was also assessed using a Likert scale, from Not at all important (1) to Very important (4). Reliability tests were conducted on scales with three items or more (for example Challenge (0.6851) and Resource Adequacy (0.6678). Several scales had fewer than three items and so the reliability was assessed by checking the face validity (Ghauri and Grnhaug, 2002). In order to test for the relationship between LO disciplines and JS facets, non-parametric Spearman rank order correlation tests were used as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic was signicant for all variables indicating a violation of the assumption of normality (Pallant, 2001). Testing the importance of JS in determining TI was measured by examining the mean score of all responses. A mean value of 2.5 would indicate an even distribution of scores across the scale. In line with existing instruments a value of 3.0 for the mean score was set as the point at which the JS facet is seen as being highly important to the respondent. Findings The rst stage of the research examined the relationship between each LO discipline and each job satisfaction facet. Figure 1 gives the statistically signicant results of the Spearmans Rank Order Correlation tests between each LO discipline and each of the job satisfaction facets. Overall there are enough positive relationships to conclude that there is a relationship between the LO disciplines and the job satisfaction facets.

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Figure 1. Signicant correlations between LO disciplines and job satisfaction facets ( p , 0.05)

The second stage of the research was to explore the potential relationships between those factors linked to job satisfaction and their link to knowledge worker retention. Figure 2 depicts the relative importance of job satisfaction to turnover intention. The six job satisfaction facets measured exhibit varying degrees of importance (where the mean was 2.5 or more). However, when a relatively high threshold was taken (a mean of 3 or greater), promotion and resource adequacy failed to make the threshold, leaving comfort, challenge, reward and relations as the four remaining signicant facets. Just under half the respondents rated comfort as being a very important factor in determining turnover intention, the majority of respondents rated challenge as being very important in determining turnover intention, and almost 95 per cent of respondents regarded challenge as being somewhat or very important. No respondents rated reward as Not at all important in determining turnover intention and almost 88 per cent of respondents regarded reward as being somewhat or very important. Signicantly more respondents rate relations with co-workers as somewhat rather than very important in determining turnover intention, but few rate it below somewhat important. Almost half of the respondents rated resource adequacy as somewhat important, but more rate it as of little importance than very important. The job satisfaction facet resource adequacy is not important in determining turnover intention. Promotion was rated as somewhat important by almost half respondents, but as many rated it as less important than as rated it as more important. These results suggest comfort, challenge, reward and relations with co-workers as important facets

Figure 2. Relative importance of each JS facet in determining TI ( p value)

in determining turnover intention. Interestingly, the relationship between promotion and turnover intention is non-signicant. Of the important JS facets on turnover intention, challenge is the most important. It is positively correlated with personal mastery, shared vision, team learning and systems thinking. The element mental models is negatively correlated with comfort, which is important in determining turnover intention. Shared vision is correlated with reward, comfort and relations with co-workers, all of which are identied as important in determining turnover intention. Relations with co-workers is also correlated with team learning. As each LO discipline is found to be signicantly correlated with at least one of the job satisfaction facets important in determining turnover intention, it may be surmised that some level of relationship exists between LO disciplines and turnover intention. In the literature, employee attitudes (including organisational commitment and job satisfaction) are considered to be the main determinants of turnover intention, (Mobley, 1977; Hom and Griffeth, 1991). The higher job satisfaction and organisational commitment, the lower the likelihood of turnover intention. However, an employee may have very low job satisfaction in a particular facet and low overall job satisfaction, yet, he/she does not seek alternative employment because of the level of organisational commitment towards the company. There can be many other factors impacting the connection between turnover intention and voluntary turnover, e.g. if changing employer means moving house then an employee may not change jobs. The literature highlights many other factors impacting turnover intention, e.g. employee values and their attainment (George and Jones, 1996) and employees moods, such as emotional exhaustion (Wright and Cropanzano, 1998). These vary for each employee and highlight difculties in clearly dening the relationship between turnover intention and voluntary turnover. It is this gap that our research is partially lling by discussing each LO element and its possible impact on staff turnover. The studys ndings can help human resource managers to develop ways of reducing a knowledge workers turnover. Learning organisation elements and turnover intent Personal mastery The positive correlation between personal mastery and challenge conrms that knowledge workers need to be supported to develop their skills, work on challenging tasks and be allowed to implement new ideas. Employees with high levels of personal mastery continually learn more about their work, clarify and deepen their personal vision, focus their energies, develop patience, and develop an apparently rational view of reality (Senge, 1990). As a result, employees are motivated to understand of what is happening across the organisation, how they t into the organisation and crucially, how their work contribute to the corporate success. This is only possible with an enabling organisational structure. Personal mastery and promotion are positively correlated (albeit that promotion is not an important indicator of job satisfaction). Personal mastery includes understanding employees attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and assumptions, plus developing skills in handling group dynamics (Hacker and Roberts, 2002). Understanding this can help managers structure their promotion criteria and selection better so that employees (in particular knowledge workers), can see a

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practical link between personal effectiveness and creativity and public recognition. An important aspect for human resources (HR) is to recognise that whilst knowledge workers often work independently, they still need to be recognised for their achievements if they are to remain content. Mental models Mental models are a means by which individuals create and share meaning, thereby enabling the development of knowledge (Flood, 1999). The negative correlation with comfort is arguably the most important result, suggesting that as the level of LO discipline increases, so job satisfaction decreases and ultimately leading to increased turnover intention. This possibility may emerge as the Unfolding Model (Lee and Maurer, 1997; Lee and Mitchell, 1994; Lee et al., 1996, 1999) suggests that shocks cause employees to reconsider existing mental models and, if they no longer t, they think of quitting. However, shocks are necessary to effect change in workers mindsets which could have become inexible over time. Our nding that comfort is as one of the important JS facets in reducing turnover intention supports the possibility that as people become comfortable in a certain setting or work environment, their inherent fear of the unknown or unfamiliar leads to a natural resistance to change or new ideas. Yet creativity often arises through stimulating discussion and the ability to think outside the box which may be limited if all knowledge workers had aligned mental models (Blackman and Lee-Kelley, 2003). Thus a balance needs to be struck between enough individual comfort and maintaining the knowledge workers willingness to accept new ideas and to think creatively. Shared vision Shared vision was positively linked with each job satisfaction facet, suggesting it may be the most important LO discipline in relation to turnover intention. That is, shared vision is valued by knowledge workers, increasing their job satisfaction and, ultimately, their intention to stay. The key question is sharing with whom? It seems that knowledge workers tend to value fellow professionals, contact networks and peers above their employer (Despres and Hiltrop, 1995). As sharing creates a sense of belonging to a community (Wenger, 1998), the ability to inculcate and align vision throughout the organisation and between knowledge individuals will help reduce dissonance and turnover intention. Resource adequacy assesses four areas. Job satisfaction in the area of help, information and equipment is likely to be increased by practices encouraging employees to develop their own personal vision and align it with the company vision. In relation to perceived authority and responsibility, if the employees vision and company vision are truly aligned, the employee would be likely to be given more authority, as managers have greater trust in such employees. The perceived competence and helpfulness of colleagues and supervisors may increase if all employees share a vision, as fewer misunderstandings regarding work are likely. Moreover, increased competence of supervisors may lead to better handling of promotions, including the perceived fairness of the handling of promotions. Job satisfaction may also be boosted by the alignment of company and personal visions as sharing a vision may increase understanding of why employees are promoted and rewarded. Increased promotion opportunities may arise through

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employees sharing the company vision as they may have an advantage over external candidates. If promotion favours internal candidates, then job security may be increased, thereby increasing comfort. A company vision that employees wish to be associated with may be regarded as a fringe benet with employees experiencing pride or even an increased sense of worth when communicating the shared vision to others. However, it is also important to remember that shared vision is, in itself, a mental model (Lee-Kelley and Blackman, 2004), thus the negative correlation between mental models and comfort might also affect shared vision if knowledge workers feel a shock between their espoused vision and that of the company. Interestingly, despite being rated by some as very important in determining turnover intention, the facet reward only correlates with shared vision. The small positive correlation with comfort is most likely due to the company vision being shared with colleagues, reducing conicting demands. Alignment of the employees personal vision and company vision may make employees happier to work more as they are working towards something they too wish to achieve. Employees may willingly work longer hours or accept more work to achieve this vision, and are, therefore, less likely to feel aggrieved about their workload. Relations with co-workers may be improved as employees have something extra in common, i.e. the shared vision. Friendships may develop between employees more readily leading to a friendlier workforce. Employees sharing the company vision have a personal interest in achieving that vision. Any work to achieve that vision is likely to interest employees and the results are more likely to be visible to employees. Employees sharing the company vision may be given greater autonomy, freedom to determine how to work and opportunities to develop their own special abilities, as managers are likely to trust them more. The shared vision is likely to result in employees wanting to do things which are good for them and the company to attain the vision, which also explains why challenge resulted in the largest correlation with the shared vision discipline. This will link with the ideas outlined in personal mastery where, because the knowledge workers see their role and value within the organisations are relevant and appreciated, they will strive to improve themselves and their contribution. Team learning Team learning has the highest correlation with resource adequacy and it is possible that simply being part of a team may give some employees greater job satisfaction. In a constructive and effective team context, team-mates are more likely to be helpful, friendly and willing to share information and equipment. Teams are more likely to share authority and responsibility, thus increasing the level an individual employee experiences. As the team focuses on learning, so the competence of all team-mates should increase. Given this, it is surprising that this correlation was not larger, but it should be remembered that knowledge workers have been shown to prefer to develop their career externally rather than through employers initiatives (Despres and Hiltrop, 1995). The independent nature of knowledge workers is also reected in the low correlation with relations with co-workers. Although they value their colleagues, their personal reward does not come from being with them. For human resource managers this is important as it shows that team working may not come naturally to knowledge workers. Moreover, the relatively low correlation with challenge supports the notion

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that knowledge workers see development and learning as a personal thing. If team working is vital for project outcome this will need to be managed carefully. Systems thinking Systems thinking includes developing an understanding of the organisation as a highly interconnected system (Senge, 1990). This should enable employees to see the results of their work better, eliciting greater interest in the work. Systems thinking increases the employees capability to understand the effect of their actions on everything else (Senge, 1990). This may result in managers trusting employees more and giving them greater autonomy, freedom to decide how to work and opportunities to specialise in preferred tasks, producing greater job satisfaction. However, in the present study, this is the LO discipline that has the least apparent impact, although there is a positive correlation with promotion. The level of systems thinking of those making the promotion decisions may explain this. Managers utilising systems thinking may make better choices because of their broader and holistic views of the organisation, and the consequences and implications of their actions. Employees with a similar overview of the organisation may be more readily promoted and are perhaps better able to judge the fairness of promotions. This awareness of the system is reected in the other correlation with challenge. This implies a link between systems thinking and personal mastery; in order to attain the system understanding, an employee needs to have developed their understanding of self and others. Implications Our study results provide empirical evidence of a link between the LO disciplines and job satisfaction facets and between the job satisfaction facets and turnover intention which implies that organisations must aim to manage these elements and supports the arguments for introducing LO disciplines. Four job satisfaction facets in particular are identied as important, namely: comfort, challenge, reward and relations with co-workers. All of these are affected in one way or another by the LO elements and to reduce turnover intention, we suggest three initial strategies for HR and line managers: (1) linking shared visions, challenge and systems thinking together via personal mastery; (2) being more critical of which mental models are developed; and (3) developing team learning systems throughout the organisation. Link challenge, shared vision and systems thinking via personal mastery This study has found that knowledge workers do not view promotion as important for its own sake. Its link with personal mastery suggests that it is seen instead as a formal and public recognition for their contribution to organisational success. For HR managers this means that reward and recognition can be separated and strategies developed via LO disciplines which reect the job satisfaction facets seen as more inuential; in particular, creating the enabling structure and processes for their development. A recurring theme throughout the discussion is the need for knowledge workers to understand their role within the company, to feel their work is relevant and of value and to be recognised for what they do. As a result development systems need to be set up to support, not only the enhancement of knowledge worker skills and the

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enhancement of their specic role, but also the enhancement of the ability of the knowledge workers to maintain a holistic view of their role. Two issues will need to be considered here: rst, that the knowledge workers will need to feel ownership and involvement with the development systems being utilised if they are to adopt the learning; secondly, the development will need to extend the individuals ability to perform his/her current job. It should also stimulate lateral thinking and encourage further interest for on-going learning and personal expansion. The key to such a HR programme is to increase the propensity for knowledge workers to use their new skills and knowledge to perform their roles, make improvements and share their knowledge willingness with the organisation and other workers. Thus, we suggest that traditional appraisal and personal development systems focussed around the job description, individual targets and future roles may not be sufcient to increase knowledge workers JS and reduce TI. Following Burgess (2005) and Carrillo and Gaimon (2004), we argue that HR should look to a system that will recognise and reward knowledge acquisition, its application and impact on task performance, and knowledge sharing on organisational learning. We also suggest that the nature of the reward is important as our research shows that public recognition of skill and contribution rather than mere economic reection of measured output is likely to motivate the knowledge worker to work harder and stay longer. The results of a survey (Magnusson and Lee-Kelley, 2005) of 272 managers from knowledge-intensive rms indicate that knowledge sharing can inuence new product development and ultimately overall business performance. Hence, the practical imperative for HR is devising and implementing a system that is able to measure and appropriately recognise the intangible achievements of knowledge workers. For example, some rms have already started conducting knowledge-fairs or share-fairs to promote and reinforce a culture of sharing and learning. We encourage this approach to be used more often, perhaps as part of a company or departmental away-day. Another possibility is working lunch seminars where acknowledged in-house experts are invited to hold a short seminar on their current undertakings and suggestions for improvements. Online discussions of the suggested improvements by others are invited, and after a set period, the improvements receiving general approval are then incorporated into the organisational processes. These initiatives do not involve a nancial payment but are true recognition of workers efforts and ideas. Financial incentives may also be used to reward people for their time and contribution. Indeed, knowledge rms such as Ernst & Young and McKinsey & Company have incorporated knowledge sharing into their annual performance appraisal systems. Identify and support appropriate mental models Work on mental models has shown that they can not only enhance, but also stultify organisational effectiveness (Blackman and Lee-Kelley, 2003). Moreover, it has been shown that appropriate mental models, in the form of a clear output focused vision for the team, enable disparate teams to succeed, whilst inappropriate mental models, in the form of input focussed beliefs about the role of the team, led to team failure (Blackman and Davison, 2005). This is crucial in terms of knowledge because the way that it is conceived directly affects the way that systems and processes are developed to support and recognise it (Newell et al., 2002).

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Aligning employees mental models takes time and social interaction which inevitably competes with time for other tasks. Unless employees workloads are sensible and sensitive to the need for knowledge sharing through interaction, tasks may not t into the working day. Employees may report that they have excessive amounts of work to do. If this work requires contributions by different people then employees may experience confusion and conicting demands, thereby reducing the level of comfort job satisfaction. HR would be well advised to pay heed to the need to manage the need for comfort by employees and the need to effect change to achieve organisational goals. Thus the role for HR managers will be to try to ensure that there is alignment to a mental model and/or vision which permits exibility of input beliefs, whilst having a clear picture of the role of the knowledge worker within the organisational framework. This should reduce the potential for shock. Such a mental model can be developed and supported via the personal mastery and challenge notions outlined above. What will be fundamental for success will be for the currently held mental models to be accurately identied via the attitudes, stories and symbols displayed by the knowledge workers. Senior management will need to actively discuss what they mean by knowledge, knowledge workers and why these are so important to their organisations in order to develop boundary objects which are recognised throughout the organisation as reecting the way that knowledge is regarded by the organisation (Carlile, 2002). From these discussions organisational and departmental visions can be developed which overtly recognise the role of both knowledge itself, and the role of the knowledge worker in organisational success. Similar to corporate mission statements, an effective practice in project management is the use of project charters; the key difference being the latter requires participating stakeholders to signal their buy-in. We suggest that an organisation-wide knowledge charter may be developed in the rst instance and cascaded down to departments or functions. Individual sections may then use the organisation knowledge charter as a basis to develop their own charters that are specic and relevant to them. The department charter in turn, provides the basis for knowledge implementation strategies. These strategies should clearly include the role of the knowledge workers (this is rarely the case at present). These structures will enable managers to develop stories and images which can be used to strengthen the shared mental models and ensure the importance of knowledge is clearly embedded. Developing team learning systems There is great emphasis placed upon the role of teams within organisational structures at present. It is argued that this will support and sustain team learning (Senge, 1990; Lee-Kelley and Blackman, 2004). However, the outcomes of this study imply that knowledge workers will not automatically work well in teams and may not automatically share their ideas and knowledge. Human resource managers will need to identify the role and reason for team structures to be put in place and, if there are real reasons for needing organisational learning via teams, they will need to have team skills development as a part of on-going knowledge worker support. Moreover, the teams will need to be rewarded as teams in order to provide the need for reward, appropriate relations with co-workers and recognition identied as key job satisfaction facets reducing turnover intention. We advise that remuneration policies must reward individual and team achievements. They should be two-tiered: a xed component for

expected day-to-day performance and an achievement-based element reecting the personal mastery of individuals and teams. Therefore, to encourage knowledge sharing, continuous learning and knowledge worker retention, the performance management system must regularly recognise and reward proactive problem solving and receptiveness to new ideas and work methodologies. Annual pay reviews are no longer sufcient or appropriate for the twenty-rst-century knowledge workers. We suggest that quarterly reviews using feedback/comments by fellow team workers based on a small checklist of performance and relational criteria are more effective as the individual is able to learn from the feedback and make improvements to his/her daily tasks. Crucially, should specic skill or personal development be identied as a competency decit, then training must be made available quickly and the worker allowed time off for that. We caution however, that in practice, this is only realistic if the HR resource-management system has in place contingency cover plans. Otherwise, team members left lling the resource gap or having to wait for a member to return are likely to resist giving feedback as it will have a direct and negative impact on their own performance. This effectively cuts the continuous learning and development loop for individual and organisational benet. Conclusion This paper demonstrates that there is a relationship between the LO theory and the potential to retain knowledge workers. This can be achieved by understanding how LOs elements are related to the job satisfaction facets of comfort, challenge, reward and relations with co-workers which are important in determining turnover intention. These ndings were not surprising given the literature; however, the way they were obtained was novel. This quantitative study gives empirical evidence of the relationships investigated. It emphasises that human resource managers must recognise specic relationships between LO elements, job satisfaction facets and turnover intention as they emerge for knowledge workers. Previously, most studies have taken an overall job satisfaction measure and considered the LO as a whole; by breaking down the elements it not only provides managers with a better insight into the way the LO disciplines impact knowledge workers, but also allows better planning and management of the changes organisations will need to undergo when adopting the LO disciplines. The paper proposes three signicant strategies that human resource managers might focus upon. First, personal mastery needs to be adopted as the way to link HR strategies pertaining to challenge, sharing vision and developing holistic systems throughout the organisations. When reward and performance systems are being developed they should focus upon developing, supporting and recognising personal mastery for the knowledge workers. Second, mental models need to be actively developed and managed in a way that will support the recognition and reward of knowledge workers. The suggested applied examples enable the development of shared mental models which actively recognise the role and importance of knowledge within the organisation and act as a way of developing a culture of respect for the knowledge workers. The third strategy proposed is to actively develop the team learning systems in the face of knowledge workers predilections for working alone. HR managers are encouraged to actively plan to develop team skills if they are required, as they are less likely to emerge involuntarily.

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The paper argues that adopting such strategies should lead to increased retention of knowledge workers and their knowledge. What will be of interest is to replicate this study for other types of workers in order to establish whether there are differences in the relationships between LO disciplines and job satisfaction facets for different groups. When the specic issues of reward, mental models, comfort and challenge are reected upon for knowledge workers it seems likely that other groups will be different.
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