Using knowledge in your business isn't necessarily about thinking up clever new products and services, or devising ingenious new ways of selling them. It's much more straightforward. Your understanding of what customers want, combined with your employees' know-how, can be regarded as your knowledge base.
Using this knowledge in the right way can help you run your business more efficiently, decrease business risks and exploit opportunities to the full. This is known as the knowledge advantage. Consider the measurable benefits of capturing and using knowledge more effectively. The following are all possible outcomes:. In order to manage the collection and exploitation of knowledge in your business, you should try to build a culture in which knowledge is valued across your business.
One way to do this might be to offer incentives to staff who supply useful market news or suggest ways customers can be better served. You can use these knowledge management practices throughout your organisation to build better processes. As part of your knowledge management, you should also make sure that any intellectual property that your business holds is protected.
This means that you have the right to stop competitors from copying it - and also allows you to profit by licensing your business' knowledge. Protecting and exploiting your knowledge base will be more effective if you develop efficient systems for storing and retrieving information. Your files - whether stored digitally or on paper - contain knowledge that you can use to make your products, services, systems and processes better and more customer-focused.
Keep knowledge confidential. Your employment policies play a central role in this. For example, you might get staff to sign non-disclosure agreements also known as confidentiality agreements when they join the business as this ensures that they understand the importance of confidentiality from day one. Employment contracts can be written to reasonably limit your employees' freedom to quit and work immediately for one of your rivals restraint of trade clauses or set up a competing business to yours in the vicinity restrictive covenants.
It's essential to avoid important knowledge or skills being held by only a few people, because if they leave or retire that expertise could be lost to your business. If you have efficient ways of sharing knowledge across the business, it will be more widely used and its value and effectiveness are likely to be maximised.
Consider the best ways of sharing new ideas and information with your staff. You may already have regular meetings when you can brief employees and ask them to share ideas and best practice. You could consider holding innovation workshops or brainstorming sessions at which staff are given the freedom and encouragement to think of ways in which the business could improve.
It can also be a good idea to create a knowledge bank containing useful information and instructions on how to carry out key tasks.
Putting this on an intranet is ideal as it will encourage staff to post news or suggestions. Technology alone isn't the answer to sharing knowledge - it has to be managed carefully so that information is channelled properly. You may decide to appoint a senior manager as knowledge champion for your business. See the page in this guide on how to make knowledge central to your business. Remember that offering staff incentives to come up with suggestions for how the business can be improved is often an effective way of getting them to use and share knowledge.
Don't forget the importance of training in spreading key knowledge, skills and best practice across your business. If you want to get the most from your business' knowledge, you need to take a strategic approach to discovering, collating and sharing it.
This is done via a knowledge strategy - a set of written guidelines to be applied across the business. If your strategy is to be effective, you must make sure your senior managers are committed to it and are fully aware of the benefits it can bring.
Discuss with them the best ways of collecting and using knowledge. For more information see the page in this guide on how to make knowledge central to your business. You should also identify the value of knowledge to your business.
Think of ways you could exploit your knowledge for financial gain - perhaps by gaining a larger market share, developing new products, or selling or licensing your protected intellectual property to others. Ensure this fits in with your overall business plan. Information technology offers powerful tools to help you gain and make the best use of knowledge.
Some of the systems can be complex to set up and time-consuming to maintain. You need to choose systems that fit with your business and that will improve it without becoming a burden. You may find it useful to consult an IT specialist. As well, the scientific research did not support the company's concerns. The tribunal noted that any woman who knows she is pregnant, or who intends to become pregnant, could be transferred from this section until after she has given birth.
Having a clearly defined job description and an understanding of the essential requirements of the job provides a solid basis for designing rules and standards, providing accommodation, assessing the performance of applicants and employees, and making decisions on hiring, promotions, discipline and termination.
Organizations that have not defined the essential duties of a position, provided required accommodation and individually assessed ability to perform the essential duties will have difficulty defending themselves if a human rights complaint is filed.
This is because section 17 of the Code says that the right to equal treatment is not infringed when a person is treated differently because she or he is incapable of carrying out the essential duties or requirements of the position because of disability, after the person has been accommodated short of undue hardship.
The employee has a duty to co-operate with the employer in investigating options for accommodation. Employers are expected to re-assign non-essential tasks and to accommodate to the point of undue hardship related to the essential duties of the position.
If, after being accommodated to the point of undue hardship, the person still cannot meet the essential requirements, it is not discriminatory for the employee to be re-assigned to another position that better meets his or her accommodation needs. A job may contain many elements, some of which are essential to doing the job, and others that are ideal or preferable, but not essential.
The best practice is to list essential duties in a job description, and clearly state them when advertising the job. When developing a job description, it is prudent to consider the necessary or essential physical requirements, including physical demands, and provide this information to job applicants.
The essential requirements must be determined objectively and not be designed to avoid the principles contained in the Code. Employers should be able to show why a certain task is either essential or non-essential to a job. With time, a job can change. This may result in adding new responsibilities that may be either essential or non-essential.
When preparing for a hiring process, an employer may consider the following questions:. This, combined with other stresses, can lead to disabilities or heighten the need for major Code -related accommodations that could have been avoided in other circumstances.
Example: An employee, whose mother is in a long-term care home, has difficulty balancing her care-giving responsibilities with her job. She has little control over her work tasks and is constantly being given rush assignments at the end of the day.
Almost daily, she works a full day, goes to visit her mother and then works from home until late in the evening to finish her task assignments for the next day. The employee is a top performer but feels that her contributions are not valued and that she is not meeting expectations. She becomes increasingly stressed by the rising workload and lack of accommodation.
This is magnified by the total absence of recognition or appreciation. She goes off on an extended sick leave. Research summarized by Mental Health Works shows that excessive stress may arise in jobs with the following work conditions: [40].
This section shows requirements that could lead to discrimination claims, and that should not be included in a hiring process without careful thought:. Functional fitness assessments: Applicants should not have to undergo a fitness assessment unless:. Testing and simulations: Any tests and simulations should be reasonable and bona fide to be reliable indicators of job performance. For example, psychometric and psychological testing may favour the dominant culture.
A written test for a job that does not need writing skills may screen out persons who speak English or French as a second language. Non-essential physical demands: No matter what the job, every job has a physical aspect to it. Activity may range from something sedentary, like sitting at a desk and looking at a computer screen, to something very physically active, like driving a delivery truck and lifting heavy packages.
Physical demands that are not essential should not be included in a job description or used as a basis for evaluating applicants. Example: A company is looking for computer salespersons.
The job description states that the person who fills the position must be able to lift 20 kilograms, the weight of the computers and related equipment. If the person is being hired as a computer salesperson, knowledge of computers and information technology is essential, but the ability to lift and deliver computers would likely not be essential and should not be included in the job description or used to screen out applicants.
This could allow the employer to assess applicants according to a prohibited ground of discrimination. Employers should identify the jobs where driving is an essential requirement and make sure this is included in the job description. Language and fluency: A job description that requires a certain level of fluency in English or any another language, or prohibits an accent, may be discriminatory if these are not bona fide requirements for performing the job.
When an employer identifies "proficiency" in a language as a requirement, it must be reasonable and bona fide. It must meet the test set out above. The requirement must focus on the particular language needed in the job, and not on the place of origin, ancestry, ethnic origin or race of candidates for the job. Example: An immigrant settlement agency that serves persons from South Asian countries needs support workers. Earning either required or preferred licenses, accreditations and certifications may be applicable for highly technical fields, including architects, computer programmers, nurses, doctors and engineers.
Specific knowledge is the information a candidate needs to know that cannot be included in other categories. Specific knowledge is often highly specialized and is developed through extensive research, practical experience and personal curiosity.
For example, a repair shop might specify that they are looking for a mechanic who is an expert on hybrid vehicles. Many job listings include specific knowledge, but it is especially common in highly technical fields like engineering, design and research. Personality traits and attributes describe the kind of person who is best suited for the position and the company.
Including traits and attributes in a job listing highlight elements of the working environment, corporate culture and team dynamic and help employers find candidates who are likely to get along with team members and management and have personalities that align with the company's values. These qualities may include passion, dedication, teamwork, interest in learning new things, attention to detail and creativity.
Some job postings specify that candidates must be bilingual or have a specific level of proficiency in a language. This requirement is particularly common if the position involves working with an international population.
Most job listings include what physical activities candidates are expected to be able to accomplish with or without accommodations. These can include standing or sitting for long periods of time, bending or twisting and how much you are expected to be able to lift. These are so applicants can determine if they can do the work with reasonable changes to the work environment. When you are reviewing job listings, it is best to ensure you meet the requirements so you can improve your chances of earning an interview.
Here is how you can determine if you meet the job requirements:. Review the job listing carefully, and identify requirements that use "should" or "must" in their phrasing, which often indicates the employer is requiring them. Create a checklist of keywords that reveal the minimum level of experience, type of experience, training qualifications and education. If applicable to your field, also list the licenses and certificates. If the role is highly technical or physical or works with an international population, be sure to include the special knowledge, physical abilities and languages in your list as well.
Depending on the structure of the job listing, you may be able to find some qualifications the employer would like to have in a candidate but are not requiring them. Some listings may use "or" when listing preferred requirements such as optional types of experience and education. Others may directly say that a qualification is "preferred but not required. Though an employee's personality is very important, consider placing these elements in the third level of your qualifications checklist.
This can help you first focus on the job-specific requirements when creating your resume and cover letter. Some listings may also write that their company is "looking for a candidate with Mark which requirements on the list you meet. Sometimes, educational requirements can be replaced with significant experience in the field because you would have learned the information while you worked, but education commensurate with experience is typically listed in the job description if that is the case.
You are likely qualified for the position if you meet most of the requirements, especially if you have the education, experience and special knowledge. For the few requirements you do not meet, consider if you have any additional qualifications that are similar or that match the preferred requirements. Highlighting those on your resume and in your cover letter may help the hiring manager more easily determine how closely you match the overall qualifications.
After determining how likely you are to be able to complete the core responsibilities, be sure to also compare the type of personality they're looking for to your own. Review your resume summary or objective to identify what traits you typically highlight and consider revising that element to address some character trait keywords on your checklist.
This step can help the hiring manager quickly understand how your personality can fit in at their company.
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