Free Essay on the Ever-Changing Landscape of Work in the Twenty-First Century

Different work landscapes come and go, but the core working background seems to remain the same. Often, the changes in the work landscape are gradual and may not be noticed immediately because they occur over a given period. In marking the turns in the century, we always seem to take note of the new inventions, technologies, occupations, industrial changes, and work priorities. However, what escape our attention are the ever changing basic tenets of work. This essay aims to dig into the attributes and characters of workers who are most likely to become successful in the twenty-first centurys workplace.

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The twenty-first-century workers need comprehensive strategies and skills for them to emerge successful in their day-to-day activities within the work landscape. There are various attributes that workers need to become successful in this centurys work landscape. One of these characters is possessing analytic skills such as decision-making and critical thinking. It is evident that there is a huge mismatch between the skills possessed by workers in the US and what the US employers require hence forcing employers to develop training programs for their workforce (Ruth, Elizabeth, and Descartes, pg.4). Training enables workers to become more productive and sufficient in their day-to-day activities hence resulting in success at work (Herring, pg.1). There are numerous explanations that touch on the current worlds uncertain economy, however; some distinguished economists such as Joseph Stiglitz from Columbia University have established several analyses that resonate with the present economic situation. According to Herring, the problems are deeply rooted in the types of jobs that are available for workers and the kinds of jobs that only a few are willing to do (pg.1). To improve the situation at hand, fundamental change is required to enhance the experience of the younger generation in the midst of the great economic depression. The current work landscape is faced with numerous challenges, hence; there is a need for organizations to develop a tendency of providing regular training programs to inspire and prepare self-directed employees to meet today's work challenges.

Training of workers plays a significant role in preparing employees to overcome any challenges that are likely to manifest in the future. Training offers workers critical skills of the twenty-first century thus enabling the future workforce to master vital skills and utilize them in the challenges of tomorrow (Herring, pg.1). Thus, any corporation that wants to develop a culture of success must consider exploring their workforce to the 21st work problems and train them on how to go around these challenges. Exploration will ensure that the self-directed employees are adequately trained for them to thrive in the ever-changing work landscape.

The second attribute is the ability to execute tasks without or minimal supervision. The majority of the twenty-first-century workers lack the self-push to accomplish certain tasks without being monitored. Thus, this makes it hard for organizations to make efficient use of particular technologies in their production thus affecting their productivity levels. For instance, there have been gradual changes in the preferences of customers over particular goods and services. Thus, to satisfy the needs of the customers and ensure that loyal customers are retained; companies need to adjust their products and services to suit the changes in clients preferences. It is no longer enough for businesses to create goods and services that are adequately functional and reasonably priced as they also have to match the new trends within the market (Galinsky, pg.1). However, technology has an upper hand on how different tasks are done at workplaces thus workers ought to have self-directorate and be highly productive to meet the new trends in the workplace. For instance, the availability of Accounting Information Systems has significantly impacted the practice of accounting. Clients of accounting institutions expect improved accounting services that are free of errors unlike in the past when there were no AIS systems. Besides, diverse economies outsource labor from outer regions because foreign labor is relatively cheaper as compared to the local ones. For instance, America is among the countries that outsource labor from the African states because African workers agree to work for low wages that American workers cease to work for and tend to be more hard working than the American workers. Cheap labor helps in reducing the costs of production thus improving the profit margins in businesses and enhancing a countrys economic growth in the long-run. According to Galinsky, considering factors such as skilled and cheap labor can enable a company to efficiently adapt to new trends while still maintaining reasonable prices for their products and services thus reducing the impacts of changes in work landscape of the 21st century (pg.1).

The third attribute of workers likely to succeed in the twenty-first-century workplace is that workers should have a capacity for change. The 21st Century workers ought to be creative and innovative enough to adapt to new changes in the workplace (Burrus, Jackson, Xi, and Steinberg, pg.3). Having the capacity to change improves worker's flexibility to adapt to the new trends affecting the work landscape of this century. The attribute also helps to develop a culture where workers are ready to embrace positive changes that aim to enhance the 21st Century job landscape. For instance, in a situation where workers are reluctant to change, an organization may face a difficult time in keeping up with the external forces such as stiff competition from other competitive companies.

Having the ability to learn and master new skills is a significant factor in ensuring a worker becomes successful in the twenty-first work landscape. Often, the changes in work landscape affect how employees conduct certain tasks within their organizations to match the expected results. Thus, there is the need for frequent training within these agencies hence the employees are required to be sharp and able to learn new skills. The lack of this important trait will result in prolonged, and unsuccessful training programs, and the business will spend a lot of resources in training a team of incompetent workers. Having the ability to utilize new skills can be useful in improving work and reflect changes in the economy and the ways of doing work (Burrus, Jackson, Xi, and Steinberg, pg.5). It is important to note that possessing such skills can help in completing tasks that cannot be done by use of technology equipment such as computers.

To conclude, workers of the twenty-first century need to possess critical attributes such as critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, effective communication, self-direction, flexibility, and creativity for them to experience success in their places of work. Employers need to provide adequate training to their workforce to minimize the mismatch between the employees' poor skills and what is required from them. In order to make the twenty-first work landscape efficient, fundamental change is required to prepare the younger working generation to cope with the future challenges that may affect how work is done. Technology is a major aspect of the changes affecting the 21st work landscape thus workers need to familiarize themselves with the new technological trends to enhance their competency. Any organization that wants to develop a culture of success is bound to provide their workforce with adequate information in the modern trends and sufficient training to empower them to face any challenge that might manifest during work.

Works Cited

Rudd, Elizabeth, and Lara Descartes. The Ever-Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class: Reports from the Field. Lanham: Lexington, 2008.

Herring, Sam. "Transformation of the Workplace: Critical Skills and Learning Methods for the Successful 21st Century Worker." Think Big (2015): 1.

Ellen, and Galinsky. "The Changing Landscape of Work." Questia (2002): 1.

Burrus, Jeremy, Teresa Jackson, Nuo Xi, and Jonathan Steinberg. "Identifying the Most Important 21st Century Workforce Competencies: An Analysis of the Occupational Information Network." Research Report (2013): 2-55.