Measuring the Impact of Knowledge Work on Organizational Productivity

Jonathan A. Morell

April 8-9 1992

Sponsors:
Council On Competitiveness
Electronic Data Systems
Industrial Technology Institute
Institute for Research and Learning -- Michigan State University
Steelcase

Summary to Presentation

I have tried to convey my understanding of the science, technology, and craft of measuring how knowledge work helps organizational productivity. That understanding operates in three areas. First, work content has an impact on productivity. To assess this impact it is necessary to understand an organization's fundamental business needs; to abstract specific impact to a level that allows cross-organizational comparison; and to classify productivity by the type of impact that it may have on an organization.

Second, productivity must be measured within a contest of an organizations's capacity to allow knowledge work to be productive. Without this knowledge, it is impossible to understand transitions from local to overall productivity.

Finally, traditional measurement techniques can be meaningfully applied as long as we recognize hat change takes place over an extended period of time; that some impacts are inherently more quantifiable than others; and that measurement techniques must account fro both continuous and discrete changes.

I hope these remarks contribute to our collective groping toward a powerful interdisciplinary approach to measuring the productivity of knowledge work.