Term coined by Peter Drucker in The Effective Executive in 1966
From Wikipedia:
Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, editors, and academics, whose job is to “think for a living”.
Unique in its emphasis on non-routine problem-solving Requires both convergent thinking and divergent thinking
Most knowledge workers prefer some level of autonomy and do not like being managed
The best knowledge workers can think outside the box and supply the kinds of unorthodox perspectives to lead to organizational innovation.
This is a bit of a devisive term (ask Drew) and isn’t particularly helpful as most Knowledge Workers don’t identify as Knowledge Workers. I’ve thought for some time about alternative terms for this with varying levels of success. The best I’ve come up with is “Modern Workforce” or “Modern Human”
Roles
- analyzing data to establish relationships
- assessing input in order to evaluate complex or conflicting priorities
- identifying and understanding trends
- making connections
- understanding cause and effect
- ability to brainstorm, thinking broadly (divergent thinking)
- ability to drill down, creating more focus (convergent thinking)
- producing a new capability
- creating or modifying a strategy