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Knowledge Work(ers) in the Digital Age

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Knowledge Management

Part of the book series: Springer Texts in Business and Economics ((STBE))

Abstract

This chapter underlines the significance of people as the knowledge resource of an organisation. The reader learns about new forms of labour relations and knowledge worker productivity in the digital transformation. Five groups of actors of the knowledge firm are introduced and particular emphasis is placed on competence development and motivation of knowledge workers. Communities of Practice (CoP) are discussed as an effective format for situated and social learning (For a detailed treatment of the topic we recommend the textbook «Effective knowledge work» by North and Gueldenberg 2011).

The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivityPeter Drucker (1999, p. 135)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency_wages

  2. 2.

    CSC Ploenzke information brochure.

  3. 3.

    An overview of work motivation research can be found at Latham and Pinder (2005), an overview over motivation theories can be found under 7 http://www.goldsmithibs.com/resources/free/motivation/notes/summary%20-%20motivation.pdf

  4. 4.

    Cf. 7 http://www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-talent-and-skill/

  5. 5.

    Ash, Jerry, «Ideas Emerging», Case Report on Mindtree.

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North, K., Kumta, G. (2018). Knowledge Work(ers) in the Digital Age. In: Knowledge Management. Springer Texts in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59978-6_4

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