Are Knowledge Workers the Leaders in 21st Century?

"The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th Century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the manual worker in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st Century is similarly to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker." Drucker (1999, p135)




Who is a Knowledge Worker?

“This is the nature of genius, to be able to grasp the knowable even when no one else recognizes that it is present.” - Deepak Chopra

Knowledge workers are the people with specialized area of interest. They stand different from others in their knowledge, competence, skills and abilities. They define the problems unconventionally, think creatively and innovatively and follow uncharted path for finding solutions to problems. They involve in lot of research and consultancy. These people add value to the existing knowledge with modified and updated content pertaining to their specific domain. It was Peter Drucker who coined the term Knowledge Worker way back in 1959 in his book ‘The landmarks of Tomorrow’.


Characteristics of a Knowledge Worker:

"We know now that the source of wealth is something specifically human: knowledge. If we apply knowledge to tasks we already know how to do, we call it 'productivity'. If we apply knowledge to tasks that are new and different we call it 'innovation'. Only knowledge allows us to achieve these two goals." (Drucker 1992 p23)

Knowledge workers are basically passionate people whose primary aim is to achieve something big and unique. For them, money is the secondary motivational factor. They are cut above the rest and follow the road less traveled. They love challenges and changes and they love to live on edge. They have huge appetite for knowledge and always crave for creating something new. They have passion for learning and growing. In a nut shell, it is connected to their brain rather than brawn.

Knowledge workers take pride in what they do. They are passionate learners. They aim and dream big. They are different but not indifferent. They care less about others. They are highly task oriented and always strive for hitting the bulls’ eye. They have global mindset. They are more loyal to their peers than to their employers. Those who hail from the background of teaching, training, consultancy, business and research can become successful knowledge workers. Their output cannot be measured easily like any other manual work. They focus on quality of work not quantity. These people demand lot of freedom and autonomy. These people have to be handled with soft skills so as to extract their hard skills.


Why Evolution of Knowledge Workers?

"Making knowledge workers productive requires changes in attitude, not only on the part of the individual knowledge worker, but on the part of the whole organization." (Drucker, 1999, p156)

The industrial revolution led to the birth of middle class people. The growing services sectors in the 20th century led to the birth of knowledge workers. With the growing rapid technology, the aspirations and expectations of the people are raising rapidly. The companies are also looking at the ways and means to beat competition. Innovation and creativity is the key to stay ahead of competition. Therefore, they are focusing on specialized services and products for the benefit of customers. To do all these things, they bank on the support of knowledge workers.

Companies prefer to recruit knowledge workers as it saves their precious time, money and energy in providing training. It is like having plug and play recruits. Getting the ready made people is a boon for corporates. They don’t hesitate to pay more for the specialized skills set. The costs are far lesser than what they spend on fresh recruits.


What does it take to be a Knowledge Worker?

"Knowledge workers use their intellect to convert their ideas into products, services or processes" - Miller WC, Fostering Intellectual Capital.HR Focus, 1998

The world is going to be dominated by the services sectors where the role of knowledge workers plays a key role. However, it is not easy to manage them. They want more freedom and autonomy.

They could be stubborn and adamant. They should not be treated like any other employees. They are different and unique. They thrive on challenges and love to experiment on their new ideas and insights. They want more freedom that helps them to be more creative and innovative. It is very difficult to measure their performance.


Conclusion:

"The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity." (Drucker 1999, P135)

Knowledge workers are an asset for every organization. In fact, they are the leaders in this 21st century. They can share and spread their knowledge across the world for the benefit of mankind. There is also a huge potential lying untapped in this domain. Encouraging and providing conducive environment for their research and consultancy is needed.

The future belongs to knowledge workers. The world is going to be ruled by specialists who have specific and exclusive competencies and key skills and abilities. If you want to get noticed and spotted and remembered, evolving as a knowledge worker is the right solution.


The End