How to Attract Experts to and how to Make Them Productive in Knowledge-based Organizations?

Management in the industrial economy focused on increasing the productivity of single manual workers, because it was easy to determine individual contributions to tangible outputs. Hence carrot-and-stick motivational schemes did a good job in spurring individual work effort. Nowadays however, that motivational approach is outdated and counterproductive, due to the intangibility of knowledge work in- and output. Fostering of non-reward-contingent voluntary efforts to deliver outstanding results is therefore decisive for making management of knowledge a success in these days. At the same time group processes must be considered, due to the growing importance of expert teams for complex problem solving. To become an attractive organization for experts is therefore an important toehold to gain sustainable competitive advantage, since it allows for attracting and retaining the 21st century's most valuable asset. This research project takes a socio-cognitive view on knowledge work motivation, by combining facilitation of an emotional bond to and a sense of community with the knowledge worker collective, to overcome the Tayloristic relict, meaning focusing in productivity enhancement initiatives on experts as isolated individuals whose productivity must be improved.