The influx of millennials into the workplace has shifted the dynamics of what employers’ desire from a prospective employee in the wake of the twenty-first century (Wootton, & Grundy, 2018). According to Herring (2012), today’s workplace is shifting because of the influence of two generations that uphold antagonistic ideas. On one facet is a group of new entrants joining the workplace platforms upon graduating from tertiary educational institutions. On the other hand is a pool profoundly experienced and skilled individuals occupying midlevel managerial positions and adamant to change brought about by the internet wave. Employers are torn between tried and tested methods of operations that are employed by experienced workers and new, risky, and innovative approaches that are contributed by new grandaunts. Holistically, business and industrial certifications programs have a monumental evolutionary effect on the contemporary workplace.
The transformation of the workforce is evidenced by the fading ranks of middle management owing to the emergence of globalization and technology. Technological advancements dotted by advanced mobile computing, cloud computing, the popularization on social networks have immensely reduced bureaucracy, alleviated redundancy, and improved access to knowledge (Herring, 2012). The prevailing assumption is that an average employee who is rendering average services to the entity is at risk of being replaced by a cost-efficient alternative. The pursuit for well-paying jobs has dramatically shifted to a fiercely competitive global level playing ground. The underpinning notion is that people that adhere to the status quo are at risk of being laid off. Conversely, employees that can contribute a new aspect to the company’s operations and those that can demonstrate a unique mastery of particular skills will be sought by employers and remunerated more. In this regard, the idea of being different, demonstrating creativity, and innovation has become the cornerstone of the twenty-first-century workplace. The change was as a result of the reinvention of business and industrial certification programs that are tailored to synchronize the skills possessed by young graduates to abilities and attributes demanded in the job market.
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Moreover, the dynamics of the workplace are changing, and employers prefer that workers become more agile, curious, and committed to continuous learning. In the past, knowledge employees were expected to exhibit mastery in their respective fields without necessarily posing any knowledge on other fields (Markides, 2013). However, the qualities demanded by employers have shifted to agility, aggressiveness, innovativeness, and creativity. Wholesomely, employers need business leaders that can generate creative solutions, identify new opportunities, and shoulder responsibilities. Innovative workers are increasingly being preferred over knowledge workers because they are capable of understanding context, objectively judge a situation, and explore solution beyond what is regarded as standard in a bid to formulate practical, innovative, and cost-effective solutions. Ultimately, all the aforementioned attributes can be acquired through self-directed learning and technology-enabled informal studying.
Reforms in education geared toward accommodating creativity and innovation will play a significant role in transforming the 21st-century workplace. According to Robinson (2006), the current education system has exploited the students’ creativity in a manner similar to how miners have exploited the natural resources on the face of the earth. Typical, the education system ought to instil the audacity to think differently in the student population. On the contrary, the current system is tailored to discourage mistakes. Since mistakes yield creativity and innovation, suppressing the ability of students to take risks and pursue innovative solutions will cripple will-full thinking in the workplace. In this regard, reforms in business and industrial programs will allow students to understand that their innovation, creativity, and can-do attitude has a place in the contemporary job market.
Business and industrial certification programs have the potential to affect change in the workplace by aligning the skill-sets possessed by grandaunts to attributes that are needed in the workplace. According to the United States Department of Labor, employers in the past were in search of typists, mimeograph repair technicians, elevator operators, and switchboard operators. Contemporarily, the trend has changed employers are seeking webmasters, desktop publisher, and LAN operators. In this accord, it is apparent that having an extended capacity to handle a couple of tasks wholesomely is considered more desirable than having basic level skills. Principally, tailoring the curriculum of business and industry certification programs to yield job-seekers that possess skill sets rather than a single ability would be crucial in sealing the knowledge gap between what is supplied and what is demanded by employers.
Although the workplace has been responsive to the need to change and employee all rounded personnel, experienced workers who currently hold mid-level managerial jobs have been resilient and adamants to permeate smooth transitioning of organization operation. The profoundly experienced personnel is inclined to believe that sticking to the norm has yielded results, thus, adapting to the changing business environment is a risk not worth taking (Herring, 2012). However, from the case of the collapse of multibillion entities such as Kodak, due to resistance to change, it is evident that change is inevitable and firms should pursue transitioning strategies in a bid to uphold lucrative operations.
In conclusion, business and industry certification programs have a considerable change-induction potential to the workplace platforms. Adjusting school curricula to accommodate creativity, innovation, and outside-the-box thinking would improve the employability of fresh graduates. Furthermore, broadening the curricula to ensure that all necessary skills are factored will immensely improve the proficiency, flexibility, and agility of employees in the workplace. Although mid-level employees may be adamant to embrace change, it is vital that appropriate and effective change implementation strategies are formulated and implemented to guarantee a smooth transition.
References
Herring, S. (2012). Transforming the workplace: Critical skills and learning methods for the successful 21st century worker. Big Think .
Markides, C. (2013). Do schools kill creativity?. Business Strategy Review , 24 (4), 6-6.
Robinson, K. (2006). Do schools kill creativity? . TED.
United States Department of Labor. Futurework – Trends and challenges for work in the 21th century. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/execsum.htm .
Wootton, C., & Grundy, J. (2018). Millennials in the Workplace.
