Dutch Driver posted an inquiry about knowledge workers to
several lists. I responded to his posting on the TRDEV list
and I am passing it along to the MG-ED and ODCNET lists as
well. My comments are inserted in Dutch's original post.
Dutch 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)
>
>So, I have a few questions.
>
>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. This 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 origins, 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
latest 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-managed team, 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. (This is admittedly a partly facetious remark.)
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