KNOWLEDGE WORK IN ADVERTISING
When answering the question, what is knowledge work, you would think it is a clearly cut answer, however it falls under the knowledge umbrella and becomes tangled with many different theories. When pondering on this question I went to my trusty dictionary where the phrase did not appear, it was then I would have to give in to the technology penetrating all types of work and figure out what this phrase actually meant. Right then I answered my own question, as I would need to use my resources and work to find the knowledge I needed the answer the question. Of course this definition isn’t clear so with the help of my trusty friend Google the answer was simple- workers whose main capital is knowledge.
For a more distinct definition we traveling back to 1973 where we come across Peter Drucker. He created the term Knowledge Work after he predicted that the next twenty years the average person wouldn’t be able to sustain a middle class lifestyle through ‘working with their hands’. He believed this because change is guaranteed especially when technology is continuously growing and evolving. His prediction led him to name the new work required to enter middle class “knowledge work” with “knowledge workers” being the ones to preform those jobs. These Knowledge Workers encompassed an innovative mindset and typically needed to be more creative to excel in their profession. These ideas were further explored in his book, Land Marks of Tomorrow, which was unique for the time, as his theories had rarely been studied previously.
With Globalization making everything connected allowing the opportunities for work in different countries and several businesses from the comfort of your own home is amazing. As it does provide opportunities it also provides pressures as the performance of workers must be at an all time high because replacing unproductive workers who don’t posses the future knowledge worker skills is easier than ever thanks to globalization and outsourcing. For this reason it is important to identify the knowledge worker required skills and their roles so the future workers know what they need to do. This is outline in The Future of Knowledge Workers Part 2.
In the area of advertising I am the ideas producer who generates the information and communicates it to an audience. Through this career I will continuously be finding new pieces of information in order to help the success of the campaign and determine whether the product has generated both tangible and intangible goods that the advertisers aimed to achieve.
The idea that the success of these campaign is led by my intellectual power and innovative/ creative ideas then leads into knowledge economy. Knowledge economy is an economy in which growth is dependent of the quantity, quality, and accessibility of information available, rather than the means of product. (Wikipedia 2014). Another definition provided by the Investipedia is that a knowledge economy is the system of consumption and production based on intellectual capital. These basically mean that the knowledge and innovative power someone’s’ brain could have (or intangible asset) is worth a lot more than a tangle one.
Back to the area of advertising in order for the campaigns success and the success of the company I will also have to incorporate these skills into my own work and work practice. It is the upper most importance within this career that I must be able to adapt myself and continuously modify and be willing to learn, as my chosen area is a continuously evolving field. This is essentially outlined by Fareed Zakari in the video below. He outlines that in order to be a good worker you need to be willing to learn new skills. This suits advertising as there is always new software’s which will make an advertisers life easier and help produce creative works. For example a only a few years ago would you need a degree or qualification to know and understand Photoshop, however now in this industry it is expected that you can operate and create from this program. Without developing skills with those technologies you could expect to be left behind and cap your success right then and there.
References
Wikipedia . (2014). Knowledge Economy- Characteristics . Retrieved October 4, 2014, from Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_economy#Characteristics
Brinkly, I., Fauth, R., Mahdon, M., & Theodoropoulou, S. (2009). Knowledge Workers and Knowledge Work. London: The Work Foundation.
Clark, D. (2004, May 17). Peter Drucker – The Knowledge Worker [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/history_knowledge/drucker.html
Holtshouse, D. (2009). The future of knowledge workers Pt.1. KMWorld 18.8.
Houghton, J., & Sheehan, P. (2000, February ). A Primer on the Knowledge Economy. CSES Working Paper No. 18 , 2.
Zakaria, F. (2014, May 14). Fareed Zakaria on the Knowledge Economy. Retrieved October 4, 2014, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-8uhMBl6vI
Investopedia, A Division of IAC (2014, May) – Knowledge Economy. Retrieved October 4, 2014
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/knowledge-economy.asp
Intelligent Community Forum, (2014), Knowledge Workforce. Retrieved October 4, 2014
https://www.intelligentcommunity.org/index.php?
BABSONKNOWLEDGE (2005, November 02) The Importance of Knowledge Workers in a Global Economy. Retrieved Otober 4, 2014. http://www.babsonknowledge.org/2005/11/the_importance_of_knowledge_wo.htm