Utilising human capital as an organisational asset

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to determine the awareness level of knowledge sharing amongst the employees of Sasol, to determine how Sasol utilises human capital in the company and to identify and analyse the methods of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. The literature review distinguishes between explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge leads a company to codify while tacit knowledge leads to connecting people. The literature study also covers the utilisation of human capital and identifies methods of knowledge sharing and -transfer, namely legacy pages, expert location systems, buddy systems, post-retirement agreements, identification of successors, After Action Reviews, interviews, observation, protocol analysis, teach backs, story writing and storytelling, and process mapping. The literature study forms the foundation for the formulation and designing of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed amongst the employees of two of Sasol's divisions in order to obtain data about the utilisation of human capital in Sasol and to identify and analyse the current and preferred methods to capture and share tacit knowledge and skills. The data obtained from the questionnaires was processed, analysed and interpreted. Conclusions were drawn, linking the literature review and the results obtained from the empirical study. Based on these conclusions, recommendations were made.