Knowledge Organizations in the Twenty-first Century Managing Knowledge Workers by A. D. Amar, PhD Professor, Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 07079 USA Knowledge Organizations in the Twenty-first Century

Evolution of Knowledge Era The Skills Era. The period in which art of shaping and forming objects was most in demand; passed from “father to son.” Period until 1900. Started the steady decline from 1901—. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Evolution of Knowledge Era The Machine-Tool Technology Era. The period of the large corporation and where machines, technology, and automation were employed to achieve productivity lead through mass production as a way to compete. 1901 - 1999. Vocational and Trade Schools. 2- year and 4-year Colleges. Steady decline from 1990. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Evolution of Knowledge Era The Knowledge Era. Science and technology put to understanding and improving human and human environment. From 2000 – Advanced preparation; Masters, Doctorates. Emergence of wisdom. Precise understanding. From mass production to efficient individuation with computer technology. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Knowledge and the Twenty-First Century In full bloom, the knowledge era will truly be the wisdom era. All organizations that will survive beyond the first two decades of the 21st century will be the ones that will be knowledge organizations to a great extent. Managers should regularly monitor certain knowledge-relevant aspects of their operations to assess if their organization is transforming itself into a knowledge organization, and if it is turning knowledge into applications. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

The Future of Knowledge Worker The fall of blue-collar worker. No class in history has ever risen faster than the blue-collar worker. And no class has ever fallen faster (Drucker, 1994). Conversely, it brings the rise of knowledge worker. Industrial to post-industrial society will continue to evolve (Drucker, 1988). And the emergence of knowledge worker would be a consequence of that. Technicization of work (Barley & Orr, 1997) will continue to benefit knowledge worker. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

The Challenges (JMS, 1993) Growing interest to know about managing knowledge workers among practitioners. Considerable gaps in our understanding. Conceptual and methodological difficulties in research. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Measures of Knowledge Organization Precise Products and Services. Organizations should regularly monitor certain knowledge-relevant aspects of their operations to assess if their organization is transforming itself into a knowledge organization, and if it is turning knowledge into applications. Knowledge should move product and service lines from the general to the specialized, from the specialized to the sub-specialized, and from the sub-specialized to the sub-sub-specialized, etc. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Measures of Knowledge Organization Efficient Transformation System. These organizations realize a higher efficiency in the transformation of their goods and services which will be very evident in the reduction in their costs of doing business, which they may pass on to their customers. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Measures of Knowledge Organization Specialist Workforce. brings in employees who possess the requisite knowledge, they will be able to find in a synergistic way marketable applications of the knowledge that they possess. Hefty Compensation Packages. a greater disparity in worker compensation based on the level of their education: those with higher credentials will make a lot more money than those lacking them. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Future Challenges in Managing Knowledge Workers Performance Evaluation. The nature of knowledge work makes it impossible to establish any type of objective standards to measure the output or its quality. Whatever efforts are put in this direction during the knowledge era will be a contribution to the profession of knowledge management. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Future Challenges in Managing Feedback Systems. There is always a risk of making a wrong assessment and giving feedback that may disserve the basic aim of the feedback. Whatever efforts are put in this direction during the knowledge era will be a contribution to the profession of knowledge management. by breaking large, endless, uncertain jobs into small, manageable, time-bound assignments whose sizes can be easily tracked and monitored either by feedback modules built in the work systems or manually by their operators. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Future Directions for Knowledge Worker Management Corporate effort in this direction may be best carried out by creating a consortium of corporations who fund a joint entity that conducts research in this area and gives its findings and results to its members before releasing them to the public at large. Create a professional society of academics and practitioners. It may also be conducted under the auspices of university-based research centers. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

Conclusion Two sureties: First, it will take many years and a lot of effort to develop a workable theory on managing knowledge organizations. Second, the future work will be almost all knowledge work, and it belongs to knowledge workers. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.

References Barley, S. R., & Orr, J. E. (1997). Between craft and science: Technical work in US settings. London: ILR Press, p.5. Drucker, Peter (1988, Jan.-Feb.). The coming of the new organization. Harvard Business Review, 45-53. Drucker, Peter (1994, November). The age of social transformation. The Atlantic Monthly, v. 274(n.3),53-80. Journal of Management Studies. (1993). Epilogue—An agenda for research. Journal of Management Studies, v. 30, 6, 1017-1020. 1/3/2019 Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar © 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.