Knowledge Work

The growing importance of knowledge as an economic resource reflects the fact that, as economies and production technologies develop, they become ever more complex and specialized, leading to increasing coordination costs. In the language of information economics, the organizational or informational task of coordinating the diverse steps in the productive chain grows, as the number of transactions within and among productive units increases (Joncher, 1983). Logically, the increasingly complex economy must also generate more information flows (Robinson, 1986). In other words, the more complex and specialized the production system becomes, the more communicative effort is required to manage organizational processes. In keeping with this trend, the demand for informational labour that is capale of handling, synthesizing and creating new knowledge has grown, while space for traditional manual work, susceptible to be replaced by automation and mechanization, has been reduced.

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Symbolic-analytical services entail all the problem-solving, problem-identifying and strategic brokering activities that are non-standardized. These services can be traded worldwide and thus are susceptible to global competition. Symbolic analysts often work in teams. Since neither problems nor solutions can be defined in advance, frequent and informal conversations help ensure that insights and discoveries are put to their best uses and subjected to quick, critical evaluation. Symbolic analysis currently accounts for no more than 20 percent of American jobs.

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According to Reich and others who emphasize the symbolic aspects of knowledge work above all else, the key to the new work processes lies not in the homogenous social collective but in the cooperative and flexible individual as well as in the ability of that individual to act as an interface between new technology and human interaction.

Knowledge is becoming increasingly specific. Professionals of all types are managing larger quantities of sybolic reasoning. Informational laborers or symbolic analysts are a growing portion of the workforce.