УДК 005.95:330.354

Крупа К.new knowledge workgroup and new demands for change information management

Разом із змінами, що відбуваються в економіці і організаціях, розуміння природи діяльності і її значення для людей представляє собою критичний інтелектуальний виклик, який має істотне значення для політики і практики. Дебати навколо значення і відносності діяльності в їх сучасному трактуванні утруднені нестачею серйозних наукових результатів.

Ключові слова: знання, робоча група, інформаційне покоління, зміни інформації.

Вместе с изменениями, происходящими в экономике и организациях, понимание природы деятельности и ее значения для людей представляет критический интеллектуальный вызов, который имеет существенное значение для политики и практики. Дебаты вокруг значения и относительности деятельности в их современной трактовке затруднены недостатком серьезных научных результатов.

Ключевые слова: знание, рабочая группа, информационное поколение, изменения информации.

With economies and organizations undergoing change, understanding the nature of work and its significance to people presents a critical intellectual challenge with strong implications for policy and practice. Debates surrounding meanings and relevance of work in its contemporary setting have been hampered by a shortage of solid research findings.

Key words: knowledge, workgroup, information generation, change information.Problem setting. It is certain that the emergence of the knowledge worker and of the knowledge worker's productivity as key questions will, within a very few decades, bring about fundamental changes in the structure and nature of THE NEW ECONOMIC SYSTEM1.

Research and publication analysis. Much has been written about managing knowledge in an organization2. But what about managing the collective knowledge and collaboration among these workers? That is, how do you manage and empower the role of the new knowledge workgroup? Knowledge workers pervade virtually every facet of the current work force. Fueled by technology that renders distances less important than time, today's «infoworkers» are as likely to work in homes and hotels as within office buildings. And their roles can be as diverse as freelancer, consultant, or partner - in addition to traditional employee. But once networked, their productivity becomes exponential. As Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com has famously noted in Metcalfe's Law, «the usefulness, or utility, of a network equals the square of the number of users.» This new class of worker and new way of working is borne of pervasive networks, new computing technologies and socio-economic trends. Taken in aggregate, knowledge workers represent not only a new way of working, but a powerful competitive weapon - or threat - for organizations of all sizes.

A. Korowicki says, today, the notion of «going to work» is defined as much by engaging in a function as it is by commuting to a specific destination. The connected world of cell phones, pagers, wireless devices and high speed Internet connections is transforming the role of workers inside and outside of companies of all sizes. Knowledge workers appear as employees, partners, contractors, freelancers and consultants. Some are mobile, working in hotels, at airports and on the road. Others are stationary, working from home, in office buildings or manufacturing facilities. They populate all industries and job descriptions, from assembly line workers to doctors and scientists. But the one common thread running through this mosaic of knowledge workers is a connection to information. As the number of knowledge workers grows, so too does the information they produce. In fact, in the next three years, we will produce more information than in all of past human history, according a recent study by faculty and students at University of California at Berkeley's School of Information Management and Systems.

On a global basis, we produce between 1 and 2 exabytes of unique information a year, which is roughly 250 megabytes for every man, women and child on Earth, according to the Berkeley study. And 93 percent of that information is digital. Every

Source: Dominique Goupil (2007), Knowledge Workers, new Workgroups and new Demands for Information Management. NY.

Research results. First, according to Moore's Law, computing power doubles every 18 months. Second, predicts Gilder's Law, network capacity grows three times faster than computing power. And third, states Metcalfe's Law, a network's usefulness is exponential to the number of users. Given the power of computers, the breadth of network connections and the advantage of group dynamics, it's no wonder people have responded according to the universal Law of Nature - creating new

Source: Dominique Goupil (2007), Knowledge Workers, new Workgroups and new Demands for Information Management. NY.

According to the Giga Group experts, build it and they will come - once the connections were in place, the people followed. Between 1990 and 1996, the number of people employed in manufacturing tangibles decreased 1 percent, while people employed in providing intangibles services increased by 15 percent. Along with this shift from atoms to bits, came an always-on work force. Work went from a classic 9