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KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE FIRMS 35

intensive firms, such as large management consultancies (cf. Alvesson and
Karreman, 2007). However, in small- and medium-sized knowledge-intensive
firms, leaders and managers of the firm typically offer superior employment
conditions which can be viewed as providing an enabling context for knowl-
edge work (Baron et al., 2001).
In addition to terms and conditions of employment, modes of organizing
need to be developed which will be conducive to knowledge work and viewed
favourable by knowledge workers. Management must therefore pay careful
attention to both the structural and the cultural conditions that exist within
the firm. Knowledge-intensive firms thus typically need to organize differently
compared to more traditional firms where workers are not necessarily the direct
productive force of the organization and, in many respects, are easy to replace.
There are still relatively few in-depth empirical studies of the management of
knowledge-intensive firms (though see Alvesson, 1995, 2004). Articles on the
topic however continue to proliferate and many focus on what is perceived to
be the major problem of motivating knowledge workers (O’Neill and Adya,
2007; Thompson and Heron, 2006). These articles are somewhat limited in
their focus and do not directly address aspects of the wider organizational con-
text. Here however we are concerned primarily with developing a more holis-
tic account and focus on what constitutes an enabling context for knowledge
work within knowledge-intensive settings. The generic structural and cultural
conditions which are considered to facilitate the management of knowledge-
intensive firms are considered in conjunction with some of the structural or
cultural barriers that might mitigate against successful outcomes from knowl-
edge work processes.

>> FACILITATING KNOWLEDGE WORK – ORGANIZING AS
AN ADHOCRACY

The way in which knowledge-intensive firms structure and organize internally
will be crucial where innovation and creativity are the basis on which the firm
competes. Whilst it will be particularly important for management to offer
good terms and conditions of employment to knowledge workers, the way in
which the major work processes are managed and coordinated will be equally
significant. An approach to organizing needs to be developed that is synergis-
tic with knowledge work and provides an enabling context for the practice of
knowledge work.
The way in which many knowledge-intensive firms organize tends to reflect
the more general trend towards flatter, less bureaucratized ways of organizing
that are becoming more common across all sectors in the twenty-first century
(see Chapter 3). In general terms, knowledge-intensive firms try to organize
highly organically and flexibly, generally around teams. Henry Mintzberg
(1979) identified five archetypal structural forms that characterize the way
firms organize. He suggests that where creativity and innovation – typically in
the form of developing novel solutions to client problems – are a conscious

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