20120327 managing an expert workforce

Managing an expert workforce

Knowledge-intensive Organization

Knowledge Management Course

class of 28/03/2012

Newell et al. 2002 “managing Knowledge Work”

Case study of chapter 2

knowledge workers

in the knowledge-intensive firms

the ScenceCo case study

Pag. 36

Knowledge workers

...are people who use their heads more than their hands to produce value.

Frances Horibe

...one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace.

Peter Drucker 1959

Knowledge workers

...have particular skills and expertise not generally available in the labour force and in post-industrial and global economy these skills are much in demand.

Newell

Pag. 24

Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, Beth Axelrod

The war for talent Harvard Business school 2001

Importance for firms of high skilled workers

The Old Reality The New Reality

People need companies Companies need people

Machines, capital and geography are the competitive advantage

Talented people are the competitive advantage

Better talent makes some difference Better talent makes a huge difference

Job are scarce Talented people are scarce

Employees are loyal and jobs are surePeople are mobile and their commitment is short term

People accept they are offered People demand much more

"We help scientific brains to find each other!"

Pag. 36

Critical organizational factors

● Organizational structure

● Organizational culture

● Pattens of IT usage

● Human Resource practices

Organizational structure

ScienceCo are organized in 7 scientific ‘divisions’, even if operates primarily for financial reporting purposes only.

In reality they work in self-forming and self-managing project teams.

values of

autonomy and egalitarianismPag. 37

Organizational structure

One level of management

Flat organization

Pag.37

Culture

● Absence of hierarchy, rules and formal procedures

● Egalitarian environment where everyone is free to contribute to decision making and individuals freedom to be creative

Absence of tough culture that encompassed particular norms of behaviour

Pag. 42

Culture

Heterogeneity and diversity workforce exemplify the importance placed on individuality within the firm

Pag. 42

Potential problems● In range of diverse individuals conflict inevitably

arise....

consultants are trusted to resolve them without the recourse to management

● Consultants do have different perceptions on what constitutes organizational reality

however exist an informal hierarchy based on expertise; but positions are transient!

Pag. 42

IT usage

● Groupware technologies

● E-mail system

Pag. 42

● email, calendaring, contacts management, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing, online meetings, discussions, forums, blogs, file sharing, micro-blogs, and office productivity suite (IBM Lotus Symphony)

● additional integrated applications and databases (IBM Lotus Domino).

Groupware technologies

IT usage

Groupware technologies:

collaborative software are occasionally used by consultants; they prefer work face to face

:( documentation projects are not always classifying and recording in a consistent manner in the firm

Pag. 42

E-mail system

E-mail system

E-mail system

E-mail system

E-mail system

E-mail system

E-mail system

IT usage

E-mail system:

the principal instrument consultants use to communicate each other and with clients

:) informal and horizontal

:( perceived as a burden

(100 mail per day)

Pag 41.

Recruitment

...process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation.

Edwin B. Flippo

…process to discover sources of manpower to meet the requirement of staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for attracting that manpower to facilitate effective selection of an efficient working force.

Dale Yoder

How choose the talent

Recruitment strategies:

● Advertisements

● Employment agencies

● College recruiting

● Professional organizations

● Internal job postings

How choose the talent

Selection strategies:

● General

● Testing and assessment

● Interviews

How choose the talent

Recruitment and selection process by HR manager:

international recruitment agencies

I interview with the HR manager and the

relevant divisional manager

II interview with the HR manager and

consultants from several divisionPag. 38 - 39

How choose the talent

Candidate characteristic:● Higher score on HA intelligent and 16PF

personality test● PhD in scientific discipline or equivalent

● “openness” and “willingness” to experiment● Naturally innovative and collaborative (team)

capacity to share knowledge● Commercial awareness

Pag. 38 - 39

How choose the talent

The most important ability of the candidate is

to “fit in” to the SienceCo way of working

Pag. 39

Retention

...is a systematic effort by employers to create and foster an environment that encourages current employees to remain employed by having policies and practices in place that address their divers needs.

Get Les Mckeown's

How retain talent in the firm

Retention strategy:

● Assess the organization

● Hold people accountable

● Measure what is important

● Increase employee ownership and involvement

● Build relationships and internal network

How retain talentin the firm

● Performance management● Training and development

Through the organizational structure and sharing the culture

Pag. all

Performance management

Salary = fixed pay + variable pay

Variable pay depends on the achievement of certain objectives

Objectives referring to personal or group goal, they are decided by the management (MbO)

Performance management

Salary depends on:● PRTs → Personal Revenue Targets

if they reach all the PRTs they can achieve a percentage increase based on their fixed pay

● DRTs → Divisional Revenue Targets

in the firm the have no salary scale (no formal carrier structure)

Pag.39

worst MbO effect

99 people under investigation for selling millions fake sim cards of Telecom Italia Mobile company.

The incentive system for Telecom retailers, up to 2008, was based on the activation of sim cards.

21/03/2012

www.lastampa.it

Performance management

Pag.39

Consultant are free to choose their hours of work and length of vacations

Performance management

Pag.40

Internal work market:

consultant negotiating with lead consultant the percentage of the project revenue they will be allocated

generate:

:) new ideas

:( put pressure on people

Training and development

Pag.41

For the professional development ScienceCo allocate a considerable financial resources, even the consultants have to do autonomous

The only training offering by the firm is the usage of software application for project work

Conclusion

The adhocracy organizational model bring the ScienceCo to success.

Anyway, using the adhocracy framework might arise problems in the organizational environment.

Federica Cacciavillani

Claudia Matricciani