Final answer:
Peter Drucker identifies the a) knowledge worker as the most productive in today's society. Knowledge workers have specialized knowledge and are key in an information society. Their productivity stems from specialization, innovation, and optimization of work processes.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to management expert Peter Drucker, the most productive worker in today's society is the knowledge worker. This term describes individuals with specialized knowledge and skills, such as engineers, scientists, doctors, teachers, financial analysts, and computer programmers, who are crucial in driving the global economy. In an information society, persons of power are more likely to be in occupations that require high levels of knowledge and technical skills, such as a software engineer, rather than manual labor jobs like coal mining.
Moreover, the capacity of knowledge workers to be productive is not just defined by their specialized skills, but also their ability to innovate and improve processes. Workers who specialize in certain tasks learn to produce more quickly and with higher quality, a phenomenon observable in a broad range of professions from assembly line laborers to highly skilled surgeons. This ability to adapt and optimize work processes is a hallmark of the knowledge worker's contribution to productivity.