This entry is about the “knowledge economy” and how “knowledge workers” of our modern society are affected by digital capitalism. The digital media has become a major component in this modern society, and people generally use digital media to spread news or to make themselves aware. The digital media is an important tool for social workers to communicate with each other. Nowadays many companies are very active in the “world wide web” and act intensive in it. It is caused by the digitalisation.
“Technology has changed how humans interact with each other socially, how people purchase products and how the workplace functions, notes Megan Rose Dickey for Business Insider. Internet and Internet technologies are a strong force behind societal-changing communication and technology.” (reference.com)
The digital economy is a fast process: cities are to become smart, businesses must be disruptive, workers are to become flexible, and governments must be lean and intelligent. And that’s why knowledge has become an important part of this economy. By the digitalisation it is important to develop new innovations. An example for that is the apple watch. It is a very simple but also a very clever idea which is very well adopted by the population. And that’s exactly what the knowledge economy and the digital economy are about: ideas, creativity and “speed”.
The concept of the knowledge economy was explained by Peter Drucker. He was a Professor of social science and Management at the Claremont Graduate University in California. He wrote about 40 books and one of them is “The Effective Executive” (1967). He explained the differences between a knowledge worker and a manual worker. He said the knowledge economy based on creating and trading ideas and information and has been the main resource. Nowadays, knowledge plays an important role in our economy.
“The knowledge economy is the use of knowledge to generate tangible and intangible values and Technology.” (Wikipedia).
In addition of that he also said in his book Landmarks of Tomorrow:
“To make knowledge work productive will be the great management task of this century, just as to make manual work productive was the great management task of the last century.” (Drucker,1957)
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook took part of the evolution of the knowledge economy in an interview:
To Understand the term “Knowledge workers” we start there. Knowledge workers are idea producers and the ultimate information and communication processors. According to Drucker, the manual worker uses this hands and other physical capabilities to produce and provide services. Some roles of Knowledge workers are to analyse information, focus on details, make connection, work in teams and produce new ideas.
A decisive point is the disrupting of knowledge workers. Because of the digitalisation the last years, disrupting knowledge workers it is getting more and more seriously. By 2020, the majority of non-routine career paths will be disrupted by smart machines in both positive and negative ways. 17% of Knowledge worker getting disrupted, which is extreme. For example by exchanging the knowledge worker with robots, many people do not have the chance to do a good job and implement their creative ideas. Of course, you have to see this through an economic view, in which case the robots work faster and error-free. In some cases, the technology helps to transform a part of human knowledge to machines.
Obviously, knowledge workers have responsibilities to create benefits for the company but what should the knowledge works do to benefit from digital capitalism?
Firstly, knowledge workers have to look for opportunities in the media or in some software and technology sectors. The digital economy is growing very fast and if they know their strengths and weaknesses and take a look of the trends on the market at the moment it would have appositive effect on their chances.
Nowadays there is a large and growing category of workers and it has been very important to be fast and to have new ideas as soon as possible, otherwise you are not good enough for the company and you also can get fired. Knowledge workers have a lot of competitors. There is a high pressure on the employees and to prevent this it should be a good idea to improve their soft skills. Also a good education is very important. If you work harder, read more and focus on your goals what you want to achieve in your job you have a better chance.
All in all, knowledge workers should observe upcoming trends in the media and react to them to adapt to the changes. Also, it is very important that they improve their soft skills so that they will not become a victim of the digital capitalism. Without knowledge workers there would be no new products and services, and no growth.
WORD COUNT: 793
References:
How has technology changed society?. (2017). Reference.com https://www.reference.com/history/technology-changed-society-1ae7d83cef7ae3d3#
Knowledge and knowledge workers. (2012). Economist.com http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/08/z-business-quotations-2
Boosting the productivity of knowledge workers. (2010) Mckinsey.com http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/boosting-the-productivity-of-knowledge-workers
Closed economy. Investopia.com http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/closed-economy.asp
Digital capitalism produces few winners. (2013). Theguardian.com https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/17/digital-capitalism-low-pay
The knowledge-based economy. (1996). Oecd.org https://www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/1913021.pdf
Tapscopp, Don, (1995). The Digital Economy: Dawn of a new era – Part 1
Drucker, Peter (1957): The Landmarks of tomorrow
Brand, Jeff (2017): Communication, Technology and Economy
Creating a Knowledge economy. (2010). Youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mWYA3Z-YJ0
Mark Zuckerberg: I´m pro-knowledge economy. (2013). Youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUWmyGBEfVc
http://www.innture.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/workers.png
http://www.indiaeducation.net/imagesvr_ce/9242/Knowledge%20Management.png
Vik goes Australia 
