Examining the Status of Knowledge Productivity in Research Institutes of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

One of the challenges for modern organization is shiftng from methods of scientific management, which has evolved from taylor's studies on improving productivity of manual workers, to new management approaches that address increasingly knowledge-intensive nature of work. knowledge work and knowledge workers are terms often used but seldom defined. despite diffrernt proposed definitions, there are no offcial agreed-upon defnitions and no standardised measures. according to peter Drucker (1999), “knowledge work” and “knowledge workers” and their productivity are the biggest challenges for organizations in the 21st century. Drucker (1998) defines knowledge-work as comprising those jobs in which incumbents work more with their heads rather than with their hands. Improving knowledge worker productivity is argued to be one of core knowledge management goals. in this paper, according to Drucker (1999), knowledge productivity was measured based on six key factors including task concentration, autonomy, innovation, continuous learning and teaching, quality and considering a knowledge worker as an “asset” rather than a ”cost”.