Research Themes

The Monieson Centre facilitates research on the knowledge economy.  Knowledge, in its broadest context is "the full utilization of information and data, coupled with the potential of people's skills, competencies, ideas, intuitions, commitments, and motivations" (Wickramasinghe & Van Lubitz 2007 p.20).  Powell and Snellman define the knowledge economy as "production and services based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to an accelerated pace of technical and scientific advance...  The key component of a knowledge economy is a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources."

The creative economy is another term that is frequently used today.  At the heart of the creative economy lie the creative industries.  Loosely defined, the creative industries are at the crossroads of the arts, culture, business, and technology.  In other words, they comprise the cycle of creation, production, and distribution of goods and services that use intellectual capital as their primary input (UN Creative Economy Report, 2008).

Both the knowledge economy and the creative economy rely on creativity and intellectual skills rather than physical and/or repetitive tasks - simply put, the emphasis is on brain versus brawn.  Research in these areas strives to harness the expertise of individuals, organizations, and communities to create economic and social value.  The Monieson Centre's broad knowledge economy mandate allows researchers to investigate a wide range of questions using a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches.

Five distinct but interrelated research themes are described below.

Theme One – Knowledge Workers

This theme relates to individual knowledge workers and teams.  The term "knowledge worker" applies to a broad range of occupations.  Generally speaking, those employed as knowledge workers are valued for their intellectual capacity rather than their ability to perform physical or repetitive tasks.  Thus, a knowledge worker can be a bench scientist researching a new pharmaceutical compound, a marketer leading a new product development team, or an entrepreneur such as an artisan creating a unique flavour of cheese.  Knowledge workers often perform tasks in collaboration with others, in work groups and teams.  Research related to this theme addresses issues such as leadership, motivation for creativity, incentives for collaboration, best practices in managing knowledge workers to improve productivity, and how teams of knowledge workers respond to uncertainty and change.

Theme Two – Knowledge Work

This theme examines the role of knowledge work within the economy.  Unlike manual or routine work, which has been described as physical work with an objective such as the production of goods, knowledge work has been defined as "new forms of employment that revolve around the dominant role of science and technology in modern economies, and the significance of information technologies.  This work is said to be distinctively analytic and to involve problem-solving and abstract reasoning" (Principles of Organizational Behaviour 4e: Glossary, Oxford University Press).

Knowledge work has been categorized as discretionary behaviour, a system of activities that knowledge workers choose to complete (Efimova, 2003).  Research around this theme includes measurement of productivity in knowledge work.  As well, since organizational characteristics such as transformational leadership, job design, social interaction, and organizational culture have been identified as potential predictors of knowledge work productivity, how organizational structures help or hinder productivity in knowledge work can be examined.  Many other employee issues relate to this theme.

Theme Three – Knowledge Organizations

"Most companies have embraced the notion that to operate effectively in today's economy, it is necessary to become a knowledge-based organization.  But few truly understand what that means or how to carry out the changes required" (Zack, 2003). This theme examines the organization, whether for profit, not for profit, or governmental, as a whole, exploring factors that allow it to succeed or fail in the knowledge economy.  It examines knowledge within the organization needed to carry out tasks related to workplace objectives.

Related research investigates individual and organizational sharing of knowledge throughout the organization, business strategy, organization design, succession planning, operations, and the role of technology. Management of revenue and management of financial risk are also related to this theme.

Research may also examine the roles that intangible factors such as trust, knowledge, and information play in relationship to the development of the social and intellectual capital of an organization, and the implications for managerial practice.

Theme Four – Knowledge Sectors

The concept of the knowledge industry was introduced by Fritz Machlup (1962). He identified five areas of the knowledge sector: education, research and development, mass media, information technologies, and information services.  Since then, the definition of the knowledge sector has been refined.  It is now seen to include cultural and creative industries (which include advertising, architecture, crafts, design, designer fashion, video, film, music and photography as well as publishing, computer games and software design and radio and television), finances, law, and other business services.  Manufacturing and service industries are sometimes excluded from the knowledge sector, although it is clear that there are many knowledge workers in these segments.

The Monieson Centre coordinates research on how these creative sectors affect economic growth.  Studies at the sectoral level, such as financial services industries, or creative industries, (including architecture, programming, insurance, real estate, etc.), often within specific geographical zones, provide important insights into their distinct knowledge environments and key success factors.  Sample studies related to this theme include economic modeling, supply chain management within an industry sector, and transportation modeling within a geographical sector.  This theme also promotes investigations of the larger external context in which the knowledge organization is located.

Theme Five – Knowledge Valuation

There is general agreement that knowledge work and knowledge workers are important drivers of the creative economy.  One challenge, however, is placing a value on that worth. Davenport & Prusak, (1998) define knowledge as "framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluation and incorporation of new experience and information."  However, as Schorcht & Nissen (2008) point out, "the issue of knowledge valuation and its organizational integration presents a big challenge."  Menon and Blount (2004) suggest that content quality, feasibility, and strategic value are particularly relevant to knowledge valuation in organizational settings.

Research on knowledge valuation can be undertaken at several levels.  These include the value of an individual's intellectual property, and the value of combined knowledge of a team, group, or sector.  Investigations into the value of an organization's knowledge to stakeholders are also feasible. Examinations of the value of knowledge to the economy, whether regional, national, or global, are also relevant.