The Changing Nature of Work

I was waiting for the ‘Aha’ moment in this course and reading the text assigned for this week of the evolution of the global landscape of the work force and how it will change in the next ten years was what I eager to learn more of. The rapidly changing work force was something tangible that certainly resonated with my current profession. I work in recruitment for the Masters of Arts in Teaching program for Bard College. For those of you unfamiliar with Bard, it is a small liberal arts university in upstate New York. I oversee the recruitment efforts for the program on the Western United States and work remotely largely from home and in the field attending colleges and fairs throughout the western U.S. The work once done in a small cubicle by admissions and recruitment personnel at institutions throughout the United States can be largely achieved from the comfort of home with the use of a laptop, IPad and a smartphone.

Previously, employees had to hold weekly meetings in the board room as a means of allowing management to connect and keeping a watchful eye over subordinates. Now, employees are able to connect by email, text message and Skype or Google hangout for face to face contact. As a result I am able to hold weekly meetings with my east coast counterparts in virtually the same manner I would if we were engaging physically with one another together.

The internets impact on my work as well as my ability to connect with perspective students and universities across the U.S. is immeasurable. I am able to sign up for numerous fairs, hold dialogue with department chairs, hold meetings with perspective students using Adobe Connect and applicants are able to apply to the program using an online platform called Slideroom. Applicants are able to apply globally without the use of a single document being sent via the postal service saving time and money (with the exception of official transcripts). According to Friedman, In his communication with entrepreneurs and innovators from all different types of businesses, large and small said they have been able to do things they’d had never dreamed possible before (Friedman, 2007).

 Naturally, working remotely has its benefits however along with many benefits still comes that disconnect one feels from not being able to regularly interact with fellow coworkers physically. The pros obviously outweigh the cons as the alternative would have been to relocate to New York from California in order to work for Bard College. The university has glocalized, offering a top tier education internationally including Jerusalem.  That has worked well for the institution by expanding its brand oversees by enrolling students that he would have in all likelihood never attended the Bard. Indeed the world is changing how we think about education and how we apply what we have learned to advance our communities.

Friedman, T. (2007). The World is Flat (3rd ed.) New York: Picador.

Friedman's Triple Convergence-Shared knowledge is king

Friedman’s explanation of Triple Convergence suggests citizens of our global community have directly or indirectly created a group dynamic allowing each industry’s technology to work more efficiently within convergent  systems. ‘ HP, Cisco and Nokia collaborated on the development of a camera/cell phone which beams its digitized pictures to an HP printer, which quickly prints them out. Each company has developed a very sophisticated  technological specialty, but it could only add value when its specialty was horizontally combined with the specialties of the other two companies/ (Friedman, 2005, p. 178).  Utilizing the vastness and abundance of the internet, knowledge leaders created platforms that enhance globalization by implementing the ten flatteners that have leveled the playing field by creating a horizontal fast moving, ever evolving realm where analysts, programmers, engineers and production designers worldwide are constantly introducing new methods of ensuring consumers are having their needs meet by implementing, newer, faster and smarter machines.

 Foreign countries were able to interconnect, share information, trade, meet, create, innovate, research and develop new technologies, systems, platforms, social media, medical and computer devices to aid life, weapons to destroy it and others were created simply to make our lives easier. In recent years cloud computing and storage has taken center stage allowing large and small companies to store and backup large amounts of data without spending a considerable amount of money for servers or hard drives. Websites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have revolutionized how people communicate with friends across town or across the globe. Saving consumers billions in phone charges and miscellaneous fees for making long distance phone calls. In a free market where capitalism drives the American entrepreneurial spirit, with every technological advancement comes the desire to earn money from it. Example, Wi-Fi. When Wi-Fi or wireless fidelity first became widely known at the turn of the century every major carrier (AT&T, Sprint, T Mobile and Verizon) were trying to develop methods to make as much money from the new communication tool as they could. However, their path to even more riches was short lived once it became clear that unlike bottled water selling something that should be free and available to anyone was going to be difficult to capitalize on. Initially, restaurants, coffee shops, laundry mats and train stations were charging for Wi-Fi. However, once cell phones and  home routers with WiFi capability became widely available with their own wireless frequency hotspots, it has made it nearly impossible to seek financial reward from the use of organizations Wi-Fi. There is however one exception. On a recent trip to New York, I learned (the hard way) that airlines charge for wireless internet signals while in flight. The fees were outrages, $10.00 per hour was the cost to log on to one Wi Fi company. I was fuming (much like Friedman when he received his B labeled ticket from Southwest Airlines) when I learned that since I was a captive audience on a flight across the country I could not use my own wireless hotspot from my cell phone, I had to purchase the airlines Wireless Internet or else not have access. Obviously, there was no way I was going to pay $80 dollars to fly from New York to California simply to check out the latest basketball scores on ESPN (even if it was to see how my Creighton Blue jays were doing). I sat quietly and tried my best to sleep for the rest of my flight.  Hopefully, airlines could learn a lesson from small coffee shops and use  free Wi-Fi as an amenity for paying for flights. Such web based tools could certainly be used to benefit companies and their bottom line not only in terms leadership but increasing their edge over the competition.

References

The World Is Flat (A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century); Thomas L. Friedman, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005

Researching Twitter as an imperfect but useful tool

Is the World Flat or Spiky?

 Thomas Friedman professes in Chapter 1 of his text (2007) that the world is flat, cultural acclimation and emulation are the byproduct of global innovation. Through these technological advancements have created in essence a free for all and a level playing field by which unbridled wealth is now available to the masses in an unprecedented fashion. Friedman concludes that since countries like India have emulated America by sharing a similar cultural identity (i.e. name, vanity, fashionable interests, cars, technological hardware and resort type amenities) that somehow this became possible because innovation and insurmountable wealth attainment was now available to anyone with an idea and determination. I believe this misconception can only be made by looking through global capitalization through a very narrow lens. After reading both, the Florida article and Chapter 1 of the Friedman text, the Florida holds more true and considers various societal constraints.

             In my original post written over a year ago I write, ‘A substandard education will always result in a substandard nation’. If our global economy is viewed through a broader lens it becomes evident that our world is indeed ‘spiky’ and not flat. Therefore, I do not believe Friedman’s contention about global opportunities is relevant in 2013, nor do I believe his view had much viability in 2007.  In 2007 when global behemoths like Facebook, Twitter and Zinga, were in their infancy it was easy to make the assumption that their existence was the result of young people who believed in an idea, vacated all inhibitions and pursued their dreams with reckless abandonment. What should be noted is Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg for example created a venue by which people could openly share their thoughts and ideas with colleagues and friends utilizing a simple looking interface. However, what should be known is Zuckerberg was attending Harvard University, the top ranked university in the country and through only privilege, narcissism and arrogance elected to drop out and pursue a dream that by any stretch of the imagination would have been thought to be asinine. Dropping out of Harvard is a luxury most people do not have or would even consider. Also, dropping out of college and moving to Palo Alto would be a recipe for disaster if one was to use conventional wisdom. Zuckerberg’s success is one example of opportunity meeting good fortune and 99% of the population including Mark Zuckerburg would not recommend taking such a risk. Further, moving to Silicon Valley and any other technologically advanced region is a luxury most people don’t have and millions of people with a dream and no financial backing and also living in rural areas across the globe continue to live in poverty as a result.

 In 2007, if I were to travel to India, New York, then to Beijing, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Singapore, Hong Kong or Sydney I would also make assumptions of the world economy, its abundant wealth, and its vast opportunities with low hanging fruitful rewards. But millions of people do not have running or clean water, a bed to sleep on, immunizations that provide protection from diseases that are nonexistent in civilized countries, much less a gigantic flat screen television. Millions only dream of sitting in a classroom and reading a book and obtaining a decent education, possessing an IPad, holding a teleconference with a distant colleague, utilizing GPS, to find another town, a car, clean clothes or shoes. Therefore, I must agree with Florida that the world is spiky, where opportunities do exist but not for everyone. I agree that fortune, is possible but not for everyone. For most, the ability to provide the necessities of life to one’s family does exist in some places but unfortunately not for everyone.  The earth is not flat and opportunities are not only a phone call, a short drive, a smartphone and a laptop away. Especially, for the millions of people who have never held or seen such a device.

               

Sources:

Florida, R. (2005). The World by the Numbers: The World is Spiky. Globalization has Changed the Economic Playing Field. But Hasn’t Leveled it. Retrieved from: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/images/issues/200510/world-is-spiky.pdf

Friedman, T. (2007). The World is Flat 3.0. A Brief History of the Twenty First Century. New York. Picador.