Knowledge Workers
TERM PAPER
OBHR-633 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
KNOWLEDGE WORKER – “THE EPITOME OF SUCCESS”
DIVYA MISHRA
PURDUE UNIVERSITY CALUMET, HAMMOND, INDIANA
Abstract
James Madison said that “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives”. Knowledge is power according to Sir Francis Bacon. It is the most important resource for the organizations to grow. The knowledge resides in the heads of knowledge workers. Knowledgeable workers are the most precious resource organizations possess. They are different from task workers and low skilled workers. Knowledge workers are selected, recruited and trained in a special manner than the non-knowledge workers. Improving the productivity of knowledge workers and retaining them is a challenge for organizations today. The research paper focuses on all the mentioned aspects of knowledge workers. The paper is written with the help of available literature on knowledge workers (from year 1994 – 2010), newspaper articles, and web articles, my opinion and experience.
Introduction
Peter Drucker was the first to coin the term, Knowledge Worker in his book “Landmarks of Tomorrow” in 1959. According to Drucker, “knowledge workers are the people who work differently from the people of industrial and agricultural age and use their head more than the muscle”. Knowledge workers are the people who are employed for their knowledge rather than their ability to perform manual labor. They perform best when empowered to perform with the highest potential and deepest skills. They are an asset rather than a cost for an organization and a nation. Knowledge is very valuable for organizational performance and by implementing human resource strategy to develop and create the knowledge, knowledge worker and retain them; a firm can understand how to create, develop, transfer knowledge and use it effectively to develop a competitive advantage.
Before jumping
OBHR-633 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
KNOWLEDGE WORKER – “THE EPITOME OF SUCCESS”
DIVYA MISHRA
PURDUE UNIVERSITY CALUMET, HAMMOND, INDIANA
Abstract
James Madison said that “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives”. Knowledge is power according to Sir Francis Bacon. It is the most important resource for the organizations to grow. The knowledge resides in the heads of knowledge workers. Knowledgeable workers are the most precious resource organizations possess. They are different from task workers and low skilled workers. Knowledge workers are selected, recruited and trained in a special manner than the non-knowledge workers. Improving the productivity of knowledge workers and retaining them is a challenge for organizations today. The research paper focuses on all the mentioned aspects of knowledge workers. The paper is written with the help of available literature on knowledge workers (from year 1994 – 2010), newspaper articles, and web articles, my opinion and experience.
Introduction
Peter Drucker was the first to coin the term, Knowledge Worker in his book “Landmarks of Tomorrow” in 1959. According to Drucker, “knowledge workers are the people who work differently from the people of industrial and agricultural age and use their head more than the muscle”. Knowledge workers are the people who are employed for their knowledge rather than their ability to perform manual labor. They perform best when empowered to perform with the highest potential and deepest skills. They are an asset rather than a cost for an organization and a nation. Knowledge is very valuable for organizational performance and by implementing human resource strategy to develop and create the knowledge, knowledge worker and retain them; a firm can understand how to create, develop, transfer knowledge and use it effectively to develop a competitive advantage.
Before jumping
References: Abdul Kadir Rosline and Norzanah Mat Nor. 2005. Managing Knowledge Workers in A Knowledge-Based Economy: The Changing Role of Human Resource Management in the Msc Status Companies, Malaysia Alison Kidd. 1994. The Marks are on the knowledge workers. Human Factors in Computing Systems. Boston. Asian Productivity Organization. 2004. Training Knowledge Workers Bindu Sridhar Bowerm. 2005. What 's in a name? The Information Worker, The Knowledge Worker and The Structured Task Worker. Retrieved April 15, 2010 from http://blogs.msdn.com/bowerm/archive/2005/01/06/347803.aspx Casimir C Davis Tan. 2002. Knowledge Workers, the New Workforce Klara Nelson, Joseph E Mary Clarke. 2009. The importance of knowledge development in a recession. Retrieved April 11, 2010 from http://www.knowledgeboard.com/item/3002 M.S Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2006. Human resource management “Gaining a competitive advantage”. Norzanah Mat Nor. 2004. Managing Knowledge Workers: A Study of Multimedia Super Corridor’s Status Companies in Malaysia. Cardiff Business School, Wales UK. Olivier Serrat. 2008. Managing Knowledge Workers. Richard L. Jayne. 2006. Knowledge Worker: Human Resource Strategy to Achieve a Competitive Advantage. St Thomas H. Davenport. 2005. Thinking for a living. Boston: Harvard Business School. Thomas H. Davenport . 1995. Improving knowledge worker performance. Tom Davenport. 2005. The Importance of Knowledge Workers in a Global Economy. . Retrieved April 11, 2010 from http://www.babsonknowledge.org/2005/11/the_importance_of_knowledge_wo.htm Uwe M Culture, Job Design, and Recruitment Policy. Retrieved April 8, 2010 from http://www.wdc-econdev.com/the-recruitment-policy.html Definition of Training retrieved April 5, 2010 from http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/Training.html Definition of Knowledge Management retrieved April 7, 2010 from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/knowledge-management.html