Changing Roles of Worker - Research Paper Example

The Changing Roles of Workers Johnson (2006) asks, “Are you getting the most from you knowledge workers” (p. 3). Her article opens with a statistic that knowledge workers make up “25% to 50% of the workforces of advanced economies” as cited by Thomas Davenport from the Harvard Business School Press in 2005 (p. 3). Johnson is silent on what type of workers the other 75% to 50% might be, but for the sake of this report, the assumption is made the worker is a traditional, manual laborer. Johnson asks in this article how you know if you are getting the most from your knowledge worker, because their progress is so difficult to monitor.

Their work is unseen and much of it is mental. The knowledge worker is famous for making judgment calls and decisions and being paid handsomely in some cases to do so. This report will be centered on the managers and leaders who are guiding the knowledge workers and how their roles may be shifting from what that has been like supervising the traditional workers. There has been a shift noted in roles from boss or supervisor to player/coach as argued by Davenport. Davenport proposes that those managers that understand the knowledge workers’ wants and needs can get more from the people, communicate more efficiently, and lead a “managerial revolution” (p. 3). The shift in roles, from boss to player/coach is coming about.

Johnson cites Davenport again stating rather than supervising the work, the manager of a group of knowledge workers will come from the group of workers and be one that is also performing the work. Hierarchies will be shrinking as they become networks and communities of knowledge resources. Rather than hiring and firing, the managers’ job will be to develop and train the new staff. Rather than adding to the already burdensome bureaucratic web of policies and protocols, the managers’ job will be to simplify and tear down the walls preventing the knowledge workers from being efficient; enabling them to concentrate on their core tasks (Drucker, 1999).

This will be extremely difficult for many managers as the model will be so different than what they have been used to. Some firms in the position to do so have gone in that direction already such as professional service firms and research organizations. Using a sports example from Looney (2010), someone that exemplifies the player/coach role is Mike Vrabel a player for the Kansas City Chiefs. Technically he is listed as a player, but he has assumed a coaching role by coaching other players in a supportive manner pointing out play tips that they may have missed.

His work has been to his credit. He is noted as highly intelligent and a player to watch for the future. He is well liked and supported by the team. How one achieves the player/coach role is to first, be a very good player, and then second, be very supportive of the other team members acting with their best interest at heart. If pointing out additional points that they need to consider, the player/coach is not doing this as a threat or to be defensive. In some cases as with Vrabel, he is coaching players that could take his position next season.

His coach says that is how he knows he has a great team, when he sees senior players working with the younger players to push them forward. He knows there will be continuity for the team. A good player/coach clarifies the employees’ role for them and that is what Vrabel was doing from a sports standpoint. From an organizational standpoint the player/coach (manager) needs to tell them they are working as a part of a larger organization. Help them to see the value in what they are doing in the bigger picture in the organization and in life.

Be very careful in how assignments are conducted. Knowledge workers want to feel the manager has taken a personal interest in them and has thought about the work being given before the assignments are doled out. The long term plan for the person needs to be addressed when short term assignments are discussed. How one manages or leads knowledge workers when you cannot identify, measure, or quantify that knowledge is by judging them on their outputs rather than the number of hours they work or the inputs.

With knowledge workers, inputs are meaningless. Particularly with knowledge workers that are working virtually. Those managers don’t see what the worker is doing or may not know when they are doing it. There has to be a high level of trust within the organization and between the manager and the employee which may not exist in every organization and between every manager and worker. Drucker (1999) another large challenge with the knowledge worker as compared to the traditional worker is that the manager doesn’t know what the task is.

With traditional work, it is obvious. If an auto part is coming down a line and needs a side painted the next worker needs to apply the paint and do it in a certain manner, to meet quality specifications or there is a defect. The paint is applied and the final product is visible to all involved. Not so simple with the knowledge worker. Using a consulting firm that is responsible to design theoretical models for organizational structure for testing and hypothesis, this process would have procedures, research, writing, other steps involved, with subjective views as to what is right or wrong.

The time the project might take could be shorter or longer depending on the person who completes it. To a large extent it is a judgment call. This is the difficulty with knowledge workers. How good is the final product? How does the manager quantify it? Drucker (1993) says we quantify by asking the knowledge worker what they think. How do they think their manager should quantify it? And so, working with knowledge workers is an interesting challenge. Education, intellect, no visible work product, until maybe the end of the process, if that, how is a manager to manage.

By being part player and part coach. By being involved in the process the manager can understand the process and judge if the players are competent and accountable. References Drucker, P. (1993). Post-capitalist society. NY: HarperCollins Publishing, Inc. Drucker, P. (1999). Knowledge-worker productivity: The biggest challenge. California Management Review, 41(2), 79-94. Johnson, L. K. (2006, June). Are you getting the most from your knowledge workers? Management Update, 11(6), 3 & 4. Looney, J.

(2010, June 14). Insider blog: The player-coach. Retrieved March 23, 2011 from http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/article-2/Insider-Blog-The-Player-Coach/f164ac3e-12e9-4636-8ca5-a36f38e650d2