Just in Time

The concept of “knowledge management” gained momentum about 20 years ago, when companies shed people to reduce costs.  In shedding those workers, the long-standing model of apprenticeship-type accumulation of knowledge, with heavy supervision and little independence for new employees, changed.  The new model is a variation of just-in-time hiring and expecting that new hire to “hit the ground running”.  The knowledge that this new hire brings to the company is expected to be enough.  But businesses realised that while a new hire brought knowledge, it wasn’t necessarily a direct fit into their business puzzle.  Better technical onboarding should fix that.