Dutch Driver writes:
>I read and hear a great deal surrounding the _knowledge worker_, yet I
>have been unable to figure out what is meant by the use of this term.
>Surpisingly, or maybe not, "In the future" is the phrase that prefaces
>many of these comments.
>
>For example, "In the future, the knowledge worker will have to ___________
>in order to ____________." (fill in the blanks)
>
>1. What does the term _knowledge worker_ mean?
The term "knowledge worker" was coined by Peter Drucker. He referred to
the increasingly important role of knowledge work as early as 1959 in his
book "Landmarks for Tomorrow" (see in particular Chapter 5, The Educated
Society). Drucker has steadfastly chronicled the shift from manual to
knowledge work for many years now. His most detailed treatments of
knowledge work and knowledge workers can be found in two other of his
books: "The Age of Discontinuity" (1969) and "Management" (1973). In "The
Age of Discontinuity," he defined a knowledge worker as "the man or woman
who applies to productive work ideas, concepts, and information rather
than manual skill or brawn" (p.264). There is much more to it than that,
one key factor being that knowledge workers typically configure their
responses to a given situation instead of carrying out prefigured
routines. Perhaps the chief implication of all this is that they
literally cannot be supervised. As Dale Zand, a Columbia University
professor wrote in his book (cited below), "Knowledge work goes on in the
head, where it can't be seen." The inability to supervise knowledge
workers makes of them what I call "autonomous performers."
There are other useful sources as well. Two of the better ones include
Princeton economist Fritz Machlup's 1962 book, Production and Distribution
of Knowledge in the United States, and Dale Zand's 1981 book, Information,
Organization, and Power: Effective management in the knowledge society.
>2. Is _knowledge worker_ another of the buzzwords for a desired type of
> employee?
"Knowledge worker" is used frequently, casually, and superficially by
many, many people. It has the status of a buzzword and it is used as
such, but it has a real meaning. My guess is that not one in a hundred
who uses the term has the foggiest idea of its meaning or ramifications.
>3. Are there current examples of _knowledge workers_?
Engineers, scientists, researchers, managers, consultants, and trainers
are all knowledge workers of one kind or another. You are one, Dutch, so
am I, and so, I would guess, is just about every member of this list.
>4. How do you train/prepare people for the role of a _knowledge worker_?
That's the $64,000 question, Dutch. In "The Age of Discontinuity,"
Drucker observed that "To make knowledge work productive will be the great
management task of this century, just as to make manual work productive
was the great management task of the last century" (p. 290). In the
Sep-Oct issue of the Harvard Business Review, almost 30 years later, he
observes that progress has been abysmal.
I have been working on the task of making knowledge work productive since
1970, the year I first read "The Age of Discontinuity." I've had some
luck and made some progress but there is still a great deal left to do.
There are some discernible responses on management's part, the shift to
self-directed teams, emphasis on process instead of task, and so on, but
not much in the way of a systematic response. The shift to knowledge work
brought with it a shift in the locus of control over work and working and
management has yet to figure out what to do about it.
>5. How does one go about applying for a job as a _knowledge worker_?
Knowledge workers, really good ones, don't apply for jobs, Dutch. They
are sought out by employers anxious to have them.
If you go to the URL below, you will find a link to an article about the
autonomous performer. It will shed some more light on your questions, and
I would be happy to direct you to other resources as well.
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.html
Regards,
Fred Nickols
nickols@worldnet.att.net
--Fred Nickols <nickols@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>