Question

Northstar is a manufacturing company based in Toronto. They are in the early phases of building an enterprisewide information system. The information system is being built by their own in-house IT specialist. You are one of the company’s leading knowledge workers and you are involved in the system development. You and the other knowledge workers have been working with the IT specialists to help them better understand what you need from the new system. The IT specialists were initially eager to work with you but they soon lost interest in the business details. The knowledge workers complained to management that their needs were not thoroughly reviewed and that they were not asked for their approval before the project went to design. Before the iT specialists could begin to fully develop the system, management insisted that they get the knowledge workers more involved. Reluctantly, the IT specialists allowed the knowledge workers to review their project design. What the knowledge workers found was a system that had gone well beyond its original intentions, did not thoroughly respond to the knowledge workers initial requests, and was designed without any input from knowledge workers. Management has decided that the project needs to restart and that the IT specialists work closely with the knowledge workers. Management will also receive daily reports from knowledge workers. How would you as a knowledge worker ensure that the same mistakes are not made again. Use the key terms and concepts from your textbook in your answer.

Answer 1

As explained in the case above that the IT specialists didn't get knowledge workers involved and because of that, later on, found out that a system that had gone well beyond its original intentions, did not thoroughly respond to the knowledge workers initial requests, and was designed without any input from knowledge workers.

As a knowledge worker, I would ensure that the same mistakes are not made again by identifying important information from a massive database of information that needs to be studied thoroughly. I would be in a position to weed out less important data and focus on essential information that will help the IT specialists to initiate the project with. As a Knowledge worker, I would use analytical reasoning and relevant judgment to address problems and new situations to work on with. For instance, in finance, Excel can be used as an application for financial modeling. Another thing as a Knowledge work that I would do is to involves frequent communication with the IT specialists and other workers working on the project. It is a must to speak, read, and write, and hold discussions with IT specialists and deliver a presentation when needed.

Nowadays, Modern organizations stress on quality service and continuous product improvements that bring knowledge workers closer to customers. Good communication skills enable knowledge workers to work closely with project mates and helps in decision-making, goal setting, and brain-storming sessions.

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