Habits that Knowledge workers need to cultivate

K6201 Term Paper

Nanyang Technological University

Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
K6201-Foundations of Knowledge Management

Term Paper

Habits that Knowledge Workers have to cultivate: A synthesis of the ideas
from Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future and Pink’s a Whole New Mind

Instructor: Dr. Lee Chu Keong

Team Members

1. Aravind Sesagiri Raamkumar G1101761F aravind1@e.ntu.edu.sg
2. Thangavelu Muthu Kumaar G1101765E muthu1@e.ntu.edu.sg
3. Venkataramanujam Kannan G1101791L kannan002@e.ntu.edu.sg

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Knowledge Discovery and Rediscovery Cycle ................................................................................... 3
2.1 Thinking in a Knowledge Worker Perspective ............................................................................. 4
2.2 Process of K- Discovery ............................................................................................................... 5
2.3 K- Dimension Shift ....................................................................................................................... 6
2.4 K- Rediscovery ............................................................................................................................. 8
2.4.1 Habit Super Set Identification ................................................................................................ 8
2.4.2 Association Clustering with Pink‟s Six Senses ...................................................................... 9
2.4.3 Conceptualization with Gardner‟s Intelligence Theory ....................................................... 11
2.4.4. Internalization with Gardner‟s Five Minds ......................................................................... 12
2.4.5. Deriving K-Worker Habits.................................................................................................. 17
2.4.5.1 Core Habits to Sustain the Dimension Shift based on the Framework ............................. 19
3.0 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 24
4.0 References ....................................................................................................................................... 24
[4] Jill Suttie, Jason Marsh, 2010, 5 Ways Giving Is Good for You,............................................. 24
5.0 Appendix ......................................................................................................................................... 25
5.1 Essay Word Cloud ...................................................................................................................... 25

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1. Introduction
The rapid modernization and digitization of the world with the technological advancements in the last
century have given rise to a new behavioural trend of consumers and the organizational workers, with
more emphasis on „change‟ to meet supply and demand. It is an interesting exercise to investigate
upon this change by asking a set of questions – what is the change , what led to this change and how
can one sustain this change. This essay paints this context of change that demands an extended
maturity in the forms of mind and the habits that are to be cultivated to face change successfully, as
Knowledge Workers in today‟s organizations. The dramatic change, as mentioned in this essay, is
visualized with a framework that outlines the evolution of different ages in the context of time and
culture. It also emphasizes the shift in thinking dimensions due to change agents such as globalization,
technology and affluence. The new age is predicted to be the culmination point that is conceptual in
nature, demanding thorough understanding and usage of human senses and co-existing mental
abilities and values in delivering a successful work. These qualities have been associated with Daniel
Pink‟s six senses that are in-turn conceptually tagged to Gardner‟s multiple intelligence theory and
internalized with Gardner‟s five minds for the future. 15 core habits are derived from the framework
with Knowledge Worker in mind and these habits have been illustrated with a typical Knowledge
Worker.

2. Knowledge Discovery and Rediscovery Cycle
The Knowledge Discovery and Rediscovery cycle moves through a sequence of events that starts with
knowledge discovery and its maturation with iterations, to indicate the different ages. At a particular
point of time, it faces a great dimension shift in thinking. This shift initiates another event of
knowledge rediscovery indicated by new qualities along with existing ones, prescribed for success.
These qualities are layered across Daniel Pink‟s senses and Gardner‟s intelligence followed by
internalization with Gardner‟s five minds. This thinking with minds in different perspectives of
knowledge embodiment derives the habits for present day‟s matured knowledge economy being pre
dominant in most organizations reflecting the next iteration in knowledge discovery in moving
towards a conceptual age. It has been identified that the transforming economy relies more on the
investment on „knowledge based‟ assets such as R&D, processing with software, custom designs,
business intelligence, human capital and intellectual property compared with investment on physical
assets like machines, buildings, instruments and transportation means.( Brinkley, Fauth, Mahdon,
2009).

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2.1 Thinking in a Knowledge Worker Perspective
The authors are of the view that the definitions of Knowledge Work and Knowledge Workers have to
be established before the explanation of the framework. The term „Knowledge Workers „, as opposed
to the general opinion of the populace referring to it as a new-age jargon, was invented by visionary
Peter Drucker in 1968. His opinion is that „Today the centre is the Knowledge Worker, the man or
woman who applies to productive work ideas, concepts, and information rather than manual skill or
brawn…Where the farmer was the backbone of any economy a century or two ago…knowledge is
now the main cost, the main investment, and the main product of the advanced economy and the
livelihood of the largest group in the population‟. Knowledge work, defined in simple words, involves
the application of knowledge in performing tasks in a professional environment. It encompasses
communication and collaboration between stakeholders for planning, strategizing and implementing
official activities. Knowledge Workers are valued for their subject matter expertise, insight and
experience.

Drucker (1999) has also pointed out the difference between the manual worker productivity and
Knowledge Worker productivity. These terms are highly contrasting in the sense that manual workers
tend to have many layers of abstraction on the top of his/her work and the knowledge workers tend to
operate independently with autonomous and delineated tasks that require flexible application of
knowledge and continuous learning into their job roles.

Amar (2002) has been fairly factious on knowledge work and declared that “all knowledge work is
intellectual work. A job that is not intellectual enough will not contribute to knowledge work. Such
jobs should not be allowed in a knowledge organization”.

There are various definitions for Knowledge Workers given by expert academicians. Cooper defines
“Knowledge workers are employees who have a deep background in education and experience and
are considered people who „think for a living‟”, referring to professions pertaining to Doctors,
Lawyers and Financial Analysts to name a few. Toffler includes the context of Knowledge Economy
in defining typical Knowledge Workers (R&D scientists and Engineers) as workers who are expected
to create process and enhance their own knowledge for performing organizational tasks.

A Knowledge Workers Survey conducted by „The Work Foundation, UK‟ in 2009 describes the
typical activities of a Knowledge Worker in an organization. The knowledge intensity and the
knowledge content of a work determines its scope for execution by a Knowledge Worker and his/her
activities vary based on roles from people or project management, product or process research with
more perception and precision, administrative tasks, data processing and analysis tasks.

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The increasing knowledge intensities and content of the work performed by Knowledge Workers may
need to attain a certain threshold for stability in the coming years that will be the dawn of a conceptual
age. This conceptual age‟s threshold for stability is analyzed and apprehended with the senses and the
minds in the process of knowledge discovery and rediscovery.

2.2 Process of K- Discovery
Knowledge resides in the minds of the people and the environment stimulates the mind to generate
knowledge in three basic forms – tacit, implicit and explicit. As an example, the discovery of wheel
dated back to 3500 B.C can be considered to analyze the knowledge creation process with the
environment or nature giving intuitive or tacit knowledge to the human minds to use circular logs to
transport heavy objects and after analysis of its successful working , it had many forms representing
the implicit knowledge based on different people‟s understanding before a perfect theory could be
drawn upon its working that wheel is a symmetrical component moving in a circular motion on an
axis. The knowledge is explicated into a theory in this case.

As time progressed, there were numerous discoveries that accumulated a big history or collection of
facts, theories, methods and experience. A fact can be a piece of information describing an event or
circumstance; a theory can be a well substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; a
method can be a systematic way of accomplishing a task; experience can be reflection or learning
from an event.

The same process iterates over time and lead to different ages in the evolution of knowledge. The
modifications in the existing baseline of the environment, essentially a mix of people and culture
gives way for the discovery of new knowledge in the form of facts, theories, methods and experience.

As described in the framework(fig 1), the first iteration led to the agriculture age having its roots from
16th century and had a total transformation or revolution in the middle of 19th century with the
discoveries of plough, mouldboard, seed drills, sickles, reapers and harvesters, the second iteration led
to the industrial age towards the end of 19th century with the discovery of textile mills, mining, steam
power, iron and steel and electricity, the third led to the information age in the middle of 20th century
with the advancements in electronics such as discovery of digital computer, transistors, internet and
the process of discovery is still on even now in 2011 with advanced software and information
technologies embedded in any product created by Knowledge Workers. This era, to an extent, also led
to depreciation of manual labour and skills. Daniel Pink (A whole new mind) extends this thought
with his prediction that there will be yet another iteration that can bring a new way of looking at

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things in depth. This iteration will involve connection between the existing technologies conceptually
to bring about the change that he calls „the conceptual age‟ with Knowledge Workers, playing the
roles of creators and empathizers, expected to lead the age with the pace of the shifting economy.

2.3 K- Dimension Shift
The computer aided advancements have simplified daily tasks in many ways: People can now store,
process and instantly access unlimited information anywhere in the world, with advanced memory
management and storage technologies. These advancements have also given way for complex
analysis, simulation of existing theories, facts and findings and even in forecasting the near accurate
behaviour of men, machines and objects. The unleashing potential of internet has brought forth
seamless communication and collaboration across geographies that have given way for efficient
remote operations.

Thus, the conceptual age is clearly marked by a remarkable dimension shift in human thinking and
Daniel Pink attributes this shift in all areas of business that serve the environment with conceptual
products for use with a high touch on sustainability, trend, comfort and good will of the customers.
This age thereby demands Knowledge Workers to be creative in the existing framework (fig 1) to
scale beyond the existing components by synthesizing concepts matching it with reality or through
empathizing with the users in real world.

Daniel Pink strongly suggests that people need to take a closer look at their profession with these
questions:
a) Can someone overseas do it cheaper? – Globalization gives the way
b) Can a computer do it faster? - Technology provides the means
c) Is what I‟m offering in demand in an age of abundance? - Affluence poses the question

Off-shoring or outsourcing of procedural or routine based tasks to developing countries, digitization
of manual tasks in industries are considerably saving operating costs for the business with seamless
service rendered by hyper specialists marked by superior delivery excellence and is clearly the source
for author‟s thoughts and interrogations. The third question is quite interesting, the author puts forth
the fact that people no longer need to work hard for living as they have matured enough in minds and
technology that provide the basic things for living in plenty and this growing trend will bring about a
big change in the consumption trends of people in a few years from now and so the end product or
service of your business should be in demand even in the predicted age of abundance that is defined
by a lackadaisical way of living with splurge of amenities.

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Fig 1: Knowledge discovery and rediscovery framework to derive the Knowledge Worker habits

Daniel Pink thus suggests a K–worker profile in consideration with his conceptual age change agents.
They are essentially creators, empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers in the high
concept and high touch framework with the ability to paint their views and ideas emphasizing more
on the directions given by the right brain that can provide simultaneous context based thinking with a
bigger picture rather than left brain that can just provide a sequential text based thinking with
emphasis on details. An ideal situation is the blend of analytical abilities of left brain and creative
abilities of right brain.

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Thus, a business should ideally run with Knowledge Workers having a mix of high creativity and
empathy index so that there is always room for improvisation and it can impact profits and even
survival with the overall knowledge dimension shift caused by globalization, technology trends and
affluence.

2.4 K- Rediscovery
Daniel Pink has been astute in giving a picture of realization on the moving trend towards a
conceptual age and its reasons. The next step is to derive the habits making Knowledge Workers
successful in the shifting economy. On analysis of the dimension shift, the basic characteristics or
qualities forming the first layer or a super set of habits are identified. This is followed by associating it
with the six senses portrayed by the Daniel Pink in the second layer of derivation. The next move with
the layer aligns towards conceptualization of these senses with Gardner‟s intelligence theory. The
subsequent layer pictures internalization of these senses with intelligence in the minds as illustrated
by Gardner in his book, five minds for the future. The final layer is a synthesis of specific habits for
Knowledge Workers to cultivate in today‟s context and is essentially our appreciation and application
of the understanding and learning of the theories and philosophies of both the authors.

2.4.1 Habit Super Set Identification
The current work trends of Knowledge Workers are more inclined towards productivity objectified by
the ability to assimilate, analyse and apply. However, with the shift of knowledge dimensions and
economy there need to be more focus on other activities such as attributing, accounting, articulating,
actualizing, appreciating and adhering.

The 12 A’s for K-Workers
The research of the basic characteristics or habit supersets that Knowledge Workers already have and
should cultivate along with the existing to fit into the shifting economy, are indicated below with the
identified characteristics.

Attribute: Give more credits to the customer or any transacting party‟s behaviour in addition to the
functional aspect of a design.
Allude: Personalize the offering with the application of attributes.
Assimilate: Absorb the facts, theories and methods of solving a problem.
Account: Make a narrative out of your absorption and application to a context to share it with others.
Analyze: Break down and examine details and consequences of scenarios.
Articulate: Connecting concepts with interlinked context.
Actualize: Substantiate the concept with the real world.

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Apply: Application of the concept to perform a function.
Act: React to success by delightful celebrations and sport during leisure hours.
Appreciate: Hold your values, hobbies and favourites dear.
Apprehend: Realize the meaning of your activities.
Adhere: Be a follower of your internal thoughts and reflections.

Attribute, Account, Articulate, Actualize, Appreciate and Adhere are the qualities that need a better
focus in the shifting economy and habits specific to these qualities need to be cultivated by the
Knowledge Workers along with the other existing qualities.

2.4.2 Association Clustering with Pink’s Six Senses
The identified qualities of a Knowledge Worker are now clustered to associate with the six senses
prescribed by Daniel Pink

a) Design: Attribute + Allude
The demand in the recent past is not just function but also design that can influence people‟s thoughts,
behaviours and emotions whimsically. The emphasis of this sense is on delightful designs that are a
unique blend of utility, significance and personalization. These tend to be the end product‟s key
differentiating factors. Design is thus, a creative work giving competitive advantage that arises from
democratisation of ideas leading to a profitable layout or blueprint of superior quality.

Some ways suggested by Daniel Pink to nurture the design sense are to use notebook for personal
scribbling, design magazines and having a choosy attitude during shopping that can best reflect your
flavour.

b) Story: Assimilate + Account
The way of expressing our thoughts, learning, ideas, suggestions need to be portrayed with a context
in the form of a story that can in turn make the listeners get a fairly big picture and good
understanding. The author attributes this sense to a literary mind that can have an emotional impact on
the receiver. Organizational storytelling thus makes our ideas easy to sell as the listeners tend to be
more responding.

Some ways suggested by author to nurture the story sense are to write mini-stories, read books and try
digital storytelling.

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c) Symphony: Analyze + Articulate
The way of learning drawn from mind that is indicated by analogous things and synthesis of ideas
from sources attributed to a common function can be used to describe the sense of symphony. This is
seen in people, managing relationships, androgynous personalities who possess strong conceptual
blending ability and imaginative rationality. Daniel Pink also attributes symphony to metaphor
quotient (MQ), the ability to hook up thoughts and learning to real world events and systems thinking,
the ability to find relationship between relationships in the interaction space to determine the flow or
function of a system.

Some ways suggested by author to nurture the symphony sense are drawing, reading and creating
expressions with metaphors.

d) Empathy: Actualize + Apply
It is a blend of self-awareness and interpersonal dynamics. Reading people before interacting with
them can be attributed to the most essential sense of a Knowledge Worker in the existing and future
K-economy. Empathy is strongly connected to design, symphony and story. Attuning, empathizing
and application of learning into the designs, concepts and other ways of interaction, can exceed
expectations of people, delight them immensely and create a strong emotional binding.

Some ways of nurturing the sense of empathy are to practise mind reading, volunteering and
performing self-test with inner conscience by asking practical questions from others perception.

e) Play: Act + Appreciate
„Play‟ can be an act done after the accomplishment of tasks preferably daily with games, conversation
filled with humour and joyfulness. Learning is easy through games and this way also proves to be the
dominant way of knowing, doing and creating value. Games can simulate sympathy and jokes can
communicate difficult messages.

Some ways of nurturing the sense of play as suggested by author is through playing console based
gaming and cartoon captioning

f) Meaning: Apprehend + Adhere
This sense can be attributed to post materialist thinking and spirituality in workplace. It defines ways
to stay happy and simultaneously boost one‟s signature strengths. This can also be related to one of
the causes for dimension shift, „abundance‟ and that has now provided the reason to look forward for
meaning in every action.

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Some ways of nurturing the sense of meaning are extensive reading and showing gratitude.

2.4.3 Conceptualization with Gardner’s Intelligence Theory
This layer of conceptualization is based on Howard Gardner‟s theory of Multiple Intelligence that
differentiates intelligence into distinct sensory abilities rather than a dominant general ability.

The senses in the previous layer can directly be attributed to specific types of intelligence.

a) Spatial: This intelligence is essentially inclined towards the sense of design that is about the ability
of the Knowledge Worker to visualize objects and work flows in the empty space in three dimensions
that requires a tough test on mental imagery, reasoning and artistic skills. Example of some
Knowledge Workers exhibiting this sense of design and spatial intelligence are architects, pilots,
sculptors and painters.

b) Logical: This type of intelligence is more oriented towards logic, problem solving, relationship
identification, pattern recognition and can be attributed to the sense of symphony. Examples of such
Knowledge Workers are mathematicians, analysts, scientists and detectives.

c) Linguistic: “Word Smart” category of intelligence can be attributed to two types of senses
illustrated by Pink – Story and Empathy. It is the ability of the individual to think in words to express
complicated scenarios and meanings either in a narrative style or as a strong empathizer who can
easily interact and understand people‟s emotions with effective and expressive words. This can be
evident in novelists, poets, journalists and public speakers.

d) Interpersonal: “People Smart” category of intelligence can be attributed to two types of senses –
Story and Empathy. People with high interpersonal intelligence tend to be extroverts and they have
inert sensitivity to understand and judge people‟s emotions and temperaments and thus they are asset
to the team with effective verbal and non-verbal expressions. Teachers, social workers, movie makers,
actors and politicians are some examples of Knowledge Workers having high interpersonal
intelligence.

e) Intrapersonal: “Self Smart” category of intelligence orients more towards the ability to understand
one‟s own self, streamline and interpret the reflection of his/her thoughts. This can be attributed
mostly to the sense of meaning and also partially to the sense of play. This intelligence stimulates a
sense of appreciation and fulfilment towards a condition of achievement. Introverts tend to have a
high degree of this kind of intelligence. Examples of such Knowledge Workers are lawyers, writers,
spiritual leaders, philosophers and psychologists.

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f) Existential: This kind of intelligence can be attributed to the sense of meaning. It is about the
sensitivity and ability to tackle deep questions about life, death and the purpose of existence and can
be extended as construct that includes spiritual or religious intelligence apprehending sensory data
such as infinite and infinitesimal. Examples of such Knowledge Workers are physicists, cosmologists,
scientists, priests and philosophers.

Extended thought of Pink can be inferred with Gardener‟s intelligence theory. It is that knowledge
workers with high spatial, interpersonal and linguistic intelligence that form the community of
creators and empathizers with underlying senses – design, story and empathy to take lead of the
knowledge dimension shift and the movement towards the conceptual age.

2.4.4. Internalization with Gardner’s Five Minds
The earlier steps dealt with the conceptualization of senses with the intelligence theory and the kind of
Knowledge Workers involved with it. The next step is the stage that is about the ways, conceptualized
senses need to be absorbed or internalized by our minds as illustrated in the book, „Five Minds for the
Future‟ by Howard Gardner.
a) Disciplined Mind

Fig 2: Mapping senses and intelligence for respectful mind
The mind embodies knowledge of a level more than that of a Subject Matter Expert and thinks in a
specific or distinctive manner. This emphasis on specific disciplines over a specific long period of
time has been a part of even medieval universities offering the seven liberal arts based on thinking -
Trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric) and Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy).

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Thus, it has been a general view of mastery of a particular craft to a collective experience of at least
10 yrs. Specialization is always preferred for Knowledge Workers in the shifting economy where it is
required to design or create new things. Along with specialization, there is also a need to understand
and appreciate the bigger picture of interaction of related disciplines with the core discipline
attributing the sense of symphony, the harmony with disciplines.

Gardner suggests three essential steps to attain a disciplined mind: formal education, application
oriented way of working and reflective practice.

An example can be an event in the life of Arthur Rubinstein, a world famous pianist. His concerts had
great reception right from his age of twenty. At a point, when he became lazy and relied on pyro-
techniques instead of careful practice, he realized that if it wasn‟t after practice for a day he could
sense it; if it wasn‟t after practice for a week the orchestra could sense it; and if it wasn‟t after practice
for a month, the audience could sense it. He then started practising carefully and recovered his
discipline. It is quite hard to maintain the disciplinary muscle for long and it is important to have high
affinity towards things in his discipline‟s interaction space.

b) Synthesizing Mind

Fig 3: Mapping senses and intelligence for synthesizing mind
This mind builds on the disciplined mind with the ability to meaningfully integrate two or more
disciplines for a newer purpose. This can be highly applicable in the data or information deluge
environment of today. This mind is mostly applicable to managers in environments requiring the need

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for synthesis in different ways depending on the kind of work and the kind of people involved in
interaction. The objective is usually correlative with concepts and learning.

This mind can be predominantly seen in Knowledge Workers in inter-disciplinary tracks that have
scenarios leading to synthesis of ideas across disciplines.

Care should be taken to avoid lumping, excessive context and fragmentation, elementary
predisposition. Laser intelligence, represented by creating inventions and search light intelligence,
represented by searching and scanning information for application are the two types of intelligence
attributed to a synthesizing mind. Polymorphous perversity is another quality demonstrating strong
Meta knowledge to think in different perspectives or directions.

A great synthesizer of all times, Charles Darwin travelled for five years alongside the Beagle, and
gathered a large amount of information about flora and fauna of the world. Later, he did his own
experiments and observations of the world and thus came up with an idea to organize and structure a
new taxonomy to classify all kinds of flora and fauna under specific classes and families attributing to
the concepts of evolution and by collaborating with every other naturalist, and then twenty years later
ended with one of the greatest intellectual syntheses “On the Origin of the Species.”

c) Creative Mind

Fig 4: Mapping senses and intelligence for creative mind

This mind expresses the ability to innovate and it is built over challenging orthodox thoughts. Ideally,
a creator‟s work changes the thinking and behaving ways of people.

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It is not easy to cultivate as it‟s an ability which outdoes computers and other technological
advancements by offering new solutions to the old problems by thinking differently and to get away
from mundane repetitious work.

This need for creativity can be cultivated with a strong lateral thinking and meta-thinking. Some of
the traits of a creator are kindling the kid in oneself, interaction with creative folks, nurturing
creativity by being your own critic. There is always a gap between synthesis and creativity due to the
intent in solving problems oriented in opposite directions.

The best example of a creative mind could be Einstein, one of the finest physicists of all times who
illustrates creativity to the best as an art. He is also a fine pianist and violinist. His musical hobbies
attributed to his personal innovation that in a way enabled his professional innovation with his strong
intuitive knowledge and imagination. “He might have interpreted an unexplainable connection
between music and science relating to time and space through its combination of architectonic, or
structural, nature combined with its spatial and temporal aspects of his early musical experiences that
would have helped him to build a rich mental perceptual fabric of space and time so as to perform his
scientific theorizing” (Mueller, 1967, 171).

d) Respectful Mind

This mind places a significant importance on respecting others opinions in any situation and it is
against xenophobia. It expresses one‟s attitude to accept diversity originating from people of different

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races in area of work and to give and take respect. This can also be considered a way to get back
favours.

There needs to be respect for differences between individuals and groups, their arguments,
suggestions and critiques. However, it is better to avoid natural prejudice and minorities‟ judgment
and opportunist respect. Sufficient caution is to be taken in handling unconditional respect as it can hit
back anytime. It is best to start nurturing respect from birth, avoid animosity and develop higher form
of tolerance and higher quality of sympathy

Example of respectful minds can be connected to the formation of United Nations and the term coined
by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, intended to promote international cooperation and
to achieve peace and security. It recognizes that the world is a composite structure of many people
whose looks, thoughts, values differs, and that anyone can‟t be hermits anymore with a living in
complete isolation.

e) Ethical Mind


This type of mind intends to go beyond the personal benefits to a larger extent and defines qualities
such as generosity and forward thinking to improve the society as a whole, adherence to rules and
principles at any cost along with strong self-beliefs. An ethical mind can demonstrate a

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„Good work project‟, a multiyear study of professions and professionals engaged in striving towards
„good work‟ conducted by Gardner, Hobbs, professor of cognition and two other psychologists
focussing on the three E‟s, Excellence in a technical way, Engagement with work in a meaningful
way and Ethics to be responsible at work, to discharge the duty with the inner spirit as a role model.
The challenge of good work is to intertwine the 3 E‟s. The Knowledge Workers of this category tend
to exhibit vertical and horizontal support in the good work project by leaving aside personal loyalty.
Gardner suggests four signposts towards achievement of a good work with the 3 M questions to
understand the mission of a profession, setting models in your domain based on admiration and
emulation and finally a mirror test – individual with the question on how proud are you based on what
you do as a human to the world and mirror test – professional responsibility how proud are you based
on your contribution in work place.

Understanding and inculcating the core values of profession is the ultimate goal of a Knowledge
Worker with an ethical mind and to propagate or disseminate ethics in his professional as well as
personal environment.

An example could be an event in Marilee Jones, one of the most successful deans of Admissions at
MIT for a number of years, but recently in 2007, it turned out to be issue in the authenticity of the
information in her own resume with the degrees that she didn‟t have and MIT didn‟t have any other
choice but to fire her, because of the elementary ethical concern that it is not fair to judge on
candidate‟s records expecting their honesty when the reviewer herself has flawed to keep up honesty
in the past. There were only two reactions among her students: the first reaction was that she was
doing a good job so why was there a problem? The second reaction was “well, everybody lies on their
resume, right?” This implies the importance of work place ethics, no matter how elementary or minute
it is and every work greatly depends on the binding with the core values of life like honesty, trust,
integrity and gratitude.

2.4.5. Deriving K-Worker Habits
Traversing through the layers of rediscovery, there is a realization on the required qualities to be in
place, reflecting appropriate senses and intelligence that are to be captured by minds for sustaining the
dimension shift and to be in demand as a Knowledge Worker even in the conceptual age. Final phase
of rediscovery is to illustrate the habits to be cultivated by the K-Workers in today‟s context. Habits
are mapped to associated senses and minds of Pink and Gardner respectively.

The authors selected Doctor as a Knowledge Worker to give a specific scenario for deriving habits
and have applied the prescribed framework as discussed in fig 1. A brief introduction to Doctor as a
Knowledge Worker is given below in the context of his/her roles and Information Technology.

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There are lot of ways to bring the required knowledge in the course of doctor‟s work. Knowledge base
& logic modules is maintained among doctors, pertaining to processes such as drug prescription,
referring of patient to another doctor, ordering a test, retrieving of patient‟s medical record and so on.
Doctors are expected to manage details related to medical care. Doctors play a critical role as
knowledge professionals; a good doctor is expected to have appropriate skills, so as to with deal with
human illness. Doctor as a Knowledge Worker works in close collaboration with fellow doctors for
making the right diagnosis and appropriate medicine suggestions.

As a Knowledge Worker, doctor not only has practical experience through consulting but also retains
medical information in his/her mind. The main responsibility lies in making proper decision based on
the revised data generated by constant evaluation of the patient‟s data. In the current century, diverse
types of healthcare information are obtained and shared easily among the physicians. Doctor‟s role in
maintaining the patient information is essential as patient‟s condition will change often. Knowledge
is acquired from the bulk of information and with the support of medical computing; doctors can
manage the healthcare delivery and medical information. From the doctor‟s viewpoint, medical
knowledge compromises of:-

Medical and procedural facts
Doctors mental reasoning capabilities
Access to knowledge of other medical professionals
Patient information

Technology advancements have created a lot of possibilities for the doctors to stay updated and
information sharing is also made easier. Earlier, data and information are obtained and shared through
paper based records. In recent times, transmitting of knowledge is carried out electronically; hence
mismanagement of knowledge is largely avoided. Doctor as a Knowledge Worker has his/her skills
complemented by other healthcare professionals.

As a Knowledge Worker, current generation doctors should have the basic IT skills and its deficiency
will make it difficult for them to utilize enormous range of knowledge. Internet plays a vital role in
helping the doctors to secure their role as a Knowledge Worker. Internet not only acts as a partial
knowledge base but also provides opinions from various sources. IT department in the hospital has
become one of the key groups in the healthcare team. Doctors should learn to use those facilities so
that it supports their clinical practice and ensures better handling of patient treatment.

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2.4.5.1 Core Habits to Sustain the Dimension Shift based on the
Framework

1.) Continuous Learning
The doctor as a working professional is bound to learn by experience in his profession. This type of
natural learning is to be supplemented with regular educational activities, to be abreast of the latest
developments in the field of medicine, life-science, healthcare, government reforms and patient
psychology related topics. This type of learning can be called as self-directed learning. The doctor can
join local/virtual CoPs that enforce collective and social learning.

2.) Improvisation at Personal and Professional level
Successful Knowledge Workers have many characteristics in common. Two of them are Resilience
and Improvisation. Improvisation is a characteristic that is very important for a doctor as the
profession involves various real-time complications that are not part of the knowledge base
maintained by the doctors‟ community. Doctors can improvise by taking the criticality of the current
situational context into perspective, quickly thinking over past experiences, weighing the options in

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hand and finally taking a consensual decision that is the best for the occasion. Doctors play multiple
roles on any given day and they have to be ready for emergency situations even whilst spending
personal time with family at home or any other location, thereby staking their claim as responsible
human-beings.

3.) Setting up Personal and Professional Short-term and Long-Term goals and ensue them
Goal-setting is a mandatory requirement set on the Knowledge Worker by his employer, in recent
times. An individual aspiring for excellence in his profession has to set goals to gauge the level of
progress achieved during a stipulated time-period. Doctors, based on their experience level, have to
set goals pertaining to factors such as individual development, junior mentorships, community
development, and increased usage of technology in aiding regular work and so on. The underlying
idea is to set some benchmarks and work towards them. Goals are also to be reviewed occasionally to
stay in-line with contemporary scenarios.

4.) Involvement in Philanthropic activities
Benevolence and Generosity are two good qualities that are best exemplified by Philanthropy. There
is an old saying that “Giving is good”. As per the [4], researchers are of the view that giving is good
in the following five ways 1.) Giving makes us feel happy 2.) Giving is good for our health 3.) Giving
promotes cooperation and social connection 4.) Giving evokes gratitude and 5.) Giving is contagious.
General public always perceive Doctors as embodiments of humility, Kindness and Cooperation.
Current generation of doctors need to uphold this image even more seriously in the wake of multiple
lawsuits filed on mishappenings in the field of surgery and diagnostics. Philanthropy is a gratifying
way to showcase the responsibility thrust on doctors, in sustaining the well-being of a society through
free medical camps, subsidies to consultations and surgeries and so on.

5.) Involvement in Professional Community Development activities
Knowledge workers excel in their area of their expertise by sharing their work with colleagues. The
intention is to use collective intelligence in building better solutions. Company officials expect
synergy to be created in teams with focus on combined work and not on any individual. Group bodies
such as Collectives of Practice, Communities of Practice, Informal Work Groups and Centres of
Excellence are formed to re-instate this belief. Doctors cannot be successful over a period of time by
practicing in isolation. Common welfare of fellow professionals is to be in the mind of every doctor.
This habit can be initiated by forming a small group of doctors within the same hospital. This can be
extended to other departments and then to other hospitals in the same locality and so on. There is no
practical limit in extending a work group across disciplines, and geographies. A planned approach is
to be followed towards the cultivation of this habit.

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6.) Take part in Conferences/Workshops/Communions and Competitions
Competitiveness is a key attribute that glorifies a Knowledge Worker. Building on the habit of taking
part in professional communities of development, Doctors can gain outside knowledge and showcase
their capabilities by taking part in conferences and workshops. Conferences are events that attract
working professionals, academicians, researchers and government agencies. They offer a canvas that
can be the seed for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Doctors are the field agents with the responsibility of
conveying areas of deficiency in their profession, to researchers for conducting translational research
so that gaps can be filled in the future. This habit enforces the adaptability and openness characteristic
of doctors, aimed at continuous improvement.

7.) Embodying the characteristics of Sympathy and Empathy in relationship with others
The crucial part of a patient treatment lies in the establishment of open relationship between doctor
and patient. Doctor has to listen to the patient in all stages of his treatment ranging from initial
diagnosis/prognosis to full recovery. Doctors have to be empathetic to ascertain the origin and level of
impact of an ailment in a patient. It involves some perseverance in reading a patient‟s mind and it is a
characteristic that is worth striving. Patients expect some level of reciprocity from doctors as they
vent out their feelings. A sympathetic attitude establishes this connection, it is very necessary to
understand the pain inflicted on the patient. These characteristics pave way to the development of
mutual understanding that often translates to a meaningful recovery process.

8.) Contemplate on all aspects of life and work for self-improvement
Hectic work schedules, tense work environments and fast mechanical life often relieve the
opportunity to contemplate for individuals. It is necessary for a Knowledge Worker to take intellectual
„breaks‟ on a spasmodic basis, to stop the mechanical flow, to rethink strategies and to re-invent
personal self. Humans exhibit an inane characteristic of being resistive to change even though it may
be beneficial. The authors view this as an animal characteristic that has to be weaned out. Doctors are
expected to show a high level of receptivity in dealing with patients. They can extend this quality to
outside world by showing proclivity towards required changes to their personal and professional
identity. Frequent reading of psychology and philosophy books can improve this habit. A turn towards
spirituality can also be highly beneficial.

9.) Take up management/leadership type roles in a group of people with different ethnic backgrounds
and epistemologies
Varied perspectives open up more possibilities for creative thinking. Individuals working with people
with different thought process, different cultures and different geographies, are exposed to variegated
ideas and solutions. Continued exposure of this type, can have a positive effect on the individual‟s
ability to create new ideas and synthesize existing ideas in a meaningful and contextual way.

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Managers in Multi-National Companies (MNC) enjoy this benefit although they have to endure the
stress of managing people and meeting delivery timelines. Doctors working in multi-speciality
hospitals may get opportunities to play a role of managing fellow practitioners in the same hospital on
an interim or full-time basis. Other opportunities include the responsibility to convene activities of
communities, conferences and workshops. These scenarios provide ideal chances for doctors to pick
up new ideas and improve the management capability whilst working with people of different
epistemologies.

10.) Stay relevant on all latest news
Information age as stated in the text earlier has placed individuals in the same pedestal, paying less
heed to their intelligence. The underlying notion is that anyone with access to the WWW can re-use
the information for his/her benefit in a rapid manner. The age of data deluge pays little homage to
conventional memorizing methods due to availability of high performance computer systems thereby
paving way for humans to concentrate on other activities that make use of human senses. Doctors as
Knowledge Workers, have to make use of technology to stay updated on all happenings so that they
can find a scenario to re-apply the knowledge that is derived from the worldly information.

11.) Maintain meaningful hobbies
Hobbies were seen as time-killing activities earlier. Eccentric individuals have transformed their
hobbies into vocation, signifying the passion for the activity. This made the world to look at hobbies
with a serious tone. Hobbies have made a transition from time-killing activities to activities that
supplement the primary vocation of Knowledge Workers. Popular examples include reading, writing,
playing console based games, drawing/painting, learning new languages, puzzle solving and so on.
These hobbies quite often improve the aptitude of the individual. Doctors spend major part of their
day in profession related activities and it may be difficult to find a suitable slot for hobbies. Weekends
and off-days are more suitable for cultivating and pursuing hobbies that will go a long way in
indirectly sharpening skills required to excel in profession.

12.) Sustain suitable work-life balance
The most heard about problem in today‟s competitive environment is the inability to meet the ideal
work-life balance. Knowledge workers across domains share the same grievance due to the long hours
being spent in their work locations. Prolonged skewness of this type can result in disinterest towards
profession thereby leading to poor quality of work, lack of penchant to community development and
losing purpose for a meaningful life. Doctors need to make sure that their work is mixed with some
level of frivolity. Doctors can carry about their work by being jovial in nature while interacting with
colleagues and with patients albeit to a permissible extent. Personal life should be filled with ample
rest and good time with family. Doctor‟s profession on comparison with other knowledge work based

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professions, has more working hours thereby restating the claim that work should have some level of
relaxing and light-hearted moments.

13.) Know your personal and professional legacy
Today‟s youth show marked disrespect towards conventions and traditions. This behaviour is
prevalent across all continents and cultures. The inherent reason is the improper or total lack of
knowledge of one‟s own cultural legacy. Individuals aware of their personal roots, pay proper homage
to yesteryear beliefs. Our ancestors evolved without the aid of technology, depending solely on their
hard-work and intelligence. They laid the foundation for today‟s generation to build on with technical
innovations. Individuals should strive to research about their ancestry to ascertain the level of progress
in evolution. Respect will be automatically derived from this exercise. A similar approach can be
drawn toward one‟s profession to know the strategies employed by the company to meet
organisational objectives set during different points of time. A career graph of successful employees
might show some common and interesting patterns that could be worth emulating.

14.) Taking initiatives and ownership of activities
„Leaders are born and not made‟ is a frequently repeated saying that tends to discourage certain
individuals as they may not possess that quality at the inceptive stages of their careers. Leadership is a
quality that can be contagious from the right individuals. It can be improved by taking initiatives
offered at an organisational level. Ownership of activities that involve risk-taking can be quite
beneficial in the long run. Doctors based on their level of seniority will have obligations to take up
leadership roles towards the end of their service and they may be unprepared without any proper
exposure that is needed towards leading a team. This can be avoided by taking up roles that involve a
certain level of leadership at the beginning stages of their profession.

15.) Stay Humble
Humility is an attribute that diminishes as the individual grows in stature, by observation. This is not a
healthy condition as individuals should be more humble as their stature and responsibilities ascend.
Ego is a state of mind that cannot be totally removed. Instead, Knowledge Workers should not take
credit for all their accomplishments. They are expected to portray an amicable down-to-earth
demeanour downplaying their professional/personal achievements. This inherently warrants respect
and glorification from fellow colleagues. Doctors, by profession, cannot afford to be bragging about
their exploits to patients as it might invoke unnecessary apprehensions about the doctor‟s
overconfidence on his abilities and may even tend to be back-firing during unfortunate circumstances.
Humility is a de-facto quality expected from aspiring Knowledge Workers.

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3.0 Conclusion
Knowledge Workers defined the information age with meticulous work ethic exemplified by their
adherence to organisational rules and routine-based tasks with emphasis on communication and
collaboration. The dimension shift that has been identified in this essay indicates the changing work
environment in both the local and global arenas. Individuals cannot claim to be the best at their
profession with just a good analytical and systematic mind-set. The focus is now towards excellence
in core human capabilities that cannot be replicated by a human created contraption. The framework
in this essay showcases the Knowledge Discovery and Knowledge Re-Discovery cycle that an
individual can use to gauge his current level and also to identify the areas that he/she is expected to
improve upon. The 15 core habits that have been explained with Doctor as an example are to be
critically analysed by Knowledge Workers for their personal usage. Today‟s race for excellence
among working professional regardless of their country, industry, race, age or experience is a never-
ending journey and the leaders will be identified by their willingness to change as per the need of the
hour. A well-rounded person is one who can enhance his/her human intelligence and tendencies with
technological advancements, with a compassionate eye on society development.

4.0 References

[1] A Knowledge Economy Programme Report by Ian Brinkley, Rebecca Fauth, Michelle Mahdon
and Sotiria Theodoropoulou, 2009, The Work Foundation, UK

[2] Drucker, Peter F. 1968,The age of discontinuity: Guidelines to our changing society. London:
Transaction Publishers.

[3] Amar, A. D, 2002, Managing Knowledge Workers: Unleashing innovation and technology.
Westport, CT: Quarum Books.

[4] Jill Suttie, Jason Marsh, 2010, 5 Ways Giving Is Good for You,
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/5_ways_giving_is_good_for_you/

[5] Daniel H. Pink, 2005, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual
Age, Riverhead Hardcover; First Printing edition

[6] Howard Gardner, 2007, Five Minds for the Future, Harvard Business Press; 1 edition

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5.0 Appendix
5.1 Essay Word Cloud

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Habits that Knowledge workers need to cultivate

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