Using T2-Capability Profile Modelling to Anticipate Change and Development: Bridging the Industry and Higher Education Views

Abstract

Organizations depend on the capabilities their members possess to survive and succeed in the highly competitive operating environment. Typically, capability or competence profiles have been created cross-sectionally, serving the current needs of the organization, whilst the Knowledge (KM) and Human Resource Management (HRM) also need to be future-oriented, addressing the emerging needs for new capabilities in an anticipatory manner. The development of capability profiles has moved from I-shaped models stressing the need for deep professional special knowledge to T-shaped models where the emphasis is adding horizontal knowledge capabilities (about business processes and additional knowledge areas) to balance the deep vertical specialization to specific occupational areas. In an ECKM (European Conference on Knowledge Management) conference paper in 2022, a new model called T2-model was introduced on a conceptual level (Saukkonen & Kreus, 2022). The development step to earlier T-shaped capability models was the addition of a second horizontal layer on top of combinatory capabilities – thus the name of T2. The lower horizontal layer contains business-specific items (like supply chain management, quality, or project management) where advanced knowledge is needed. The higher horizontal layer contains items of phenomena where a basic level of knowledge is needed (e.g., financial literacy, AI principles, sustainability). In the experimental research design, capability profiles were created for selected professional positions. The capability profiles were created by both business professionals (individuals currently having or managing the profession in question) and higher education professionals (who educate undergraduates and graduates to the industry and function studied). The respondents filled into the visualized T2-model the skills preselected from earlier literature to relevant and were also able to add the skills they felt were missing in the original list of skills for the profession in question. The results give early proof-of-concept of the viability of T2-model as a method of bridging both HRM and KM within organizations as well as University-Industry views on the knowledge items and levels needed for the future. Furthermore, the results give a basis for the knowledge anticipation process. The paper elaborates on a new model for anticipation of knowledge and offers a process that organizations can use in designing their HRM and Knowledge Management. Using T2-model may offer an improved integration to other areas of planning such as technology development and strategic change.