第1个回答 2015-01-27
Some Jobs Are Newly HeuristicHeuristic work has little structure and requires a high degree of creative thinking. The word heuristic comes from the Greek heuriskein ― to discover and learn. Don't think only of the Madison Avenue types brainstorming over some wildly innovative ad campaign for a client. In sales, marketing, medicine, architecture, design, computer science, planning, management, and hundreds of other job types, heuristic workers create important knowledge for firms ranging from HR policies, procedure manuals, and complex sales contracts to new products and business strategies.
Heuristic work is almost impossible to automate, notwithstanding advertisements for "software that thinks." It lacks explicit procedures and requires extensive collaboration and learning. When it comes to heuristic work, two (or more) brains really are better than one. Heuristic workers aren't just knowledge generators. They're voracious knowledge consumers. They're the engine of wealth creation in a knowledge economy, while procedural workers are the gear mechanisms that make things work.
Whereas salespeople from a generation ago may have had high procedural content, the new ones are heuristic workers. The soaring volume of information flow within corporations reflects the growing complexity of modern jobs. For example, a heuristic worker in business development needs sophisticated tools to help build sales plans and forecasts; access marketing information; identify and understand targets; manage accounts and relationships; find resources such as subject matter experts; access product, service, and pricing information; develop winning proposals and presentations; create contracts and manage the negotiations internally and externally; track and manage interactions; and learn about what works and doesn't from experienced peers and colleagues.
Executive Decisions Must Be Known
Executive work is also creative, but its main output is decisions that determine the course of the firm. Executives set corporate values, policy, strategy, objectives, and rules. Executives are employees of corporations and as such have a responsibility to work on behalf of their firms. However, they're also the employers ― setting the course, monitoring, and controlling the firm. They shape the transparency policy of their corporations, setting the parameters for visibility into their behavior and performance. Executives also define the corporate culture through their own behavior.
The Transparency Mandate
In the traditionally opaque corporation, people hoarded knowledge, hoping it would bring personal power and success. Now individuals must be encouraged to share knowledge; corporate success depends on it.