Evolution of twenty‐first century knowledge workers

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to convey background and historical settings on the evolution of knowledge management research and practices since the late 1990s in programs of The George Washington University (GWU), Washington, DC. The settings aim to support the papers of a special issue of the journal for exploring the future of knowledge workers in the twenty‐first century. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses historical data drawn from dissertations, books, discussions and active participation through a ten‐year community of interest (COI) comprising scholars and practitioners. This COI functions within the Institute for Knowledge and Innovation (GWU‐IKI) and the inputs are augmented with references to literature on KM and knowledge workers. Findings The overall viewpoint leverages off the theme that the youngest of the workforce generations, the Millennials, born since 1981, are 76 million strong and rapidly coming of age. Furthermore, through a natural process of evolution, they are already coping with the virtual real time, simultaneous, social networking of the cloud computing, cyberspace demands that are generally seen as being overwhelming and beyond the “normal” human capacities for many in the older generations. Research limitations/implications Viewpoints expressed on the multigenerational group of current and future knowledge workers, i.e. Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, GenXers and Millennials are extremely narrow and summary in nature. Reference to these segments of the workforce is limited to the context of this background setting, but extensive literature and active media coverage openly exists for each generation. Practical implications The paper gives readers insights into the contents of the 11 papers comprising the special issue. Future traits, skills, aptitudes of workers, challenges of projected multi‐dimensional environments, real life practices for culture transformations, and emphasis on lifelong learning to cope with the escalating changes of the connected global society are highlighted. Originality/value Children quickly adapt to change and often become the language and culture guides to adults in foreign environments. The Millennials, youngest generation of knowledge workers, will guide the global workforce through the chaos, complexity and intellectual capacity overburden of the early twenty‐first century cyber‐socialization.

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