Strategy scholars have argued that managing knowledge effectively can provide firms with sustainable competitive advantages. Leaders are central to the process of managing knowledge effectively. Managing knowledge includes three key processes: creating, sharing, and exploiting knowledge. Leaders are central to each of these processes at multiple levels of the firm. Examining the role of leadership in converting knowledge into competitive advantages is important to our understanding of leaders and organizations. Transformational leadership may be more effective at creating and sharing knowledge at the individual and group levels, while transactional leadership is more effective at exploiting knowledge at the organizational level. This paper begins to integrate the transformational leadership literature with the organizational knowledge literature.

One main challenge for human resource (HR) management in small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) is to balance the formal policies and the informal culture of these smaller firms. While HR formality has remained a subject of much qualitative analysis, it has not received much quantitative analysis. Using a sample of 89 Vietnamese SMEs this study tested the level of formality as a dimension of HR management. The results supported our hypotheses that firm size is positively related to HR formality, and that HR formality is positively associated with owners’ perceptions of firm performance. This study provides important research implications as well as practical implications for managers and policy makers.

Managing organizational knowledge creation and sharing effectively has become an important source of competitive advantage for firms. Peer mentoring is becoming increasingly common and may be an effective way to facilitate knowledge creation and sharing. This article provides an empirical test of the relationship between peer mentoring and knowledge creation and sharing in a high-tech software firm. Results suggested that a peer mentor training course increased perceived levels of peer mentor knowledge and skills. Results also indicated that higher perceived levels of peer mentoring were related to higher perceived levels of knowledge creation and sharing.

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Purpose-This study aims to examine the possibility of relationships between and among emotional intelligence (EI), leadership, and desirable outcomes in organizations. Design/methodology/approach-Using a sample of 2,411 manufacturing workers, engineers, and professional staff, the study empirically examined the impact of EI, as measured by Bar-On's Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQI), on organizational outcomes; the well documented ability of transformational leadership to predict those outcomes, and the relationship between EI and transformational leadership. Findings-The results confirm previous studies of the extraordinary effectiveness power of transformational leadership in predicting organizational outcomes. However, in this study no support was found for hypothesized relationships between EI and desirable outcomes or a significant relationship between EI and transformational leadership. Originality/value-EI may be a useful concept in understanding leadership and social influence; however, unlike previous studies no indication was found that EI as operationalized and measured by the EQI is of particular value in that exploration.