This paper argues that there is an intrinsic link between the concepts of “learning-to-learn” and the “knowledge worker” in the work of Peter Drucker. This is because the increasing life-span of knowledge workers and the decreasing life-span of organizations in the contemporary world have changed the underlying nature of the “social contract” that has hitherto governed the relationship between workers and organizations. Furthermore, these changes are forcing all stakeholders to confront the demands of learning-to-learn and self-management as the necessary modalities of professional and social mobility for knowledge workers in the global economy. Drucker therefore argues that formalizing an ethic of learning-to-learn will provide both knowledge workers and organizations, by implication, with a competitive advantage in “the next society.” Understanding the importance of learning practices and knowledge management will also make it possible for knowledge workers and knowledge-based organizations to continually renew themselves despite the intensity of competition and the relentless demands for individuation, differentiation, and innovation in the global economy. Drucker cites his own career as an example of such a possibility by demonstrating that “intellectual omnivorousness” can serve as an emotional and intellectual reservoir of possibilities for knowledge workers over a long life span. What knowledge workers need then is a “method of study.” In addition to spelling out a possible model of study based on his own formative experiences, Drucker also cites the sources from which he initially learnt the modalities that he calls for in a general theory of learning-to-learn in knowledge workers and organizations. The essential modality in making knowledge “actionable” for Drucker is “feedback analysis,” a practice that he identifies with the Jesuits and the Calvinists in Europe. In other words, decision-makers must have the confidence and patience to write decision reports and check to see if they have been able to anticipate the consequences of a given decision through feedback analysis. They must also develop a high degree of self-awareness on what constitutes their cognitive style by deciding whether their style of information-processing demands the style of a “reader or listener” and act accordingly. This relates to the larger necessity of acting from strengths rather than from weaknesses in Drucker's thought. And, finally, the knowledge worker must be willing to learn from the experience of artists, musicians, and scientists on the possibilities of creativity in old-age and internalize the moral obligation to pursue perfection whenever or wherever possible.
Relay feedback: Analysis, identification and control, Qing-Guo Wang, Tong Heng Lee and Chong Lin, Springer, London, 2003, 383pp
