Knowledge Gains and Losses to Organizational Resilience, from Intellectual Capital

Abstract

Understood that knowledge loss is an imminent risk to organizations as it occurs when employees with valuable knowledge leave the organization, when there are problems with codified knowledge or when the organization does not properly manage knowledge. In this context, organizational resilience can be affected, since intangible resources enable organizational responses to the unexpected. Considering that the aspects that generate losses can be common to organizations, it is also important to identify what are the possible gains that the system has, as a result of these situations. Thus, the objective of this article is to understand the state of the art under knowledge loss in the context of organizational resilience and to identify the possible gains arising from these critical situations. As a proposal, a classification according to the concept of Intellectual Capital based on the three main dimensions: Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital. Thus, a literature review was carried out in order to identify the impacts of the loss of knowledge on resilient responses, as well as the gains for the organizational system. This theoretical study aimed to contribute to the scientific advancement of knowledge loss, to the advancement of organizational resilience aspects, as well as to Intellectual Capital. Also, it was proposed to advance in the understanding of knowledge gains, since regular aspects to organizations such as turnover, waste of knowledge, low volume of specialists and absences from work generate risks to critical knowledge. These, in turn, affect the resilience and structures of the IC. Presenting knowledge vulnerabilities makes it possible to identify possible positive impacts, in order to ensure proper knowledge management, in favor of organizational resilience and its sustainability. As a result, the study showed that the loss of knowledge is mainly from Human Capital, however there are direct and positive impacts on the structural and relational capital of the organization, as loss mitigation strategies lead to strategies for strengthening relationships and internal improvements in its structure. Furthermore, the creation of unlearning and organizational learning environments can contribute to the resilience of the system.