The Knowledge Hierarchy
by E. A. Winning
In 1988 Peter Drucker coined the term, "knowledge worker," that individual - actually team of individuals - who would be at the core of the "new" organization, the knowledge driven company. A concept which went well beyond the idea of the Information Age, these employees would collect data, analyze the information, and communicate the knowledge.
I was truly impressed with Drucker's Post-Capitalist Society. Unfortunately, I didn't read it until 1995 and by then was already inundated with information, if not knowledge. Since Drucker had said that business has only two basic functions, marketing and innovation: judging from how well the Web has "sold," Drucker must be in seventh heaven.
But I also found that there's innovation elsewhere in this new corporate world. We don't have hierarchies; we have "comfortable structuring." We don't have departments; we have "functionally creative units." We don't have grades; we have "flexible compensable ranges within a statistical spectrum." Surprising, however, not only do we still have titles, we have new and better ones. Just yesterday I happened to pick up a copy of "MicroTimes" and there was an article by the chief information officer of one of America's premier corporations. At the very same time I noticed in "PC Week" that there is a new title in several systems savvy companies, the chief knowledge officer, CKO.
Much as my techno-clients dislike the thought of a hierarchy, it became apparent that not only would the information age spawn a new hierarchy, it would be ameboid in shape and incomprehensible to anyone on the outside looking in. I decided not to be left behind this time, and took off to interview an old friend of mine who just happened to be the new chief knowledge officer for GIGO Corp.
As I entered GIGO, the first thing I noticed was that it had been cubicalized, sort of a 1990s version of a 1960s IBM. However, in order to make up for the cell-like division of status, there was a foosball game in the middle of the reception area, and the dress code seemed to have been "downsized" to Birkenstocks and shorts. As one GIGO employee explained, "Levis are okay, too, if not a bit stuffy, but you know, it's hot out and all that stuff." "If that's stuffy, what do you consider formal," I asked? "Oh, that would be a t-shirt with no writing on it," he replied.
Josh Joshonson ("PH" to his friends) is the 28-year old president of GIGO. I'd known him since college back in the 50s. He greeted me warmly and showed me into his office. At first I thought that his walls were tiled but upon close inspection found that they were made up of AOL and CompuServe trial subscription disks. Other than that his office was reminiscent of a college dorm room, and one had the distinct feeling that the mess was planned.
EW: "Josh, I think it's great that you've been made president of GIGO."
Josh: "No, I'm the CKO, Chief Knowledge Officer. We don't have a president, per se. We did away with the title after old whatisname was squeezed out."
EW: "I noticed that there was a little politicking going on down here. How'd you do it?"
Josh: "I didn't have to do anything. It was well-known that I had the most knowledge, so I became the CKO. Besides, I'm the only member of MENSA so it was almost a foregone conclusion. Kind of like Ronn Owens*, only smarter and with two web sites."
EW: "So if you're the smartest, you get to be pres...uh... CKO?"
Josh: "No, you don't have to be the smartest. You have to have the most knowledge."
EW: "That's strange. You can know a lot without having any ideas."
Josh: "Ideas? Oh, for that you'd want to talk with our Chief Concept Officer. I don't think you quite understand the structure. Here, let me show you..."
Josh brought out an organization chart, renamed a "Corporate Conceptualization Pyramid." It looked something like this....
CHIEF KNOWLEDGE OFFICER
Chief Concept Officer
Chief Thought Officer
Chief Opinion Officer
Chief Information Officer
EW: "I don't get it. First of all, I'd think that the chief information officer would be just under you."
Josh: "Uh, uh. The CIO is the disseminator of information, and he can't disseminate anything until it's been thought up. After someone thinks of something, usually our Idea Officer, it's passed on to the T&O Departments, then to me, and then we tell the world about it."
EW: "T&O?"
Josh: "Sorry. Thought and Opinion."
EW: "Well, the concept of knowledge workers called for teams. Where are the...pardon the expression...rank and file?"
Josh: "I'll humor you on that one. Okay, other than a secretary who has the title of 'Word Fabrication Artist,' there's no one under the Chief Concept Officer. But under the Chief Thought Officer we do have the core of our employee-contributors: There are Thinkers, Reflectors, Cogitators, and Deliberators, all with senior and junior titles depending on their SAT scores...if they had to go to college...
[It was then that I noticed the framed, unsigned, limited edition photograph of Bill Gates on the wall. My mind wandered. I wondered if it was coming back, but then I heard...]
"...When an idea has been thought, reflected upon, cogitated and deliberated, it's passed downward for an opinion. This is an important step because the Opinion Department has the Senior Believers, the Judgment Officers, and those with Real Convictions. Below them are the Assumption Clerks and Notion Aides. Once an idea is believed, it goes to our Dogma Department which is directly under the Chief Information Officer although, truth be told, it really doesn't become dogma until I say it's dogma."
EW: "Seems to me that some pretty good ideas could get lost in the process."
Josh: "Find a few, lose a few."
EW: "And this one made it all the way to the top of GIGO?"
Josh: "Hey, you can't argue with success. Did you see that our stock has doubled this year to 6? If this keeps up we were thinking of an ISO starting at somewhere around 140. Hey, did you see the picture of my new yacht in the paper the other day. It's a beaut and cost a bundle!"
EW: "No such thing as a free launch, huh? How do you make money around here?"
Josh: "Well, most of it comes from our Cyber Vocabulary Department, you know, the one that sells new words to Internet advertisers."
EW: "Words like?"
Josh: "Like 'cyberad,' 'electromedia,' or 'digital insertion device'...although that one did come out of our Acronym Department."
EW: "And there are people who actually pay for that? You must have done a hell of a job of marketing. What happens when an idea bombs?"
Josh: "Every once in a while we do have one of those, but it never makes it out of the building. The reason we've been so successful is because of these three departments [pointing to the bottom of the chart], Collaboration, Corroboration, Alibi. Hey, I'm headed down there right now. Then I've got to stop by Creative Numbers Crunching. We've got some of those PBS elves in today.. Want to come along?"
EW: [Don't ask...] "No thanks, I think I'll just go home and read the paper. How do I get out of here?"
Josh: "Just go past Foundations, through Notions, and take a right."
[*Send me an email, and I'll explain who Ronn Owens is, although it isn't that interesting.]
Ethan Winning, a nationally known author, is president of E. A. Winning Associates, Inc., a Walnut Creek, California employee relations consulting firm specializing in tailoring employee handbooks and performance and compensation systems. He is also the author of "Labor Pains: Employer and Employee Rights and Obligations" (3rd edition, 1997) which can be ordered by calling 1-800-823-6366, by using the online form.Copyright © 1996 E. A. Winning. All Rights Reserved.
Used by Permission.