Managing Professions for Knowledge Management

In the last years, Knowledge Management (KM) studies have focused on the foundations of this “new managerial discipline”. Today, there is an increasing need to transform the theoretical speculations into managerial tools, and to find solutions to practical questions concerning daily KM activity. A key issue that still requires investigation regards the management of human resources devoted to KM. The paper analyzes this topic by means of an in-depth investigation of the relevant experience of some leading companies. In particular it examines the problem of managing new roles and tasks for KM, the issue of developing structured KM units, and the question of evaluating KM activities. A discussion of the possible implications for research and management is carried out in the conclusion. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1601-1.ch053