6.4.2 The individual as a capital resource
The fact that humans have had a capacity to contribute knowledge that leads to organisational performance is certainly nothing new. However, only recently has effort extended to systematically manage individual capabilities as part of an overall organisational knowledge value equation. This does not mean effort had not previously occurred. Large salaries that executives are paid in companies are evidence that they as individuals are seen as a capital knowledge resource for the organisation. Management executives have always had the opportunity to sell not only their skills but also their capabilities to use acquired knowledge and experience. Those at top levels in the company are often employed not so much for specific skills, knowledge or expertise in the company's area of business but for their ability to see opportunities. Knowledge as an identifiable and measurable trait has been linked to education. It is true that Masters of Business Administration (MBAs) and postgraduate education has been seen to contribute a generalised knowledge component that has enhanced performance of managers within organisations. There has been identification that education does not supply the general and specific experiential knowledge that allows education to become applicable. The dynamic must therefore be to move beyond providing and measuring traditional educational achievement to specific enterprise contexts to actually identify education as a capital resource in a knowledge based organisation.