004 the mysteriousartandscienceofknowledge-workerperformance_ver1.0

The Mysterious Art and Science of

Knowledge-Worker Performance

Thomas H. Davenport, Robert J. Thomas

and Susan Cantrell

Thus far, researchers and managers alike

have a very limited understanding of

what makes knowledge workers tick.

But by manipulating two key leverage

points, companies can begin to shift the

balance from art toward science.

Introduction

Peter DruckerInsisted on the need to pay more attention to knowledge work and the people doing such work.

Knowledge work

We are in the year 2000 roughly where we were in the year 1900 in terms of the productivity of the manual worker.

understanding of knowledge-worker productivity

Henry FordFrederick Taylor

Manual work

No Frederick Taylor or Henry Ford

Most businesspeople today would agree with Drucker about the importance of knowledge work

1. Knowledge work is at the heart of innovation

2. Recruiting and retaining the best knowledge workers are vital to organizational success

3. 3. Focus on knowledge-worker performance is

a way of uniting what are often separate tasks,such as strategic planning, organizational design and IT investment

The problem of knowledge-worker performance

1. One that is too sweet to ignore

2. Sweet problems are not always tractable

3. Truly sweet problems may require the creation of radically new concepts and toosl before they can be solved

Agenda

1. Identify the five key issues

2. Framework

that they saw companies struggling with in their handling of

knowledge work.

that can help organizations think more clearly about how they

might go about improving knowledge-worker performance

Identify the five key issues

The five key issues1. The determinants of knowledge-worker performance are

becoming clear. How to integrate them remains murky

2. Many organizations resist the idea that segmentation of knowledge workers is necessary

3. No one seems to own the problem of knowledge-workerperformance

4. Companies are experimenting heavily with workplace redesign, but they aren't learning very much

5. There is great reluctance to alter knowledge work, especially at the high end

The determinants of

How to integrate

knowledge-worker performance are

becoming clear.

them remains murky.

1st Issue

Management

information technology

workplace design

determinants of white-collar productivity

Ex. Information Technology

communication

collaboration

Knowledgemanagement

Virtual teaming

E-mail

Instant messaging

Integrate

Functional equivalent of a software Swiss army knife

Few have figured out how to get knowledge workers to actually use these tools

It all amounts to expensive e-mail

Informationtechnology

Workplacedesign

The Still emerging discipline of knowledge management awaits a model or methodology that can bridge the space between IT, workplace design business strategy and people management

Business strategyPeople management

Many organizations resist that

is necessary

segmentation of

2nd Issue

knowledge workers

One major obstacle in the way of developing a useful model lies in the generic use of

“knowledge worker.”

Can an organization apply

the same solutions?

Can it transfer

Managers weren't ready to Differentiate their employees

Some managers were concerned about

perceptions of elitism in their organization

Others felt that segmentation might contradict

implicit notions of meritocracy

Authors found substantial differences among the types of people who are called knowledge workers,and advocates of some degree of segmentation.

Variety of objections

No one seems to own the problem of

3rd Issue

knowledge-worker performance.

What function

to improvingknowledge-worker performance?

Contributes

Who is

responsiblefor enabling higher levers of

knowledge-worker performance?

Can't find the timeThey are expected to focus on current performance

Ex. HR and IT professionals

HR

Line

managerIT

Fear the disruption of

existing work

A keen interest in optimizing

knowledge work

members

Can’t effectively own the problem

Crossing paths with several staff group

Workplace

resource

HR

IT

Someone does get the inspiration to

do something innovative in the way

knowledge work is organized

Get evaluated on criteria like cost per square

foot rather than whether it has created space

that contributes to innovation

The HR department might be more

interested in tinkering with compensation

and benefits – conventional fixes designed

to raise productivity

IT doesn’t like the kinds of solutions that

knowledge-worker teams relish, such as

peer-to-peer networking software(which can

threaten system security)

Ex. Cisco Systems

HR

Executive

FinanceITWorkplace

resource

Overseen

Meets biweekly to ensure collaboration aimed at

improving employees productivity and satisfaction

The team devised and implemented a new workplace design, as well

as guidelines that allow individuals to choose from a variety of work

settings to support their needs for collaborative, private or mobile work

Companies are experimenting heavily withworkplace design, but they

aren't learning very much

4th Issue

Faith

Measures, controls, hypotheses and even recording of lessons learned are often lacking

Fashion Finance

Fad

Intend to nourish social life at work

Hearths

Cappuccino bar

Indoor boulevard

Creativity room

Talk plaza

There is little evidence that any particular design increases informal meetings

Attempt to increase the likelihood of informal interaction

Social spaces are often empty

Ex. Corning R&D group

Director makes a point of showing up regularly for the twice-a-day coffee breaks in the

“creativity room”

Encourage collaboration

Open-plan environment

IT support for knowledge workers

Personal devices are popular but not

well integrated into the corporate

information environment

Artificial intelligence and expert systems have never taken off

because of difficulties of knowledge representation and

system maintenance

Their is great reluctance to alter knowledge work, especially at the high end

5th Issue

Knowledge work itself can often seem impervious to change, much less to rationalization

Sometimes knowledge workers themselves are the ones resisting change

Two dominant approaches to the design and management of knowledge work

1. Process perspective

2. Practice perspective

that works from the assumption that engineering principles can

be applied to all forms of work

emphasizes the implicit coordination and exploration that

produces things to do

Process perspectivenow1980s – 1990s

structured

linear

repetitive

Repeatable processes in a growing number of less

structured tasks

Order fulfillmentBenefits administration

InvoicingAccounts management

Product design

Ex. Partners HealthCare

real-time IT system

Relevant information and

suggestions that the doctor may

or may not choose to accept

Constantly updated

Enter an order for a

test or a medicine

Database

Histories

Clinical information

Practice perspectivePracticeProcess

HierarchicalExplicit command-and-control

Implicit coordination

The structure that gets things done exploration that produces things to do

Hire smart people and leave them alone

Ex. IDEO

If your put a good project manager together with the right people, the project will be good

Recruit and assembling the right team

Organizational approach

IDEO's structure is relatively flat and the visible perquisites of hierarchy are few

Because high-end-knowledge workers tend to dislike hierarchy

Blend of process and practice

Continuously iterated prototyping process may be the right mixture of practice and process

Toward More ProductiveKnowledge Work

1. It is mistake to lump all knowledge workers into one category

2. Some degree of choice in how and where to work goes a long way toward making knowledge workers happy

Framework

Low

Modera

teH

igh

Low Moderate High

Degree of Choice

Degre

e o

f S

egm

enta

tion

Mandatory

specialization

Modular

made-to-orderOne-size-fits-one

Fixed

typologies

Configurable

categories

Individualized

segmentation

One-size-fits-allMass

customization

Mass

personalization

Segmenting Work EnvironmentsLow

Segmentation

Moderate

Segmentation

High

Segmentation

Companies with a low level of segmentation provide one standard work setting for all

employees

Companies group their employees into a limited number of categories and define work

settings for each.

Specifically tailored to small groups of people on a one-off basis

Inexpensive efficient Produce a misfit

Familiar categorization schemes

Enables tiger degree of fit expensive Time-consuming

Providing individual ChoiceLow Choice

Moderate

Choice

High Choice

Work environments are fixed and immutable

Employees cannot configure their workstations or work at home as they see fit

Some companies will allow their employees to make some choice, but only within a menu

of defined options

A few companies allow their knowledge workers to determine numerous aspects of their

own work settings

Employees may be encouraged to purchase their own furniture or technology solutions

Easy to manage Don’t necessarily save money

Real budgetary limitationsAlign work styles and preferences

Choosing a Solution

How

homogeneousis your organization?

How

importantis it for your organization

to align knowledge workers’

need and their work settings?

What level of resources are you willing to dedicate?

Closing

Whichever solution one choose, it won't work if it isn't carefully implemented

It must be remembered, that all solutions eventually fail

Organization therefore monitor the changing needs of their knowledge workers and keep abreast of how new technologies may enable new ways of working

No one has all the answers on how to improve knowledge work, but managers shouldn't feel paralyzed

They are correct not to attempt to engineer or program knowledge work, but that doesn't mean such work lacks structure, cyclicality or leverage points for change

The keys are to maintain a balance between process and practice, to treat workers doing different kinds of work in appropriate ways, and to focus on more than simply hiring better knowledge workers

004 the mysteriousartandscienceofknowledge-workerperformance_ver1.0

Business

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