workwhat
Workwhat is a framework proposed in organizational studies to describe and analyze work activities within an organization. It treats work as a set of observable elements that can be mapped, compared, and improved across tasks, teams, and processes. The aim is to clarify what work entails and how it contributes to goals, without prescribing a single method of execution.
At its core, workwhat identifies four interacting dimensions: what is to be done (tasks and activities); how
Origins and usage: The term does not have a single origin in real-world scholarship but appears in
Applications: Organizations may use workwhat to build task dictionaries, conduct gap analyses between current practice and
Limitations: Critics argue that workwhat can oversimplify socio-technical work and that definitions vary across contexts. Because
See also: task analysis, work design, workflow, process mapping, knowledge management.