Knowledge worker

,

,

Definition

Knowledge worker is A worker whose main capital is knowledge Source: Planning and Execution of Knowledge Management Assist Missions for Nuclear Organizations

Description

R&D organisations

The reputation and quality of an R&D organization all depends on the scientific and technical competence of its staff. Therefore, the notion of a ‘knowledge worker’ is a fundamental one when considering KM for R&D organizations.

Nuclear knowledge is characterized by being truly cross-disciplinary, demanding from a nuclear researcher or expert knowledge on a vast array of scientific and technological topics. Getting to this stage of nuclear expertise demands a long process starting from a basic training in nuclear regulations and other aspects, but also on how to integrate one’s scientific and technological expertise in an increasingly international setting, i.e. demanding human relations, networking and many other skills allowing a nuclear expert to perform best practices in his/her work.

Above all, R&D organizations have to deal essentially with nuclear researchers and/or experts that are in essence knowledge workers. Knowledge workers are defined as ‘having high degrees of expertise, education or experience, and the primary purpose of their jobs involves the creation, distribution or application of knowledge’ (cit. Thinking for a Living, Davenport). Knowledge workers may be characterized by a high degree of autonomy, have usually created an environment (work processes) which are highly adapted to their tasks, are strongly committed to their work (implying having a say in what they do and how they do it), and value their knowledge (not always sharing it easily). Improving the performance of knowledge workers is not an easy task, since specifying detailed steps and workflows for knowledge-intensive processes is more difficult than for other types of work.

Source: Guide on nuclear knowledge management

Related articles

Research and development and technical support organisations