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'Society needs people who take care of the elderly and who know how to be compassionate and honest. Society needs people who work in hospitals. Society needs all kinds of skills that are not just cognitive; they're emotional, they're affectional. You can't run the society on data and computers alone.' (Toffler)
In his book, The Third Wave, published in 1980, Alvin Toffler spoke of the post-industrial society that we live in and mentioned that 'information has become the world's fastest growing and most important industry'. The inimitable Peter Drucker had forecast this soon after the second world war and predicted that industry would soon see the rise of a new breed of employees, the Knowledge Worker. Suffice it to say that what the futurist Toffler predicted is our reality now as the age of technology and internet enmeshes everything we do.
Lest it be assumed that there are no more industrial workers and all of us have become Knowledge Workers, let me distinguish a fine point here. Yes, industrial processes have changed and blue collared staff are perhaps not facing the 'blood, sweat & grime' of the old industrial world, but the challenge in certain sectors remain, particularly the classic smoke stack businesses. However, over the last few decades, it is no secret that classic manufacturing (think textiles, auto and other engineering sectors) has undergone change with the rise of automation, programmable machines, and even robots on the assembly line. And, with the emerging trend of Manufacturing 4.0, shop floor technicians will be more empowered than ever before. The rise of the Knowledge Workers, on the other hand, has been more visible in the services sectors (banking, information technology, law, consulting, etc.), where since the late-70s, early '80s, the bulky behemoth called a computer morphed into the friendly desktop (and later into a laptop) which is now an ubiquitous element of every office.
Another way of distinguishing the two is to look at the way the work environment is structured in these businesses. Traditionally, the Industrial worker operates under the command-and-control model where he is a cost to be managed and from whom returns have to be generated by the supervisor who takes the major calls on defining tasks, measuring output, compliance to generate quality, etc. The Knowledge Worker, by definition, on the other hand, is breathing a different air - of autonomous work demands, continuous nurturing, etc., as he is considered an asset who is expensive to replace, and who brings brain power to work, not muscle power. Ideally supervised in a general and mild manner, this worker is expected to be self-driven and creative and not vulnerable to standard 'motivational methods' as he generates 'quality from within'. Given his penchant for learning, he is constantly seeking more avenues to up-skill.
However, real-life is not a textbook case study! Therefore, managing the Knowledge Worker throws up its own array of challenges. Consider a few: monetary benefits are believed to be a hygiene element at the workplace for this class of employees. But, in an unequal world where comparisons between firms are constantly made, how can one shield employees from the lure of quick financial gratification? The truth therefore, is that satisfying this requirement is like wrestling with jellyfish - it is a difficult problem to contain, and will continue to sting the employer who believes he has found a water-tight solution.
In the Indian business context, another bug bear is the challenge of catering to the status need of employees. The annual promotion dilemma rears its ugly head in every firm as employees seek ways of seeming to be socially (and organizationally) ahead of one another. Those who think that creating a flat structure and removing designations (think Tata Motors) is the solution, may yet rue their mistake as a cloud of dissatisfaction quickly envelops the firm.
Far higher is the challenge created by employees seeking a stronger sense of purpose. 'What motivates - and especially what motivates Knowledge Workers - is what motivates volunteers,' Drucker wrote... 'they need to know the organization's mission and to believe in it'. Simply put, the Knowledge Worker responds well when the appeal to them is to be part of a larger whole - as in essence, they are but 'volunteer investors' (to use Prof. Sumantra Ghoshal's words). How to do this is the Leadership challenge at a time where unfortunately many organizations are still struggling with mundane bottom line issues. Perhaps, such firms can pick a leaf from the playbook of ISRO or the way E. Sreedharan rallied his troops for executing the Delhi Metro project (never forget that both are public sector organizations!).
Creating and sustaining a value-driven organization is a dynamic trial for business leaders and many have faltered, causing Knowledge Workers to be sceptical, even disdainful, of what they consider management-speak. Part of this arises from the fact that Knowledge Workers are in turn supervised and led by other Knowledge Workers who are equally fragile in times of stress, as in the current business environment. And, in the face of rapid automation and technological obsolescence, the biggest task for a firm is to create a band of effective leaders who can truly inspire their team to aggressively stretch beyond existing comfort levels to become better at every step and thereby create a genuine learning organization. I leave the final word again to Drucker: 'If knowledge isn't challenged to grow, it disappears fast; it's infinitely more perishable than any other resource we have ever had'.
To read the complete issue click here.
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