Hansen, Nohria, and Tiemey (1999) identify some important interrelationships between HRM and KM. In essence they assert that there are fundamentally two KM strategies: codification and personalisation. Codification is where 'knowledge is carefully codified and stored in databases where it can be accessed and used readily by anyone in the company.' Conversely, personalisation is where 'knowledge is closely tied to the person who developed it and is shared mainly through direct person-to-person contacts' (Hansen et al., 1999, p. 107). The two knowledge management strategies require different incentive systems. In the codification model, managers need to develop a system that encourages people to record and submit information to the electronic repository. In contrast, companies following the personalisation approach need to reward people for sharing knowledge directly with others.

Indeed, the lack of concern with people in the KM literature is reminiscent of early approaches to Business Process Reengineering (BPR), which ignored the centrality of people to the acceptance of change programmes (Swan et al., 2000).

Developing personalised approaches demands the support of appropriate HRM mechanisms to ensure a culture within which people freely communicate and exchange information in return for reciprocal gestures from their colleagues. The HRM function has a central role to play in the development of such an open knowledge-sharing environment within large organisations, because it can help to create the cultural framework necessary for communities of practice to develop within them. The challenge for the construction industry, however, is to identify the HRM approaches which support knowledge sharing within its dynamic workplace environment.

Construction projects, being characterised by short-term involvement and specialist functional roles, present an extremely challenging context for exchanging knowledge, as information must flow across both project and professional interfaces (Loosemore, Dainty, & Lingard, 2003; Emmitt & Gorse, 2003). In order to explore ways of ensuring the exchange of knowledge between employees in a way that promotes inter-project learning, this chapter now explores how this can be achieved by exploring the techniques used within a large construction organisation.