Knowledge as work: Conflicts in the management of knowledge workers

Against the backdrop of increasing interest in knowledge management and intellectual capital, this paper analyzes the emergence and management of knowledge worker groups. It suggests that knowledge work is a useful way of characterizing some important changes in the nature of work across a range of different occupational and professional groups. These changes have important implications for management and organizational performance. The paper discusses these implications through a conflict-based analysis which highlights the inherent conflict between 'knowing' as part of the work experience and 'knowledge' as an economic commodity. This conflict is expressed at both institutional and organizational levels. The management of knowledge workers therefore centres on the quasi-resolution of such conflict. As the illustrative example of the Microsoft Corporation indicates, competitive success depends very largely on the precarious ability to reconcile this conflict between the social production of knowledge and the economic appropriation of profit.