Knowledge Workers and Organizational Arrangement
Introduction
In the last century working environments have changed and with them organizations too, leaving behind the traditional hierarchical form of management, creating flexible forms of management that could adapt to a volatile market with a demand shaped by immediate delivery and access to the latest technology for the consumer, as the referred by Child (2005).
Knowing Knowledge Workers
With new technologies shaping the way we communicate, interrelate and how the information is made available to us from anywhere in the world (Child 2005), this led to the restructuring of organizations, which was only possible by “destroying the illusion that the world is created of separate, unrelated forces” (Senge, 1990, p.343). In this atmosphere emerged the knowledge workers - a term coined by Druker to define those who work with information - able to act autonomously and responsibly, instead of being simple helpers. These are employees valued for their ability to act as sources of general knowledge and often bring solutions to solve business problems, based on their experiences and expertise in order to create more benefits for the company, (Drucker, nd.)
Organisational Arrangement
The organisational arrangement is how a workteam is organized, its related to the number of elements involved, their specialties, on choosing a leader, the motivation of each as well as the physical structure of the company. Farom my point of view the best type of organizational arrangement is where a blended learning (mixes of media), (Pratt, 2002), methods are applied, allowing them to search, share knowledge, experience and develop concepts through the exchange of departments; a place where they have space for creativity, developing models of work known as “learning team” ( Papacharalambous, L. and Mccalman, J. 2004).
My example
I used to work for a tv production company, where most of the tv editors were creative artists that came from different work areas, like drawing
In the last century working environments have changed and with them organizations too, leaving behind the traditional hierarchical form of management, creating flexible forms of management that could adapt to a volatile market with a demand shaped by immediate delivery and access to the latest technology for the consumer, as the referred by Child (2005).
Knowing Knowledge Workers
With new technologies shaping the way we communicate, interrelate and how the information is made available to us from anywhere in the world (Child 2005), this led to the restructuring of organizations, which was only possible by “destroying the illusion that the world is created of separate, unrelated forces” (Senge, 1990, p.343). In this atmosphere emerged the knowledge workers - a term coined by Druker to define those who work with information - able to act autonomously and responsibly, instead of being simple helpers. These are employees valued for their ability to act as sources of general knowledge and often bring solutions to solve business problems, based on their experiences and expertise in order to create more benefits for the company, (Drucker, nd.)
Organisational Arrangement
The organisational arrangement is how a workteam is organized, its related to the number of elements involved, their specialties, on choosing a leader, the motivation of each as well as the physical structure of the company. Farom my point of view the best type of organizational arrangement is where a blended learning (mixes of media), (Pratt, 2002), methods are applied, allowing them to search, share knowledge, experience and develop concepts through the exchange of departments; a place where they have space for creativity, developing models of work known as “learning team” ( Papacharalambous, L. and Mccalman, J. 2004).
My example
I used to work for a tv production company, where most of the tv editors were creative artists that came from different work areas, like drawing
References: Child, J. (2005) Organization: contemporary principles and practice. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. (Ch. 2, pp32-37). DLS Group, Inc. (2007) Session SU302 10 Ways to Better Blended Learning for Knowledge Workers [Online] Available from: http://web.dls.com/1163_Blended.pdf (Accessed 27 September 2013). Harvard Business Review. (1998) The Coming of The New Organization [Online] Available from: http://home.base.be/vt6195217/neworganization.pdf (Accessed 27 September 2013). Pratt, J. R. 2002. The Manager’s Role in Creating a Blended Learning Environment. Home Health Care Management & Practice. [Online]. 15(7), p.76. [Accessed 27 September 2013]. Available from: http://hhc.sagepub.com/content/15/1/76.extract Purdue Online Writing Lab (n.d.) Paraphrase: Write it in your own words [Online]. Available from: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/02/ (Accessed: September 2013). Purdue Online Writing Lab (n.d.) Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing [Online]. Available from: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/ (Accessed: September 2013). Roberts, J. (2004) The modern firm: organizational design for performance and growth (Chapter 3, pp 88-103). The University of Liverpool (n.d.) Guide to referencing and developing a bibliography [Online]. Available from: http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/ohecampus/referencing/referencing.htm (Accessed: 23 September 2013).