Knowledge worker and the Professional:

Knowledge as such is an effective instrument through which a human being attains enlightenment which finally liberates the human being from irrational and non-rational forces. Further, knowledge to me is also a continued practice of doing things in a planned and matured manner.Frenktel et al. (1995) defines his view about the knowledge worker that knowledge workers rely predomentatly on theorical knowledge, and their work requires a high level of creativity for which they mainly use intellectively skills. The table as follow shows how these characteristics of knowledge workers can be contrasted with those of routine workers undertaking the type of work.These two types can be seen as the far extremes- many employees will lie somewhere between these two types if the various aspects of their work are analysed according tothe dimensions suggested here. It is important to recognise tht particular job can vary between the dimensions, for instance, a landscape gardner could be considered to rely on contextual knowledge and action-centred skill (so closer to a routine worker in these aspects).

An alternative defnitions of 'knowledge worker' has been provived by Reed(1996). He rejets the notion of knowledge work being concerned solely with the act of work-in particular information processing and manipulating-which he views as far too inclusive and lacking in the theoretical precisions. Insted Reed suggests that it performed by specialists. In devising this definitions he is also keen to distinguish 'knowledge workers' from other type of experts-in particular, professionals.

Scarborough (1999) highlights three ways that knowledge workers can be distinguished:

1)Unlike traditional professionals, they cannot ,monopolise specialist knowledge and so cannot derive power from this. However, this does not mean they are powerless. Instead their power derives from their scarcity within a liberal market environment.

2)knowledge workers are more dependent on employers because 'knowledge work is less a matter of the application of predefined expertise(as with professional work) and more a joint product a human interactions with informational and intellectual assets delivered through information and communication technologies'

3)knowledge workers are more instrumental than professionals. They consider the knowledge in terms of its value rather than whether it is good in its own right.

Whereas Frenkel, Korczynski, Shire and Tam (1999) argue that knowledge workers can be distinguished from professional workers, Reed prefers to describe 'knowledge worker' as a particular type of professional. He labels this type of worker the 'entrepreneurial professional' and provides the financial and business consultants, project engineers, computer analysts and media consultants. Drawing upon this description, we can distinguish these knowledge workers by three characteristics:

*They have task-specific, highly specialised cognative and technical skills;

*They rely on a combination of embrained, embodied and embedded knowledge;

*They aggressively market themselves as purveyors of specialist expertise that can solve complex organisational problems.

To underline thier distinctiveness, a contrast can be drawn between knowledge workers and other two professional groups

1)Liberal/independent professional: (Doctors, Architects, Layers and so on)

*they have an occupational-specific knowledge/skill base;

*they rely on embrained and encoded knowledge;

*traditionally they have operated autonomously from organisations by controlling the access to the education and training required to qualify and practise. By enacting occupational closure they have been able to establish a monopoly position over their work and have gained public recognition of their expertise.

2)Organisational professionals: (Managers, administrators, technicians and so on)

*they have an organisation-specific (localised) knowledge base;

*they rely on embedded and encultured kowledge;

*at best they have built partial occupational closure, through establishing educational and bureaucratic credentials within the organisation. This produces organisational recognisation and gives them powerful positions within technical and status hierarchies.