Employability in a Knowledge-Based Economy - Coursework Example

Employability in a Knowledge-Based Economy The very concept of employability has changed tremendously from the time when manufacturing provided the basis for developed economies. To be employable now means that a student is flexible, creative, has a major which is suitable to learn a specific skill, has good grades, and is willing to continue to learn. There are so many secondary school students in developed knowledge-based economies that they are only truly employable when they can set themselves apart from others. This essay will explore these concepts – first, what is employability, and, second, how does knowledge-based economies drive the definition of employability, and what do today’s students and employees need to know in order to be more employable in today’s economy? The Concept of Employability In order to understand how the knowledge-based economy will affect employability, one must first understand the concept of employability. Robinson (2000) states that employability is having skills which help them fit into the work environment, and remain there – this means that they are responsible, reliable, can solve problems, have good social skills, and have the ability to work together with others. Moreover, employers are increasingly valuing creativity, breaking tradition with previous generations of employers who valued cookie cutter employees. If the employees have these basic skills of responsibility, reliability, problem solving, creativity, etc., then the employee is considered to have basic employability, and that employee is more likely to get a job and keep a job than those who do not possess these basic skills. These are generic skills that all workers must have, as opposed to being specific skills that are necessary for a given field. Tomlinson (2007) states that employability is difficult to measure and define, and has tended to focus either on the supply-side features of the labour market, or on the way that the labour market is structured. Tomlinson (2007) states that these analyses do not focus enough of subjectivity and individuality – how do individuals perceive the labour market, and what dispositions, attitudes and identities do they develop around future work and employability? There has been the tendency to view students and employability in the terms of universality, as if the labour market is uniform and stereotypical. This analysis tends to devalue the role that different orientations and work-related identities play for learners, who must develop these for their future labour market activities. These orientations and identities is how these workers develop their own employability and labour market place, according to Tomlinson (2007). In other words, employability is related to individual identity, and, as such, is shaped by experience, and this identity is what shapes the labour market outcomes and the propensity for employment. Fugate et al. (2004) approaches the issue of employability in a similar vein. To them, the foundation of employability is person-centered and proactive. When employees change and adapt to workplace evolutions, they can more successfully adapt than do ones who do not make these necessary changes. The more successful employees, according to Fugate et al. (2004) are those who have adequate information about their work environment, and are able to get feedback about their status and relationship with the environment. Another trait is that the employee has the internal conditions that help them adapt. Optimism and self-sufficiency are two of the traits which are necessary for an individual to have in order to be adaptable. The third trait is that the employee must be flexible and able to move, as well as be willing to change behaviors, cognitions and affect. Harvey (2001) states that individual employability has several different dimensions and definitions, and that the definition of employability changes with each of these dimensions. One of the dimensions is job type – some definitions of employability means the ability to get any job, while other definitions of employability means the ability to get a certain job. Timing is another dimension, and this means that those who get a job within a certain time frame would be considered to be more employable than those who do not get a job within this time frame. Attributes on recruitment is the next dimension, and this, essentially, means readiness – will the employee be able to hit the ground running on this job, or does the employee have the ability to get quickly up to speed? Further learning is another dimension, which means that the degree does not mean that the employee stops learning, but, rather, that the employee is ready and willing to continue his or her learning throughout the job. Employability skills is the last dimension cited by Harvey (2001), which means that the employee possesses a basic level of skills or generic attributes, and are able to use key skills. McQuaid and Lindsay (2005) state that employability has seven different operational versions. Dichotic employability means that one is either employable or unemployable, and that there are not gradations between these two extremes. Those who were employable were ready and able to work. Those who were not employable were not. Socio-medical is another definition put forth by McQuaid and Lindsay (2005), which means that people with social, physical or mental disadvantages are considered to be less employable than those who do not have these disadvantages. Manpower policy employability means that there is a distance between the existing work abilities of the disadvantaged people and the work requirements for employers, therefore people with these disadvantages are less employable than those without them. Flow employability which means that if a person wants a job, he can find one, therefore this type of employability looks at the demand side, not the supply side. Labour market performance employability means that the understanding of the concept of employability is achieved by policy interventions, which are measured by days employed, hours worked and payment rates, and other outcomes which are labour market based for individuals. Initiative employability means that the employee understands that successful employability means that he or she is willing to be flexible and adapt to changing labour market situations, and that there is a need to develop skills which can be transferred between job roles. The individual is strengthened when he or she is able to develop skills and able to network in the workplace. Interactive employability acknowledges that individual employability depends upon the employability of others and the opportunities, rules and institutions which govern the labour market at any given time. How the knowledge-based economy drives employability opportunities for new graduates The knowledge-based economy is an economy that is no longer reliant upon manufacturing jobs, as these jobs have increasingly been sent to Eastern Europe, India and China (McQuade & Maguire, 2005). This means that industrialized countries are increasingly losing jobs by the tens of thousands to these less industrialized countries, because the businesses use the cheap labour that these other countries bring (McQuade & Maguire, 2005). Robinson (2000) states that one of the aspects of employability is that employees who have employability skills have higher order thinking skills, along with basic academic skills and personal qualities. Higher order thinking skills, and the adaptation of these skills, enable new graduates to use technology, tools, instruments and information systems, and this makes the employee more valuable to the employer. Tomlinson (2007) states the definition of employability has shifted towards the knowledge-driven or post-industrial economy, and away from the industrial economy. The knowledge-driven economy has presented new graduates with a challenge, in that they can no longer expect a “job for life,” but, rather, must be flexible and proactive, and manage their own employability. Tomlinson (2007) states that the acquisition of knowledge plays a large role in the students and employee perceptions of what they would need to succeed in the workforce of today. As noted above, employability is often a subjective experience – what does the individual employee believe to be necessary to succeed? These traits that they believe that they need to have are often based upon experience and the person’s individual identity. In his study, he found that new graduates understood that they wouldn’t have a job for life, therefore were more likely to develop and renew their knowledge base and their individual skills, which means that their graduate work profile would be enhanced. At the same time, according to Tomlinson (2007), the knowledge-based economy has brought a certain level of angst to those who are attending University. This is that, since there are more students who are attending University, the value of any one degree has been lessened. Mass higher education, according to Tomlinson (2007), has had the effect of devaluing and deflating the value of higher education, and getting a degree is not seen as being enough for the new employer world, nor is it considered to be a badge of distinction anymore. Now, students must strive for something more to stand apart from their fellow students who will be competing with them for jobs in the future. The something more includes getting high grades, and re-investing in further study. Moreover, the students of today are framing their studies towards outcomes, as opposed to learning for learning’s sake. Students are also noting that they should get experience in their chosen field, in order to stand out, and are increasingly trying to package hard credential with soft currencies in order to stand out. There are also a range of factors which influence employability, and these factors tie in with the knowledge-based nature of today’s jobs. According to Harvey (2001), these factors include the 1) the type of higher education institution that was attended by the employee – some institutions have a better reputation than do others, although the basis for this perception might be the quality of students who attend certain institutions verses other institutions, as opposed to the quality of development that these Universities provide for its students; 2) student location and mobility – some employers are wary of hiring students from certain parts of the country, and not all students are mobile, and this affects the employability of the students; 3) subject of study – a student’s discipline in school will affect how employable that student to the working world. For instance, in art and design, many students end up becoming self-employed out of necessity. Other majors, such as computer science, pharmacy, mathematics and optometry have better rates of employment, so these graduates would be considered to be more employable than the graduates of the arts and designs programs; 4) previous work experience- either full-time work or part-time work that was undertaken while in school will enhance an employee’s employability, and, in particular, new graduates who have work experience as a part of their programmes of study are particularly attractive; 5) age – recruiters discriminate on the basis of age; 6) gender, ethnicity and social class – these all affect employability, as employers continue to discriminate on these bases. Brown et al. (2002) further looked at the concept of employability in a knowledge-based economy. They note that the governments in most countries are no longer supplying jobs to people, and that employers are increasingly shifting to a knowledge-driven base, and this is especially true in developed countries and economies. They concur with others that stable employment is largely a thing of the past, and that adaptability and career progression are what will be driving the economies of the future. This means that the employees who are at a job need to not only have the skills for that particular job, but must also have other skills that would help them succeed in the marketplace, in the event that they lose their job This is especially true during a time when corporations are increasingly becoming leaner, flatter and more prone to restructure, which makes these employers incompatible with the notion that one would have a life-long career with these firms. What this essentially means is that it is not only the semi-skilled and unskilled workers who are finding themselves redundant, but also the engineers, managers and other professionals are finding this out as well. Moreover, the knowledge-based economy works both ways – if an employee is talented, and has energy and initiative or entrepreneurial flair, they do not have to commit themselves to any one organization for the duration of their career. In other words, on both ends of the employer-employee equation is the notion that the employee and the employer needs to be flexible, to ensure that each – the employer and the employee- end up with the organization or the employee which would fulfill their needs. To this end, Brown et al. (2002) recognize that there is a question of how a student can manage his or her employability upon entrance in the labor market. Moreover, companies, led by large corporations, are increasingly re-defining what it means to be employable in the new knowledge-based world of 21st Century employment. They have also formulated different theories of who is employable in a knowledge-driven economy. One theory is called the consensus theory. In this theory, technological innovation is seen as the foundation for social change, and societies are defined by what stage they are in terms of technological development. When an economy is shifted into a knowledge-based economy, that economy is seen as being newer and more complex than countries who are not yet in the knowledge-based economy. In the consensus theory, competition is based upon innovation, applied knowledge and productivity improvements. The means of production is no longer capital, labour and natural resources, but knowledge. Productivity and innovation become the way to create value, and knowledge is more valuable and powerful than other factors. In a consensus theory of knowledge based economies, the workers who are most prized are those with technical, scientific and professional backgrounds, for whom learning is a lifelong endeavor. In this economy, the expansion of higher education is a way to respond for the demand for knowledge workers. Moreover, individual traits, such as initiative, social skills and creative abilities are most prized in these economies. Under this theory, the talented are the most prized, because the talented are the workers who provide the most value to the employer – for instance, the best software developers are able to write ten times more usable code than those whom are average, which means that they are likely to yield five times more profit for their companies than an average worker. This means that, in a knowledge-based economy, the talented employees have a differential value that is superior to the average workers, and this differential value is something that grows larger all the time (Brown et al. 2002). What this also means is that other issues that might have been important to employers in the past – age, gender, socioeconomic status, even personal skills – become less important to employers than talent. Ability and effort are what makes an employee employable in this market. Getting talented people into managerial positions, professional positions and executive positions is more important as the economy becomes knowledge-based. Moreover, according to Brown et al. (2002), the nature of capitalism has changed, as individual, talented employees have more power than they have in the past, where, in the past, power and control were in the hands of the employer, almost without exception. The employer controlled the flow of information in the past and the employer is whom stored knowledge. Now, the individual employee has more power if he or she has talent, which means that the employees now own the means of production and the tools of production. Moreover, the power has shifted in that the employers have to compete with one another for top talent, which means that they now have to find way of attracting and retaining top talent. Conclusion There is not a doubt that our economy has changed from the economy of the past. Whereas, in the past, manufacturing formed the crux of developed economies, and people got a job basically for life, things are different now. Increasingly, manufacturing jobs are being shipped to countries that are developing, which means that these jobs are increasingly not available. Therefore, employees of tomorrow have to adapt to this reality. This means that they must adapt to the knowledge-based economy. What this means, essentially, is that students must try to get a college degree, but not any college degree will do. To be employable, degrees should focus upon aspects of the knowledge based economy, as such, degrees which are focused upon a goal are better than degrees which are focused upon learning for learning’s sake – for instance, a liberal arts degree is less valuable than an engineering degree or a computer science degree. Plus, in a knowledge-based economy, employability is also dependent upon how flexible the employee is and how much the employee is willing to continue learning throughout his or her career. The development of higher-order thinking skills, such as the ability to think creatively, is something that is valuable in a knowledge-based economy. Plus, talent is what counts in this type of economy- talent might be the great equalizer, as companies realize that talented employees bring much higher value than less-talented employees. Therefore, the knowledge-based economy will drive employability for new graduates by demonstrating the skills that they need to keep up with today’s economy, and by encouraging these graduates to not pursue majors in college which are not oriented towards a specific goal or skill set. Because so many students are pursuing university as their post-graduate education, every student must find a way to set him or herself apart from the others, whether this means getting stellar grades, going to the best schools, getting good experience while studying in college, getting a degree that is in demand, or by demonstrating tremendous talent in one’s chosen field. If a student is not willing to do at least one of these things that will help them get ahead, then the student will find a hard slog, as the student will have considerably less employability than students who are willing to do at least one of these things. Bibliography Brown, P., Hesketh, A. & Williams, S. (2002) “Employability in a knowledge-driven economy.” Working Paper Series Paper 26, pp. 1-26. Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. & Ashforth, B. (2004) “Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications.” Journal of Vocational Behavior, vol.. 65, pp. 14-38. Harvey, L. (2010) “Defining and measuring employability.” Quality in Higher Education, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 97-109. McQuaid, R. & Lindsay, C. (2005) “The concept of employability.” Urban Studies, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 197-219. McQuade, E. & Maguire, T. (2005) “Individuals and their employability.” Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 447-463. Robinson, J. (2000) “What are employability skills?” The Workplace. 15 Sept., pp. 1-10. Tomlinson, M. (2007) “Graduate employability and student attitudes and orientations to the labor market.” Journal of Education and Work, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 285-304. Read More