Towards a Holistic Framework of Knowledge Worker Productivity

Abstract

Many jobs today are predominantly knowledge work. This makes organizations dependent on value created by knowledge workers (KWs). Many of the initiatives to improve and manage knowledge worker productivity (KWP) give unpredictable results depending on factors that are often hidden and unknown. It is important to find a holistic approach to improve and manage KWP that gives consistent results across many different organizations. This paper takes us a step closer towards that objective by mapping insights gained from a systematic literature review to activities in a purposeful activity model of the individual KW at work and, based on the findings, proposing a draft of a holistic KWP framework. The main components of the framework are the state of the individual KW, work done and outcome. The systematic literature review searched for papers with topics that touched on approaches, frameworks, tools, or models which aim to tackle the productivity, performance, effectiveness, efficiency, or management of KWs. Relevant concepts were extracted from each paper and categorized into groups. Twelve groups were formed of which six consisted of concepts relevant to individual KWs and their work: organizational commitment and engagement, communication and relationships, personal characteristics and development, personal knowledge management, well-being and job satisfaction and task approach.

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