Knowledge Workers Need More Supervision

They don't like to be told what to do. They enjoy more autonomy than other workers. Much of their work is invisible and hard to measure, because it goes on inside their heads or outside the office. They are a growing part of the U.S. workforce, and their skills are hard to replace.

They're knowledge workers, and they are performing well below their potential because companies still don't know how to manage them, says Thomas Davenport, professor of information technology and management at Babson College, in Wellesley, Mass., and director of research for Babson's executive education program.

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