Why Knowledge Workers Are Asset Not Liquidity to a Company - Literature review Example

The paper “Why Knowledge Workers Are Asset Not Liquidity to a Company” is a persuasive example of human resources literature review. The increasing globalization has made the world's market into a frantic mode in keeping pace with competitors, local and international. It is not surprising that companies now increase their workforce. The globalization of business has made managers seek solutions to maintain their competitive edge. Shifting from manual workers to knowledge workers is one of the major changes made by the managers. Ensuring the loyalty and services of knowledge workers help them sustain their advantages. This is when effective human resource management is essential.

Today’s organizational success depends more on intellectual and systems capabilities than on traditional physical assets. It would follow then that the companies that possess the most productive knowledge workers are most likely to win in the marketplace. This is true for both “new economy” (knowledge-based) enterprises, like software and consulting, and “old economy” manufacturing enterprises, where research and development, process and product design, logistics, marketing, and systems management are critical knowledge-based functions that can remain invisible. Therefore, managing what people know, and turning it into useful products and services, is becoming an essential executive skill. Because knowledge is the new competitive resource, the management and deployment of organizational intellect, or what has come to be known as Professional Intellect, is both a strategic asset and a source of sustainable competitive advantage

Knowledge worker was first used by Peter Drucker almost half a century ago. It is his intention to describe a successor class to factory workers, but today it is defined as participants in the knowledge economy. It suggests an environment where information and its manipulations are the commodities and the activity compared to an industrial economy where workers produce a tangible object from raw materials and other physical goods (Spira, 2005).

The labor force today is made up of knowledge workers, especially in advanced countries. They have the expertise that most of the industries depend on but they are one of the underrated and unnoticed sectors in the labor force.