Post-Capitalist Society

Peter Drucker

Changes in Knowledge

1750 to 1900 capitalism & technology changed the world

Their speed of diffusion and global reach

Caused changes in the meaning of knowledge

Knowledge - before 1700

Two concepts held

1. Plato, Socrates - knowledge was self knowledge

Intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth

Knowledge (2)

2. Protagoras - knowledge meant "what to say and how to say it"

Logic, grammar, rhetoric

Core of Middle Ages learning - liberal education

Techne

Knowledge - Not ability to do or utility

Utility was skill - techne

Learned techne by apprenticeship & experience, could not be taught

Mysteries - crafts

Industrial Revolution

1700 - Technology was "invented"

Techne - mystery of a craft skill

logy - organized, systematic, purposeful knowledge

Ecole des Ponts et Chausees - 1747

Ecole Polytechnique - 1794

Industrial Revolution

Encyclopedie - 1751 - 1772

Organized knowledge of all crafts so that "the non-apprentice could learn to be a technologist"

Encyclopedie

Results in the world, in tools, processes, and products brought about by the application of knowledge

Results in one craft could be applied to other crafts

Encyclopedie

Converted

Experience into knowledge

Apprenticeship into text

Secrecy into methodology

Doing into applied knowledge

Change in knowledge led to capitalism

Industrial Revolution

Technical change required capital

Required concentration of production under one roof- factory

Required large scale energy -centralized

Production moved from craft-based to technology-based

Means of production

Prior to 1700 - craftsman owned & controlled the "means of production"

Tools and skills

Industrial Revolution - capitalists owned & controlled the machines

Productivity revolution

Marxism - Concentration of means of production - would lead to revolt by the proletariat

Marxism - failed, Why?

250 years knowledge applied to tools, processes, and products

Productivity revolution

Taylor applied knowledge to the study of work, analysis of work, the engineering of work

Work - what slaves did, beneath the educated & people of authority

Producing more - working more hours

Productivity

Frederick Winslow Taylor 1856-1915

Applied knowledge to the

study of work

analysis of work

engineering of work

Prior conditions - antagonism between capitalists and workers

Goal

Beneficiary of productivity must be the laborer not the owner

Make workers productive so they could earn a good living

Sought harmony between owners and laborers

Groundwork

No "skilled work"

All work can be analyzed

"First-class man" - first-class wage" do the work as the analysis shows

First-class wage more than craftsman's wage

Resistance

Unions opposed to this

Craft work was a secret

Taylor - work could be studied, analyzed, and divided into series of repetitive motions

Motions - right way, own time, right tools

Background

Taylor called owners "hogs"

Workers should profit from productivity

Workers should be involved in consulting

Authority should be based on knowledge not ownership

Background

Taylor -don’t rely on the initiative of workers

Soldiering

Workmen controlled the shop not the foreman

Management ignorant of what really was a day’s work

Pig Iron example

Load pig iron manually

Current rate - 12 tons/day/man

Analyzed rate - 47.5 tons/day/man

Background

Workers controlled the work pace

Modern management - control over work by controlling the decisions that are made during work

Timing and actions added up to the planned tasks

Background

Money used to initiate a change

Piece work

Employers decreased the piece rate to match existing wages

Analysis of work

Consider absurd since there was a mystic about craft skill that could not be taught or learned, it had to be experienced

Major mis-assumptions about training

Taylor-based training

Training impacted by scientific management

Effective tool for economic development

Machines provided greater capacity

Workers not more productive until Taylor

Productivity gains by workers helped them become middle class

Productivity increased by applying knowledge to work

Next wave - Productivity of non-manual workers - Management

Taylor and technique

Machining

High speed steel

Decisions made by the craftsman were not efficient

First Principle

Managers assume the responsibility of gathering the knowledge to make a product and organize it

Labor process is independent of the worker’s knowledge

Second Principle

"All possible brain work should be removed from the shop and centered in the planning or lay-out department…"

Separation of mental and manual labor

Third Principle

The work is fully planned and calculated before the worker starts

Use knowledge to control each step of the labor process and its mode of execution

Productivity revolution

Technologists give credit to machines

Economists give credit to capital investment

The application of knowledge to work was the critical difference

Management revolution

By 2010 less than 10% of the workforce will be used to produce or transport things

Increasing productivity here will not create wealth

Productivity of non-manual workers is the next revolution

Management revolution

Apply knowledge to knowledge

Today - no access to middle class income without a college degree

Certifies acquisition of knowledge

Knowledge is a key to personal and economic growth

Third step

Applying knowledge to best use of knowledge for achieving results

Systematic innovation

Management

Managers

Responsible for work of subordinates

Responsible for performance of people

"Responsible for the application and performance of people."

Knowledge

Knowledge is seen as the resource in the post capitalist society

Knowledge workers own and control the means of production