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Thomas H. Davenport

Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers Hardcover – September 13, 2005

by Thomas H. Davenport (Author)

4.3 45 ratings

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Knowledge workers create the innovations and strategies that keep their firms competitive and the economy healthy. Yet, companies continue to manage this new breed of employee with techniques designed for the Industrial Age. As this critical sector of the workforce continues to increase in size and importance, that's a mistake that could cost companies their future. Thomas Davenport argues that knowledge workers are vastly different from other types of workers in their motivations, attitudes, and need for autonomy--and, so, they require different management techniques to improve their performance and productivity.

Based on extensive research involving over 100 companies and more than 600 knowledge workers, Thinking for a Living provides rich insights into how knowledge workers think, how they accomplish tasks, and what motivates them to excel. Davenport identifies four major categories of knowledge workers and presents a unique framework for matching specific types of workers with the management strategies that yield the greatest performance.

Written by the field's premier thought leader, Thinking for a Living reveals how to maximize the brain power that fuels organizational success. Thomas Davenport holds the President's Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College. He is director of research for Babson Executive Education; an Accenture Fellow; and author, co-author, or editor of nine books, including Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know (HBS Press, 1997).

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date

September 13, 2005
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

1591394236
ISBN-13

978-1591394235
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas H. Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Chair at Babson College and a research fellow at the MIT Center for Digital Business.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard Business Review Press; First Edition (September 13, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1591394236
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1591394235
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.11 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #733,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,674 in Human Resources & Personnel Management (Books)
- #6,094 in Business Management (Books)

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4.3 45 ratings

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Thomas H. Davenport

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Tom Davenport is the President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College. He is also a Visiting Professor at Oxford's Said Business School, a Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte's AI practice. He is a widely published author and speaker on the topics of AI, analytics, information and knowledge management, reengineering, enterprise systems, and electronic business. Tom has written, co-authored, or edited 23 books, including the first books on business analytics, enterprise AI, business process reengineering, knowledge management, attention management, and enterprise systems. He has written over 300 articles for such publications as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, the Financial Times, and many other publications, and has been a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Information Week, and CIO. He has been named one of the world's top 25 consultants by Consulting magazine, one of the 100 most influential people in the IT industry by Ziff-Davis magazines, and one of the top 50 business school professors by Fortune magazine.

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JayBe

should be required reading in all engineering & technical organizations

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2013

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As with many excellent books, I read about this in the Economist. Should be required reading for all managers & personnel people in firms and/or institutions employing 'knowledge workers' (industry, academia, research). Such organizations are filled with incompetent, pig-headed managers (sadly, often themselves knowledge workers who've been put in charge of others, based on their technical achievements, while often having terrible people skills) who often put their companies at risk by demotivating and ultimately losing high-quality technical talent (and the know-how they take with them). Scientists, engineers, technicians, programmers, analysts (lawyers, doctors...) and all the rest of us 'symbol manipulators' are often not so hard to motivate...that's why we're in our field in the first place - but on the other hand, easily de-motivated by arrogant/ignorant managers who micromanage activities they don't understand, apply pressure in obviously counter-productive ways, or fail to understand the real problems and work being done in their area (usually by failing to ASK, LISTEN, THINK, and COMMUNICATE). Put another way: how important are proprietary know-how and processes to your organization's competitive edge, or experts in your field, how much does it cost you to find(!) talented/skilled people, and then to train them to the point that they begin to be productive (usually a year or more, perhaps even several), and how useful would their vested knowhow be to your competition? Every company cannot and should not try to emulate the Google shangri-la, but if your organization relies on knowledge workers and there seem to be issues with motivating and retaining them, this book will open your eyes and get you thinking. Also a good book to leave lying on the desk of someone who could make a difference, if they're bright enough to use what's in here.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Good general discussion but seems outdated

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2014

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This book provides a good general discussion around knowelge workers. However, some of the material seems outdated, espsecially when talking about some of the technology. I had to read this for a class and it does provide context on knowledge workers and opens up some questions, it just needs to be updated. The book hasn't been updated since 2005 and when talking about technical items that is forever.

3 people found this helpful

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John Aguilar

Great book to help leaders understand how members within their ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2016

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Great book to help leaders understand how members within their organization think as well as to get others to think creatively.

One person found this helpful

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CustomerJ

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great way to think about managing Knowledge Workers

One person found this helpful

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Taz Devil

Awesome

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book is very helpful in my class. I will be able to continue the use of the book in the future

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J. R Greeley

The ART of NO THINKing ...

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2014

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Great read and helped me understand the 360 view.... of making the right call on tough decisions. But it was a real quick pick for teaching BE/ KNOW/ DO; book in English + great book on the shelf and use it everyday.

One person found this helpful

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J. H. Lundin

...moving from a manufacturing based economy to an information based economy??

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2016

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Economic Development types planning to attract informational businesses... you had better know knowledge workers!!

One person found this helpful

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Laura Villasana

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2017

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Great, thank you !

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Horace McPherson

A Guide for Knowledge Workers

Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2011

Verified Purchase

For many years I have always felt that most managers today still manage or try to lead based on ideas from a previous era. As globalization continue to move manual labour type jobs to emerging economies in Asia and South America, the future for North American workers will be in the knowledge economy. As the author indicates, "the old model of the manager who sits in an office staring down at the toiling workers, only occasionally making a visit to the factory floor, is now officially obsolete". Managing knowledge workers require different approaches. I once heard a statement which says we are more valuable from our "neck up" than from our "neck down". Knowledge workers think for a living, and any heavy lifting on the job is intellectual, not physical. Kudos, to Thomas Davenport for writing such a ground breaking book. Managers should read this book to gain insights on how to effectively manage and motivate their companies most valuable assets - the high performing knowledgeable employees. This is a good one for your management bookshelf.

tallmanbaby

a welcome update on how to manage staff

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2014

Verified Purchase

Thinking for a Living - how to get better performance and results from knowledge workers - Thomas H Davenport

This is a review of the Kindle version, which seems to have vanished from the Amazon store. This is a welcome update on how best to manage staff, staff who know more about their job than you do, staff who are highly skilled and highly mobile. Actually staff like the majority of workers nowadays. The book is written with authority and insight, not heavily research and statistic based, nor just a set of empty exhortations. The author clearly knows what he is talking about. Having worked in organisations most of my life, this was packed with welcome insights and thoughts.

The book is tightly organised in chapters, so the best way to read it is a chapter at a time, if you are struggling with one particular chapter, press on, the next chapter is likely easier going. Each chapter comes with a summary and bullet points. My Kindle version is well produced, no obvious typos or other glitches.

The one downside of this book is that you come away from it realising just how poorly managed most organisations are, still tied to a top down approach, and if they thrive it is in spite of higher management and because of expert staff on the ground who really know what they are doing.

Amazon Customer

An evergreen well written book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

A classic, a must to read when dealing with this once key central issue, whilst today slightly at the border of so many policy discourses. Great seller, great condition, amazing timing. Thank you very much, indeed.

Stuart

Swift delivery and as described

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

Swift delivery and as described

robbie irvine

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

Interesting book that makes discussions with my boss interesting

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Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers Hardcover – September 13, 2005

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