Knowledge workers

Extracted Attributes

• Originator

  Peter Drucker

• Key AI Trend

  Work intensification via AI acceleration

• Primary Capital

  Knowledge and expertise

• Security Concern

  Data security in cloud-based AI models leading to on-premise adoption

• UK Workforce Share

  Approximately 50% of the total workforce

• Professional Examples

  ICT professionals, physicians, architects, engineers, scientists, lawyers, and academics

• Estimated European Population

  80,000,000 workers

Timeline

• Peter Drucker first introduces the concept of knowledge work. (Source: CIPD / ScienceDirect)

  1959-01-01

• Peter Drucker publishes 'The Age of Discontinuity', establishing knowledge as the basic economic resource. (Source: ScienceDirect)

  1969-01-01

• Charles Savage defines the Knowledge Age as the third wave of wealth creation following the Agricultural and Industrial Ages. (Source: Milliken)

  1995-01-01

• Drucker identifies knowledge worker productivity as the greatest management challenge of the 21st century. (Source: ScienceDirect)

  1999-01-01

• Palmer conducts research into knowledge worker productivity and the navigation of unstructured processes. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2014-01-01

• Loo develops a conceptual framework to analyze creative knowledge work based on data from England, Japan, and Singapore. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2017-01-01

• The All-In Podcast discusses UC Berkeley research indicating that AI acceleration is intensifying knowledge work rather than replacing it. (Source: All-In Podcast)

  2024-02-11

Knowledge worker

Knowledge worker is a worker whose main capital is their knowledge and expertise. Examples of such professionals include ICT professionals, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, mathematicians, scientists, designers, public accountants, lawyers, librarians, archivists, editors, and academics, whose job is to "think for a living".

Web Search Results

• What is a Knowledge Worker? | IBM

  Knowledge workers are an essential part of the evolving digital workplace. You can find them playing the role of a department leader with extensive institutional knowledge or acting as a subject matter expert called in to consult on a specific business challenge. The agility and adaptability of knowledge workers can help organizations foster collaboration and quickly respond to changes and challenges, from technological advances to major global events. [...] ## What is a knowledge worker? A knowledge worker is a professional who generates value for the organization with their expertise, critical thinking and interpersonal skills. They’re often tasked with developing new products or services, problem-solving, or creating strategies and action plans that will drive better business outcomes. Knowledge workers have formal training or significant experience, are skilled communicators and can learn and adapt to a shifting work environment. [...] Business operations # What is a knowledge worker and what do they do? ## Author IBM Education IBM Education Knowledge workers, typically those with advanced training and years of experience, have become a valuable asset for companies worldwide. Businesses lean on these people who “think for a living” to drive innovation, solve problems and manage personnel. Yet, empowering knowledge workers to stay productive can be a constant challenge. Too often, these skilled workers get bogged down in managing day-to-day tasks or the bureaucracy of the business, leaving less time for creative thinking. When knowledge workers leave the company, businesses face another challenge—finding a way to document, share and retain their knowledge to extend its benefits throughout the company.

• Knowledge worker

  Loo (2017) investigates how a particular group - creative knowledge workers – carries out their jobs and learns within it. Using empirical data from advertising and software development in England, Japan and Singapore, it develops a new conceptual framework to analyse the complexities of creative knowledge work. The framework draws from four disciplines of business and management, economics, sociology and psychology. Focusing uniquely on the human element of working in the knowledge economy, Loo explores the real world of how people work in this emerging phenomenon and examines the relationships between knowledge and creative dimensions to provide new frameworks for learning and working. This research identified three levels of creative knowledge applications. They relate to [...] Mosco and McKercher (2007) outline various viewpoints on the matter. They first point to the most narrow and defined definition of knowledge work, such as Florida's view of it as specifically, "the direct manipulation of symbols to create an original knowledge product, or to add obvious value to an existing one", which limits the definition of knowledge work to mainly creative work. They then contrast this view of knowledge work with the notably broader view which includes the handling and distribution of information, arguing that workers who play a role in the handling and distribution of information add real value to the field, despite not necessarily contributing a creative element. Thirdly, one might consider a definition of knowledge work which includes, "all workers involved in the [...] Palmer (2014) researched knowledge worker productivity and work patterns. Part of this research has involved the analysis of how an average knowledge worker spends their day. He notes that effective and efficient knowledge work relies on the smooth navigation of unstructured processes and the elaboration of custom and one-off procedures. "As we move to the 21st century business model, the focus must be on equipping knowledge workers with tools and infrastructure that enable communication and information sharing, such as networking, e-mail, content management and increasingly, social media." Palmer points to the emergence of Adaptive Case Management (also known as Dynamic or Advanced case management) representing the paradigm shift triggered by the appearance from adapting business

• Knowledge Worker - an overview

  It was Drucker (1999) who coined the term ‘knowledge worker’. This influential management writer spearheaded a decade of discussion on the role of the knowledge worker within the knowledge economy. Today, knowledge workers need an array of skills at their fingertips to enable them to use the tangible and intangible elements all around them. The knowledge worker is essentially a key player at the heart of effective organisational performance, and as such should make best possible use of all the routes and technological tools at his or her disposal. In a world where work involves interacting in the physical and virtual space, keeping pace with the latest developments can be stressful and knowledge workers may find themselves out of kilter in terms of the work-life balance or mind and body [...] ### 3.4.Transforming employees to knowledge workers Peter Drucker first coined the term “knowledge worker” in 1960s. His book announces that we are entering “the knowledge society”, in which “the basic economic resource” is no longer capital, or natural resources, or labor, but “is and will be knowledge”. Included in his definition of knowledge worker is a knowledge executive who knows how to allocate knowledge to productive use, just as the capitalist knew how to allocate capital to productive use. Unlike employees under capitalism they own both the “means of production” and the tools of “production”. Making knowledge worker productive would be one of the greatest management challenges of the 21st century. [...] Management guru Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” in his 1969 book, The Age of Discontinuity.1 Although knowledge workers were differentiated from manual workers at that time, Drucker concluded that new industries would primarily employ knowledge workers and that in the information-based economy the role of the knowledge worker would be at the heart of all organizations. When we accelerate and fast-forward to today, the terms “knowledge worker” and “manual worker” are no longer mutually exclusive.2 People loading product onto rail cars certainly work with their hands, but they may also contribute knowledge to the business. Toffler3 observed that typical knowledge workers in the age of knowledge economy must have some automated system at their disposal to create, process,

• [PDF] Knowledge Work Performance: An Evidence Review - Practice ...

  Building on this, researchers have recently differentiated knowledge work from information work.6 According to this view, information workers disseminate or make use of knowledge that already exists – for example, trainers and customer service workers. On the other hand, knowledge workers create knowledge through complex cognitive activities – for example, scientific researchers. Much research on knowledge work doesn’t distinguish it from information work, but it’s often possible to see the focus from descriptions, or the outcomes investigated. For example, if work results in innovation, it is clearly genuine knowledge work. In this report, in line with the varied body of research, we take a broad definition of knowledge workers and explore factors that contribute to effective knowledge [...] Definitions The term ‘knowledge work’ was coined by Peter Drucker in the 1950s.3 Knowledge workers create value by creating or using knowledge and understanding – they think for a living, rather than carrying out physical labour. Since Drucker’s description, many authors have developed more detailed definitions and categories of knowledge work. One approach has been to focus on the degree of collaboration required in a job.4 For example, librarians are quite independent in their work, whereas surgeons’ performance depends to a large extent on collaboration within their teams. Others have looked at how complex work is, separating jobs focused on rudimentary tasks that rely on set procedures and training (for example, many call centre jobs), from those that involve greater interpretation [...] Publication information This practice summary and the accompanying scientific summary are freely available from www.cipd.co.uk/evidence-knowledge-work Introduction Knowledge work performance: an evidence review 2 Introduction Knowledge work is an essential part of the modern economy. By definition, knowledge workers create value by creating or using knowledge and understanding – they think for a living, rather than carrying out physical labour. Nearly 80 million Europeans are estimated to work in knowledge-intensive jobs.1 Following Germany, the UK has the second highest proportion of knowledge workers in Europe: roughly half of the total British workforce.2 The intensive growth of knowledge workers was a consequence of a shift from manual to knowledge-driven production that took place in

• The Emerging “Knowledge Worker” - Milliken

  —Vincent Mosco and Catherine McKercher In 1995, Charles Savage described the Knowledge Worker’s evolving in three distinct waves: “The first wave was the Agricultural Age with wealth defined as ownership of land. In the second wave, the Industrial Age, wealth was based on ownership of capital, i.e., factories. In the Knowledge Age, wealth is based upon the ownership of knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge to create or improve goods and services. Product improvements include cost, durability, suitability, timeliness of delivery, and security.” This description of knowledge workers introduces two questions: [...] Here are five things to think about on the ideas of "knowledge work" and knowledge worker productivity: [...] 1. Is the domain of the Knowledge Worker reserved for engineering, medicine, hard science, and other arenas requiring an advanced degree? 2. Are we still managing business and manufacturing operations with Industrial Age practices despite being in the Knowledge Age? ## ## How Should We Manage Knowledge Workers in the Modern Era? I will argue that Knowledge Work jobs should not be reserved solely for the best educated. By definition, everyone in every organization should be considered a Knowledge Worker. For this to happen, however, we must let go of past practices limiting the true know-how of how business works to the organization’s upper echelon. ### The Story of Knowledge Workers at Milliken & Company