According to Peter Durker, the knowledge worker will be most valuable assets for organizations during the 21st century.
Therefore, the major challenge for organization - and countries - is to increase the knowledge workers’ productivity.
To argue for these statements, Peter Drucker goes back in history and discusses the importance of the increase in productivity of manual workers in manufacturing in the 20th century.
The productivity for manual workers in manufacturing has increased around 3% per year during the 20th century — in total a 50-fold increase in productivity.
This increase in productivity is the base for all economic and social gains of the 20th century, according to Peter Drucker.
This is also what created what we today call the “developed” economies.
This increase in productivity for manual worker all started with Frederick Winslow Taylor.
According to Peter Drucker, Frederick Winslow Taylor’s approach - as well as methods based on his approach - are historically the most important contribution to the area of management.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (FTW) (1856-1915) was the first one to study and restructure manual work, according to Peter Drucker.
FTW’s approach is called task analysis, task management, scientifica management or industrial engineering (i.e. different terms during different times in history).
Every method that has increased the productivity for manual workers during the 20th century is based on FTW’s approach (and principles), for example, Ford’s assembly line, TQM, rationalization, job rotation, Kaizen, Just in Time Delivery.
Before FWT, the productivity increased due to new tools, new methods and new technologies (i.e. what is also called “capital”)
FTW approach increased the productivity of the workers (i.e. what is also called “labour”)