Download or read book Thinking for a Living written by Thomas H. Davenport and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2005-09-13 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knowledge workers create the innovations and strategies that keep their firms competitive and the economy healthy. Yet, companies continue to manage this new breed of employee with techniques designed for the Industrial Age. As this critical sector of the workforce continues to increase in size and importance, that's a mistake that could cost companies their future. Thomas Davenport argues that knowledge workers are vastly different from other types of workers in their motivations, attitudes, and need for autonomy--and, so, they require different management techniques to improve their performance and productivity. Based on extensive research involving over 100 companies and more than 600 knowledge workers, Thinking for a Living provides rich insights into how knowledge workers think, how they accomplish tasks, and what motivates them to excel. Davenport identifies four major categories of knowledge workers and presents a unique framework for matching specific types of workers with the management strategies that yield the greatest performance. Written by the field's premier thought leader, Thinking for a Living reveals how to maximize the brain power that fuels organizational success. Thomas Davenport holds the President's Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College. He is director of research for Babson Executive Education; an Accenture Fellow; and author, co-author, or editor of nine books, including Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know (HBS Press, 1997).

Download or read book Knowledge Workers in the Information Society written by Catherine McKercher and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knowledge Workers in the Information Society addresses the changing nature of work, workers, and their organizations in the media, information, and knowledge industries. These knowledge workers include journalists, broadcasters, librarians, filmmakers and animators, government workers, and employees in the telecommunications and high tech sectors. Technological change has become relentless. Corporate concentration has created new pressures to rationalize work and eliminate stages in the labor process. Globalization and advances in telecommunications have made real the prospect that knowledge work will follow manufacturing labor to parts of the world with low wages, poor working conditions, and little unionization. McKercher and Mosco bring together scholars from numerous disciplines to examine knowledge workers from a genuinely global perspective.

Download or read book Working Knowledge written by Catherine L. Fisk and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Skilled workers of the early nineteenth century enjoyed a degree of professional independence because workplace knowledge and technical skill were their "property," or at least their attribute. In most sectors of today's economy, however, it is a foundational and widely accepted truth that businesses retain legal ownership of employee-generated intellectual property. In Working Knowledge, Catherine Fisk chronicles the legal and social transformations that led to the transfer of ownership of employee innovation from labor to management. This deeply contested development was won at the expense of workers' entrepreneurial independence and ultimately, Fisk argues, economic democracy. By reviewing judicial decisions and legal scholarship on all aspects of employee-generated intellectual property and combing the archives of major nineteenth-century intellectual property-producing companies--including DuPont, Rand McNally, and the American Tobacco Company--Fisk makes a highly technical area of law accessible to general readers while also addressing scholarly deficiencies in the histories of labor, intellectual property, and the business of technology.

Download or read book Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers Techies Nerds written by Johanna Rothman and published by Addison-Wesley. This book was released on 2013-07-15 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright © 2004). Proven Methods for Attracting, Interviewing, and Hiring Technical Workers Good technical people are the foundation on which successful high technology organizations are built. Establishing a good process for hiring such workers is essential. Unfortunately, the generic methods so often used for hiring skill-based staff, who can apply standardized methods to almost any situation, are of little use to those charged with the task of hiring technical people. Unlike skill-based workers, technical people typically do not have access to cookie-cutter solutions to their problems. They need to adapt to any situation that arises, using their knowledge in new and creative ways to solve the problem at hand. As a result, one developer, tester, or technical manager is not interchangeable with another. This makes hiring technical people one of the most critical and difficult processes a technical manager can undertake. Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets & Science of Hiring Technical People takes the guesswork out of hiring and diminishes the risk of costly hiring mistakes. With the aid of step-by-step descriptions and detailed examples, you'll learn how to write a concise, targeted job description source candidates develop ads for mixed media review résumés quickly to determine Yes, No, or Maybe candidates develop intelligent, nondiscriminatory, interview techniques create fool-proof phone-screens check references with a view to reading between the lines extend an offer that will attract a win-win acceptance or tender a gentle-but-decisive rejection and more An effective hiring process is crucial to saving an organization the costs and consequences of a bad hiring decision. Not only is a bad hire costly in terms of recruiting expenses and the time spent hiring, it can also bog down or derail projects that may already be running late. You, your team, and your organization will live with the long-term consequences of your hiring decision. Investing time in developing a hiring strategy will shorten your decision time and the ramp-up time needed for each new hire. Technical leaders, project and program managers, and anyone putting together a team of technical workers will greatly benefit from this book.

Download or read book Effective Knowledge Work written by Klaus North and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2011-10-24 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addresses the following questions: What is knowledge work? What are strategies and methods for increasing productivity, quality, effectiveness and value of knowledge work? Can knowledge workers be managed, and if yes, how? What are adequate methods for measuring performance of knowledge workers?

Download or read book Rise of the Knowledge Worker written by James Cortada and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-11-03 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A generation of magnificent scholars, from Peter Drucker to Jack Welch, have taught us that understanding business issues and the profound changes the world's economy is undergoing makes sense if set in historical context. Today the best managers in the world demand to know how things came to be as they are. This collection of essays is designed to give the reader an historical perspective on the fastest growing sector of the work force: knowledge workers. The articles tell you how knowledge workers evolved from manufacturing and agricultural jobs and then go on to give you some insight as to what the future roles of knowledge workers will be. The readings in this volume come from a variety of sources not normally looked at by managers and business executives. There are reports from historians, sociologists, academics, and economic experts. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction on the material, its significance, and something about the context in which it was written, including brief biographical comments on the author. The Rise of the Knowledge Worker is intended for business people, managers, leaders, government employees, and students.

Download or read book The Knowledge Work Factory Turning the Productivity Paradox into Value for Your Business written by William F. Heitman and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2019-01-04 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlock your company’s true potential by eliminating knowledge work waste that’s hiding in plain sight.Back in 1987, Nobel laureate Robert Solow quipped, “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” This costly condition soon became known as the “productivity paradox.” Why does it persist today? Why do knowledge workers spend a third of their days on needless correction, avoidable work and overservice, despite existing office technology that could help, even automate, their actions? And why does nobody notice? The answers—and solutions—are in this book. The Knowledge Work Factory uncovers the well-intentioned waste that hides in plain sight within virtually every organization. It reveals the ingrained perceptual biases that trick our brains into accepting the status quo and missing breakthrough opportunities. It draws stunning parallels to industrial production, which cracked this very code over 100 years ago. Most importantly, it gives you an easy-to-follow, one-stop guide to boost efficiency, productivity, and morale among the very knowledge workers who struggle under the burden of the productivity paradox. Discover your organization’s true, untapped capacity. Maximize the productivity of every single knowledge worker. Uncover “better-than-best practices.” Reap benefits that drop straight to the bottom line. The power is in your hands—with The Knowledge Work Factory.

Download or read book Landmarks of Tomorrow written by Peter F. Drucker and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Landmarks of Tomorrow forecasts changes in three major areas of human life and experience. The first part of the book treats the philosophical shift from a Cartesian universe of mechanical cause to a new universe of pattern, purpose, and process. Drucker discusses the power to organize men of knowledge and high skill for joint effort and performance as a key component of this change. The second part of the book sketches four realities that challenge the people of the free world: an educated society, economic development, the decline of government, and the collapse of Eastern culture. The final section of the book is concerned with the spiritual reality of human existence. These are seen as basic elements in late twentieth-century society. In his new introduction, Peter Drucker revisits the main findings of Landmarks of Tomorrow and assesses their validity in relation to today’s concerns. It is a book that will be of interest to sociologists, economists, and political theorists.

Download or read book Empowering Knowledge Workers written by Layna Fischer and published by Future Strategies Inc.. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Empowering Knowledge Workers describes the work of managers, decision makers, executives, doctors, lawyers, campaign managers, emergency responders, strategists, and many others who have to think for a living. These are people who figure out what needs to be done, at the same time that they do it, and a new approach to support this kind of worker presents the logical starting point for understanding how to take advantage of ACM.

Download or read book Drive written by Daniel H. Pink and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

Download or read book Managing Knowledge Workers written by Amar D. Amar and published by . This book was released on with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Best Practices for Knowledge Workers written by Sandy Kemsley and published by Future Strategies Inc.. This book was released on 2019-10-23 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best Practices for Knowledge Workers describes ACM in the current era of digitization, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent BPMS and BPM Everywhere. You will learn how support of adaptive, data-driven processes empowers knowledge workers to know in real-time what is happening at the edge points, and to take actions through the combination of rule-driven guidance and their own know-how. It is not a traditionally-automated system but intelligent automation, where technology doesn’t merely replace human decision-making but extends the reach of the knowledge worker; making IoT data actionable. As Sandy Kemsley points out in her foreword: As adaptive case management (ACM) systems mature, we are moving beyond simple systems that allow knowledge workers to define ad hoc processes, to creating more intelligent systems that support and guide them. Knowledge workers still need to dynamically add information, define activities and collaborate with others in order to get their work done, but those are now just the table stakes in a world of big data and intelligent agents. To drive innovation and maintain operational efficiencies, we need to augment case work – typically seen as relying primarily on human intelligence – with machine intelligence. In other words, we need intelligent ACM. Highly predictable work is easy to support using traditional programming techniques, while unpredictable work cannot be accurately scripted in advance, and thus requires the involvement of the knowledge workers themselves. The core element of Adaptive Case Management (ACM) is the support for real-time decision-making by knowledge workers. In award-winning case studies covering industries as a diverse as law enforcement, transportation, insurance, banking, state services, and healthcare, you will find instructive examples for how to transform your own organization. This important book follows these ground-breaking best-sellers on ACM; Thriving on Adaptability, Empowering Knowledge Workers, Taming the Unpredictable, How Knowledge Workers Get Things Done, and Mastering the Unpredictable and provides important papers by thought-leaders in this field, together with practical examples, detailed ACM case studies and product reviews.

Download or read book Knowledge Driven Work written by Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1998-09-10 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knowledge-Driven Work is a pioneering study of the cross-cultural iffusion of ideas about the organization of work. These ideas, linked with the knowledge of the workforce, are rapidly becoming the primary source of competitive advantage in the world economy. The book provides an in-depth look at eight Japanese-affiliated manufacturing facilities operating in the United States, combined with examinations of their sister facilities in Japan. The authors offer their insights into the complex process by which elements of work systems in one country interact with those in another. They trace the flow of ideas from Japan to the US and other nations, and the beginnings of a reverse diffusion of innovation back to Japan. The authors organize their findings into six categories: the cross-cultural diffusion of work practices, team-based work systems, kaizen and employee involvement, employment security, human resource management, and labor-management relations. Their study of team-based work systems yields a taxonomy of teams and reveals some conflicts between the desire for self-management and the existence of interdependencies. Investigations into kaizen (ongoing incremental improvement) indicate that its emphasis on employee-driven, systematic problem solving makes it a strong counterpoint to the idea of top-down "re-engineering." Looking at employment security, the authors note that while most US managers believe that it restrains managerial flexibility, managers at the firms they observed see it as essential to the flexibility associated with teamwork and kaizen. The study of human resource management practices suggests competitive advantages in diverse, older, unionized, and urban work forces, and emphasizes the importance of wide-ranging training programs in a work system premised on a long-term perspective. The "wildcard" in the work places observed is labor-management relations, the area in which Japanese managers have been least likely to import their ideas. The authors report on several situations in which existing labor-management structures remained untouched, with mixed results: greater labor-management consultation, for example, but also increased ambiguity of roles. The thread running through all of these areas of work is "virtual knowledge," an ephemeral form of knowledge derived from a particular combination of people focused on a given issue. The authors point out that this powerful form of knowledge is only effectively harnessed in environments that are free of fear, that have established procedures for collective problem-solving, and that have some stability in group composition. They claim that too often companies allow virtual knowledge to dissipate, squandering opportunities to create more competitive workplaces. For those organizations that have succeeded in anticipating and channeling it, however, virtual knowledge leads to a knowledge-driven workplace and continuous improvement.

Download or read book Crafting and Shaping Knowledge Worker Services in the Information Economy written by Keith Sherringham and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-12 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a hands-on approach to prepare businesses for managing the impact of technology transformation by the pragmatic, consistent, and persistent application of proven business principles and practices. Technology is rapidly transforming our businesses and our society. Knowledge worker roles are being impacted, and as operations are being automated, business models are changing as the use of cloud-based services lowers costs and provides flexibility. This book provides a guide towards managing the environment of uncertainly caused by the rapid changes in technology by combining strategy and leadership to influence the environment, instil the right behaviours, and strengthen the skills that will enable businesses to be adaptive, responsive, and resilient.

Download or read book Knowledge at Work written by Robert Defillippi and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-02-04 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book's unique perspective stems from its “knowledgediamond” framework to examine how individuals, communities,organizations and host industries reciprocally influence each otherin the course of knowledge work. This highly topical book focuses on work-based projects as afocus for organizational learning. Establishes the link between individual, community,organization and industry learning. Suggests that organizations need to recognise and understandthis link if they are to capitalize on project-basedlearning. Incorporates material on project-based learning in virtualcommunities. Refers to different examples, such as the film industry, thesoftware industry and the boat building industry. Includes end-of-chapter questions provoking reflection anddiscussion.

Download or read book Working Knowledge written by Thomas R. Bailey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-12-16 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on five years of research in high school and community college programs, this book explores the potential for using work-based learning as part of a broad education reform strategy.

Download or read book Changing Software Development written by Allan Kelly and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-02-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changing Software Development explains why software development is an exercise in change management and organizational intelligence. An underlying belief is that change is learning and learning creates knowledge. By blending the theory of knowledge management, developers and managers will gain the tools to enhance learning and change to accommodate new innovative approaches such as agile and lean computing. Changing Software Development is peppered with practical advice and case studies to explain how and why knowledge, learning and change are important in the development process. Today, managers are pre-occupied with knowledge management, organization learning and change management; while software developers are often ignorant of the bigger issues embedded in their work. This innovative book bridges this divide by linking the software world of technology and processes to the business world of knowledge, learning and change.