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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2451/14238
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| Title: | KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION WORK IN ORGANIZATIONS |
| Authors: | Laudon, Kenneth
Starbuck, William H. |
| Issue Date: | Dec-1994 |
| Publisher: | Stern School of Business, New York University |
| Series/Report no.: | IS-94-07 |
| Abstract: | Since the turn of the century, the United States, Canada, and Western
Europe have been moving toward service and information economies and
away from an agricultural and manufacturing economies (Euromonitor,
1990; Machlup, 1962; Rubin and Huber, 1986; Porat, 1977). The fraction
of workers using information to produce economic value has been rising,
and the fraction working with their hands in factories or on farms has
been declining. In the United States, the percentage of jobs in
manufacturing fell from 27 percent in 1920 to 17 percent in 1990. In the
European Community, the value-added by manufacturing grew at an average
annual rate of 6.2 percent from 1960 to 1970, but this growth rate was
only 0.7 percent from 1980 to 1985. Among white-collar workers, the
fastest growing occupations have been clerical, professional, and
technical workers, and managers and administrators (Wolff and Baumol,
1987). Six factors have been involved in this shift. First, third-world
and developing societies have become centers of manufacturing, while the
so-called advanced societies have shifted toward services. In Europe,
the telecommunications sector has been growing about 9 to 11 percent
annually, and the software and computing services sector has been
growing 15 to 20 percent annually (Sema Group, 1991). Second,
knowledge-intense and information-intense products and services have
grown rapidly, and the production of traditional products has also been
using knowledge more intensively. Third, business has invested heavily
in equipment to support information work. In the United States,
information-related equipment accounted for 20 percent of capital
investment in 1979; this figure had become 40 percent of capital
investment by 1986. Fourth, knowledge workers and information workers
have replaced manual production workers within the manufacturing
sectors. Machine-tool operators, for instance, have often been replaced
by technicians who monitor computer-controlled machine tools. Fifth,
workers have increased education and information-processing skills
(Howell and Wolff 1991). Sixth, new kinds of knowledge-intense and
information-intense organizations have emerged that are devoted entirely
to the production, processing, and distribution of information. These
new kinds of organizations employ millions of people (Office of
Technology Assessment, 1988). As early as 1976, the value of
information-sector products and services had already exceeded that of
the manufacturing sector in the U. S. By 1990, the information sector
(including services) accounted for $3 out of every $4 of GNP, and over
half of the U. S. workers were doing some type of information work
(Howell and Wolff, 1993; Roach, 1988). The U. S., however, represents an
extreme case. For instance, in the software and computing services
sector, the United States has about 55 percent of the world market, the
European Community has about 25 percent, and Japan has about 8 percent
(Sema Group, 199 1). This article surveys information work, information
workers, and the computer systems that support such work. It then
examines the organizations that are most dependent on knowledge and
information work -- knowledge-intensive firms. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2451/14238 |
| Appears in Collections: | IOMS: Information Systems Working Papers
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