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The Role of Knowledge Workers
The function of personal knowledge, understanding, and judg-
ments in achieving effective organizational performance is becoming
clearer. Early on, managerial emphasis on work procedures and
methods was placed on observable work. Later, it included the role
of information and information flows, which are also observable.
Now, focus is shifting to include knowledge. It has always been
understood that know-how and expertise influence quality of work.
However, the knowledge focus has tended to be centered on the
individual’s educational and training background and not on con-
siderations of systematic perspectives for broader work processes or
knowledge mechanisms within organizations. There has been little
focus on invisible work, particularly on how workers think and
utilize knowledge when performing tasks.
In the Tayloristic world of a century ago, the role of the worker
was to execute work according to instructions and job descriptions.
Work processes were considered to be definable and repeatable. For
most, that has changed — and continues to change. Workers on all
levels — managers, professionals, crafts workers, and “unskilled”
workers — are all required to think independently to act effectively.
They must respond to daily work challenges in ways that serve the
enterprise, its customers, and themselves in the best way possible.
Truly repetitive and routine work is increasingly automated, with the
more demanding also including embedded artificial intelligence (AI)
capabilities.
An example illustrates the new situation: Workers whom many
consider to be semi-skilled, such as the room service personnel at
Ritz-Carlton and Inter-Continental hotels, are increasingly expected
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to implement the corporate strategies of exceptionally friendly
and effective service. They are asked to be on the outlook for prob-
lems and anomalies, to identify and to service special guest requests,
and to recognize opportunities for improved and more effective ways
of working and serving guests. Many of their challenges fall far
outside conventional job descriptions for such positions, but the per-
sonnel is expected to identify the challenges and handle them quickly,
competently, and innovatively. As a result of the success of this and
similar actions in other areas, both hotel chains receive very high
degrees of customer loyalty. The strategy has been implemented
effectively.
Making the hotel model work requires good task knowledge. But
people who do the detailed work must also have in-depth under-
standing of the enterprise’s goals and intents and the broader knowl-
edge and motivation to “think outside the box.” They must use
critical thinking and have personal motivation to exert the additional
energy and take the next step. Perhaps more than anything else, they
require the freedom to act and must understand that the guest-
supportive actions are appreciated and rewarded by both manage-
ment and the guests themselves. They must also understand that the
better they perform their work, the better is the success of their orga-
nization and their own job security.
Notes
1. As an example, in 2001, 70 percent of firms in the United States that
exported goods and services had fewer than 20 employees.
2. “Taylorism” refers to the operation and management practices advocated
by the father of scientific management, Frederick W. Taylor (1856–1915).
A description of Taylorism may be found in Littler (1978). Taylor and
Western practitioners of the rational approach to management, which
were nearly all companies, are said to have promoted the view that
workers should be told explicitly what to do and not be encouraged to
use their own knowledge and ideas to change or improve work practices
or work process. According to that view, workers who improve these
areas on their own are counterproductive, and such worker involvements
should be discouraged. According to Drucker (1993), common use of the
term Taylorism is an incorrect interpretation of Taylor’s personal work
and philosophy. Taylor actually promoted worker participation and
ownership — directions that were threatening to both management and
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labor at the time, and he was vilified and intentionally misinterpreted —
resulting in the general misunderstanding.
3. For categorizations of knowledge and related intellectual capital assets,
see Appendix C.
4. Nano-productivity refers to the productivity of a single job or position,
often performed by a single person.
5. See Chapter 7.
6. See Chapter 2. An early indication of the importance of the intangible
asset management mentality for managing intangible capital was stressed
by Professor Baruch Lev (2001).
7. The Skandia Navigator is explained at
.
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2
T
HE
E
FFECTIVE
E
NTERPRISE
Premise 2-1: Individual Actions Lead to Overall
Enterprise Performance
Enterprise behavior is a result of the individual actions of its
employees and the composite actions of its management teams and
operating units. The enterprise’s behavior is effective when most
actions correctly implement its strategy and the desired goals are
achieved and when the strategy reflects the enterprise’s purpose,
objectives, and intents. Success is achieved when its goals are
appropriate and realistic and when they are reached and held
over time.
Premise 2-2: Effective Enterprise Behavior Leads
to Success
Effective enterprise behavior fulfills the enterprise’s philosophy,
intents, goals, and objectives. When these are appropriately defined
to lead to enterprise success, attaining them leads to achieved
success.
The Proactive and Decisive Company Example
A steel mini-mill has practiced systematic and comprehensive
knowledge management (KM) since its start-up in 1975. The
company’s senior managers do not think of their management phi-
losophy and operating practices as KM, only as the most effective
and appropriate approach to secure durable exceptional perfor-
mance. Their business results, which they attribute to their
knowledge- and people-focused approach, validate their beliefs. The
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The Effective Enterprise
27
company’s business and operational successes are exceptional. Let us
consider some characteristics of their approach:
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