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Cabrera, 2005), identified a number of HR-related factors which are said to
promote knowledge sharing, as follows:

• Work designs that encourage collaboration among employees, interdepen-
dency and cross-functional interactions.
• Selection of employees driven by person–organization fit and the assessment
of communication skills.
• Extensive training programmes geared towards increasing participant self-
efficacy and developing team-work skills.
• Formalized orientation and socialization programmes, as well as more informal
communities of practice and social events.
• Developmental performance appraisals that recognize knowledge-sharing
behaviours.
• Incentive programmes that reward effective knowledge sharing and emphasize
intrinsic rewards.
• Group and fi rm-based compensation systems.

As this example indicates, however, it is by no means clear how all these different
practices will interact or whether they are mutually consistent. One example here
is the tension between emphasizing ‘extrinsic’ rewards such as pay and promotion,
over the ‘intrinsic’ rewards which have to do with the fulfilment that comes from
the nature of the work itself. Thus, in the above list we can note the possible contra-
diction of rewarding knowledge sharing through incentives, yet also emphasizing
‘intrinsic rewards’, such as job satisfaction. Putting a financial value on knowledge
sharing risks reducing its intrinsic value as something which gives workers a sense
of fulfillment and recognition in their work. There is a significant body of research
which suggests that tying individuals to a formal contract to do a particular task
significantly affects the motivation which they bring to that task. Their approach
becomes more narrowly instrumental and less influenced by their intrinsic interest
in the task. The creativity they bring to it is greatly reduced (Amabile et al., 1996).
In the same vein, it does not follow that the HRM practices which promote
knowledge sharing amongst employees will necessarily help to motivate key
groups of sometimes highly individualistic knowledge workers. Such groups
often rightly see their expertise as their best guarantee of future rewards and
job security. They are unlikely to see ‘sharing’ it with others as serving their best
interests. These kind of problems leave managers with the problem of selecting
which of a range of ‘best practices’ is actually the best for a particular situation.

Best-fit approach
In response to the limitations of best-practice approaches, some studies have
attempted to develop a more tailored approach which focuses on finding the
‘best fit’ between HR practices and a particular organization’s needs. Unlike
the best-practice idea, this approach suggests that there is no ‘one best way’ to

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