Knowledge Workers: Asset Not Cost

Management’s duty is to preserve the assets of the institution in its care.

Knowledge workers own the means of production. It is the knowledge between their ears. And it is a totally portable and enormous capital asset. Because knowledge workers own their means of production, they are mobile. Manual workers need the job much more than the job needs them. It may still not be true for all knowledge workers that the organization needs them more than they need the organization. But for most of them it is a symbiotic relationship in which the two need each other in equal measure.

Management’s duty is to preserve the assets of the institution in its care. What does this mean when the knowledge of the individual knowledge worker becomes an asset and, in more and more cases, the main asset of an institution? What does this mean for personnel policy? What is needed to attract and to hold the highest-producing knowledge workers? What is needed to increase their productivity and to convert their increased productivity into performance capacity for the organization?

Action point: Attract and hold the highest-producing knowledge workers by treating them and their knowledge as the organization’s most valuable assets.

Management Challenges for the 21st Century

知识工作者：是资产而非成本

管理(者)的职责在于好好保管所在机构的资产。

知识工作者拥有生产方式。他们两耳之间的知识是“便携”且庞大的资产。因为知识工作者拥有他们自己的生产方式，他们是移动的。对所有知识工作者来说，组织对他们的需要要比他们对组织的需要大得多，尽管这可能不适用于所有的知识工作者，但是对于大多数知识工作者来说，他们和组织之间是同等被需要的共生关系。

管理(者)的职责自傲与好好保管好所在结构的资产。当个体知识工作者的知识变成一个机构的资产或者有时甚至是主要资产的时候，这意味着什么？这对人员政策意味着什么？如何吸引和留住知识最高产的知识工作者？如何提高他们的生产率，并将他们的生产率转化为组织的绩效能力？

动起来：通过将知识工作者以及他们的知识看作是组织最有价值的资产来吸引和留住最高产的知识工作者。

——《21世纪的管理挑战》

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