The Shift to Knowledge Work For thousands of years, most work was manual work, that is, it was materials-based, and working was a visible activity that entailed using one's muscles more than one's head. Owing to its highly visible nature, manual work could be prefigured, that is, others could figure out what needed to be done and how, and then pay others to carry out these prefigured routines. Then things changed. They must configure their own work routines instead of simply doing what others have dictated. And, the basis of work itself has shifted from materials to information and knowledge.
Most companies are under intense competitive pressure.
Their only sustainable competitive advantage appears to lie in continuous innovation. Moreover, that innovation must occur in a company's processes as well as its products and services. The work of innovating is knowledge work, it goes on in people's heads where it can't be seen. It is also configured work instead of prefigured work, which makes managing the work of innovation through direct supervision an almost impossible task. The work of innovating also depends on creating new knowledge, or at least on finding new ways of applying existing knowledge.