[Excerpt] According to Peter Drucker (1999), the most valuable assets of a 21st century organization would be its knowledge workers and their productivity. The intangibility of knowledge makes knowledge workers especially hard to measure, which causes problems with standard measurement and evaluation. More complex knowledge work seldom has one single correct or standard outcome, nor are those outcomes usually quantifiable or comparable

Shibalayeva, Sabina

Zhu, Julia

English

DigitalCommons@ILR

Cornell University ILR School 
DigitalCommons@ILR 
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11-2017 
How Can You Measure the Productivity of Knowledge Workers? 
Julia Zhu 
Cornell University 
Sabina Shibalayeva 
Cornell University 
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How Can You Measure the Productivity of Knowledge Workers? 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] According to Peter Drucker (1999), the most valuable assets of a 21st century organization 
would be its knowledge workers and their productivity. The intangibility of knowledge makes knowledge 
workers especially hard to measure, which causes problems with standard measurement and evaluation. 
More complex knowledge work seldom has one single correct or standard outcome, nor are those 
outcomes usually quantifiable or comparable. 
Keywords 
Human Resources, HR, knowledge workers, productivity, key performance indicator, measurement, 
strategy, metrics, quantification framework, technology access, KPI 
Comments 
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This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/student/158 
Julia Zhu November 2017 
Sabina Shibalayeva 
Executive Summary 
How can you measure the productivity of knowledge workers? 
According to Peter Drucker (1999), the most valuable assets of a 21st century organization would be 
its knowledge workers and their productivity. The intangibility of knowledge makes knowledge 
workers especially hard to measure, which causes problems with standard measurement and 
evaluation. More complex knowledge work seldom has one single correct or standard outcome, nor 
are those outcomes usually quantifiable or comparable. 
Traditional measure of Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is inappropriate for knowledge-based 
workers.  The most important part of work of knowledge workers often happens in their heads, even 
though the final result may be material. (2) Many knowledge workers report that their best ideas and 
solutions were invented outside their organization, while they are resting or hanging out with their 
friends. The experience is so varied and its outputs are so intangible that it is not possible to come up 
with a single universal measure. (4) 
Organizations should develop situationally relevant metrics for a specific type of knowledge work.  
Knowledge worker productivity was largely determined by many factors, such as social cohesion, 
perceived supervisory support, external communication. (5) Usually, knowledge worker’s 
productivity should be assessed on the team level because it’s not an individual task, but more likely 
performed in collaboration with others on a complex task that they can not perform alone, such as 
designing scientific experiments, setting up clinical trial models, etc. Therefore, productivity should 
be measured based on different factors. 
A quantification framework should be established if using traditional measurement alone to assess 
knowledge workers’ productivity. This quantification framework consists of many dimensions that 
can be used to differentiate knowledge worker’s productivity. These dimensions include:  
 Autonomy, which is degree of control of the worker on how a task is done;
 Knowledge, which is the degree to which having previous knowledge, executing cognitive
actions;
 Complexity, which is degree to which a task offers great difficulty in understanding or has
confusing interrelated sub-tasks;
 Routine and repetitiveness, which is the degree to which a task is part of a regular or established
procedure characterized by habitual or mechanical performance of tasks. One of the major
principles defined by this framework is that, the work or the job a worker does is defined by
the tasks that compose the job, i.e. the major duty of a principle scientist is to conduct
successful experiments, refine failed experiments and repeatedly conduct experiments until
they succeed. (1)
Research Question 
Key Factors 
Introduction 
More precise application of technology. According McKinsey, companies should develop a strategy 
for knowledge work— to recognize that the application of technology across the organization must 
vary considerably, and according to the tasks different knowledge workers perform. There are two 
ways for improving access to the information which is a core of knowledge work. The most common 
approach, is to give knowledge workers free access to a wide variety of tools and information 
resources. Thus it presumes that these employees will determine their own work processes and 
needs. The other approach is the structured provision of information and knowledge, which means 
delivering them to employees within a well-defined context of tasks and deliverables. Computers 
send batches of work to employees and provide the information needed to do it. Both the free-access 
and structured-provisioning approaches are in wide use, but they make radically different 
assumptions about how knowledge work should be performed and its productivity improved (6).  
Free-access approach: 
 Plenty of autonomy and creativeness in work processes
 Most knowledge workers haven’t been trained on how to use data sources and analytical tools
 Personal Internet use is the biggest distraction at work
The structured provision of knowledge: 
 Computers send batches of work to employees and provide the information needed to do it
 Work processes become more transparent and easier to monitor
 Less autonomy in the work processes
Hybrid approaches: 
 Combine the free and structured approaches
 Place partial restrictions on the types of information that workers can use
 Apply structured techniques for only some aspects of a job
There is convincing evidence that it is beneficial to set up situationally relevant metrics based on the 
quantification framework. To have a more comprehensive productivity measurement system, we 
recommend the following: 
1. Do not use the traditional measure of KPI as the only measurement since the nature of knowledge
work can’t be quantified all the time.
2. Using a sophisticated quantification framework on site to quantify knowledge worker’s
productivity would be useful. Measuring from different dimensions will conduct a balanced and
fair result.
3. Review the technology access for knowledge workers and create a more strategic approach for
technology applications during work processes.
Recommendations 
Impact of technology use on productivity of knowledge workers 
References 
1. Ramírez, Yuri & Steudel, Harry. (2008). Measuring knowledge work: The knowledge work
quantification framework. Journal of Intellectual Capital. 9. 564-584. 10.1108/14691930810913168.
2. Davenport, T. H., Thomas, R. J., & Cantrell, S. (2002). The mysterious art and science of
knowledge-worker performance. MIT Sloan Management Review, 44(1), 23-30. Retrieved from
https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/docview/224962802?accountid=10267
3. Wong, P. S., & Neck, P. A. (2012). A practitioner's approach to drucker's knowledge- worker
productivity in the 21st century-a new model (part two). Revista De Management Comparat
International, 13(4), 543-560. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-
com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/docview/1355867169?accountid=10267
4. Mawson, Andrew. The 6 factors of knowledge worker productivity that change everything.
Workplace Pin Performance Innovation Network. http://www.advanced-workplace.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/6_Factors_Paper.pdf
5. Insight | to the point - Measuring knowledge worker productivity. Allsteel Inc.
http://www.allsteeloffice.com/SynergyDocuments/WPA_Insight_WorkerProductivity.pdf
6. Thomas H. Davenport. (2011). Rethinking knowledge work: A Strategic approach. McKinsey
Quarterly. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-
insights/rethinking-knowledge-work-a-strategic-approach


How Can You Measure the Productivity of Knowledge Workers?

[Excerpt] According to Peter Drucker (1999), the most valuable assets of a 21st century organization would be its knowledge workers and their productivity. The intangibility of knowledge makes knowledge workers especially hard to measure, which causes problems with standard measurement and evaluation. More complex knowledge work seldom has one single correct or standard outcome, nor are those outcomes usually quantifiable or comparable.How_Can_Your_Measure_the_Productivity_of_Knowledge_Workers.pdf: 2531 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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