Question

11.(b) Define and contrast between the terms knowledge worker and data
worker
Answer the question in paragraph form and when converted to microsoft word it will be half page

Answer 1

A knowledge worker is someone whose primary job is to think, create, analyze, interpret and apply specialized information—drawing on education, expertise and judgment to generate new ideas, solve unstructured problems and make decisions that add strategic or intellectual value to an organization (examples: engineers, managers, researchers, software developers). A data worker, by contrast, focuses on acquiring, entering, validating, processing and organizing structured data and carrying out routine, rules-based tasks that keep business operations running smoothly (examples: data-entry clerks, transaction processors, records technicians). The two roles differ in cognitive intensity, autonomy and outcome: knowledge workers exercise higher levels of creativity, discretion and synthesis to produce knowledge, insights or innovations, while data workers follow predefined procedures to ensure accuracy, consistency and timely flow of information. Their technology needs also diverge—knowledge workers benefit from collaboration platforms, analytic and knowledge-management systems that support decision making, whereas data workers rely on transaction-processing systems, databases and spreadsheets optimized for efficiency and data integrity. For managers this distinction matters for hiring, training, performance measurement and empowerment: knowledge workers are rewarded and managed to maximize learning and innovation, while data workers are supported and standardized to minimize errors and cost.