Morgan
Dr. Henley Morgan, Contributor
IN "THE Education of Henry Adams," Adams surmised that he had received an 18th century education when the world was rapidly approaching the 20th century. It was a sad testimony of an education system that was lagging 200 years behind the times.
As it was then, so it is now. The formal education system, particularly higher education, is in danger of falling behind in producing what countries and businesses need in the way of knowledge in order to be globally competitive. No other period in history has experienced the degree of change that the world has seen since the invention of the transistor in the 1940s. In bygone eras change of this magnitude rendered whole species redundant or, worse, extinct. The poorly-educated blue-collar worker is among the most obvious casualties.
More than any other sector, agriculture shows how easy it is for taught knowledge to fall out of step with economic and social realities. In the early and mid - 1950s, as countries on the European and North American continents began to industrialise their economies, it was widely believed that their food security would be dependent on those countries that would eventually be referred to as under-developed or Third World. In the space of 50 years there has been a reversal of this thinking. Today, Europe is producing in excess of 120 per cent of its domestic food requirements. With the notable exception of Japan, the same is true for many developed countries. What happened?
These countries created a new paradigm of high-tech agriculture horizontally linked to agro-industry. Some of their best entrepreneurs and skills are in agriculture. Contrast this with Jamaica where farming is still seen as back-breaking work for the machete-wielding, uneducated masses to eke out a living. Is it surprising that market trucks in Jamaica are regularly seen carrying more pounds of higglers than pounds of produce while produce from American farms take over the Coronation market?
Every business owner needs to ask and honestly answer these tough questions about the level of knowledge, skills and abilities in the firm or organisation:
What is the highest academic qualification held by the majority of my workers?
What percentage of my workforce is multi-skilled?
How many of my workers are currently involved in a programme to upgrade their skills or education?
If I were to change my production technology tomorrow, would these people be able to adapt?
The answer to these questions will serve as a barometer to gauge your readiness to face the next wave of competition when it comes.
In 1993, the United States Department of Labour set up a Commission to determine the type of skills and attitudes people need to develop to be successful in the workplace and to make their employers competitive. The Commission's findings are condensed below.
Workplace competencies: Effective workers can productively use
Resources They know how to allocate time, money, materials, space, and staff.
Interpersonal skills They can work on teams, teach others, serve customers, lead, negotiate, and work well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Information They can acquire and evaluate data, organise and maintain files, interpret and communicate, and use computers to process information.
Systems They understand social, organisational, and technological systems; they can monitor and correct performance; and they can design or improve systems.
Technology They can select equipment and tools, apply technology to specific tasks, and maintain and troubleshoot equipment.
Foundation skills
Competent worker in the high-performance workplace need
Basic skills Reading, writing, arithmetic and mathematics, speaking, and listening
Thinking skills The ability to learn, to reason, to think creatively, to make decisions, and to solve problems
Personal qualities In-dividual responsibility, self-esteem and self-management, sociability, and integrity
The competencies, foundation skills and personal qualities required for solid job performance and competitiveness are more complex and broad-based than our education system is currently prepared to deliver. In the knowledge economy, our best efforts at educating our people could be producing dinosaurs even before they graduate.
Employers must move now to identify opportunities for remedial and continuous learning, and be prepared to form partnerships with professional development institutions that can update and upgrade the knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes in the firm or organisation to bring these in line with today' requirements for global competition.
The Institute of Management Sciences/Institute of Management & Production (IMS/IMP), is Jamaica's largest privately-held higher education consortium. Comments at operations@ims.com.jm or marketing@ims.com.jm. Dr. Henley Morgan is a management consultant, immediate past chairman of the Jamaican Institute of Management and a university lecturer. He currently serves on the Management Advisory Committee of the Institute of Management Sciences. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of IMS/IMP.
