Since the initial works of Polanyi (Polanyi 1966), the question of creation and diffusion of knowledge appears as a progressively major issue for organizations.  Today, organizational strategies seem to be based on the degree of transmission of internal knowledge.  Knowledge is more and more considered as a strategic asset for organizations, in order to assure a competitive advantage on long term (Dryden and Vos 1999).  The management of this resource is called Knowledge Management (KM).  The valorisation of individual knowledge at an organizational level can only exist with management that allows the following:  promoting the sharing knowledge, enabling the creation of knowledge and the intra-organizational learning (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995; Gupta and Govindarajan 2000; Gupta and Govindarajan 2000). 

  The main models of KM underline the importance of technology.  In organizations, knowledge management is usually embodied by the in implementation of intranets, databases, or tools which assist in the decision making process (Ruggles 1998).  Nevertheless, several scholars acknowledge that technology no longer seems to be a sufficient element to guarantee the efficiency of a knowledge management program; the human aspect is a major issue to consider and to integrate in the reflection of said programs (Soliman and Spooner 2000; Scarbrough and Carter 2003; Oltra 2005).  Therefore, human resources could be a way to support knowledge management within organizations (Alavi and Leidner 2001).  The “harder” side of a KM program is the IT tools which have been largely developed, whereas the “softer” side is the one related to the issues having to do with people which to date has been relatively poorly integrated. Thus, in order to support and to improve the processes of creation, storage, transfer and application of knowledge, human resources management (HRM) practices and tools should be taken into account. More specifically, a literature review assumes that performance appraisals are a critical practice which could impact on the effectiveness of KM (Yahya and Goh 2002; Oltra 2005). We align ourselves with such a perspective, and in this paper seek to analyze the connexion between appraisal tools and the implementation of KM program.

This communication aims to explore how HRM practices and tools integrate knowledge management.  To demonstrate this we will use the following steps: (I) a discussion of the theoretical background on knowledge and knowledge management, (II) as well as a presenting the methodology used and the results obtained by the empirical study.  Firstly, the need for using HRM practices will be made evident, particularly in performance appraisals, in order to support knowledge management projects through the results of a qualitative exploratory study conducted with chief knowledge officer (Bourdon, Vitari et al. 2003). Concurrently, the identification of the degrees of formalization of knowledge management in appraisal tools will be made. The analysis is exploratory and the conclusion does suggest that there be future researches and reflections on the topic at hand.