Workforce in the Digital Age PDF

CONTENT 1 WORKFORCE IN THE DIGITAL AGE The Digital Workforce and the Workplace Prepared by Crowd Business Innovation Group UiTM Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights r...

CONTENT 1 WORKFORCE IN THE DIGITAL AGE The Digital Workforce and the Workplace Prepared by Crowd Business Innovation Group UiTM Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Topics. The background of The technology digital that shapes the workforce workforce The current landscape of Digital Workforce Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved 2 Learning Outcomes Upon completion of this content, students should be able to: 1. Understand the background of digital workforce 2. Explain how technology is shaping the workforce 3. Describe the current landscape of Digital Workforce Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 3 Background of Digital Workforce The world workforce is continually changing likely to be associated with greater, faster and different transitions than previously experienced. There are many possibilities about the changes which could transpire and reshape the business environment. One of the factors that lead to the changes is the widespread and the growing role of the technology in our lives. In 2015, more than three billion people had access to the Internet worldwide. While that number represents slightly less than half of the world’s population, access is more widespread in developed countries, with almost 90% of North Americans having Internet access (Internet World Statistic, 2015). Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 4 Background of Digital Workforce In today’s world, the development of the younger generation is greatly affected by digitization. Technology changes the experience of childhood not only socially but also in both economical and cultural aspects. Young people is known as one of the heavy users of technology. Technology has the greatest influence and are constantly surrounded by it. Prensky (2001) coined the term “digital natives” which is referred to young generation who rely heavily on technology for learning, communicating, and entertainment. The digital natives is young people within the range of 8 years old to 18 years old who used technology heavily in their everyday activities. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 5 Background of Digital Workforce Who are the digital natives? ▪ Multitasking brain capacity ▪ Learn via participation ▪ See the world in less hierarchical terms ▪ Heavy user of technologies ▪ Intuitive learners Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 6 Background of Digital Workforce However, digital natives are not the only heavy users of technology. “Digital immigrants” are people who was born before the widespread adoption of digital technology. The term digital immigrant may also apply to individuals who were born after the spread of digital technology and who were not exposed to it at an early age. They can be considered as adults who have readily adopted technology as it has become available are also increasingly comfortable with and reliant on technology. With this increasing use of technology, major changes have occurred in the way that people live their lives. We are in near constant communication with one another, and our lives are chronicled for friends and followers in real time on social media. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 7 Background of Digital Workforce Driving Forces of Digital Technology Adoption i. Technological Advance The maturity level of many existing and new technologies has lowered the barriers to adoption significantly. Some technologies for example smart phone can be bought at lower cost and easier to use. Technologies not only advance, but also extended reach. Rapid development of technology infrastructure for example cloud computing, mobile computing, data analytics, and information security have emerged and influenced the development of advanced applications such as mobile first, software as a service, social media, predictive analytics, machine learning, drone and many more. Cloud computing for example enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on demand access to a shared pool of computing resources. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 8 Background of Digital Workforce Driving Forces of Digital Technology Adoption i. Technological Advance The cloud assists businesses to overcome economical, technical and geographical limitations. It also offers a multitude of benefits of agile systems and environments, reduced costs, device and location independence, low maintenance, multitenancy, enhanced performance monitoring, increased productivity, reliability, scalability and elasticity, security. It also assists geographically diverse groups of workers to collaborate and share files, data, information and the ability for businesses and workers to utilise fluid workspaces, flexible working arrangements, and co-working environments. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 9 Background of Digital Workforce Driving Forces of Digital Technology Adoption i. Technological Advance Such flexible work environments promote and enable greater collaboration, increased outsourcing, offshoring and crowdsourcing of work, and superior specialisation capabilities. These leading a third wave of digitisation following on from the personal computer and Internet in the 1990s and mainframes in the 1970s. These directions then became the foundation of new capabilities in the organization and the building blocks of new products in the business. Digital technology will continue changing workplace structures, operations and relations. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 10 Background of Digital Workforce Driving Forces of Digital Technology Adoption ii. Digital Literacy Digital experience was influenced by the widespread adoption of technologies. The traditional channels of sales and services, along with other areas, have expanded with digital channels for example social networks and social media. The rapid advances and adoption of digital technology have increase people ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create knowledge and information. The ability of people to perform tasks effectively in a digital environment also include the ability to provide technology integration and innovation related to new structures, processes, and skills within the organizations. High digital literacy of people can mitigate the risks and can improve the chances of successful adoption. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 11 Background of Digital Workforce Driving Forces of Digital Technology Adoption iii. Economic Development The measures of economic development are most often based on the increase in income, job creation and clientele for organizations. The growth of and development of the businesses can bring the greater IT adoption. This lead to more technology being purchased and an improvement in the organization and its environment including the users of the technology However, the greatest gains to development are not from the adoption of ICT in itself, but from the innovative ways in which technology has been adopted. The innovations is the implementation of a new change that affects and alters a market which enable businesses to survive businesses cycles. The entrepreneur who are mostly most digital natives and digital immigrants is the agent of innovation whose adoption of the innovations will enable the business to survive and potentially grow. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 12 Review Questions Understand the background of digital workforce 1 Explain digital natives and digital immigrants? 2 Give the five characteristics of digital natives. 3 Identify and explain two driving forces digital technology adoption. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 13 Topics. The background of digital The technology workforce that shapes the workforce The current landscape of Digital Workforce Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved 14 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce According to Accenture (2015), most business leaders expect to see improvements in terms of cost efficiencies, productivity, innovation, agility and quality of work based on the adoption of digital technologies. Digital technologies also provide benefits to organization in many areas including to the organization workforce. The skills and capabilities required in a digital age will vary based on industry and role. Labour will be expected to be comfortable working with technology, such as sophisticated mobile devices that support field force workers, and engineers. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 15 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce As more basic tasks are automated, labour can expect to take on higher value roles that require data collection, data analysis and problem-solving skills. Foundational skills will also be in high demand, including communication and negotiation skills, and strong business acumen. Finally, new jobs might be created with their own specialized skill sets, such as digital copywriters, scrum masters in IT, or digital product managers. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 16 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce The growth in technological capabilities force management research to examine the assumption and effects of the changing workforce. Digital The wide technologies technology adoption has shaped identity development and Identity development interpersonal relating, and Interpersonal competencies and Relating workforce trends. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 17 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce Impact of Digital Technology Adoption i. Identity Development and Interpersonal Relating Emerging research shows that the increasing use of technology has complex effects on the development and expression of identity. The ubiquitous presence of technology in our lives may limit opportunities to develop deep levels of self-awareness and to behave authentically. For example, while waiting in line at the grocery store, most people with smart phones will be busy texting or curating a social media profile, thus provide limited opportunity for reflection that increase our self awareness. Opportunity to create aspirational image rather than presenting authentic self for example through social media profile and photos may obscure people’s awareness of who they really are and their ability to act authentically Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 18 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce Impact of Digital Technology Adoption i. Identity Development and Interpersonal Relating The prevalence of technology may also impact the quality of interactions and communication. Most digital natives prefer communication via text through social networks and email. Connecting via text is seen as more efficient and allows us to edit compared to face-to- face or telephone conversations. As a result of their reliance on communicating via email or text, employers say that some digital natives and digital immigrants trouble starting and ending conversations and report that talking on the telephone makes them nervous (Turkle, 2015) This also reduces ratings of closeness, trust, and relationship quality Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 19 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce Impact of Digital Technology Adoption ii. Competencies of Digital Workforce The digital workforce is competent, proficient and comfort in achieving desired outcome using technology which often referred to as “digital fluency” (Briggs & Makice, 2012) Both digital natives and digital immigrants may have achieved a level of proficiency that allows them to manipulate information, construct ideas, and use technology to achieve strategic goals (Hsi, 2007). However, digital activities engaged by a digital workforce also able to develop other skills as well for example managerial skills Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 20 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce Impact of Digital Technology Adoption ii. Competencies of Digital Workforce As mentioned before digital literacy is needed alongside numeracy and literacy. These capabilities will be threshold requirements for most jobs thus, important for future job seekers to master. For example, skills in computer programming might become essential for a wide variety of jobs in tomorrow’s knowledge economy. Identifying and teaching these enduring skills will be a priority for educators. Even traditionally labour-intense occupations like nursing or aged carer are likely to require an ability to work with computers and operate complex machines. A builder might as well need to understand and be able to connect the multiple devices and smart systems of future homes. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 21 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce Impact of Digital Technology Adoption iii. Workplace and Workforce Trends The device connectivity, data volumes and computing speed is reshaping the workforce and redefining jobs. The internet of things (IoT) is at the early stages of growth. The internet of things make technology become more functional, with impacts on jobs and employment markets. Digital technology and the new world of ‘platform economics’ is changing employment markets and organisational structures. Jobs of the future are likely to be more flexible, agile, networked and connected Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 22 Impact of Digital Technology to Workforce Impact of Digital Technology Adoption iii. Workplace and Workforce Trends New technologies are enabling workplace innovations such as remote working, co-working spaces and teleconferencing. Organizations are likely to have an ever-smaller pool of core full-time employees for fixed functions, backed up by colleagues in other countries (offshoring), external consultants and contractors for specific projects (outsourcing) and external talent pool of individual expert from the crowd (crowdsourcing). Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 23 Review Questions Explain how technology is shaping the workforce 1 Discuss the impact of digital technology adoption on individual identity development and interpersonal relating. 2 Provide one example of digital competency of digital workforce. 3 Explain how digital technology adoption influence the workforce trends. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 24 Topics. The background of digital The technology workforce that shapes the workforce The current landscape of Digital Workforce Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved 25 The Current and Future Landscape of Digital Workforce The changes landscape of jobs and employment i. The era of the entrepreneur The availability of ideal jobs within a large organisation may not be enough compared to an increasing number of future job seekers. Individuals will need to create their own job which require entrepreneurial skills and aptitudes. Digital technology enabled models of lean innovation which is the fast fail approach operate at low cost and scale-up rapidly. Digital technology provides options for new market entrants to compete with longstanding competitors and access a global market for example through e-commerce platform. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 26 The Current and Future Landscape of Digital Workforce The changes landscape of jobs and employment ii. Peer-to-peer and freelancer economy Currently, there is a growing population of portfolio workers or a freelancer who provides services to multiple employers. Facilitated by digital technology, labour is becoming mobile and independent. Through peer-to-peer economy, individual can deal with another individual to buy or sell goods and services directly with each other, without intermediation by a third-party, or without the use of a company of business thus encourage the expansion of freelancer concept. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 27 The Current and Future Landscape of Digital Workforce The changes landscape of jobs and employment ii. Peer-to-peer and freelancer economy Flexibility of portfolio or freelancer employment offers new ways of work for business and individuals, but it comes at a cost of uncertainty. However, existing regulations, laws and policies will have to be adjusted and keep pace with the changing working conditions and emerging issues. Freelancer has its challenges, such as lack of stable income and difficulty finding work, but advances in technology and more globally connected environments are drastically changing these dynamics. Although change is inevitable, future destinations are not. Based on this narrative of the future, individuals, communities, companies and governments can identify and implement transition pathways that achieve better outcomes Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 28 World Bank Group: The Global Opportunity in Online Outsourcing (June 2015) Growth Rate And Market Size of Global Crowdsourcing Industry Online outsourcing firms have growth by 33% on average per year Market size of US$15 – 20 billion by 2020 Source: The Global Opportunity in Online Outsourcing, World Bank Group, June 2015 Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 29 The Future of Jobs Drivers of change, time to impact on business models Share of respondents, % Sharing Economy, crowdsourcing are top 10 trends effecting the following industry: 1. Professional Services (25%) 2. Financial Services & Investors (18%) 3. Information & Communication Tech (11%) Source: World Economic Forum: The Future of Jobs, Jan 2016. Source: The Global Opportunity in Online Outsourcing, World Bank Group, June 2015 Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 30 The Current and Future Landscape of Digital Workforce Crowdsourcing, the sharing economy, and peer-to-peer Platforms Crowdsourcing contributed about 12% as the key driver of change to current jobs. With peer-to-peer platforms, companies and individuals can do things that previously required large-scale organizations. In some cases, the talent and resources that companies can connect to, through activities such as crowdsourcing, may become more important than the in-house resources that they own. Reference World Economic Forum, 2016, The Future of Jobs, pp 7-8. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 31 Review Questions Describe the current landscape of Digital workforce 1 Describe the peer-to-peer economy. 2 Discuss the top five of future jobs. Copyright © 2017 UiTM, All rights reserved Content 1 32