Paper Title
Leadership Styles And Skills Of Operational And Middle Managers In Knowledge Intensive Context

Abstract
In today's fast moving and globalized world, innovation and creativity have become the primary focus of organizations. The knowledge intensive sectors have started to gain much power and attention for the competing economies. This has consequently led to the rise of new form of organizations called as �knowledge intensive firms (KIFs)� and new type of employee referred as �knowledge worker.� New service and product developments, finding creative solutions to complex problems and dealing with uncertainty of new knowledge creation is the main responsibility of these knowledgeable workers. The human capital is the most valuable asset of these knowledge intensive organizations and their core capabilities are rooted in the expertise and skills of knowledge workers. Having been so important for an organization gives the control power to the hands and brains of these workers and traditional roles and leadership styles of managers are questioned and not welcomed in these contexts. Hence, the changing focus and the nature of these contemporary organizations unrevealed new leadership styles and roles for managers. Interviews with both knowledge workers and managers show that different managerial skills and leadership styles are favored depending on the positional levels of managers doing leadership in knowledge intensive context. Index Terms- leadership, managers, knowledge workers, and knowledge intensive work