The Challenge of Knowledge Worker Productivity
In the 20th century, management’s critical focus was on improving manual workers’ productivity using production equipment. In the 21st century, the focus is on maximizing the productivity of knowledge work and knowledge workers.
It’s more complex to improve knowledge-worker productivity. You need 6 key factors, most of which are the opposite of what’s required for manual work: Defining the task clearly, taking responsibility for results, continuous innovation, learning/teaching on the job, defining/measuring quality and treating knowledge workers as capital assets (not costs).
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