How to motivate a knowledge worker

[shibli]

Motivation is the key to success
A competent leader knows that professional knowledge workers are not so much motivated by external factors, like money or status, but by intrinsic factors. These include: job satisfaction, appreciation, producing something with quality, working in a stimulating and pleasant atmosphere, collaborating with inspiring and friendly colleagues, making a difference, and most of all: learning and growing. Managing a context in which these factors are made possible is an important task for leaders in a knowledge-intensive organization.

Shapiro (1985) provides a handy list of thirteen ways to motivate a knowledge worker:
• Recognize accomplishment

• Provide flexibility and autonomy

• Be available for support

• Give responsibility and accountability

• Show how tasks fit the big picture

• Encourage self-established goals

• Allow for intrinsic rewards

• Individualize supervision

• Provide feedback immediately

• Work on the Pygmalion effect (this idea is known as “the self-fulfilling prophecy”.
When you believe the team will perform well, in some strange, magical way they
do. And similarly, when you believe they won’t perform well, they don’t.)

• Set tasks that allow for experience of accomplishment.

Leading an organization of knowledge workers is extremely difficult to do. Many top
managers have learned the hard way that they needed to get rid of their old planning &
control habits.

Instead of relying on rules, procedures, and planning & control, leaders in knowledge intensive organizations should lead through shared values and collective ambition. A
knowledge-worker is like a horse: you can lead it to water, but you can not force it to drink.

The most important task of leaders in knowledge-based organizations is to match the
capabilities and aspirations of each individual knowledge worker with the aspirations of the organization as a whole. By looking for these shared values, a good leader facilitates the ambitions of the knowledge worker; thereby releasing energy and potential, while at the same time pursues the company goals.

The excerpt of the above article is written by Dr. Daniel Andriessen

[shibli]

Characteristics of Knowledge Work

The modern knowledge worker is most of the time busy doing knowledge work. But what is
knowledge work? What are some of the characteristics of this kind of work? As the world
becomes more globalized and technology advances, situations become more complex.
Customers become more demanding, the number of partners with which a company has to
work increases, and the available opportunities seem to become endless. As a result,
managers and employees are often faced with problems or opportunities that they have
never encountered before. These unique problems and opportunities often require non-standardized
solutions and actions. To create these solutions, existing knowledge need to be
mobilized and new knowledge needs to be created.

Knowledge work is work in which new and unique problems need to be solved on a constant
basis, which requires access to knowledge and the creation of new knowledge. Smart
companies make sure that the new knowledge that is created when people develop new
solutions is captured and distributed. Other companies keep reinventing the wheel every time
they face a challenge.

[shibli]

Knowledge workers are a difficult and complicated species. The bad news is that these highly educated professionals are impossible to manage using traditional rules, procedures and management information systems. Knowledge workers are too much set on their freedom to act and consider their way of working as too unique to be controlled by managers (Weggeman, 1992). Knowledge workers that are forced to work in a traditional, hierarchical organization lose their motivation and either become very ineffective or leave the company.

The good news is that knowledge workers are often highly, intrinsically motivated people that have a strong urge to be successful. Their energy, knowledge, and creativity can be the decisive factor between the success and failure of the firm.

We have seen three reasons why modern, knowledge-intensive firms need different organizing principles from traditional industrial organizations. What modern way of organizing can accommodate complexity, speed, and knowledge workers? Three concepts seem to be key in organizing knowledge workers: teams, networks, and decentralization. In most knowledge-intensive organizations the various skills and expertise required for complex tasks are brought together using teams. More and more people work in teams and often these teams are set up temporarily to address a specific problem or challenge. In some organizations people still belong to a functional department, like engineering or marketing,
but they work in teams in which these functionalities are combined. In other organizations the
functional departments no longer exist and the whole organizational structure is based on
teams.

To get the best out of knowledge workers, the teams should be self-directing or task-focusing teams, as opposed to manager-led teams. In the manager-led team, the manager acts as the team leader and is responsible for defining the goals, methods, and functioning of the team. Self-directing teams determine their own objectives and the methods by which to achieve them. Management has responsibility only for the team’s organizational context (Thompson,2003). Savage (1996) described the benefits of self-directing teams as follows: "As part of their tasks are solved, the teams shift their focus to other business opportunities and interrelated aspects. The power of the task-focusing team lies in its freedom to shift its focus as needed, to zoom in on particular aspects of an opportunity and zoom out to see the whole picture" (p. 253).

[shibli]

Teachers are the knowledge-workers. The job responsibilities of a teacher and those of other professions are not the same. A teacher has to read a lot everyday. It is true that we remain very busy with taking classes and performing other responsibilities, e.g. We are to

1. study before going to classes

2. counsel students

3. check answer scripts on regular basis

4. Invigilate in exams and conduct admission tests

5. Advise students and do registration.

Classroom learning is truly important, no doubt about that, but taking feedback is equally important. Researchers say students learn only 5% to 10% from the lectures we deliver in the classroom. Learning feedback system is all about online counseling. Once we can engage students in the discussion in the real sense, we don't need to write anything. In our free time, we can just check the progress of the students and inspire them to engage more. Mahatma Gandhi said “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” Barak Obama said, "Change we need."

As we know the world is moving so fast with the advancement of Technology, we have no option but to be innovative in teaching and learning. Over to all for comments.

[shibli]

The responsibilities of a faculty member are well defined which are as follows:

1. Instructing students
2. Checking scripts
3. Preparing questions
4. Invigilating in the exam hall
5. Counseling and guiding students
6. Managing class rooms
7. Managing students
8. Doing research work
9. Preparing oneself for classes
10. studying

On the other hand, the tasks of a person in the administration are multifarious. The responsibilities may change from time to time....some may have regular jobs, while others have special assignment.

Therefore, all of us are ardently requested not to put any regular job activity like conducting classes, supervising students, counseling students, invigilating, checking answer scripts, etc.  If we happen to do any extra curricular activity or special assignment like responsibilities in fruit festival, business/science festival, programming contest, and other club activities, we can either create an assigned task as a coordinator or convener of a program or join under that specific convener or coordinator as a member of the group and write your activities and make suggestions for others to follow.

Hence, Job Tracking is a professional tool and can only be used for professional assignments and tasks rather than simple messages. Many use it as communication tool which can be done by email or phone call which is completely wrong and make bad impression to the supervisor and higher authorities of the university. On the other hand, doing Job Track properly can be a plus point during the time of evaluation.

However, if you need my help, you can just call me up at your convenience. I will be available to help you out.
Respectfully,

[shibli]

If a teacher has to take a single course, that means.....

1. S/he is to take 3-hour class per week...

2. S/he is to provide another 2 to 3 hours counseling for the students per course...

3. S/he is to check scripts of three to four quizzes, mid-term and final examinations.

4. S/he is to do invigilation for that particular course.

5. S/he is to give input of the marks of those students in the computer generated grade sheet/software.

6. S/he is to engage students in learning feedback system....

7. S/he has to study and take preparation for the course.

Hence, taking a course involves a lot of other tasks associated with it apart from delivering lecture only.

According to Peter Drucker, Manganemt Guru opined on.....

 
What Motivates knowledge workers to Perform?

   1. Knowledge workers are not motivated by fear, but are motivated by achievement – they want to see the results of their work.

   2. They are self-motivated – given a positive organizational environment.

   3. The value support – they want others to think that what they’re working on is important.

   4. Money is low on their list of motivation factors – typically they are well paid and enjoy what they do. Their chief reward is in their job and the work itself – if it is meaningful and makes a contribution to the organization.

 

[Farhananoor]

I completely agree with Shibli bhai. We, the teachers, remain very busy conducting classes and counseling students and preparing ourselves for the classes.

[Sharmin Jahan]

Excellent topic.

[Sima]

Useful discussion...

[gour2010]

Personally i do believe, before starting the job every knowledge worker should have the induction about the particular job responsibility.