In a survey of 260 CEOs and directors in European multinational organisations, 94 per cent of respondents said people should share what they knew with others in the organisation (Calantone et al). But research suggests that some people have difficulty sharing knowledge and that it is often an unnatural process (Davenport and Prusak).

This debate informs our three-year study aimed at gaining understanding of the career progress of a small number of trainee HR professionals. In-depth interviews are being held annually with five professionals and their managers. In the first round of interviews in 2005, all of the professionals were in their final year of study for the CIPD qualification, and in the second round in 2006 they had completed their studies. Two participants worked in the public sector, two in multinational service organisations and one in manufacturing.