Managing Knowledge Workers

Frances Horibe

Description

Managing Knowledge Workers provides practical, doable strategies for managing, motivating, and retaining knowledge workers, without breaking the bank. Managing Knowledge Workers focuses not just on understanding the value of knowledge in your organization, but on managing the human side of intellectual capital. Shows how to use other more powerful levers than money to attract and retain the knowledge workers. Provides hands-on advice on creating the right culture and environment through communication, involvement, consultation, and teamwork. Provides practical advice on how to handle new management challenges: how to manage knowledge you don't understand, how to encourage new knowledge to come forward, and much more. Features sample dialogues that offer concrete approaches to dealing with difficult real-life situations"With an insightfully crafted guide to the implementation of intellectual capital concepts, Frances Horibe has made a tremendous contribution to leveraging people and their knowledge in the context of the new economy."Hubert Saint-OngeSenior Vice President, Strategic CapabilitiesThe Mutual Group"Managing Knowledge Workers is an excellent reference guide, addressing the challenges all business leaders face in maximizing the creation of shareholder wealth by harnessing the human capital of a capable and committed workforce."Gordon J. FeeneyVice ChairmanRoyal Bank Financial Group"Provides a roadmap to optimizing our knowledge workers and maximizing our technology investment. Should be read by managers at all levels of the organization."Ken HenryVice President, Business ExcellenceManulife Financial"We've finally figured out that the proxy for business success is customer loyalty. Managing Knowledge Workers is essential reading for those wanting to understand how to ensure the loyalty of those people essential to achieving customer loyalty--our employees!"David CarlsonA VP, Customer CareNewbridge Networks

Sujets

• Gestion et management
• Knowledge management
• Gestion des connaissances

Informations

• Publié par: VisionArts International Inc.
• Date de parution: 16 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780994929006
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Copyright: Frances Horibe 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, or mechanical-without the prior written permission of the author.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Horibe, Frances Dale Emy
managing knowledge workers: new skills and attitudes to unlock the intellectual capital in your organization
Includes index
eBook ISBN 9780994929006
1. Knowledge workers 2. Knowledge management 3. Intellectual capital
Cover design: Deanna Fenwick
Dedication
To my family but especially to my father who was my first model for a worker who put his head, hands and heart into what he did.
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
PREFACE
What is a Knowledge Worker?
The New Economy
What This Book is About
You Can t Just Throw Money at the Problem
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 1 INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL: WHAT IS IT AND WHY DO YOU CARE?
Human Capital
New management challenges with human capital
Structural Capital
New management challenges with structural capital
Customer Capital
New management challenges with customer capital
From Common Sense to Common Practice
Summary
Main Points
SECTION ONE THE HUMAN SIDE OF HUMAN CAPITAL
CHAPTER 2 ENCOURAGING NEW KNOWLEDGE
Encouraging Employees to Generate New Ideas
Help employees understand how the strategic direction applies to them
Let employees work on things you don t agree with
Listen vigilantly
Kill an idea when it isn t going to work
Help employees understand your role
Don t punish failure
Rewarding Failure or Admitting Mistakes
Praise him at the time of the admission
Prevent others from throwing it in his face
Refer to the positive effects admitting the mistake has had on the business
Give the admitter a plum project
Thou shalt not disagree with the boss
using it against you
rectifying the mistake
How to Start Making the Change
It s not true
You didn t realize it
You knew it deep down
You knew it deep down (reprise)
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 3 PUSHING DOWN COMPLEXITY
What is Pushing Down Complexity?
The Stages of Pushing Down Complexity
Stage 1: I understand the challenges facing the company .
Stage 2: I realize the challenges are difficult .
Stage 3: The solutions may not be 100 per cent in my interest .
Stage 4: I m OK with that
Is getting to the final stage possible or even desirable?
How to Push Down Complexity
Information
Implications
Involvement
Pushing Down Complexity is a Thankless Job
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 4 TAPPING KNOWLEDGE THOROUGHOUT THE CORPORATION: CONSULTATION
Engaging Employees
The Consultation Process
Running a Successful Consultation
Decide whether to consult
Getting agreement from the executive
Briefing employees
Running the Consultation
Dealing with the Results
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 5 TAPPING KNOWLEDGE THROUGHOUT THE CORPORATION: INVOLVEMENT
The Types of Decisions Appropriate for Employee Involvement
Deciding or Recommending?
Getting Executive Agreement
Terms of Reference
Setting Up the Team
How to pick team members
Who to pick as team leader
Executives sitting in
The Challenge Function
Helping the Process
Make sure the team understands the complexities
Train them to work together
Tabling the Report
Glitches in the Process
Will involvement ensure commitment?
Does this process produce better decisions?
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 6 MANAGING KNOWLEDGE YOU DON T UNDERSTAND
Your New Role
Teacher
Scout
Keeper of the Flame
Manager
Sharing Decision Making
Your decisions and theirs
How to Transfer Decision Making
Managing Risk
Pitfalls
Advising too much
Give employees the benefit of the doubt
Bad initial decisions
Refusing decision making
Is This Role Enough For You?
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 7 ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO LEARN
Formal Training and Development Programs
The difference between training and learning
Formal training is important
An individual learning plan
Alternatives to Classroom Training
Encouraging Informal Learning
Mentoring programs
Conference attendance
On-the-Job-Training (OJT)
Learning together
Structural capital
Rewarding Learning
Personal versus organizational time
Paying for learning
Summary
Main Points
SECTION TWO THE HUMAN SIDE OF STRUCTURAL CAPITAL
CHAPTER 8 FREEING THE FLOW OF INFORMATION
What to Communicate
How Much Do Employees Need To Know?
We can t spend all our time communicating. We ve got a business to run.
We can t release that. It ll give away our plans to competitors.
Even if we release the information, they won t understand it.
A Communciations Plan Responds to the Need
Structure of a communications plan
What to communicate
With whom to communicate
Audience needs
How to communicate
NEWSLETTERS
Who will do the communicating?
When/how often to communicate
The action expected
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 9 THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE AND KNOWLEDGE
Meeting the Manager s Needs
I need to accomplish my work goals
What if Tina s product sells better than mine?
I m losing control
Structural Ways to Encourage Free Movement of People
Creating slack in the system
Reward managers who share resources
The Free Movement of Knowledge
Noncompetition agreements
Communities of practice
Proprietary information
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 10 SHARING AND LEARNING
Fast Learning
Deep Learning
How Do You Know if the Learning Isn t Getting Through?
It s not true
Even if true, it doesn t apply
Even if it applies, we can do it better
Why Learning is Slow
The Three Stages of Change
Stage1: Awareness
Stage 2: Invitation
Stage 3: Requirement
Problems in advancing through the stages
Sharing Knowledge
What about Speed of Integration?
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 11 TEAMNESS
Teams, Teams, Teams
A Typical Ineffective Team
The employees blame each other
Employees tattle on each other
The manager orders employees to sort things out
The employees go for coffee
The manager does a team-building exercise
Tackle the Real Issue-RequireTeamness
The employees blame each other
The employees tattle on each other
The manager orders employees to sort things out
The manager does a team-building exercise
Steps to developing teamness
Outside Help
Provide training for staff
Provide coaching for you
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 12 REWARDING KNOWLEDGE
Money Rewards
Competing on price
The law of diminishing returns
Do you really want that type of worker?
You know money alone doesn t work
Personal Rewards
What to praise and how to do it
Praise the characteristic/ trait not just the activity
Award Programs
Decide what you want from an award program
The Dos of an award program
The Don ts of an award program
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 13 BEING WILLING TO CHANGE
Why Is Personal Change So Hard?
It s a surprise
It s more profound than anticipated
Meaning is vested even in details
It s a life issue
It has unanticipated and unwanted consequences
How People Change
People change slowly
They re scared while they re changing
The Three Stages of Fostering Personal Change
Awareness of the need for change
Invitation to change
Requirement to change
Will All This Make Employees Change?
Summary
Main Points
SECTION THREE THE HUMAN SIDE OF CUSTOMER CAPITAL
CHAPTER 14 CUSTOMER LOYALTY IS EMPLOYEE LOYALTY
The Old Standbys: Mission and Values
The Stages of Mission and Values
Getting It Off the Page and Into the Heart
Many values and missions
Mission/values definitions
Aligning mission/values and decisions
Summary
Main Points
CHAPTER 15 ASSESSING EMPLOYEE LOYALTY
Financial Performance and Employee Loyalty
Regular Employee Surveys
Discussions before launching the survey
Building the survey
What to do with the results
360-Degree Feedback
Deciding whether or not to do 360-degree feedback
Questions to ask
Implementation
How to handle the aftermath
Is all this planning really necessary?
Summary
Main Points
CONCLUSION: THE END OF THE BEGINNING
Not a Panacea or Cookbook but a Road Map
Is This New Role Enough?
Acknowledgements
As is usual with any book, there are many people beyond the author who make its publication possible. There are those whose early encouragement and comments made the book better than what it would have been otherwise and also urged me to continue the long route to publication. Among those I wish to thank for that early belief in me and the book are: Claude Bernier, John Butcher, David Carlson, Chanlun Chan, Margaret Coshan, Barry Davy, Michael Desjardins, Mont Doyle, Helen Durand-Charron, Doug Gahm, Ken Henry, Brett Holt, Martha Hynna, Tony Johnston, Carolyn Levy, Michael McFaul, Diane McGarry, Mike Norman, Maureen Scott, Katita Stark.
In addition, there are those who helped to create the book by slogging through many chapters and their revisions, investing their time and wisdom in a way which I can never thank adequately but for which I will always be grateful. My very special thanks to Cliff Cullen, Stephanie Howard, Barb MacCallum and Janet Mairs for their insights and willingness to contribute their intellectual capital.
Finally, my thanks to my agent, Daphne Hart, whose belief in the worth of my book sustained me when nothing else did and to my editor, Karen Milner, and all those at John Wiley and Sons who have consistently been both pleasant and professional as they applied their special knowledge to mine.
PREFACE
What is a Knowledge Worker?
I m sure there is a whole crew of people somewhere arguing about this definition, but at its simplest, knowledge workers are people who use their heads more than their hands to produce value . They add value through their ideas, th