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32 MANAGING KNOWLEDGE WORK AND INNOVATION

work settings, which has led some commentators to suggest that all work is in
fact knowledge work (Knights et al., 1993). However, in this chapter we are
not using this broad definition but instead focus on those sectors in today’s
knowledge-based post-industrial economy which compete on the basis of their
ability to create, apply and share professional and discipline-based knowledge.
This includes sectors where the skills and expertise required are not necessarily
acquired through formal education and qualifications but where knowledge is
still the basis for competition. For example, many skills that are applied within
the field of ICT, such as software development, web page design and so on, are
skills that are often largely self-taught and almost develops intuitively by those
individuals with a particular interest in IT. In many instances it is not necessary
to have a degree in computer science in order to become a software expert
or web developer. It is therefore quite difficult to give a precise definition
of a knowledge-intensive firm in terms of the particular skills and expertise
required.
From a critical perspective, Alvesson (1993, 2001) suggests that knowledge-
intensive firms might be more usefully seen purely as ‘systems of persuasion’ –
relying primarily on their persuasive strategies (esoteric skills) rather than expert
knowledge or skills per se to convince clients of their superior ability and exper-
tise to satisfy client expectations. This might be the case in some service-based
knowledge-intensive firms, for example, some advertising agencies, but certainly
not all knowledge-intensive firms. Whilst there is therefore a lack of clarity and
a degree of ambiguity around the term ‘knowledge-intensive firm’, it is a use-
ful one with which to encapsulate a broad range of firms operating across sec-
tors in knowledge-based, post-industrial economies. What is indisputable is that
many types of knowledge-intensive firm emerged in the late twentieth and early
twenty-first centuries and now such firms constitute important industry sectors
within a post-industrial economy. In this chapter we address the ways in which
they organize and the drivers for particular modes of organizing. We next turn
to describing the distinctive characteristics of knowledge work and knowledge
workers.

>> THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF
KNOWLEDGE WORK AND KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

Autonomy
Generally knowledge workers expect to have considerable autonomy in their
work. The nature of the work, which is often characterized by creativity and
problem-solving, demands autonomy. It is the knowledge workers themselves
who tend to be the most appropriate people to decide how to initiate, plan,
organize and coordinate their major work tasks. Unlike other kinds of work-
ers, knowledge workers possess or ‘own’ the organization’s primary means of
production – that is, knowledge. They therefore expect and demand autonomy
and management is not really in a position to deny them. This is not to say that

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