Retaining Talent in Knowledge Intensive Organizations

• Main Authors: Gerges, David, Sonander, Magnus
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Ekonomiska institutionen 2004
• Subjects: Business and economics; Knowledge Intensive Organizations; Knowledge Workers; Identity; Retention; Voluntary Employee Turnover; AstraZeneca; Ekonomi
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2134

Background: Recruitment and development of employees is a large burden for companies in most industries. Because of this, there is a clear organizational imperative to attract and retain knowledge workers since these constitute an important resource, especially for knowledge intensive organizations. A decisive factor for success is thus to retain and develop this vital resource in order to upgrade and sustain competitive advantage. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what internal determinants and structures might be needed for knowledge intensive organizations to ensure their long-term provision of key human resources. Practical Approach: In total ten interviews, with interviewees at different levels in the organization, have been conducted. Furthermore, other forms of secondary empirical material of both qualitative and quantitative character have been used. Results: It is important for an organization to attempt to create a consistent and durable identity in order to influence the image held by its different stakeholders. We have found that researchers seem to value working in interesting projects. This argument coincides with the conviction that researchers are actually more committed to interesting research than to the employing organization.