How to Manage Knowledge and ""Gold Collar"" Workers

The principal resource of the 21st century will not be labor, or raw materials, or even capital, according to such prominent business consultants as Peter F. Drucker, professor of social science and management at Claremont Graduate University. It will be knowledge: a fundamentally different resource from the other three.1 In science, especially in biotechnology, where the pace of gathering and transferring knowledge is rapid, proper management of this central resource is already a major challen

Written bySteve Bunk

| 6 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

6:00

The principal resource of the 21st century will not be labor, or raw materials, or even capital, according to such prominent business consultants as Peter F. Drucker, professor of social science and management at Claremont Graduate University. It will be knowledge: a fundamentally different resource from the other three.¹ In science, especially in biotechnology, where the pace of gathering and transferring knowledge is rapid, proper management of this central resource is already a major challenge.

Mary Ann Rafferty

Unlike information, knowledge cannot be computer-generated. It is born of cognition and insight, and it develops in the minds of human beings. Knowledge workers own the primary tool of such industries, and they take it with them from job to job. Companies in any knowledge industry must deal productively with the constant growth and change of that fundamental asset. Thus arises the liberal art of knowledge management.

"Knowledge, unlike lots of other ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member? Login Here