Knowledge Society
The advancement of technology has changed the economic and social structure of many countries. Through the application of information technology, companies can do business regardless of where they are or where their customers are. To take advantage of this new business model, most companies are restructuring their businesses into many functions and spread them across the world for advantages in labor costs and knowledge workers. The critical issue that emerges from this restructuring is the role of education and training for their success in the global economy. Due to the integration of technologies into every aspects of business, knowledge is becoming an increasingly important factor of business production much more than land, labor, and capital.
The 20th century business model is based on two principles: “Factory with moving assembly line for mass production”, and “System to manage large physical labor force that operates the production line” and the success of the manufacturing depends mostly on capital, land, labor, and management system. However in the 21st century, business model is changing and based on three principles: “Using Technology to automate manufacturing production”, “System to manage knowledge workers” and “Innovation for faster and better products”. With globalization, land is not restricted within a country boundary because company can operate anywhere so land is not important anymore. With globalization, company can do business everywhere and can raise capital from any source, not restricted within a country financial system, so capital is also not an important factor anymore. Since companies can operate globally, there is no longer the issue with labor because they can hire anybody from any country where they need so labor is not longer important anymore. With globalization, business is shifting from local economy to global economy with companies expanding globally; open manufacturing where the cost of business is reasonable, hiring workers wherever they need, raising capital from wherever possible but business will face significant competition because of this wide open market. The key discriminator for success and failure is the knowledge of applying technology into the business for advantages. Given the increasing globalization and restructuring in the world economic, every company is now looking for more knowledge workers and that is why the collaboration between industry and education system is becoming more important,.
Traditionally, education is seen as a formal process of instruction, based on a theory of teaching, to transfer knowledge from teachers to students within a formal structure of academic institutions. However, today the process of learning occur, with or without formal academic institution because knowledge can be acquired using information multimedia outside the traditional schools and universities. Learning can take place in the company, in the special training organization, by websites of groups with similar interests. In the traditional system, education is controlled by the academia and limited to a selected few who can pass certain exams or can pay for the tuitions. However with globalization, knowledge is not limited to a select few but available to everyone who is interested in learning. As knowledge expands throughout the world, all people should have as much access as possible to this new kind of learning. Of course, this concept is in conflict with the formal academia institutions that exist today. The fear of losing control in education has put a stop to many attempts in developing countries and prevents them to become a Knowledge society. According to several studies by UNESCO, to success in the global economy developing countries must actively improve their educational systems in ways that are "consistent with their national priorities." In the globalize world, national priorities must also take into consideration the fundamental changes occurring in the structures of the global economy and create new priorities for achieving competitive national advantage.
The role of knowledge within the global economy is opening up new industries that employ a lot of knowledge workers such as biotechnology, genetics, new materials science (Composite, fiber optics, nanotechnology etc.) information technologies, and robotics etc. To take advantage of these new industries that can accelerate significant economy growth, education system will need to change by:
1) Focus on practical concepts and uncertainty
The key challenge in education is how to train students to be familiar with practical concepts and uncertain situations. The traditional academic is focus on training with theory -made problems such as examinations and formula solving. This leads to “rote memorization” but not creativity and innovations. Due to the fast changing of economy and technology, most today problems are rarely clearly defined. It requires a different kind of workers who can analyze problems, gather necessary information, and make decisions based on complex uncertain realities. Instead of examinations, school should teach more on “Case studies”, “Scenarios solving” and “Story-center curriculum” where students can solve “Real problems” and apply the concept of “Learning by Doing” to be more realistic with the industry needs.
2) Uses interdisciplinary as opposed to discrete curriculum
The traditional education is divided into rigid academic domains, focused on discrete professions. For example, students in art will not learn science and students in science will not learn business. However, the emerging Information Society and global economy requires a different approach or “systems thinking approach” to develop a “Total person”. Thus inter-disciplinary curriculum approaches are encouraged to achieving a more comprehensive understanding the complex reality currently facing the world. Students must learn more about the total system, how each component interacts with each other, the interdependencies among domains as well as the role of people in the Knowledge society. A total person is considered an ethical, professional who contribute to the society and as a part of a whole.
3) Enhances the student's ability to acquire new knowledge and teamwork
Traditional academic professors often saw themselves as “Knowledge transmitters” delivering lectures, information, and knowledge to the eagerly learning students, whose minds were empty waiting to be filled. This Greek tradition of education is noble but not practical in today's society. In the past, there were great teachers and great students but schools were small and limited with selected students so it worked well. However, overtime teaching is no longer a “noble profession” but a job and students do not come to school because they want to learn but they have to. This created “Rote memorization”, “Cheating on examinations, “Formula solving” and the concept of “Right and Wrong” which often divide people and discourage the true meaning of learning.
Today, workers in global companies must work closely in teams. Working in teams requires students to develop skills in group dynamics, compromise, discussion, sharing, organization, leadership and management skills. Most academic institutions today are set up to do the opposite, to force students to think only of themselves and their own personal development, with limited group work. Students are encouraged to compete rather than collaborate and personal gain is considered better than group success. Education system must restructure to enhance networking activity among people. Students must learn to work in teams in a collaborative ways for a higher ideal than personal. Today global teams are being used increasingly in industry and technologies such as emails, internet, cell phones and teleconferences are used to enhance team performance structuring group dialogue and decision making, and facilitating collective activities."
The Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC), an international, independent, non-governmental organization has recommended that: “The globalization of the economy and its demands on the workforce requires a different education that enhances the ability of students to access, assess, adopt, and apply knowledge, to think independently to exercise appropriate judgment and to collaborate with others to make sense of new situations. The objective of education is no longer simply to convey a body of knowledge, but to teach students how to learn, solve problems and be ethical professionals that can contribute to the benefit of the society”. The GIIC encourage every government to apply technologies to promote the production of new knowledge and dissemination of information to students. Some of these technologies include the Internet, World Wide Web, CD-ROM, and multimedia forms. These new technologies allow academic professors to move from being "Knowledge transmitter" into the role of the "Guide” and “Coach” who assist students in gaining the abilities required to acquire and utilize knowledge contained in various forms around the world.
As discussed above, the global economy based on knowledge is a key factor of all future economy growths. The emerging industries that significantly improve the economy with high growth in employment are: Software, biotechnology, new materials science, genetics, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, robotics – all demand that employees remain highly trained in science and technology. This also requires a new approach to the management system because the system that focuses on physical labor workers no longer work for knowledge workers. Managers must learn how to focus less on command, control but more on encouraging, facilitating and rewarding. A major issue that remains unsolved is the impact of changing from the old system to the new approach. During this transition, not all countries will be able to change quickly, some will be left behind. This will create an opportunity for advanced countries to take advantage of slow moving countries. Some assembly lines and mass productions will be moved to under-developed countries due to their lower labor cost with consequences of pollutions, toxic wastes and negative impacts.
According to some studies, this already happened. As some countries are developing their “Knowledge Society” and improving their education systems, they discard their “Obsolete factory” systems to countries that could not adapt to this change and relying on physical labor as the main economy growth. The movement of the manufactured industries to these countries will destroy their lands, pollute their airs, impact their people's health and prevent them from advancement further. Without improving their education and focus on develop knowledge workers it is impossible for many to catch up and in the highly competitive global world, they will be left behind.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
