The Rail industry has a long standing and distinguished record of contributing to economic and social development within Australia, and continues to be an essential infrastructure of Australia’s transport system. It also has an important influence on efficiency and competitiveness to other industries, especially those industries with an export focus such as mining and agriculture.
In the last two decades, Australia’s railway sector has undergone significant changes. Initiatives by the Commonwealth and State Governments to promote more competition and efficiency within the rail industry (Hilmer 1993) have resulted in an increase in private rail activity and a decline in government ownership and management of railways.
A consequence of the reform process has been a large scale reduction in employment within both sectors which now face significant constraints with regard to the availability of appropriately skilled and trained labour to meet its growth potential. A critical resource embedded within rail organisations is the knowledge that workers bring to work every day. Knowledge is created in people and transacted through the networks of people that they know. The downsizing and restructuring of the ARI has seen significant loss to both public and private sector organisations intellectual capital and therefore its competitive advantage.
The importance of knowledge as a source of wealth is not new. Druker suggested that knowledge is the basic economic resource (2006). Alavi and Leider claim that knowledge-based resources are usually difficult to imitate and socially complex, therefore may produce long-term sustainable competitive advantage (2001) which can be termed ‘intellectual capital’. Intellectual capital is a jointly owned set of resources that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of their social connections and can be significant in knowledge acquisition and transfer between a network of members in an organisation (Inkpen, Tsang 2005).
This study uses a social network analysis approach to determine how Australian Rail organisations, both within the private and public sector, transfer, store and ultimately utilise their intellectual capital. The intent of this study is to determine whether public and private sector organisations exhibit different characteristics in transferring knowledge to enhance organizational capabilities, and whether these differences will require a resultant shift in human resource policies and strategies.
This presentation will focus on a comparative study between the private and public sectors to further the discussion for best practices in the development and management of organisational intellectual capital. It will also look at
social network analysis as a research strategy in determining the links between and within organisations and development of intellectual capital.
Alvi, M. and Leidner, D. (2001) Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues, MIS Quarterly, 25(1):107-136
Drucker, P.F. (2006) The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done, Harper Business, UK
Hilmer (1993) Hilmer was the Chairman of the Independent Committee of Inquiry into Competition Policy in Australia and is commonly referred to as the ‘Hilmer Report’
Inkpen, A.C., and Tsang, E.W.K., (2005) ‘Social Capital, Networks and Knowledge Transfer’, Academy of Management Review, 30(1): 146-165
