Managing core competencies: the impact of knowledge management on human resources practices in leading-edge organizations

Dramatic changes in organizations are occurring. A large proportion of these changes place an emphasis on the development and use of intellectual assets and the development of core competencies. The author proposes that core competencies are the result of a deliberate management strategy. In order to be supportive to this business strategy the practice of human resources management will have to undergo significant transformation. The key to this transformation consists in redefining the key concept of the job into a set of individual competencies and organizational units into core competencies architectures. Such practices have already been implemented in various sectors, and examples of the management consulting industry are used to illustrate the transformation.