Information is now regarded as the fifth component of business inputs, the first four conventionally being man, machine, materials and money. Knowledge-intensive firms which strive to create, organize and package knowledge as products and services constantly focus on improving their human capital, mostly contributed by their workers more popularly known as knowledge workers. This article analyzes and compares certain critical HRM strategies with respect to the management of knowledge workers and how the knowledge workers and those who manage them can understand their roles better and contribute to the upgradation of human capital of their firm.

Knowledge can be defined as a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experience and information. In an organizational context, knowledge often becomes embedded in documents, repositories, routines, processes, practices and norms.1 Knowledge is information that is contextual, relevant and actionable.

Knowledge worker is a term coined by none other than the management guru Peter F Drucker in 1959 in his book, Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New "Post-Modern" World. A knowledge worker is an employee who works for a living at the tasks of developing and/or using knowledge. These tasks may include planning, acquiring, searching, analyzing, organizing, storing, programming, distributing, marketing and using information.³ Industries/verticals like education, software, creative business, consultancies, professional services (lawyers, doctors, and engineers) are knowledge-based industries and employ knowledge workers.S

HRM Review Magazine, Personnel Management, Economic System, Knowledge Management, HR Strategies, Human Resource Managementm, HRM, Management By Objectives, MBO, Organization Culture, Project Management, Personnel Administration.