Essay About High Skill And High Performance

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Graduate Student Term Paper
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
PUBLIC POLICY REVIEW and DISCUSSION
March 10, 2002
Robert Kerr
Robert Kerr
Copyright© 2002 by CETE, The Ohio State University
INTRODUCTION
Adult Learning For U.S. Competitive Advantage
It now seems axiomatic that the world is continuing to rapidly change and that the U.S.
economy is being called upon regularly to transform itself, in increasingly short time frames, to adapt
to the shifting competitive landscape. Work related learning has been identified as a key enabler of
effective economic advantage for countries like to U.S. to remain competitive. Marshall and Tucker
state that, “The future now belongs to societies that organize themselves for learning.”(Marshall &
Trucker 1992 p. xiii).
High Skill, High Performance, and High-Tech U.S. Workforce
While all learning may be important to some degree to help a society remain competitive, it is
“high-skill” learning that many countries are now striving toward to increase their overall societal
wage levels. Krogh and Roos (1996) have written that, “as we move from the industrial age to the
information age, knowledge is becoming increasingly critical for the competitive success of firms and
the key to success in todays business is the application and development of specialized knowledge and
competencies”. The knowledge and skills required in the U.S. workforce has evolved over the last
century. In reviewing labors knowledge and skill migration within the U.S. workforce toward this
more significant high-skill labor force Greenspan (2000) stated, “In 1900, only one out of every ten
workers was in a professional, technical, or managerial occupation. By 1970, that proportion had
doubled, and today those types of jobs account for nearly one-third of our workforce.” One can only
assume that this increasing demand for more skilled labor will continue to grow in the coming years.
How is this high-skill labor being leveraged in the new economy? High-skill labor is a
necessary component to support achieving a “high-performance” workplace. In the U.S. the
importance of attaining the skills needed to support a high performance work environment was
underscored when in 1990, the U.S. Secretary of Labor appointed a commission to determine what
skills our U.S. youth would need to be successful in the future world of work. The result was the
Robert Kerr
Copyright© 2002 by CETE, The Ohio State University
Department of Labors (DOL) Secretarys Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS)
Report that confirmed the need for the U.S. to move towards a more high performance work
environment to remain globally competitive. The high performance work setting is characterized by; a
commitment to excellence; high product quality; and high levels of customer satisfaction. To achieve it
means combining technology and people together in new ways pursues these goals. This commissions
fundamental purpose became to encourage a high-performance U.S. economy characterized by highskill,
high-wage employment (DOL, 2000).
Technology plays an important role in this new high-skill/high-performance competitive
workforce learning landscape. The SCANS Report (DOL 2000 p.4) states, “Above all these goals
[achieving a high performance work setting] depend on … responsible employees comfortable with
technology and complex systems…” Clearly, our society is increasingly reliant on more advanced
technology workforce capabilities. Gray and Herr (1998, p.85) write, “Most labor market experts agree
that the most promising segment of the future workforce comprises technical workers.”
BACKGROUND
Information Technology Workforce
An important subgroup of technical workers is our “information technology” (IT) workforce.
For the purposes of this paper, information technology workers will be defined with the U.S.
Department of Labors Occupational Outlook Handbook category for “Computer Systems Analysts,
Engineers, and Scientists.” These workers–computer systems analysts, engineers, and scientists–
include a wide range of computer-related occupations.” (DOL, 2000-01). Computer technology is a
continuously changing field and IT workers must continue to pursue lifelong professional education
and training opportunities in order to stay current in their jobs. “Technological advances come so
rapidly in the computer field that continuous study is necessary to keep skills up to date. These new
jobs also will require workers with extensive educational backgrounds. The rapid spread of computers
Robert Kerr
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