The Forthcoming Generational Workforce Transition and Rethinking Organizational Knowledge Transfer

Abstract

Organizational leaders currently face a multitude of workforce succession challenges. In order to prepare for the imminent withdrawal of experienced personnel, workforce planning strategies should direct resources toward successful tacit knowledge transfer outcomes to avoid a potential knowledge vacuum while viewing the implementation process through an intergenerational lens. Effective knowledge transfer strategies remain elusive in many organizations, and it may be due to a lack of understanding the complex social-cognitive nature of the intergenerational workforce. This article will highlight the need to rethink tacit knowledge transfer through understanding the characteristics of social cognition within the intergenerational workforce.

Keywords:

• tacit knowledge
• knowledge transfer
• intergenerational workforce
• social cognitive theory
• workforce succession planning