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Assignments The Knowledge-Based Organization: Managing Its Human Resources

(#1 & 2) Multiple-Choice Questions

1. By the end of the 1990s, more than ___ of required knowledge workers.

a) 22%

b) 30%

c) 60%

d) 75%

2. Knowledge workers are employees who:

a) are engaged in work predominantly intellectual as opposed to routine physical work.

b) consistently exercise discretion and judgment in the performance of their job.

c) focus on practical applications, rather than merely academic or theoretic.

d) all of the above

3. Peter Senge identified five “learning disciplines” that lie at the core of Learning Organizations. Which of the following is NOT one the disciplines?

a) Autonomous innovation

b) Mental models

c) Systems thinking

d) Team learning

4. “The Five Rs of Managing Knowledge Workers” are

a) Recruiting, rewards, retention, resources and relationships.

b) Recruiting, rewards, responsibility, resources and relationships.

c) Recruiting, rewards, responsibility, repertoire and relationships.

d) Recruiting, responsibility, resources, relationships and reengineering.

5) The task of recruiting is to:

a) identify the best-qualified candidates

b) introduce the best candidates to the organization

c) attract a pool of qualified applicants

d) orient the new employee to the organization

6) “Knowledge-based pay” fosters loyalty from knowledge workers because:

a) they are paid better compared to the external market.

b) they have organization-specific skill sets.

c) they tend to rise faster than under traditional compensation systems.

d) A and B

7) One common denominator of those organizations that effectively promote breakthrough value from knowledge workers seems to be:

a) continual introduction of new policies.

b) formal mentor-mentee programs.

c) an expectation for hard work on innovative projects.

d) widespread use of self-managed work teams.

8) Many organizations hope to foster inquiry and the development of new knowledge by making time and money available for such pursuits. All of the following are common practices for doing so EXCEPT:

a) allowing employees to use work time to take courses at higher-learning institutions.

b) awarding sabbaticals to key employees so they can develop new skills.

c) providing employees free time to work on “pet projects.”

d) turning over all royalties from specific products to knowledge workers who develop licensable inventions.

(#3) Matching the Columns. Match the correct definition with the word or phrase.

a) Double-loop learning	1) A legal document in which employees promise not to divulge certain information about a organization, product or service.
b) Knowledge-based organization	2) Errors are corrected using past routines and present policies.
c) Single-loop learning	3) An organization that has developed the continuous capacity to adapt and change.
d) Nondisclosure agreement	4) A legal document that limits an employee’s ability to work for a competitor if they were to leave the organization.
e) Learning organization	5) Errors are corrected by modifying the organization’s objectives, policies and standard routines.
f) Noncompete agreements	6) An organization that relies on the ability of individuals to create, obtain and apply knowledge to produce products or services.

Answers: a-5, b-6, c-2 d-1, e-3, f-4

Summary

§ A Knowledge-Based Organization may be defined as an organization that relies on the ability of individuals to create, obtain and apply knowledge to produce products or services. The transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age meant that all organizations today rely on knowledge workers to an unprecedented extent.

§ Understanding “the Five Rs of Managing Knowledge Workers” – recruiting, rewards, responsibility, resources and relationships – will help organizations develop human resource management approaches that foster the innovative and creative behavior for which the knowledge workers were hired in the first place.

§ Knowledge-based organizations can protect the intellectual capital that lies at the core of the organization’s success by using noncompete agreements for key employees.

Module Test

1.) In Knowledge-Based Organization, learning and the continual accumulation of knowledge are vital parts of the organization’s work.

True False

2.) No conflict tends to exist between the goals of knowledge workers and the rules and procedural requirements of bureaucratically managed organizations.

True False

3.) Individually tailored compensation packages affect the organization's ability to both attract and retain knowledge workers and provide long-term incentives for sustained contribution to the organization.

True False

4.) The work environment that is most likely to stimulate creative behavior from knowledge workers places a premium on personal responsibility for achievement.

True False

5.) The work environment most likely to stimulate creative behavior is one that places a premium on personal responsibility for individual and collaborative achievement.

True False

6.). Employers successfully foster creativity by making time and money (often small amounts) available to individuals for creative pursuits, and by encouraging internal competition for the resources available.

True False

7.) More than 60% of U.S. workers are in some variation of a team environment.

True False

8.) In many knowledge-based organizations, similarities exist in the constellation of relationships that were set up with professional employees and their supervisors. Basically, the relationships include adversarial hierarchy/supervisor structures.

True False

9.) In knowledge-based organizations, the effective human resource professional remains removed from the formulation of the organization’s project/programme purpose strategy.

True False

10.) In the United States, organizations that never had employees sign noncompete agreements may be able to prevent former employees from joining competitors.

True False

Bibliography

Ann Davis and Joann S. Lublin, “More Managers Have Trouble Jumping Ship,” The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 1997: B1.

Dottie Enrico, “Silent Partners A confidentiality pact is the next best thing to keeping your ideas under lock and key,” project/programme purposeWeek, December 6, 1999: F16.

Maria Jesus Prades, “Spanish court rejects extradition of former GM executive,” Associated Press Newswires, June 19, 2001.

Glossary

Compensation Package: The organization’s bundle of monetary rewards and non-monetary benefits for an employee.

Double-loop Learning: Errors are corrected by modifying the organization’s objectives, policies and standard routines.

Knowledge-Based Organization: An organization that relies on the ability of individuals to create, obtain and apply knowledge to produce products or services.

Knowledge-based Pay: A compensation system that considers the skills, knowledge and abilities of individuals and what competitors pay similar individuals.

Learning Organizations: An organization that has developed the continuous capacity to adapt and change.

Nondisclosure Agreements: A legal document in which employees promise not to divulge certain information about a organization, product or service.

Noncompete Agreements: A legal document that limits an employee’s ability to work for a competitor if they were to leave the organization.

Participative Management: A management system whereby managers include employees in the main decision-making processes.

Single-loop Learning: Errors are corrected using past routines and present policies.

Learning Objectives

§ To understand trends in project/programme purpose related to knowledge workers and intellectual capital.

§ To learn techniques for recruiting, managing and retaining knowledge workers.

Q&A

1) How should managers decide whether it appropriate to use the traditional job-based pay or knowledge-based pay?

Neither approach is appropriate for every situation. The choice of which compensation system is better depends on the organization and the role of the employee.

A job-based pay policy tends to work best when:

§ Technology is stable.

§ Jobs do not change often.

§ A lot of training is required to learn a specific job.

§ Turnover is low.

§ Jobs are relatively standardized in the sector of activity.

A knowledge-based pay system tend to work best when:

§ The organization has a relatively educated workforce with the ability and willingness to learn different jobs and skills.

§ Technology changes frequently.

§ Employee participation and teamwork are encouraged.

§ Opportunities to learn new skills exist.

§ The cost of employee turnover is high to the organization.

2) What are ways for knowledge-based organization to encourage innovation?

Knowledge-based organizations thrive on innovation, a new idea applied to initiating or improving a product, process or service. Innovative organizations tend to have cultures that reward successes and even failures when the failure is the result of risk-taking intended to generate innovation. Organizations who subscribe to this philosophy believe that rewarding employees for the absence of failures would hamper risk-taking that leads to successful innovations. Instead, they want to encourage knowledge workers to experiment. Innovation also tends to emerge in organizations that actively promote the training and development of knowledge workers so they remain current in their fields, expand their competencies and master new skills.

3) What are the activities of a Learning Organization and why should organizations strive to become one?

The activities of a Learning Organization include systematic problem solving by insisting on data rather than assumptions, experimentation with new approaches to ensure the steady flow of new ideas and offering incentives for risk taking. A Learning Organization studies the best practices of others and also transfers knowledge efficiently throughout the organization. The reasons to become a Learning Organization include achieving a superior performance, gaining a effective advantage and energizing the workforce.