Transcript Managing Knowledge Workers

Managing Knowledge
Workers
by
A. D. Amar, PhD
Professor, Seton Hall University
South Orange, NJ 07079
USA
Discussion Leader 2:
Sociology of Knowledge Workers
Professor A. D. Amar, Ph.D.
“… by constant
practice the mind in
truth can be trained.”
Gita: 6.35
Knowledge Workers
Typically younger
Generations X and Y
(Strempel, 2003)
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Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar
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New Generations at Work
 Generation X
– children of the Baby Boomer generation born
before 1977.
• (Novelist Douglas Coupland in his novel, by that title, coined the
term.)
 Generation Y
– constitutes people born between year 1977 and
later until the 1990’s—late offspring of the
Baby Boomer generation
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Responsibility and Relationships
 Pressure to grow up faster along both
psychological and physiological dimensions
 Types of Relationships
– ethical relationships
• Not as important to X & Y
– emotional relationships
• Very important to X & Y
– sensual relationships
• Important to X & Y
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Understanding the Generations
 The Family
– Redefines traditional family
– changed family structure, needs, and norms
• Nuclear Family
• Working Parents
• No one home
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Understanding the Generations
(Cont.)
 Parents
– two "independent" persons,
– single parents,
– same sex parents,
– same sex marriages,
– unwed parents,
– biological parents,
– surrogate parents,
– artificially-inseminated parents
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Understanding the Generations
(Cont.)
 Personality Traits.
– Misguided by Some Standards.
• Baby Boomers revolted against what they did not accept as
"right," many of Generations X and Y members genuinely do
not even know what is right and what is wrong.
– Confused Value System.
• "different" value system.
• Rediscovered faith and spiritualism, have sought refuge in
religions.
– Very Technology Smart.
• breaking into Pentagon computers.
• organizing and leading inner city street gangs in Central Los
Angeles.
• Involve them in the attainment of productive social goals.
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Understanding the Generations
(Cont.)
– Sense of Omnipotence.
• tough games they "overpowered" and computer problems
they solved.
• "out of touch with reality,"
• "power is with you."
– Selective Commitment.
• totally void of any sense of commitment, or they may praise
it for taking its commitments so seriously.
– Stoic and Determined.
• To them, life is a chain of fixed linkages of almost
predetermined acts and outcomes operating within a
controlled, limited, and definite set.
• It’s all Over Syndrome.
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Understanding the Generations
(Cont.)
– Disdain for Authority
– Throughout their development, members of
Generation Y have had practically no exposure to
authority.
• Parents
• Siblings
• Teachers
– engage through reason, subtle motivation,
appealing emotion, not through autocratic behavior
and overt domination
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Understanding the Generations
(Cont.)
–A New Kind of Discipline
– They themselves will first
set a reference point and
rules of behavior, then, will
conform to them, and
according to that, will
consider themselves
disciplined.
–Positive Lack of Discipline
–A kind of freedom
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Understanding the Generations
(Cont.)
– Lonely Shallow-Rooted
– The sociology and technology of their generation
has promoted physical, psychological, and social
isolationism among them.
– The New Sense of Belongingness
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The Power Is With You
Syndrome
“Out of touch with reality," compounded with
confidence and the sense of “Power is with you.”
 Problem Abstraction.
– Electronic games and computers have given them a
perspective to conceive problems with imaginary and
simulated variables, an essential skill to understanding
complex real-world problems, especially those of
knowledge organizations.
 Micro Focus.
– skills essential for focusing on issues and achieve
them without allowing themselves to be distracted.
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The Power Is With You
Syndrome
 Optimal Solution.
– They learned that there is one right solution
that brings success and everything else is
wrong and cause for failure.
– They also learned that these outcomes are not
influenced by emotions.
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The Power Is With You
Syndrome
 Quick Response.
– they had to be right and they had to be quick or miss
the narrow window of opportunity.
 It is the Karma.
– The only actions that mattered to their success and
failure were the ones that they took. No one else
could make any difference to the outcomes of their
actions.
– the only actions that mattered to their success and
failure were the ones that they took. No one else
could make any difference to the outcomes of their
actions.
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Generations X & Y
Personality Topology
Too unique and different to be classed!
This classification is too vague and broad!
 The Rationalist
 The Rebel
 The Sensualist
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The Rationalist
Ruled by reason
 Objectivity-driven.
– Materialism.
– Systematic and logical.
 Centrality of money.
 Submission to management control is driven by
the outcome.
 Most common of the three types.
 Effective in autonomous teams
 Suited to system analysis & design, market
development, engineering& production,
accounting & finance.
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The Rebel
Ruled by the desire to rule
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Refuse to adapt to their environment
Do not value money
Self-formed relationships
Selectivity—perception
Always motivated
Usually not effective in teams
Suited to R&D, sales & promotion, product
development
 Reich calls them problem Identifiers (Blacker,
Reed, & Whitaker, 1993)
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The Sensualist
Ruled by the sensual pleasure
 Give highest priority to pleasure from sight,
sound, touch, taste, and sex
 Escapists
 Crave close meaningful relations
 Sociology is most important
 Search for Ideals
 Money is not important
 Effective in teams of those they like to be with
 Suited to public relations, advertising, aesthetic
design
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Managing Gen X & Y
• Understand their value system
• Understand their sociology, psychology, communications,
and actions
• Discard authoritarian models of management
• Know these workers, understand them, and redirect their
focus and energies to where they are likely to be best
innovators, creators, ad contributors to their organizations
• Adapt the newer self-help, self-teach, and support group
techniques – Avoid formal learning and training
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Implementation
Management Practice
• Understand employees’ needs and activate their
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specific motivators
Know employees’ unique behaviors and adapt the
knowledge work and environment to suit them
Revisit management principles and business
practices—Adapt them as needed
Regularly revisit the processes, tasks, and work
assignments for significant innovation component
Recognize the changes in behavior of the new
generations of workers. Changes in them should
signal need for changes in management.
Devise new rules and operate by them
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Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar
© 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.
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HELP KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
UNDERSTAND
Who they are, as individuals,
What their strengths are,
Where do they need help,
How do they work,
Where do they belong at work,
What are their responsibilities and
contributions…and
Convey to them management’s sensitivity
to their needs and concerns.
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Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar
© 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.
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Continuous Innovation
 Nonaka (Witzel, 2003) states that
organizations should be capable of
continuous innovation. Knowledge is the
source from which innovation flows. It
comes form a deep personal belief and
commitment. It is as much about ideals as
about ideas. That makes tacit knowledge
more important to innovation.
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Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar
© 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.
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Technology Tacit Knowledge
 According to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), there
are two types of knowledge:
– Implicit Knowledge: Ideas that are formally set down
and can be easily learned (acquired through training
and education)
– Tacit Knowledge: Knowledge that one creates oneself.
It is innate and one finds it hard to express. This is
more important of the two types.
Tacit knowledge is needed for innovation and
Generations X and Y have more tacit knowledge in the
areas of technology.
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Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar
© 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.
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About the Knowledge Work
• Realize that knowledge is not fully utilized
• Knowledge is embedded and can be utilized in
products, services, processes, individuals and
groups
• Knowledge can make employees more
productive sooner
• Better management of knowledge can save time
and effort in implementing major changes in a
company
• Implementing systems is just organization of
knowledge
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Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar
© 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.
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Encourage Sharing of Knowledge
• Organizational innovation is enhanced because it
•
•
•
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builds on already existing knowledge
The costs are lowered by knowledge
Completion is hastened due to reduced trial and
error
New employees become more productive in less
time
Productivity is enhanced by shared knowledgeLearning takes place
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Managing Knowledge Workers by Amar
© 2004 by A. D. Amar. All rights reserved.
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References
 Blacker, Frank, Reed, Michael, & Whitaker, Alan. (1993, November).
Editorial introduction: Knowledge workers and contemporary
organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 30:6, 851-861.
 Nonaka, Ikujiro, & Takeuchi, Hirotaka. (1995). The knowledge
creating company. New York: Oxford University Press.
 Strempel, Peter. (2003). Towards strategies for managing knowledge
workers. Retrieved
September 25, 2003 from
http://www.peterstrempel.com/resources/papers/knowledge_wo
rkers.html.
 Witzel, Morgen. (2003, August 8). An all-knowing analysis.
Financial Times, p. 9.
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Questions???
Thank you!